David, the greatest of the kings of Israel, wasn’t always a revered monarch. At one time, he was simply a shepherd relegated to the least respected job in his family. His brothers were soldiers in Saul’s army while he was just a young teen leading the flock to water and green pastures when he could find them. Jesse, his father, said to him, “I need you to take some supplies to the front line and help out the war effort against the Philistines” (my paraphrase). David arrives and like most young boys, he’s curious about the fighting. Quickly, he realizes there isn’t any fighting going on. Eliab, his brother, begins to ridicule him most likely out of embarrassment of himself. The young David simply asks two questions. “What have I done?” and “Is there not a cause?” The cause in David’s mind was the honor of God and he didn’t understand why someone didn’t step up for this wonderful name of God.
Causes can be a great motivation, whether religious or secular. Jimmy Doolittle was a pilot in WWII and led a squadron of 16 planes on a one-way mission to attack Tokyo, Japan. They lacked the fuel to be able to return to their aircraft carrier and had to crash land near the Chinese Russian border. They knew that before they ever got into the planes, but the cause to him and the other 15 men was worth it. II Samuel 5 describes the conquest of Jebus. It was seemingly unable to be conquered. David announced that whoever would find a way and smite the enemy inside the gates, would be general of the army. Meritocracy on display. Joab climbed up through a water shaft into the city and by this exploit became “the general.” His cause was to be victorious, be the leader, and nothing would stop him. Jebus would become the capital of ancient Israel. We know it as Jerusalem.
It is Thanksgiving Day. I normally write the FB on Friday’s early, but I had some time this morning to ponder while mostly everyone else was still sleeping. From around 10:30 AM, it will be crazy the rest of the day. The country’s election is over and plans are being put into place for the new administration. Some segments of our country are angry and anxious, while others are very optimistic. I began to think about how it all began for us as a nation. Way back in the year 1620 a group of people left England for a new land. What was the cause? Freedom. More specifically, religious freedom. The Church of England had persecuted groups, called Separatists, that wouldn’t bow the knee to worshipping the way the Church of England dictated. Persecution was great and many of them had fled to Holland. They longed for freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own hearts. The dream was to come to a new place and build it with the right to worship God as you saw fit. How hard was it to make this happen? Travel back in time mentally. After years of dreaming, saving money, planning out the details and getting their group together, they would board a boat called the Mayflower. Originally, the Mayflower was a cargo vessel. It had a sister ship called the Speedwell which carried passengers. Speedwell developed mechanical problems causing her to turn back and the Mayflower had to be refitted to carry people, not just cargo. This delay would push the arrival time into the stormy season at sea and winter in the new land. The Mayflower had already seen its better days and would be scraped only four years after its most famous voyage. It was a small vessel even for those days. It was approximately 100 feet in length and 25 feet wide. There were 102 passengers and around 30 sailors. The sleeping quarters were to be shared and the ceiling down below was only five feet high. Also, on the little ship, were things they figured they would need at the new land. Livestock was included in the cargo. Dogs, sheep, goats, and chickens. Other things? Tools, food supplies and weapons. The vessel would have artillery for protection while sailing from pirates. This was a small vessel for so much stuff and people. It would take ten weeks of traveling on the roughing sea. Imagine leaving England in early September and finally seeing land in the middle of November. Because of the issues with Speedwell, the departure was delayed, which meant the weather was going to be difficult. Once at sea, the Mayflower developed a leak, and the main beam was damaged. The most famous of the passengers was probably William Bradford. In his writings he said the storms were “fast and furious.” One man named Samuel Fuller died during the voyage and his body was buried at sea. Finally, after two and a half months at sea and missing the state of Virginia, which was their destination, they anchored off Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. The pilgrims. wishing to have a document that would govern the group, wrote an agreement and forty-one men signed what is known as the Mayflower Compact. These men signed this historical document for their wives, their children and themselves. The signing day was November 21, 1620. It would be a hard winter. Supplies used up, no housing, sickness, and disease rampant. As hard as all of this was, the cause of religious freedom drove them forward. Bradford would write, “All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.” He would later write that had it not been for some of the Indians, half the group would have perished. Thinking back on what his group endured, he wrote, “May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, &c. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the; desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.” The first Thanksgiving wasn’t an official proclamation but it was wholly in their hearts to the Lord. May that type of Thanksgiving be in our hearts also as we strive for our cause, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.