Tagged and Bagged

WHOSE TAG ARE YOU WEARING?
(1st Samuel 17:4-26)
I watched the movie ROOTS a long 
time ago. 
It was about a man called KUNTA KINTE, 
a Gambian boy captured and sold into 
slavery. 
He was bought by a white man, 
John Waller, whose wife renamed Kunta 
“Toby Waller”. Kunta refused to be called 
Toby. 
The Master would flog him and ask,
 “What is your name?” He would respond, 
“Kunta Kinte!” He would be flogged again. 
“What is your name?” “Kunta Kinte!” 
Another round of flogging.
After a lot of flogging and bleeding, 
Kunta finally replied, “Toby Waller”.
But he never liked the name. 
He didn’t want to be called by an 
English name: he was a Gambian 
and he didn’t want to lose that identity. 
He was in a strange land with strange 
people. 
They had taken away his humanity, 
but he didn’t want them to take away 
his identity. 
He felt that was the only thing he 
could hold on to for as long as he could.
He finally let go when the beating got 
too much.

We like tagging people. 
These tags are always based on stereotypes. 
And these stereotypes run deep.
 In my country Nigeria, we have 
different tags for several tribes, and 
these tags are almost always 
consciously derogatory. 
The Yoruba is called “Ngbati” 
The Hausa is called “Aboki” or 
“Sannu”, the Igbo is “Nyamiri”. 
We grew up hearing this tags and 
we accept them without questioning 
anything. 
So it has brought a lot of division 
in the country, mutual suspicion is rife. 
In the US, the Black and Latino are 
tagged criminals: drug pushers, 
murderers and thieves. 
That is your default setting, until you 
prove you are none of the above.
The White man tagged the Black man 
“Nigger” (Negro). 
The Black man sees it as derogatory. 
He doesn’t like it. 
He resists it like Kunta. 
But I’ve seen Black movies where a 
Black man meets another Black man 
and he says, “What’s up, Nigger?” 
The very thing he resists the White 
man calling him, he calls himself. 
He has grown to accept the tag!
There was a time someone called 
a group of online Feminists 
“Feminist Coven”. 
It was meant to be derogatory, but
 they accepted it and even made 
T-shirts with the name boldly 
written on it. 
They accepted the tag.
The irony with accepting these tags is, 
with time you beginning to see yourself 
as you are tagged.
The Israelite army was set to wage 
a war with the Philistines. 
Both armies were camped opposite 
each other, waiting for the signal to 
start the war. 
But the Philistines decided to sell 
an idea to the Israelites: 
There is no need to wage a war and 
waste lives. Let us just have a fight 
between 2 people, one representing 
each army. 
Whoever loses would serve the winner. 
It sounded like a good idea, the 
Israelites bought it. 
Until they saw Goliath, the Philistine 
representative!
Now Goliath would come to the Battle 
Line and say, “Am I not a Philistine and 
you are SERVANTS OF SAUL?” 
(1st Samuel 17:8). 
Goliath tagged them “servants of Saul”! 
And they bought it! He continued saying 
this two times everyday for forty days. 
The Israelites heard Goliath call them 
“servants of Saul” consistently for 
forty days! 
It birthed fear into them- even Saul 
whose servants they were called 
was scared!
But David came into the scene…
And as he entered the camp, he saw 
Goliath come make the same demand. 
Something stirred inside David! 
He refused to wear the tag everybody 
else was wearing. 
He refused to wear the tag everybody 
else had accepted. 
He simply REFUSED! And he asked, 
“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that 
he should defy THE ARMY OF THE 
LIVING GOD?” 
David changed the narrative! 
He changed the tag! 
You, Goliath are not just a Philistine: 
you are an UNCIRCUMCISED one! 
And we are NOT Saul’s servants, 
buddy- we are the Armies (plural, for 
emphasis) of the Living God! 
Don’t try us!
David realized perception is key. 
As long as you see yourself as 
servants of Saul, your strength is depleted. 
But when you change focus from 
Saul to God, your strength is increased. 
The tag you wear is important.

Twelve men were sent to spy out 
the Promised Land. 
The majority submission on their 
return was pathetic: “We were in 
our own sight as grasshoppers, 
and so we were in their sight”
- Numbers 13:33. 
They tagged themselves grasshoppers! 
Who does that? 
Why belittle yourself? 
They took the Grasshopper tag 
themselves and wore it around 
their own necks!
Fortunately, two of the twelve had 
a different tag. 
They refused the Grasshopper Tag:
Caleb submitted, “Let us go up at once, 
and possess it; for we are well able 
to overcome it!” (Numbers 13:30). 
Joshua also submitted, “Don’t fear 
the people of the land; for they are 
bread for us: their defence is departed 
from them and the LORD is with us: f
ear them not!” (Numbers 14:9).
The problem with tags is, they could 
be very difficult to shake off.
Now, what tags are you wearing? 
What have they called you that you 
have accepted and you now call 
yourself? 
What is your focus? 
God or your challenges? 
Do you tag yourself a grasshopper? 
Do you tag yourself a servant of “Saul”? 
Or do you tag yourself as 
“The Armies of the Living God”? 
The tag you wear will ultimately decide 
the trajectory your life would take: 
Those who wore the grasshopper 
tag never made it into the Promised 
Land. Those who refused the 
grasshopper tag did.
If you want your life to go along the path 
God has prepared for you, the tag 
He gives must be the one around 
your neck: wear it with pride!

Shalom,
Haruna Daniels