Understanding Good Part I

A man was driving along the highway, when he saw a lady standing by her car with smoke all over an open bonnet. He decided it was getting late, and the woman might get hurt standing there all alone. He parked his car with the intention of helping the woman fix her car or at least giving her a lift away from the scene. As soon as he alighted from the car armed criminals rushed at him. He got kidnapped that day.

His wife and children were psychologically tortured for over six months. By the time they released him, he was all bones and broke. His wife had to clear out all the funds they had in their bank accounts, sell all their properties, and even collect loans in order to pay the ransom.

The man kept lamenting that the world is an unfair place. He said he would have given his all to help out if what happened to him had happened to anyone else in his sphere of influence but there he was abandoned and left alone to rot by the people who ought to have his back.

His wife said her husband was generous to a fault but at no time had they benefitted from the same level of generosity from anyone.

“My husband is naive and gullible, I say this because I have heard many others say the same to his face and also behind him, he has a good heart, but people tend to think that he does all the good things he does to buy into their cycle or curry favor or gain acceptance from them.

Imagine that he got kidnapped and I went to his office to meet his bosses and colleagues to raise some money for support but all I got were sorries and excuses. The total amount of money that they contributed was an insult to his person in my opinion. I went to church too, I mean, my husband would wait on the Reverend like a lap dog every Sunday, but the Reverend told me he had prayed, and God did not ask him to announce the kidnap in church or raise an offering for it. His friends suddenly were not picking up calls anymore and his own family members barely sent me a message of support. Only his mother called twice, and it felt forced.

Nobody should be treated the way the world has treated my husband. It felt as if he had no one who cared about him.

Life went on and people just didn’t care” His wife lamented.

The husband said “This has always been the case since I was born. I have never been appreciated or even seen by those I break my back for. My wife’s family would reach out to me for help, and I always go all out to support and give but they never appreciate it or even act in gratitude towards me. They act as if they are entitled to anything I do. I think people just somehow find it easy to take me for granted or to use me and I don’t know why everyone does that without fail.

I was told that good deeds have great rewards by my mother. She especially told me that I should not be tired or weary of doing good deeds because this is the key to a good life for me and my children. All I have however gotten out of being a do-gooder has been pain and suffering. I really don’t know why.”

I asked him if he remembered the story of the Prophets of Nob

He shook his head.

I said “David was a hero that was known throughout Israel from the day he killed Goliath. King Saul honored him for that feat by making him the captain of the king’s Guardsmen. This position was very strategic and important for two reasons. It grants David access to the King directly and as such wherever David went, he went as the King’s voice or emissary. Sometimes he would be sent on diplomatic missions in the name of the King and sometimes he would attack perceived or real enemies of the King as one acting on behalf of or with the authority of the King.

Saul sent David on many diplomatic missions and covert operations. The whole of Israel heard about it and they rewarded David with the song “Saul has killed his thousands, and David has killed his Tens of thousands”

So, David was a very well-known member of Saul’s cabinet.

One day, David’s wife told him that Saul had arranged for assassins to come to their matrimonial home and put him to death in his sleep. She told him that her father had instructed her to ensure David was well fed, rendered inebriated with alcohol so that he would be weakened and therefore easy for the assassins to kill.

All the other attempts of Saul to kill David had failed before this. Saul had sent David and his team to fight 100 Philistines as bride prize for Michal, but David came back with 200 dead Philistines’ foreskins.

This last resort was the only way Saul felt he could kill David without incurring the wrath of the people. Michal, however, told David of the plan and helped David to escape the clutches of the assassins.

After escaping the assassination attempt in the middle of the night, David had to keep a low profile. He could no longer travel under the banner of the King, dressed in royal apparel and surrounded by soldiers.

He got a few men who he knew were loyal to him and they all travelled through the back woods of Gilboa all the way to Nob.

David’s intention for traveling to Nob was to get David’s sword. In Israel at this time, the technology of iron smithing was not available. The Philistines had the technology, but they refused to share it. So only Saul, Jonathan, and a few other people in Israel had swords. Most of the others use sticks and pitchforks to fight in the time of battle.

Since David killed Goliath and the sword of Goliath was kept in the temple at Nob, his plan was to retrieve the sword and use it to bargain with the Philistines where he was hoping to seek asylum.

The sword was too big for David to use but he knew it would be of great value to the Philistines.

When David God to Nob, the Chief Priest was shocked by his sudden appearance and the lack of emissaries and the royal horses. The priest asked him why he was not dressed in the usual fashion or flying the banner of Saul of Gilboa.

1 Samuel 21

David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

2 David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” 6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.

8 David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”

David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David at Gath

10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:

“‘Saul has slain his thousands,

    and David his tens of thousands’?”

12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

The priest unknowingly supported David and his men. They gave him the sword of Goliath and gave him and his men bread and water for their refreshment.

Unknown to them Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul Shepherds was at Nob, observing some religious cleansing rites with the priests.

As soon as David left, Doeg sent a message to Saul giving him the information that David came to Nob and the priests of Nob welcomed him with open arms.

1 Samuel 22

Saul Kills the Priests of Nob

6 Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. 7 He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8 Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”

9 But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officials, said, “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. 10 Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.”

“Yes, my lord,” he answered.

13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?”

14 Ahimelek answered the king, “Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15 Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father’s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.”

16 But the king said, “You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.”

17 Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”

But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.

18 The king then ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests.” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19 He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.

20 But one son of Ahimelek son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to join David. 21 He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22 Then David said to Abiathar, “That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. 23 Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.”

Saul came to Nob with his men and ordered the death of the Priests for treason, even though there was no way they could have known that David deceived them.

When Israeli soldiers refused to kill the priests, Doeg the Edomite took all pleasure in doing so. Hence, the good done by the priest had been interpreted as evil and judged in that light.

That is the definition of good deeds without the leading of the Spirit.

How do you really know what you are doing is good?

Somebody rapes a girl, the girl turns to God in prayer for justice, the angel of the Lord smacks the person as punishment, the person loses his job, his wife and children, etc. for a season. Like the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar. You were walking by, and this person came to you asking you to give him some water and food because he was suffering. You give this person some water and food out of your good heart, but you do it against the desire of God. Would you say you have done good, or have you stepped into a territory you should wisely have kept far away from?

You stand on the street; you see a young man run by. A minute later, you see three people running towards you asking you if you saw that young man. Do you tell them where the young man went, or ignore them or mislead them to protect the young man?

How do you know what is best to do?

If you protect the young man and he turns out to be a thief or a killer, you have made yourself an accessory to his crime.

If you helped those searching for him and he turned out to be an innocent man whom those people wanted to kill, you would have made yourself an accessory to their crime. If you mind your business, would you be right to do so or wrong?

Rahab helped the Jewish spies; it turned out to be the right decision because they won the Battle of Jericho.

Had the young men been caught and tortured, they would have given her up and she would have been hung with her family for treason.

When somebody called Jesus “Good master” Jesus protested by declaring that nobody is good except God.

Many saw this as Jesus being modest, they didn’t know that being good or evil was not part of the original plan of God for mankind.

The Bible said the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was planted at the center of the garden and Adam was told not to eat of it because it will kill his ability to use spiritual insight to know and do things the way God does them.

After he ate the fruit, mankind began to know and do good and evil by the flesh.

This kind of good often lands one in trouble or goes unappreciated or unwanted or gets counted as evil.

As believers, we are no longer governed by our feelings, senses, or instincts. We received the Holy Spirit so that we will no longer walk in the flesh and do things according to the dictates of “good and evil”. We must learn this and allow the Holy Spirit to govern all our decision-making going forward. That way we will be in sync with the plan and the will of God, and our activities will fall in line with God’s divine intentions through us.

PS: This is why a believer must be taught how to walk with the Holy Spirit

This was why the Holy Spirit told me to establish the Pneuma School of the Supernatural and Bible College in 2019. A New session is beginning in a few days.

PSSBC School 25 is now open, this will be my official invitation to you to join our free classes for the next few days so you can decide if the school is for you or not.

https://chat.whatsapp.com/FAZNXNSOKruJ5LYVqXRcQi