Gross and Dangerous Can Describe Our Lives

Here’s a story that’s not in my new book. However, I could have easily included it. Our lives can get gross and dangerous. I believe the Bible makes that abundantly clear. Why else would the Bible contain gross and dangerous stories? Because we tend to sugar-coat things, sometimes we miss part of the story.

What better way to have a man killed than offering your daughter to him in matrimony?

I Samuel 17 tells the story of David slaying Goliath. The next chapter contains a story of a jealous king that wanted David dead. What better way to have a man killed than offering your daughter to him in matrimony? Palace intrigue has been a way of life for a long time. No wonder that Chess uses pieces representing members of a kingdom. Poor David didn’t think he deserved to be a son-in-law of a king. David didn’t even have the means to provide the king with a fair bride price. King Saul didn’t care. All he requested was for David to bring him 100 Philistine foreskins. Saul thought that surely David would be killed in combat before he could dismember that many of their enemies.

What did Michal think of her father asking for 100 foreskins before giving her hand in marriage to a man that she loved? It sounds like an extremely gross gift. It was a dangerous activity for her love to undertake. David gladly accepted the challenge. David didn’t bring Saul the minimum fee; he brought Saul 200 Philistine foreskins! Did you ever wonder why this story wasn’t taught in the Sunday School classes? The episode conclusion is similar to the Goliath episode. The Lord was with David.

Don’t sugar-coat the scriptures

Our lives can get gross and dangerous. Life isn’t easy. Our in-laws might even wish we were dead. There is a reason why all types of stories are in the Bible.  As stated before, we do ourselves a disservice to sugar-coat the scriptures. The Lord may send us out to battle, and things may get messy. But the Lord will provide a way for us to do His will. The hard part may be realizing what it is that the Lord wants us to do.