To Encourage You

1 Samuel 30:11-14 “They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, ‘To whom do you belong? And where are you from?’ He said, ‘I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.’”

Are you familiar with the Bob Dylan song, “Gotta Serve Somebody”? The first part of the song goes like this:

“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

“But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”

It’s true, you know, for God has told us the very same thing.  There are two spiritual kingdoms in the universe.  There’s the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the enemy of God.  If you’re not in one of these kingdoms you are in the other. There is no neutrality, no matter what you or I might think.  So, if you’re not in the kingdom of God, if you’ve never been born again, if you’ve never been “delivered . . .  from the domain of darkness and transferred . . . to the kingdom of (God’s) beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13), what’s your master like? 

We get a shadow of this in the passage above from 1 Samuel 30.  Here we have an Egyptian who had been serving in the army of the Amalekites, the mortal enemies of David and his army, who were representatives of the people of God.  Somewhere along the line the Egyptian had fallen sick. He was of no more use to the king of the Amalekites.  So what happened to him?  We are told that his master “left him behind.”  By the nature of his condition, he had been left to die.  That’s what it always and inevitably is like to serve the master who is the enemy of God.  While a person may be riding high for awhile, while he may be “living the good life” as he goes the way of Satan and enjoys all the sinful pleasures this world and its master have to offer, sooner or later the good times will end.  The Bible warns us about this with these words: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12). That’s because this way that may seem so right to us is actually under the domain of one whose only objectives are to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). It’s what the Egyptian found out to be true in his life, and it’s what everyone who follows his path will find out as well. 

Jesus tells us a similar account in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 with these words: “the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.” Obviously, he thought that what he was doing was the very best for him.  But then his money ran out, “and when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” 

Similarly, Judas traded the Master of Heaven for the love of money.  And where did he find himself after this trade? Abandoned by those who he had been in league with, at which time he threw the money on the temple floor and went out and hanged himself.

And so, God has given us these examples and many, many more throughout His Word to show us the end of those who serve another master, a master who promises so many blessings but who will inevitably leave them high and dry. So, who are you serving? You’ve gotta serve somebody. There are only two masters.  Don’t seek the one who will leave you with nothing in the end.