Thoughts on 1 Samuel 17

Today’s reading: 1 Samuel 17; 1 Corinthians 4

I’ve never really paid too much attention before to David’s clear interest in the rewards for killing Goliath. 

I feel like there is this idea out there that doing the Lord’s work should be its own reward, and so it’s somewhat base or immature to be in it for reward. I would personally argue that that is not a biblical position given that God promises us rewards for our faithfulness and the New Testament authors talk about that reward as motivation, and that’s not even counting the Old Testament authors who were looking forward to their reward in the resurrection. But if I’m being honest, as much as I am personally very motivated by our promised heavenly rewards, I do kind of balk a bit at the idea of doing work for the Lord and wanting or expecting temporal rewards. Admittedly, this is not a biblical position, and it is probably more emblematic of my prideful heart than anything else, but being driven by worldly rewards just feels “unspiritual” to me for some reason and like you’ve got your priorities wrong.

But David, in 1 Samuel 17, is a strong counter-example to those feelings on the subject.

When David arrives at the battlefield and is talking to his brothers, Goliath comes out and issues his challenge to Israel and David’s response to the challenge really shows his heart for the Lord. Rather than being afraid of this giant warrior like the rest of Israel’s troops, David is offended on God’s behalf that he would slander God’s army like that. And when David puts himself up to go against Goliath, while he looks back on killing lions and bears to protect his flocks as evidence that he can stand against Goliath, even those feats he credits to the Lord, and trusts that the Lord will not let him fail to defeat this uncircumcised Philistine!

What struck me today though, as I have already tipped my hat to, is the fact that David doesn’t immediately run onto the battlefield when he hears the challenge. Neither does he run out when he realizes nobody else is answering the challenge. Instead he starts asking around what is going to be done for the man who defeats Goliath, and still doesn’t go out after hearing it, but ensures he gets an audience with the king himself to make sure he will receive what he is owed after the battle. Clearly David was interested in/concerned about the material reward he was going to get for performing this feat for the Lord. We see this even further after the battle when David stashes Goliath’s armor in his tent. There is no way that Goliath’s armor would ever fit David, but it would certainly be valuable, so David makes sure to get what is rightfully his for his victory.

The important thing we see in David is a proper priority and balance. David was motivated first and foremost by his love for and faith in the Lord. He didn’t hear about the reward, covet it, and then try to manipulate God into giving him what he wanted, or decide to give it a shot and hope God came through. This isn’t like a Christian hearing that the lottery jackpot is up to $1 billion and praying and saying, “God, if you make this ticket the winner, I will give 90% of the winnings to your work. Just think how much good that money could do if you gave it to me!” David was motivated to protect the honor of the Lord’s name, and knew, by faith, that he could trust God to deliver Goliath into his hand, but if Saul was offering a reward for it, why wouldn’t he capitalize on that?? This is conjecture on my part, but based on what we see and know of him, I’m betting David would have gone out to face Goliath even if there was no reward, but my point is that it wasn’t wrong for him to desire the reward for his going.

One example of this that came to mind as I was thinking about it is pastors. There are folks out there who are working hard, faithfully teaching the Word and pastoring a church, but who aren’t paid for it, and so they still work their regular job to pay the bills and do this ministry work for free. There are also many pastors out there who are able to earn a living from the ministry they are doing, and that can be an incredible thing. Imagine how many more opportunities it could open up for folks in that first group if they didn’t have to put in their hours at their regular job to be able to provide for their family and were able to put more effort and energy into the ministry God has before them? I see these people a lot like David, willing to go out and do the work that needs done, but if they are able to get paid for it, wonderful!

But then there are also way too many pastors out there that are really just in it for the reward. You hear about these kind of mega-church pastors, pulling down ridiculous salaries, driving luxury cars, living in mansions, and flying around on their private jets. Rather than being concerned for the glory and honor of the Lord, His church is merely a means to a very lucrative end. And as extreme of an example as they are, I think they make the point well that being motivated by the reward rather than by the Lord is wrong.

When we talk about David desiring the reward, the reward was not what he was after first and foremost, and it should be the same for us. We do not step out to serve the Lord only if/when we are going to earn rewards or be paid for our work, though God does promise to reward us for every work we do for Him. I guess my point in this post is just to say that while it should not be our primary motivation, it is not bad, wrong, or immature at all to desire the reward for our work when it is available.