TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, Week May 2-8, 2022, “David's Military Strategy”, Prepared Speech.

TREASURES OF THE BIBLE, May 2-8, 2022, “David's Military Strategy,” Prepared Speech.

"David's Military Strategy" (10 min.)

What is a strategy? According to a dictionary, it says: that it is a series of very thoughtful actions directed towards a certain end. So we are talking about planning very carefully with a goal. And why are we going to talk about strategy?

Please see your activity guide, the one for this week of May 2-8, and our activity guide in the Treasures of the Bible section under the picture. At present, the authorities could place restrictions on the Kingdom work and ask us for information about our brothers.

Do you see the expression in What time is it located? In the future?. No, in the present. It says "currently". So from one moment to another, our work can be banned. Prohibited preaching, meetings. What are we going to do? That's what we're going to talk about in Treasures of the Bible: "David's Military Strategy."

Let's see how to apply what this man did in the past so that right now, but now, we are ready with our strategy for himself, in the event that from one moment to another, that tomorrow our work is banned, that we must be already doing This young David was not king yet, but he was going to be, so in the future, at some point he would be. How did he prepare for that moment?. 

LET'S READ: 1 Samuel 27:5,7.

5 Then David said to Akish, “If it's okay with you, I'd like to get a place to live in one of the towns in the countryside. For why should your servant live with you in the royal city? 6 And on that day Akish gave him Ziklag. That is why Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 The time that David lived in the rural area of ​​the Philistines was one year and four months.

Well, what did David do? He went to King Akis. He was a Philistine and asked to live in a rural area, and they gave him Ziklag. This Ziklag. This city was in the middle of the territory of Philistia. It was Philistia's property, but they gave it to David. What happened there? Well, when David lived in Ziklag, the Philistines thought that David was on his side.

And what did King Saul think? Well, David could be his enemy and if he messed with him, maybe he was going to have problems with all the Philistines. It was a fantastic strategy because David chose to live in a place where no one could touch him and where everyone thought differently. What can we do to apply? Well, we want to prepare ourselves for any moment that something can arise in terms of governments and attack the people of God. Be prepared to know how to act.

For example, in the 2019 Watchtower magazine, in the month of July, page 11, paragraph 11, the slave gave a very practical suggestion. What was that suggestion? The paragraph literally says: «Jehovah has promised that his servants will be well fed in a spiritual sense. So we can be sure that his organization will do everything possible to give us what we need to be faithful. But we can also do something. When there is a ban, let us find a safe place to hide the Bible and other publications. Let's be careful never to leave that valuable information, whether in paper or digital format, where it's easy to find."

I ask you the question, do you have a place where you believe that spiritual information should be kept so that when you are looking for it in your house, you do not find it and that you easily find it? We want to act carefully. That is a strategy to take care of our spirituality and, of course, our spiritual nourishment. How about we analyze it as a family and think about what would be the safest place and almost impossible for enemies to find it. That is strategy.

LET'S READ: 1 Samuel 27:8,9.

8 And David went up with his men to attack the Gesurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, because they lived in the region that went from Telam to Sur and as far as the land of Egypt. 9 When David attacked the region, he left neither male nor female alive. But he took the herds, the cows, the donkeys and the camels, and also the clothes. Then he would go back to Akís.

As we have already seen, he lived in Ziklag and he attacked strategic places to keep clean the territory that would belong to him as the ruler. Although he lived as a fugitive, but he always looked for the opportunity to know the strategy of the enemies. Thinking about it a bit in our days, do you read how some governments attack witnesses, what is the first thing they take away from them? And we begin to prepare ourselves for, if that arises, what should we do?

Remember what the activity guide says. Today the authorities could put restrictions on the kingdom work and ask us for information about our brothers. You have to act now. We cannot wait for a situation to arise and we just try to act. The strategy is now. But let's see a third very interesting point. What did David do about giving details to others?

LET'S READ: 1 Samuel 27:10,12.

10 Then Akís asked him: “What places did you attack today?” And David answered him: “The south of Judah”, or “The south of the territory of the Jerahmeelites”, or “The south of the territory of the Kenites”. 11 David killed every man and woman so that none of them would be taken to Gath, because he said: “It is not going to be that they denounce us and say 'David did this and that'”. (This was his tactic all the time he lived in the Philistine countryside.) 12 Akis believed David and thought, "Surely his people Israel hate him now, so he will always be my servant."

See the point? When King Akis asked him. Where did you attack? He spoke of territories of Judah, of Israel. But it wasn't true. He was attacking Philistine territory and killing all the people so no one would tell him what David was doing. Question: Was David lying?

No, you have to understand perfectly what it means to lie. And if we go to the Insight book in volume 2, page 368, paragraph 6, it says this: “The fact that malicious lying is clearly condemned in the Bible does not mean that a person is obliged to divulge true information to someone who has no right to know it. ».

When David was asked, which city did you attack? Another said, Was he lying? No, Abraham, Issac. They said that his wives were his sisters. When Rahab was told, Where are the spies? He said they ran away. Go after him. But the spies were there, on top of his house. None of them gave precise information, because those people had no right to know.

How to prepare ourselves in our days? How about in Family Adoration we talk about what we are going to do if that time comes. And remember, our activity guide says: Currently, authorities may place restrictions on the kingdom work. Now, let's act like David. Let us prepare ourselves with our spiritual strategy so that Jehovah blesses us and we are loyal both to Jehovah and to our brothers.