Orig. 11/13/02
2SA 4:1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2 Now Saul's son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Recab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin--Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3 because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have lived there as aliens to this day.
I wish I had a dollar for every lure I lost because of a bad cast.
As a young boy learning how to fish one of my greatest fears about fishing with dad was the inevitable lost lure. Here is something you probably know; when you lose a lure is it either the fish’s fault (proverbial big one that got away), the line’s fault (frayed, cheap or too light), or your fault. Of those three guess which one is left standing with pole in hand, line dangling aimlessly in the wind, and holding the pole? In my case it was a chubby (mom called me “husky”) little third grader.
Dad used to get so mad at me! But deep down he knew that to be a great fisherman you have to throw the lure close to shore and often times that meant getting snagged. As I learned the art of casting during those childhood years at Lopez, Nacimiento and Santa Margarita Lakes I think I lost way more lures than I ever caught fish!
I owe my dad BIG time!
As I read 2 Samuel 4:1 we learn that a man will often cast his courage to another man. We tend to trust the courage of our leaders don’t we? However, Jesus said, “strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered (Matthew 26:31).” The sheep are scattered when they have cast their courage onto a leader and not their God.
People will eventually let us down. Courage that gets cast in the wrong direction is lost.
No matter how smart, godly, moral or strong every man will eventually disappoint us by virtue of their humanity. Humanity is the fatal flaw of the greatest of men. Man’s humanity cannot be trusted. Even the great warrior Abner had a fatal flaw. He could bleed-and bleed he did. When our trust for strength, protection and victory rests on the shoulders of a mere man we will learn the hard way that no man can carry this burden. Maybe that is why Jesus beckons us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30).”
Like hundreds of dad’s lures if you cast your courage in the wrong direction (upon the shoulders of a man) you will eventually, inevitably, lose it.
To place all your trust in man is to neglect God. The phrase “lost courage (1)” literally means, “his hands dropped”. In other words, he fell victim to a bad cast. His shoulders slumped in defeat, His head hung low. His spirit was broken. His once clenched fist was opened in surrender.
He dropped his sword instead of falling on it.
To truly have courage a man must have an object of trust that will not fray with constant use or snap under the smallest snag. A man must discover the power that comes from casting our courage upon The One that will never fail.
“Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).”
