Mighty men do mighty things. They are winners, and their names are in the headlines of news reports. But this story is not about being strong and winning medals, which you must leave behind when you die. Would you like to know what the Bible says about these three mighty men in our story? First, I will tell you that the Bible doesn’t tell us their names, but the story is still true even if we don’t know their names.
David was God’s choice to rule over Israel, but he was hunted like a deer in deer hunting season. King Saul hated David, and his most important plan was to kill him. However, nobody can kill God’s choice! Right through King Saul’s bad words, javelin attacks and evil plots that didn’t work, God’s choice lived on, until King Saul died in battle. Then David was crowned king. God’s plans can never be broken!
This story from the Bible is thousands of years old, but God recorded it because He wants you to know something important. God’s Man is the Lord Jesus Christ, and nobody can or ever will change this. One day very soon, Jesus will be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. What does He mean to you today—right now?
The three mighty men were close to David, so close that they heard not only his commands but his wishes. Jesus wants you to be close to Him too. But are you clean enough to be there? If the precious blood of Jesus has washed away your sins, you certainly are clean, and He wants your close company!
When David was a boy, he lived in Bethlehem, and, as a man, he remembered the well of water right beside the gate to the city. But now David was in a cave, hiding from King Saul. His three mighty men, who also were in hiding with David in the cave, heard David say that he longed for a drink of clear water from that well at Bethlehem. But there was a problem—the Philistine enemies were guarding that well! However, if David wanted a drink of water from that well, those three men decided they would find a way to get it for him. They were about to put into action what James 1:2222But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22) tells us: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
Never mind the enemy guarding the well; those three mighty men were true-hearted to David. They broke through the enemy camp and found the well. Somehow they drew the water up from the well and ran back with it to David—the very water that he longed for. They received no medal of honor for their success. If David was pleased, that was enough of a thank-you.
Is it enough for you and me to please Jesus, even if nobody else knows? I don’t know your name, but Jesus does, and He will never forget what you do for Him.
David was only a man, and when he received that water from his three mighty men, it was just too valuable for him to drink. He knew those three men had risked their lives to bring him that water from the well at Bethlehem, and he would not drink it. Instead, he poured it out on the ground as an offering before the Lord.
Were the three men disappointed? I don’t think so. They didn’t bring that water to David for the honor it might bring them; they brought it for the pleasure it would give David. And they saw how much David valued it.
David had many mighty men, but none of them accomplished what these three men did for David that day. And we don’t even know their names!
You may read this story for yourself in 1 Chronicles 11:15-1915Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 16And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem. 17And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate! 18And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord, 19And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest. (1 Chronicles 11:15‑19).
ML-10/19/2014