Too Nerdy For Sunday Morning Consumption

So on Sunday we're looking at a story of King David before he becomes king.  At one point he has an opportunity to kill the reigning king, King Saul, to take his 'rightful' place as king of Israel. He decides not to do so, citing the fact that Saul is still "the Lord's anointed." 

If the Lord's anointing on him is his ground for assuming the kingship, he will not trespass the Lord in reaching for the kingship.  The Lord's anointing is his raison d'etre (I've always wanted to use that phrase, never quite sure I knew what it meant. I think I got it right.)

So I was going to use this illustration ons Sunday, but it's too nerdy for general consumption. This is why you have a blog!

Here's the illustration


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When I was in college I did a little bit of study around post-modern literary theory and philosophy--I think I understood some of it, I’m kind of nerdy but this was super-nerdy stuff, beyond my nerd-dom

But one of the core tenants of post-modernity was that we’re all so stuck inside our own heads that real actual communication and understanding was pretty much impossible

That you might have got something you want to say to me but I’ve got so much noise inside my head and my own preconceptions and assumptions and frameworks that really there’s no way I can ever fully understand or connect with you

And so these philosophers would write these long books talking about communication was impossible

They’d write long books. Full of long words. Trying to communicate how it was impossible to communicate and words were useless.

They’d write books and hold lectures. Using words to talk about how we can never understand each other using words

And this is why most of you have never heard much of post-modern literary theory, at least that version of it. It never took off, it never caught traction more broadly

In part because it had within it this ridiculously self-destructive, self-undermining characteristic to it—you can’t use words to say that words don’t work, that undermines any authority you might have had.

This is why David doesn't kill Saul, even when he has the chance to do so. If his authority is going to come from the Lord, then he cannot and will not undermine that authority by going against the Lord's anointed.  The Lord will dispose of Saul when the Lord decides it is time. David, meanwhile, will wait, even though it will cost him many, many more miles of heartache and running and seemingly wasted time.