The Baggage Keeper

Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers.

1 Samuel 17:22 (NASB)

How easy is it to release a suitcase onto the conveyor belt at a busy airport check-in counter with the possibility of never seeing it again? Airport baggage handlers are trained and responsible to correctly tag luggage for airline flights, but there are no guarantees that suitcases will travel on the same flight and be available to reclaim on the other end.

It’s difficult for me to leave things in someone else’s care.

Recently, the account of David and Goliath in chapter 17 of 1 Samuel caught my attention in a fresh way. Leading up to David’s encounter with the giant Philistine, David’s father, Jesse, instructed David to get some supplies together to take to his older brothers at the battle camp. Verse 20 tells us that David left his flock of sheep with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him.

As I read through verse 22, I realized I want to have a trusting heart like young David did. He obeyed his father, and twice left his responsibilities with “keepers.” Then he ran to the battle line, unrestrained.

Corrie ten Boom, who endured faith-stretching suffering in a concentration camp during WWII, reflected after the death of her sister:  “I have learned to hold everything loosely, because when I grip them tightly, it hurts when the Father pries my fingers loose and takes it from me.”

Early Church reformist, Martin Luther said, “I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” 

The One Who keeps us waits for us to release all of our “stuff” to Him in order that we may complete the race set before us.

Father, may I grow in faith and leave everything in Your capable hands.

Karen Sims