JULY 17 "TELL ME GOD'S NOT FAIR"

"They were assigned to their duties by means of sacred lots, without regard to age or rank. Lots were drawn the presence of King David". And just before that, we read "all tasks were assigned to the various groups by means of sacred lots so that no preference would be shown, for there were many qualified officials serving God in the Sanctuary". I wonder if we are doing a dis-service in our Sanctuaries today by doing the complete opposite of what David did. "I will pick and choose by preference, so you'd better ship up!" I'm sure is the mantra in many sanctuaries across North America. "If Pastor, the Worship Leader, the Assistant Pastor, The Children's Church Director, don't like you, you aint getting a chance at nothing!"  We would say, "surely there is more qualified people than this?"  And the answer would be, "yes there are, but these are the ones being shown preference!".  Our text reveals to us "there were many qualified" and to avoid hurt feelings, to be sensitive to other people, they made sure "lots were cast" so that everyone knew, that whomever ended up in service and/or Leadership, it could not be said that "favorites and politics" factored in to the decision making. In all, 24 ministry workers are selected and 24 leaders.  I am going to "assume" here that David is being guided by God, in the wisdom he is using here, in the casting of lots. You can say, "ah, that's garbage, I will pick who I want and if the others don't like it, let them leave".  However, even in the New Testament when they must pick an Apostle to replace Judas, they cast lots.  I'm sure Peter had a preference, we all do, but he did not let it factor in, Peter, in wisdom, in fairness, cast lots.  We cannot always beckon to the sensitivities of man, but when we can, we should. When we can extract our preference, for the sake of all and the better good of the Congregation or ministry, we should.  The good thing here is there are many qualified people and many qualified leaders. The good thing here is  there is a great response to want to be involved. How different this is than many Churches today where few want to be involved in ministry and service in the Church.  Could it be that they have been turned off by constant preferences and politics in the picking and choosing of who is going to be involved in what and who is going to lead? I wonder.......If we will be honest, we all have favorites, just be honest with yourself. And while we are being honest with ourselves let us also admit, that it is hard, if left to us, not to let our bias factor in, when picking and choosing, whether that be at Church, at work, in sports,  or at home, this applies everywhere. Often the picking and choosing was not at all fair and everyone that was involved, knew it. Will this affect the morale of the whole, of course! Will this affect the outcome of this next "roll call" for help, of course!  Are you finding yourself with less and less volunteers and finding yourself working more and more with the same 2 or 3 and getting closer to them and drawing further away from the rest?  Can you look at that and say, "this is a good thing".  I would hope not. Take a step back and dare to ask yourself, have I been going about this the right way? Have I allowed my bias and preference to factor in to the decisions and choices I have been making? The wisdom of David in our text and the wisdom of Peter is that when choosing workers, helpers, leaders and you are finding yourself with more than enough qualified individuals, take a step back and figure out a way, that your bias and your preferences, will not factor in and you will find over time, that you are never lacking for volunteers and helpers for the work that is before you and/or under your leadership. "all tasks were assigned to the various groups by means of sacred lots so that no preference would be shown, for there were many qualified officials serving God in the Sanctuary"