By Gary Carter
I love the words of David who was nothing more than a Skip the Dishes guy delivering lunch to his brothers on the front line of battle. His willingness to serve positioned him for a life shaping event. In the face of impossible circumstances David’s words ring through history with awakening power as he declared “is there not a cause?”
His words have echoed through history at every point of conflict. It can be heard in the voices of all those who chose to take action while caught in circumstances that displayed little hope of victory. Their willingness to put it all on the line was contained in the strength of the cause.
Today we find ourselves once again faced with Davids challenge. We hear the cry for help by those caught in the pain of oppression. We have prepared and dressed for battle but now positioned at the shores of destiny we have been neutralized by the cost of engagement. We watch as the enemy challenges our collective strength. We stand distantly silent in hope that this giant will choose to change his course.
Those positioned outside a battle seek to alter outcomes with minimal risk. They assess that the risks of engagement may trigger a battle they are not motivated to fight. Others who find themselves caught in the pain and suffering of an unavoidable battle for freedom only have one cry… “Is there not a cause?”
The cause is a higher motivational force than life itself. The preservation of this cause ignites an inner strength and resolve in those who embrace it. From a position of relative safety we are inspired by those who are willing to put it all on the line
Distance becomes our safety, but we must remind ourselves that unchecked oppression will eventually find its way to our door. It has been said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
The cause is a higher motivational force than life itself.
Creating distance and minimizing risk is a short term solution. Oppression will continue to expand like a cancer until it is confronted by enough force to stop its advancements. Distance makes the battle appear to belong to others. But the cause they fight for belongs to us all!
Positioning ourselves outside of the cost of freedom doesn’t remove us from the battle, it only delays it’s arrival. A leaders role is not only to avoid conflict but to rally strength when strength is needed.
David’s words challenge us today to not look at conflict as a geographically contained battle between ethnic groups, but to stop and consider what’s truly at risk. As we consider the erosion of freedoms and values that we too hold dear, we must not allow distance to separate us from responsibility. The battle for freedom and the right to exist is an ideal that is not contained in geographical boundaries nor applicable to a select few. The loss of freedom for some, erodes freedom for us all.
Being beyond the range of missiles and under a protected airspace doesn’t stop the erosion of human rights and freedoms. Like a cancer oppression grows in a healthy host until it starts to weaken its ability to resist. The cancer of oppression wherever it’s found must be confronted and removed before it gains sufficient strength to overpower it’s host.
No nation is immune. When conflict arises we must all do a thorough checkup to make sure this deadly oppression that has surfaced over there hasn’t found opportunities to get rooted here at home. Ignoring early signs can have terminal outcomes.
As leaders we must look beyond the cost of confrontation and once again consider David’s words that cried… “is there not a cause?”