Hint: It’s the opposite of what criminals call a “rat.”

Have you ever wondered why God would give such favor to a guy like King David?

He was a violent man, with lots of blood on his hands. He was also an adulterer, murderer and driven to get even with his enemies to his dying day.

Yet, God called him “a man after my own heart.” In 1 Kings 11:4, 6, 38, God repeatedly wrote glowingly of David:

“For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been … So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as his father David had done … Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.”

Despite all that David did, he never switched his loyalty to other gods.

On the other hand, David’s son, Solomon, did it all — all bad — seeking other gods, not following God, not listening, not walking in obedience, not doing what is right.

But the biggie was seeking other gods, being grossly disloyal. It didn’t end well. His father did ever so much better, but not without severe moral lapses.

Sadly, disloyalty is smeared on nearly every page of the Bible.

Here are just a few examples:

• The Devil and his angelic associates rebel against God in the Heavens
• Adam and Eve rebel in the Garden of Eden
• Cain refuses God’s warning and murders Abel.
• The whole Tower of Babel episode
• The Israelites worship the golden calf
• King Saul continuously disobeys God’s commands
• Israel’s repeated idolatry in the time of the Judges
• Jeroboam creates rival altars and false worship
• Judas betrays Jesus
• Peter denies Jesus three times

Fortunately, there were glowing exceptions.

• Abraham offers Isaac
• Moses chooses God over Egypt’s power
• David refuses to kill Saul — twice
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow
• Daniel prays despite the king’s decree
• Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal
• Mary submits to God’s plan
• Jesus in Gethsemane
• Paul counting all things loss for Christ
• Countless martyrs throughout the ages

“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” — Job 13:15

What are we to take from this?

The first lesson is that God regards the loyalty of his saints as a priceless treasure. He also uses disloyalty as a disqualifying factor for His blessings.

Even today, treason (the opposite of loyalty) is often a capital offense.

In addition, adultery (another word for disloyalty) is an offense that usually incurs extremely serious consequences.

Disloyalty is what gets under God’s “skin” the most. He can deal with many other sins with temporal consequences (as He did with David) but He seems to view disloyalty as most serious.

Of course, God can forgive any sin including Peter’s failures IF the offender returns in repentance.

But what makes disloyalty so damaging is not so much what it does to God (we can’t hurt Him, but we can grieve Him), but what it does to the offender.

For example, people who reject the Truth and go into atheism or religious cults seldom ever come back to their senses.

In The Unseen Realm, the late Bible scholar Michael Heiser teaches that salvation has always been by faith, but genuine faith is expressed through loyalty to the true God — refusing to give allegiance to any other gods.

Obedience to the Law was never a means of earning salvation; it was the expression of believing loyalty.

How About You?

There is a good reason that we erect statues and monuments to those brave men and women who, out of loyalty to their country, put their lives on the line for the cause of freedom. Their unselfish bravery inspires us all.

Why then is it such a stretch to offer the same loyalty to our God, who abandoned the comforts of Heaven and gave His life for largely ungrateful and often hostile sinners?

Are you perhaps still “on the fence” about Jesus? Still questioning the Bible? Undecided about God’s existence? Still trying to hedge your spiritual bets? Or is it FOMO?

Of course, God is patient and will do everything necessary to deal with your doubts, but remember Romans 1:19-20:

“… because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

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