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Today we are looking at Chapter 1 of 2 Samuel.  This book begins where 1 Samuel left off.  Simply, turn the page and keep reading.

In verses 1-16, we read that David returns to the town of Ziklag and learns from an Amalekite that both king Saul and Jonathan are dead. The man shows up to tell David what he thinks will be good news. The man probably thinks that David will be somewhat happy after all that David had to endure from King Saul. David had more reasons to kill Saul than anyone, yet he passed up the opportunity to do so two times. We would think that Saul’s deaths would be a huge relief to David, but this would underestimate his character. He lived out what the Lord Jesus taught His disciples, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45).

David ends the chapter, verses  17-27 with a Lament. A lament is an expression of sorrow and mourning. A “lamentation” is a sad song. David wrote deep, emotional, painful, hard words from his heart for Saul and Jonathan.

We have read about the unique strong friendship of David and Jonathan, so it is not surprising that David mourns his friend. However, you wouldn’t think this was a song written about a man who was trying to kill David.

We can learn from David’s example. We should look for the best in people, hoping to God that they will repent from sin and turn to him. We must love our enemies (Saul) and our friends (Jonathan) until the day they die, trusting God for the best in their lives.

In this first chapter we see David lament his losses and seek the Lord during yet another time of trial in his life. This is a great example for us today. We should turn to Christ despite terrible situations where our emotions may run rampant and try to control us. David knew what sorrow was. In Isaiah 53:3, Christ is called “a man of sorrows”. Because of this, we can turn to Jesus no matter the situation because He will know perfectly well what we are going through.

Also for todays reading…Psalm 33…

Today, in 1 Samuel 31, we see the death of Saul.  His death wasn’t just any death, either.  Saul suffered the greatest defeat.  Quick and painless, it was not.  To start, Saul watched as his army was overcome by the Philistines.  Their press forward caused many of the Israelite warriors to simply give up the cause.  They fled, abandoning Saul, their leader.  The few loyal warriors were Saul’s own family.  But, instead of comfort, they brought pain as he witnesses their slaying at the hand of the Philistines.  As the pain becomes too much to bear, Saul  concedes that the end is near.  The emotional defeat is complete and the physical is not far behind.  With the piercing pain of arrows, Saul is badly wounded.  His last effort to save a shred of dignity is to have his trusted aid kill him.  When the man refuses, Saul has no other choice.  The only way to escape more torment is to fall on his own sword.  Death is the only option.

I’ve wrestled with this story for several days.  The despair is overwhelming.  The complete absence of hope crushes my spirit.  I read and re-read it searching desperately for something redeeming.  It’s not there.  It doesn’t exist.  I am forced to accept Saul’s complete destruction.  Thankfully, today I discovered something new.  It appeared for me as I read the Chet Bandy’s post, “Leadership Lessons From David.”  He presented a picture of David’s life that stands in such stark contrast to Saul’s.  

Saul took action following his own direction.  In 1 Samuel 13, Saul decided to offer the sacrifice on his own, and not follow Gods plan for it.  Compare this with David who took action by after the Lord’s direction.

Saul used his own wisdom and made a ridiculous vow in 1 Samuel 14.  It caused needless suffering and turmoil within his own family.  David, however asked for the Lord’s wisdom and direction.

Saul made excuses for not following God’s direction, attempting to twist the failure into an offering in 1 Samuel 15.  David, on the other hand, makes no excuses and quickly seeks correction in 1 Samuel 24.

Saul solicits answers from a medium and not going to the Lord in prayer in 1 Samuel 28.  Contrast this with Davids effort.  In 1 Samuel 30:6 he seeks and finds strength in the Lord. 

Perhaps the most striking part of Saul’s story is the ease at which it happened.  It reminds me of the phrase first slowly, then suddenly.  You see, God didn’t yank him from the throne immediately.  In fact, our gracious God stuck with him, desperately wanting to atone for him.  Alas, Saul did not respond.  His continual denial, betrayal and last rejection of God became his undoing.

Ironically, my final analysis of 1 Samuel 31 revealed hope.  This hope, however, is only found within the context of Saul’s entire life.  It’s revealed in God’s grace upon grace.  God presented grace as patience toward Saul, waiting for his acknowledgement.  The same is true for you and me.  We have grace today for our failures.  God still loves us, despite our failure to follow and honor him.  Only one thing is required to stave off death.  Acknowledge Him.

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 (ESV)

Psalm 29, 1 Samuel 28

In 1 Samuel 28, Saul, at the end of his rope, visits a medium to get advice on how to salvage his kingdom. He has the nerve to ask for Samuel to be called up from the dead in hopes that the prophet will give him useful knowledge from beyond the grave.

This is a really unusual event – Samuel actually appears from the dead and prophesies to Saul. But the prophesy doesn’t do Saul any good. Saul wanted knowledge that would help him  win, but that isn’t why God gives us his word. God gives us his word to teach us that he alone is God and that we have no hope outside of him.

God speaks directly to us through scripture. Do we actually want to hear what he has to say? Is our desire to hear some additional word (outside of scripture) a sign of our devotion, or instead is it a desire to ignore what has already been revealed through scripture?

Lord, help me to listen to your word with an open heart and open mind. Please help me to seek you first, and not to look for truth in other places. Thank you for sending Jesus to take away our sins, and for the promise of forgiveness.

 

Good Morning, it’s another Monday! Thank you for starting your week with Bible Journal. Today’s readings are: 1 Samuel 27 and Psalms 28. After reading today’s chapter in 1 Samuel, I found myself getting a little confused about the whole Saul and David story. I know most of our readers are way beyond my level of experience and knowledge of the Bible, but just in case…here’s a recap:

While Saul is still king, Samuel appoints David as the next king of Israel. As a young man David slays Goliath the champion of Philistine. During this time he develops a friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son. When Saul realizes that Samuel has appointed David as the future king he gets super jealous. After that Saul works really hard to chase David around and kill him. In today’s reading, David has fled to Ziklag (the land of the Philistines) in order to avoid Saul. Spoiler alert: Saul is eventually takes his own life in the face of eminent death (Chapter 31 if you want to check it out).

So this is the second time that David has sought refuge in Philistine territory under the protection of King Achish. Since David is out of the country, Saul stops the chase as the immediate threat to his throne is gone. Of course, it’s easy to view David as this righteous guy that is just doing his best to follow God’s command whilst simultaneously avoiding his jealous predecessor. Indeed, in Acts 13:22 God refers to David as a man after His own heart:

“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him:’I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts:13:22

I’m starting to feel a little jealous of David too now that we know how much God trusted in him! David has a lot of admirable qualities: shepherd, giant killer, poet and king. But alongside that list of wonderful qualities is another list of not so great qualities: betrayer, liar, adulterer, and even murderer. Yet what we remember about this great king is his humbleness before God. David’s failings may resonate with you far more than his greatness in the eyes of God. But I read something in my study Bible this week that changed this notion for me: David, more than anything else, had an unchangeable belief in the faithful and forgiving nature of God. David never took God’s forgiveness lightly or his blessing for granted. In return, God never held back from David either his forgiveness or the consequences of his actions. David experienced the joy of forgiveness even when he had to suffer the consequences of his sins.” (NIV Study Bible).

 If that didn’t just change your life, read it again. God never held back his forgiveness or the consequences of David’s actions. So David experienced the joy of forgiveness as a result of suffering the consequences of his sins. God brought this lesson home for me in a real way this morning before I sat down to write.

Our seven year old decided to test some boundaries related to obedience this weekend. I found myself getting so angry with him when he smirked while refusing to go upstairs and get dressed for bed. When I took away his iPad and the TV he said, “Sure, I can live with that, no problem!” I had to take a deep breath and pray for guidance. When more sassy words came my way this morning I decided to give our little guy just what he was asking for, I made him a grown up for the day. After an hour of folding laundry it was on to dishes. Then bathroom scrubbing, bed making and finally meal planning. When we arrived at the grocery store I pulled up in front of Meijer, handed him his shaky misspelled list and said, “pick you up in an hour!” That’s when he cracked, he sobbed all the way home in his car seat. Only then could we have a clear conversation about authority, obedience, humility and respect. It was so hard to wield that consequence all day. I just wanted to relent and give him back his screen or let him go outside to play. But God gave me the strength and the wisdom to understand that there cannot be joy and redemption in forgiveness if my little one didn’t first understand and experience the consequence. David learned from his sins because he accepted the suffering they brought. Too often we don’t learn from our mistakes and thus get stuck in the same sin again and again. As we start another fresh week, I challenge you to ask yourself, what changes do you need to make for God to find obedience in you?

 

 

 

Today’s reading:  1 Samuel 24, Psalm 25

Chapter 24 of 1 Samuel opens with Saul and three thousand troops headed out to search for David. Ever since David killed Goliath in Chapter 17, women began to praise David more than Saul, and Saul was enraged with jealousy.  He was desperately trying to track down and get rid of David.  Hence, David was running for his life.

The plot became more interesting in verse 3 when Saul entered the cave in which David was hiding. He didn’t know David was in there, he was simply answering “the call of nature” and needed a semi-private place to go to the bathroom.  In short, this was David’s perfect opportunity.  God seemingly delivered Saul right into his hands.  Instead of running away, David could have gone on the offensive, taken out Saul, and claimed the throne that was coming to him anyway, right?

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? I’ll be honest, I can’t identify exactly.  I’ve never been in such a desperate situation where I had to run and/or hide from someone who was literally trying to kill me.  I have, however, been in situations where people were jealous.  Where others didn’t like me or what I stood for and, as a result, tried to harm me.  In most of these cases, I’ve had to make a choice between getting revenge and pursuing reconciliation.  My heart often wanted revenge while my head always knew reconciliation was the right choice.

Let’s take a closer look at how David worked through this this situation. We know he went on to be the greatest King God’s people ever had.  The Bible refers to him as “a man after God’s own heart”.  Because he sought reconciliation instead of revenge, he produced a completely unexpected outcome in this situation.

• David made every effort to show mercy to his enemy (1 Samuel 24: 7-11) – In this case, David respected Saul’s position of power. Although Saul was trying to kill him, David knew it wasn’t right to take the life of another, especially God’s anointed King. He didn’t harm Saul, nor would he let any of his men harm Saul even though the opportunity was right in front of them.
• David made every effort to communicate and build understanding with his enemy (1 Samuel 24:12-15) – By revealing the piece of robe he cut off, David helped Saul understand the opportunity he had to kill him. He went on to clearly profess his commitment to God’s authority, and allowed God to judge the situation.
• David made every effort to be reconciled with his enemy (1 Samuel 24:16-22) – When Saul realized David’s genuine intent to make good from Saul’s evil actions, he asked David to have mercy on his family and descendants. David promised to honor Saul’s request, even after what Saul had done to him. In 2 Samuel 9, we will see David’s follow through on this promise when he invited Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, to live in his palace.

Will you take a few minutes to reflect on David’s approach and his commitment to honor his promises? He humbled himself, returned good for evil, turned hate into honor, and glorified God through a hopeless situation.  This is an example worth following.

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6:27-28).