Wednesday Thought -- October 5, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart.  He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.  Saul then said to his attendants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.’  ‘There is one in Endor,’ they said.  So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman.  ‘Consult a spirit for me,’ he said, ‘and bring up for me the one I name.’" (1 Samuel 28:5-8)

Sometimes God doesn’t answer when you want Him to.  He didn’t for Saul.  The Philistine army had come to do battle against the army of Israel.  When Saul came out to face them, he saw the size and power of the Philistine army and he was afraid.  The first place Saul turned in this fear was to the Lord.  He inquired of the Lord to find out how he should respond to the Philistine challenge.  Should he negotiate a peace, flee in fear, or stand and fight?  But God did not answer Saul’s inquiry.

The question then became, “What would Saul do next?”  Would he wait patiently for direction to come from the Lord?  Would he make his own decision without the Lord’s direction?  Would he seek direction from a source other than the Lord?

Saul chose the third course to follow.  Rather than wait for the Lord, putting his trust in Him, he sought direction from a medium.  Saul asked her to bring Samuel back from the dead so that Saul could ask him for direction.

I doubt that many of us have ever or would ever turn to a medium for direction or have anyone try to consult with the dead for us.  But when the Lord is silent, are there other places you turn for direction?

What Saul should have done was to find out why the Lord was silent and attempt to deal with whatever was revealed.  The Lord was silent because of Saul’s heart of sin and rebellion against him.  The silence might well have been lifted if Saul had repented.  But Saul was unwilling to consider that the problem might have been his.  He determined it was the Lord’s problem that kept Him silent and he turned to others for direction.

When God seems silent in your own life: 

(1)   Consider if there is anything in your life that might hinder the Lord from providing the direction you seek.

(2)   Wait patiently for the Lord to provide the direction you need.

(3)   Refuse to seek direction from any other source that would be displeasing to the Lord.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- October 4, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

Saul and his army pursued David and those who had gathered around him.  Saul was intent on killing David.  David fled from place to place seeking safety.  He stayed for a time in the desert region of En Gedi near the Dead Sea and Saul came pursuing him there.  During that time an easy opportunity to kill Saul was presented to David.

“He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.  The men said, ‘This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.”’  Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.  Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.  He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’  With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul.  And Saul left the cave and went his way.” (1 Samuel 24:3-7)

David did not take advantage of the opportunity to kill Saul.  He was unwilling to take matters into his own hands.  Saul had been appointed by God to be king, and David refused to be the one who would remove Saul from the position to which God had appointed him.  David called out to Saul from a distance and said to him,

“‘My lord the king!’  When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.  He said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen when men say, “David is bent on harming you”?  This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave.  Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, “I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.”  See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you.  Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion.  I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.  May the Lord judge between you and me.  And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.  As the old saying goes, “From evildoers come evil deeds,” so my hand will not touch you.’” (1 Samuel 24:8-13)

David was not willing to use ungodly means to save his own life.  Instead, he chose to trust God to deal with Saul and to protect his own life.

There are many times that people are intent on doing something wrong to us.  The question is, How will we respond to their wrong?  Responding to wrong with wrong is not God’s way.  David responded to ungodliness with righteousness.  Will we?

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- October 3, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“David answered Ahimelech the priest … ‘What do you have on hand?  Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.’  But the priest answered David, ‘I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here – provided the men have kept themselves from women.’  David replied, ‘Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out.  The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy.  How much more so today!’  So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.” (1 Samuel 21:2-6)

There were strict rules regarding the use of the consecrated bread in the tabernacle of God.  It was holy to the Lord and only to be eaten by the priests.  But David and his men were very hungry and no other food was available.  When he asked for food from Ahimelech the priest, he was given the consecrated bread.  And David and his men ate that bread and were nourished by it.

Do you wonder how God felt about that act of disregard for His commanded ritual and regulations?

You don’t have to be in wonder, Jesus points back to this incident in His teaching and makes God’s opinion about it clear.  When His disciples were criticized for taking handfuls of grain from the field on the Sabbath day, Jesus responded by talking about David’s act of taking the consecrated bread.  “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’  He answered, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat.  And he also gave some to his companions.’  Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:23-28)

God’s attitude toward David’s incident tells us a great deal about God’s heart:  God loves people more than He loves ritual and regulations.  David was hungry and in need, when nothing else was available, God was not displeased when David took the consecrated bread to eat.  It’s not that the regulations were wrong, they were from God Himself.  It’s simply that God loves people more.  He always has – He always will.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- September 30, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, ‘What have I done?  What is my crime?  How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to take my life?’  ‘Never!’  Jonathan replied. ‘You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn't do anything, great or small, without confiding in me.  Why would he hide this from me?  It's not so!’  But David took an oath and said, ‘Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, “Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.”  Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.’  Jonathan said to David, ‘Whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you.’" (1 Samuel 20:1-4)

Jonathan was Saul’s oldest son.  He was heir to the throne of Israel.  By all rights, when Saul died Jonathan would become king.  If anyone should have been threatened by David it was Jonathan.  But instead of being threatened by David’s popularity and the evidence of God’s hand upon him, Jonathan was drawn to David as his closest friend.  In this passage, Jonathan puts his friendship with David above his relationship with his father.  He promises David that he would protect him from his father and warn him about his father’s secret plans.  Jonathan was promising to betray his own father!

Family relationships are important to the Lord.  The honor and respect that a son is to give his father and mother is so important to God and so critical to a stable society that God included that instruction in His Ten Commandments, the basic law of the society of those who follow Him.  God commands that children honor their parents.

But doing what is right supersedes doing what parents want.  Jonathan knew that Saul’s plotting to kill David was wrong.  It would have been wrong for Jonathan to join in the conspiracy to destroy David’s life.  It would have been wrong for Jonathan to sit idly by and allow his father’s conspiracy to go forward without warning David and allowing him opportunity to protect himself.

It must have been a difficult choice for Jonathan, but he made the right choice.  He chose to do is right instead of what his father wanted him to do.

Our hope is never to be faced with that kind of choice.  Parents should be those who lead us toward God, not away from Him.  They should instruct us in what is right and discourage us from what is wrong.  But when parents lead their children toward wrong – the right choice is to say “no” to being involved in that.  Jonathan’s example is a very positive one in that regard.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- September 29, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him.  Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.  Word came to Saul:  ‘David is in Naioth at Ramah’; so he sent men to capture him.  But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied.  Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too.  Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied.” (1 Samuel 19:18-21)

Though David had done nothing to harm Saul and had remained loyal to him, Saul still sought to kill David.  David fled from the palace and made his way to Samuel to seek guidance from him.  When Saul found out where David was hiding he sent his men there with instructions to kill David.  Three times Saul sent men to where David was hiding and all three times the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul’s men and they were stopped from killing David.  After those three attempts to kill David had failed, Saul came to where David was himself and the same thing that had happened to his men happened also to Saul.  The Spirit of the Lord came even upon Saul and he began prophesying and was unable to kill David.

When he was afraid that he would be killed, David did not recruit an army to fight Saul in order to protect himself.  He could have done that.  He was the leader of Saul’s army and under David’s leadership the army had won great battles against the Philistines.  There would have been many men willing to follow David’s leadership against a king they knew was wrong.  But David did not seek protection in that way.

David did not flee to the enemies of Israel and become a traitor to Israel.  It would have been a great victory for the Philistines to have David come over to their side.  Although he had been their enemy, perhaps they would have allowed David to join them and participate in the fight to overthrow Saul.  But David did not seek protection among the enemies of the people of Israel.

David sought protection in a strange and unlikely place.  David sought protection from Samuel, the prophet of God.  Samuel was a not a great warrior with a large army to offer David protection.  The only protection Samuel had to offer to David was the Lord.  And it was the Lord who provided the protection that David needed.

Where do you turn in times of trouble in your own life?  Do you turn to places of human help or do you turn to the Lord?  David turned to the Lord and found there exactly what he needed.  So will we!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- September 28, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army.  This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well.   When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes.  As they danced, they sang:  ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.’  Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him.  ‘They have credited David with tens of thousands,’ he thought, ‘but me with only thousands.  What more can he get but the kingdom?’  And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” (1 Samuel 18:5-9)

Saul gave in to the temptations to pride and jealousy and his sins led him down a path of self-destruction and the destruction of those around him.  Saul could have lived a life that would have been respected during his lifetime and honored after his death.  But Saul’s character was so marred by his own self-interest that he ended life as a psychotic man, both ridiculed and feared by the people he led.

Saul’s jealousy of David led him to distrust the man who would have been his most loyal follower.  David proved himself over and over in Saul’s service, and his payment from Saul was distrust and disregard.  Later in this chapter, Saul would attempt to personally kill David, a goal he continued to pursue for many years.  Yet, Saul was never able to accomplish that goal because the Lord protected David.

Saul’s jealousy was not only harmful to his reign, his reputation, and those around him, it was also harmful to Saul’s own emotional health.  He lived in fear of David. (1 Samuel 18:12)  He was constantly afraid that David would be able to wrest the kingdom from him.  That was an unfounded fear.  Although Samuel had already anointed David as the next king, David never sought to overthrow Saul’s reign.  Saul’s emotional distress was all in his head, not based in a real threat from David.

Saul’s experience has been mirrored by millions of others through the years.  Their jealousy and pride has marred their accomplishments, destroyed their emotional health, and left them without respect from those around them.

Say “no” to pride and jealousy.  Say “yes” to trusting the Lord.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- September 27, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

It was war between the Israelites and the Philistines and the battle lines were drawn – one army on each side of the valley of Elah.  On the first morning, a champion from among the Philistines marched down into the valley to challenge Israel, his name was Goliath.  "Why do you come out and line up for battle?  Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul?  Choose a man and have him come down to me.  If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." (1 Samuel 17:8-9)  It was a simple challenge.  Why should whole armies fight and many die, let the matter be settled with just a man to man fight between the best of each army.

But no one from Israel would go down to face Goliath, not even King Saul who stood a head taller than any of the rest of the Israelites.  “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” (1 Samuel 17:11)

Then a young man came into the camp, not as a soldier, but as a delivery boy.  David came bringing food for his three older brothers who were soldiers in Saul’s army.  When he arrived at the battle line to greet his brothers, he heard the challenge Goliath gave that morning, the same challenge he offered every morning.  When David heard the challenge, and the unwillingness of any Israelite to face Goliath, David offered to be the one to fight.  With no one else willing to be sent, Saul agreed to have the boy David represent Israel.

When Goliath saw David coming toward him, he mocked him because he was such a youth.  Goliath was convinced that David would be a quick victim to his superior strength.  But David’s confidence did not waver, because his confidence was not in his own strength or experience, but in the power of the Lord his God.

“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.  Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.’" (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

And the battle was the Lord’s.  With a sling and a small stone, David killed the giant.  Israel triumphed that day because of a boy sent by the king into battle against a giant.  Not because the boy was a superhero, a military prodigy, but because the boy trusted the Lord and the Lord delivered him.

The story of David and Goliath is a story of faith.  It’s a story of trusting God rather than our own intelligence, experience, and strength, even for our most difficult challenges.

I know that you’ve never faced a giant and neither have I, but we have all faced challenges.  Do we face them with faith?

His, by Grace,

Steve