Tagging Along With Jesus

# 361 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 26:5,6, “So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him. 6 Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."(1 Sam 26:5,6) Please note where Saul and Abner were sleeping. They were in the middle of their troops. The only way to get to them was to sneak through all the others. What a foolhardy mission! Yet, David decides to go down to Saul. That means that he must tiptoe through the whole camp in order to stand next to him. What is he thinking? What can such a dangerous move gain for him? What can he possibly hope to accomplish? I ask you again to think in terms of types. David is a type of Christ and Saul a type of Satan. Jesus tiptoed into our world (the devils camp) in a manger in a little town called Bethlehem. The devil, (like Saul seeking to destroy David) sought to destroy Jesus. First through Herod in Bethlehem, then through temptation in the wilderness and Gethsemane, and finally on a cross outside Jerusalem. It was in Jesus' power (as it was in David's power to kill Saul on several occasions) to destroy the devil at any time. He often demonstrated this power over the devil as he cast out demons and healed people of their diseases. But like David, He leaves the timing of the ultimate destruction of Satan to the Father. This mission of David's serves as a picture of what Jesus has done to the devil. And is clarified for us in Col 2:12-15, “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Through baptism and faith we are like Abishai, responding to David's invitation to come along to the enemy's camp, confident of ultimate success, only we are confidently tagging along with Jesus. Father, thank You for reminding us again of the victory we have in Jesus.

Don't Assume, Get the Facts

# 360 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 26:3,4, “And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had indeed come.” Saul continues his on again off again pursuit of David. Today I want to spend a little time noting David's response. In verse three, we read that David “saw that Saul was coming after him.” Then in verse four we read “therefore,” in other words “because” David observed that Saul was coming after him, he sent out spies, and his spies then reported back to him confirming the report. “Saul indeed has come!” David noticed the activity of Saul, but even though it was likely that Saul was after him, he didn't just make that assumption. Rather, he sent spies to find out what Saul's objective was. The spies, (more than one, (two or three witnesses if you will) Were able to confirm to David, that Saul was indeed seeking military engagement. This is such a valuable lesson for all of us. It is so much easier to act on assumptions rather than getting involved to the point of actually knowing all the facts. We see it all the time on Facebook and other social media. Someone gets righteously riled up by a post and immediately re-post’s it as gospel truth. Or we hear the rumors around the water cooler at work, or in the narthex and lobbies of churches, and even in our prayer circles, and tongues start to wag. Oh the damage that is done when we speak and act on mere assumptions. We need to get a lot better at closing our yappers until we have gotten all the facts. Pr 18:13 says, “He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.” And in Pr 24:28 we read, “Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, For would you deceive with your lips?” And in De 19:15 we read, "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Father, forgive me for all the times I have spoken hastily. Holy Spirit guard my lips today from speaking before I know all the facts.

Pray For the Atheists

# 359 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 26:1,2, “Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?" 2 Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph. (1 Sam 26:1,2) These Ziphites continue to be a thorn in the side of David. They continually seek to rile up the government (Saul) in order to remove David from their midst. They remind me of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Annie Gaylor, Richard Dawkins, and other famous atheists who made it their mission to remove Christianity from the public square. Sometimes we Christians get all riled up against these people who seem to be so hell-bent on attacking our faith, but we should be much more concerned about their souls. The Bible has some strong words to say about atheists. Ps 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." Ps 14:1“ and in Pr 28:26, we read, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” In the end, the believer (one who walks wisely) is delivered while the atheist faces an eternity of torment. Unbelief is the sin, that bars one from heaven. Heb 3:12-19 says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Chilling words. Barred from heaven and eternal bliss, due to the hardened heart of unbelief. Father, in Your mercy we implore You to keep pursuing the lost.

The Daily Du-votional: Marriage God's Way

The Daily Du-votional: Marriage God's Way: # 358 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:39b-44, “And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the s...

Marriage God's Way

# 358 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:39b-44, “And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying, "David sent us to you, to ask you to become his wife." 41 Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, "Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42 So Abigail rose in haste and rode on a donkey, attended by five of her maidens; and she followed the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and so both of them were his wives. 44 But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim. (1 Sam 25:39b-44) If you recall, David started out with Michal, Saul's daughter as his first wife, but then Saul took her away from him and gave her to Palti. So David, now without a wife, is presented with an opportunity to remedy that and perhaps stricken by the inner beauty and grace of Abigail, asks for her hand in marriage. Abigail is no fool, she knows that the lot of the widow in these early biblical times is not good. SO she hastened on her way to become his wife. But David doesn't stop there. He also marries Ahinoam, who incidentally bears his first child, Amnon. But David doesn't stop there. We read in 1 Chron 3:1-9, of at least five more wives, and numerous unnamed concubines. Multiple wives and concubines was an accepted practice in the world he lived in, but it was never sanctioned by God, who set the standard in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and then reiterated it through Jesus. We read about it in Mt 19:3-6, “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." David's marital practices were greatly influenced by the world, sadly, it seems we are under the same ungodly influence today. “ Father, forgive us for our failures in dealing with this “institution that you love,” and help us to regain a right understanding of Your idea of marriage. “

The Daily Du-votional: The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

The Daily Du-votional: The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit: # 357 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:39a, “So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who h...

The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

# 357 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:39a, “So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the LORD has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head." (1 Sam 25:39a) Remind me not to have David give the eulogy at my funeral! I mean, this is just not the sort of thing we say about people when they die! Think about what David is really saying here. “Thank You Lord for giving that rich old fool Nabal what he deserves for insulting me and my heritage!” This is not something that you or I have license to say about anyone, because the fact is, we are all sinners. We are all, like Nabal, rich fools who have constantly insulted the richness of God's grace with sin. We justly deserve what Nabal got. It is only by God's mercy that we have been spared. With that said, let's look a little deeper here at this eulogy of David's. David says that God has “pleaded the cause of my reproach.” In a legal sense, the phrase means to wrestle with, to grab by the hair. The picture is this: God has wrestled with Nabal, justly found him guilty of reproach, and tossed him out of the ring of life. His crime was his “reproach” of David. The word means, harsh treatment arising from haughtiness or contempt. This contempt was spewed out in 1 Sam 25:10, when Nabal said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?” Nabal should have paid more attention to David's family tree and he would've known who David, the Son of Jesse was, and who would one day come forth from his loins! Had he really known, he wouldn't have spoken so contemptuously. You see, in reproaching David, Nabal was “speaking evil” of the lineage of Jesus, and that is blasphemy. Jesus said in Mt 12:31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. I know of fewer verses in all of Scripture that cause believers to wonder and tremble, “Have I committed this unpardonable sin?” But hear me. If you have any concern that you have somehow committed this sin in an irreversible way.......you haven't. Your very concern speaks of spiritual life in your soul. Father, console Your people with this truth today.