Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Samuel 15-17 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : 1st Samuel 15 … To study this passage, use the link above to read all of Chapter 15 in 1st Samuel, and especially note verse 12: … Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
My Journal for Today: As I have this morning, I hope you read through all of the three chapters in 1st Samuel through which the chronological reading plan leads us through today. We continue to see the character breakdown of Saul; and we’re introduced to Israel’s next King, … David. However, there is one focus point of application which jumped out at me today which has me under conviction; and perhaps it might help you as well if you’re reading along.
In reading Chapter 15 of 1st Samuel today, we read of Saul coming to a critical point of rebellion and disobedience against God’s will which ultimately will cause God to seek another to be the King God would anoint to lead His people … i.e.., a man after God’s own heart, whom we know will be David.
However, in today’s focus verse, i.e., 1st Samuel 15: 12, we see that Samuel, in searching for Saul in his early days of kingship, finds out that the king has built a monument to himself, probably highlighting all the victories over his nemesis enemies, the Philistines. But we also read in Chapter 15 that Saul, in winning a victory over the Amalekites, clearly ignored God’s commands and was not even able to see his own sinfulness until Samuel came to lay out the truth and rebuke the king. And by the time Samuel preached the truth to Saul and the king was able to see his own sinfulness, God moved His Spirit from Saul and as we read in Chapter 16, Samuel moved on, under God’s guidance, to find and anoint the next king of God’s chosen, … the young lad, David. And in Chapters 16-17 of 1st Samuel, we read the story of young David, and even his early victory over the giant Philistine, Goliath.
There are many great stories and applications in these three chapters which could yield powerful applications for my life or yours; but today, it’s this simple – but very self convicting – story of Saul building a memorial to himself for what God had accomplished through Saul for God’s glory. And therein springs my conviction from this reading today.
And I’m asking myself, “How many times do I make decisions or take action to lift myself in the eyes of others when it is God who should have all the credit and glory for what I’ve accomplished?” I’m afraid I’m too often guilty of trying to elevate my own image in the eyes of others when God should get all the glory for whatever I’ve accomplished. Perhaps that is something which we all need to evaluate and contemplate in our lives.
And I praise my Lord this day for keeping my tendency to build monuments to myself in check. May I be ever vigilant in seeing that anything I accomplish is because God is with me and it is HIS purposes and will which drive me to live for HIS glory.
My Prayer Today: … Thank you, LORD, for reminding me that it is for You I live and move and have my being. Amen
Showing posts with label King David. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King David. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
2010 – April 14 – A Father’s Love
Study from God’s Word… 2nd Samuel 16: 15-22; 2nd Sam. 16: 23 – 17: 4; 2nd Sam. 17: 5 – 29; 2nd Sam. 18: 1 – 33 [including today’s verse]; 2nd Samuel 19: 1 – 4 …Passage for Reflection: 2nd Samuel 18: 33 … NIV 33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!".
My Journal for Today: When you read (or have read) about the death of Absalom and his personal and political attempt to unseat and even kill his father; and then we read of David’s tender desire to spare Absalom; and we read of David’s grief over his death; … what do you glean from all of this as a take-away lesson from God’s word?
Well, there are a couple of lessons for me. One is that the sins of the father can – and often do – visit the next generation. We know how weak and immoral David was in the Bathsheba incident and cover-up; and we can speculate that David still had fondness for his son, after Absalom’s death, because he reflected on his own weaknesses and felt that he had failed being the example he should have been for his son. Perhaps, you are like I am … knowing that you could have done a better job of raising your kids; and you have great empathy and love for any weaknesses they might have which could have been attributed to the poor modeling or parenting you provided for your kids. Perhaps you did the best you could, even being a good Christian parent; and your child still turned out bad; and you grieve over their disobedience and weaknesses, willing to excuse their faults because of your past parenting.
Now, we have to look at all of this from Absalom’s viewpoint. Obviously, Absalom wasn’t able to see in David what God saw in this “man after God’s own heart.” Instead, he felt slighted in some way. Perhaps he was not given the attention (i.e., time) or affirmation which Absalom felt he deserved, especially being the son of king. How often does a preacher’s kid go bad when the pastor father gives much more time to the church and very little comes the child’s way? But whatever caused the parent/child wounding, Absalom certainly had it in for his dad, the King; and we see how this ultimately played out in the tragic and gruesome death of the King’s son as he tried to go to war with David.
If you are a parent reading this, I don’t know how your kids turned out or what attitude they hold for you as a parent. Somehow, despite much neglect and poor “dadsmanship” as a parent of our two daughters when they were very young, they turned out to be Godly, Christian women, who are currently raising their kids, along with their hubbies, in a Godly fashion. To that I can only praise God’s grace. I guess I came to a saving and sanctifying relationship with Christ in time for me to give them the parenting they needed in their formative years of growth. And my wife was certainly a wonderful role model and caring Christian mom during all those formative years.
But I do know that Godly parenting holds with it great promise or horrible heart-aches. I don’t know how it has turned out for you; but whatever you do, hug your kids everyday. Tell them – yes, …TELL THEM – you love them … OFTEN. Give them a lot of positive affirmation; and then hug them some more!!! Prayerfully your parenting will not yield an Absalom-type tragedy; and you will see your children be raised in the admonition of God’s truth as well as the in the loving shadow of His wings. And in that environment, I pray that your children, like two we have raised, will come to know Christ and have a deep and abiding relationship with Him, passing along their God to their children as you have given them Christ in your life.
My Prayer for Today: LORD, I pray that all who read this love their parents and their parents love them; and I pray that Your love is being passed on through the generations of their families. Amen
My Journal for Today: When you read (or have read) about the death of Absalom and his personal and political attempt to unseat and even kill his father; and then we read of David’s tender desire to spare Absalom; and we read of David’s grief over his death; … what do you glean from all of this as a take-away lesson from God’s word?
Well, there are a couple of lessons for me. One is that the sins of the father can – and often do – visit the next generation. We know how weak and immoral David was in the Bathsheba incident and cover-up; and we can speculate that David still had fondness for his son, after Absalom’s death, because he reflected on his own weaknesses and felt that he had failed being the example he should have been for his son. Perhaps, you are like I am … knowing that you could have done a better job of raising your kids; and you have great empathy and love for any weaknesses they might have which could have been attributed to the poor modeling or parenting you provided for your kids. Perhaps you did the best you could, even being a good Christian parent; and your child still turned out bad; and you grieve over their disobedience and weaknesses, willing to excuse their faults because of your past parenting.
Now, we have to look at all of this from Absalom’s viewpoint. Obviously, Absalom wasn’t able to see in David what God saw in this “man after God’s own heart.” Instead, he felt slighted in some way. Perhaps he was not given the attention (i.e., time) or affirmation which Absalom felt he deserved, especially being the son of king. How often does a preacher’s kid go bad when the pastor father gives much more time to the church and very little comes the child’s way? But whatever caused the parent/child wounding, Absalom certainly had it in for his dad, the King; and we see how this ultimately played out in the tragic and gruesome death of the King’s son as he tried to go to war with David.
If you are a parent reading this, I don’t know how your kids turned out or what attitude they hold for you as a parent. Somehow, despite much neglect and poor “dadsmanship” as a parent of our two daughters when they were very young, they turned out to be Godly, Christian women, who are currently raising their kids, along with their hubbies, in a Godly fashion. To that I can only praise God’s grace. I guess I came to a saving and sanctifying relationship with Christ in time for me to give them the parenting they needed in their formative years of growth. And my wife was certainly a wonderful role model and caring Christian mom during all those formative years.
But I do know that Godly parenting holds with it great promise or horrible heart-aches. I don’t know how it has turned out for you; but whatever you do, hug your kids everyday. Tell them – yes, …TELL THEM – you love them … OFTEN. Give them a lot of positive affirmation; and then hug them some more!!! Prayerfully your parenting will not yield an Absalom-type tragedy; and you will see your children be raised in the admonition of God’s truth as well as the in the loving shadow of His wings. And in that environment, I pray that your children, like two we have raised, will come to know Christ and have a deep and abiding relationship with Him, passing along their God to their children as you have given them Christ in your life.
My Prayer for Today: LORD, I pray that all who read this love their parents and their parents love them; and I pray that Your love is being passed on through the generations of their families. Amen
Monday, April 12, 2010
2010 – April 12 – A God Who Rescues
Study from God’s Word… 2nd Samuel 23: 24-25; 2nd Sam. 5: 13-16 [1st Chron. 3: 4-9 and 14: 3-7]; 2nd Sam. 13: 1-39; 2nd Sam. 14: 1-14… Passage for Reflection: 2nd Samuel 14: 14… NIV 14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.
My Journal for Today: Today’s passages, which I was led to read from 2nd Samuel and 1st Chronicles, depict the socio-political intrigue of David’s rule in these ancient times of the Old Testament; and to say the least there were some pretty squirrely things going on back then. And not the least of these was the way disputes and relationships were handled by men in authority like David. And today’s highlight passage comes from one of those points of intrigue; but a great truth is revealed by David’s interaction with a certain wise woman who had come to him representing Joab’s scheme to get the King to intervene and allow the return of David’s son, Absalom, who had fled from the court of His father.
And note the wonderful truth in the praise of 2nd Samuel 14: 14, which states, “… God does not take away life; instead He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.” And when we consider the finality of physical death, this ringing truth, which was reminded to King David, is the same truth which Jesus was teaching to Nicodemus in John 3 as to how we can – and must be – born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Isn’t it wonderful that we (prayerfully you do) serve a God that doesn’t allow physical death to stand in the way of His having a permanent, eternal relationship with His children. He created us to be in a glorious, eternal relationship with Himself; and His grand scheme has allowed for a way for us to be reconciled and returned to the King, even though we have been estranged from Him by our own sin. That is the word picture and truth being expressed in these passages in today’s devotional from this part of King David’s life.
We, who choose to make the King of Kings, our Savior AND Lord have been saved from our own earthly folly; and we can – and will – be able to return to our King FOREVER. And to that all we can – and must – say is a loud ”HALLELUJAH !!!”
My Prayer for Today: Yes, LORD, HALLELUJAH … that You have made a way for me to escape separation and death and return to Your courts forever! HALLELUJAH!!! Amen
My Journal for Today: Today’s passages, which I was led to read from 2nd Samuel and 1st Chronicles, depict the socio-political intrigue of David’s rule in these ancient times of the Old Testament; and to say the least there were some pretty squirrely things going on back then. And not the least of these was the way disputes and relationships were handled by men in authority like David. And today’s highlight passage comes from one of those points of intrigue; but a great truth is revealed by David’s interaction with a certain wise woman who had come to him representing Joab’s scheme to get the King to intervene and allow the return of David’s son, Absalom, who had fled from the court of His father.
And note the wonderful truth in the praise of 2nd Samuel 14: 14, which states, “… God does not take away life; instead He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.” And when we consider the finality of physical death, this ringing truth, which was reminded to King David, is the same truth which Jesus was teaching to Nicodemus in John 3 as to how we can – and must be – born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Isn’t it wonderful that we (prayerfully you do) serve a God that doesn’t allow physical death to stand in the way of His having a permanent, eternal relationship with His children. He created us to be in a glorious, eternal relationship with Himself; and His grand scheme has allowed for a way for us to be reconciled and returned to the King, even though we have been estranged from Him by our own sin. That is the word picture and truth being expressed in these passages in today’s devotional from this part of King David’s life.
We, who choose to make the King of Kings, our Savior AND Lord have been saved from our own earthly folly; and we can – and will – be able to return to our King FOREVER. And to that all we can – and must – say is a loud ”HALLELUJAH !!!”
My Prayer for Today: Yes, LORD, HALLELUJAH … that You have made a way for me to escape separation and death and return to Your courts forever! HALLELUJAH!!! Amen
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
2009 – Day 97.Apr. 8 - A Study of David … How’s Your Heart?
2009 – Day 97.Apr. 8 - A Study of David … How’s Your Heart?
Blogger Billy's Note: Today Swindoll and I, following his book, move on to another in the Great Days with the Great Lives series of Bible character studies; and in this next month or so we’ll be focusing on the life of King David, … his greatness and his weakness, … his ups and his downs, … but above all, his heart, which we’ll see from the beginning to the end is a “heart for God.”
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 13: 1 – 14 … Link to today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: So, today we move on to another Bible character of note, … King David; and Swindoll starts with a focus on the one quality God looks for when he seeks out leaders; and that is a heart to follow after His own heart. And in today’s initial passage, though it centers on the life of Israel’s first King, … Saul, this principle of heart-felt obedience to God is stated in 1st Sam. 13: 14a, where Samuel, God’s Prophet, says, “But now your [Saul’s] kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, … " which was a condition of the heart which Saul did not have. But it was a condition of the heart which David did have.
Most certainly, knowing David’s story, as you probably do, we know that David was not perfect in his flesh. No, he had major league carnal weaknesses; but God knew David’s heart; and it was a heart which was in pursuit of God’s heart. And as Swindoll points out as he helps me launch into this study of David, when God seeks out someone to do His will, the Lord does not seek the perfect heart; because in fallen mankind, there is no such thing as a perfected heart. No, God simply wants someone, prayerfully like you and me, who has a heart to seek after God’s will and His way of doing things. David had such a heart; and Swindoll asks his readers as I opened with the topic lead, “How is your heart?”
Yes, as I move into this study of David, one of the great lives in the Old Testament, I’m doing a self inventory, which, according to Paul in 2nd Cor. 13: 5 [link provided] is a healthy spiritual thing to do. And though I’m convicted by some of the sin patterns in my life – those besetting habits, like my tendency toward gluttony – which I detest, I know that I have a heart for God’s way and for His will, which I seek primarily through His word. I’m not bragging about it; it is simply my heart to seek after God’s heart. Otherwise, why would I gladly and expectantly get up each morning, as I am here today, digging into God’s word and using a spiritual shepherd like Chuck Swindoll, to help me grow in my faith and help me follow my Lord? No, that’s not my ego talking or me showing off for your benefit; that’s my “M.O.” which, praise God, is in hot pursuit of my Lord.
Only you can speak to your heart; but we read above, as God was to seek out David to be His anointed leader, God is looking for those who pursue His will and hold onto a desire to be obedient to His commands (which we, of course, primarily find in His word). We see this principle and process, not only in 1st Sam. 13: 14a above, but also in a parallel teaching of 2nd Chronicles 16: 9 [link provided]; and so, I hope you’re asking yourself now if you have a heart which seeks to be obedient to God and to be transformed as Paul wrote in Romans 12: 1-2 [linked], a passage I do hope you have memorized.
But you may ask, is a heart for God’s heart implanted by God or does it develop through our own choices? And the answer to that is “YES.” It is both something that is planted in our hearts when we come to receive Christ as our Messiah/Savior [Gal. 2: 20 - linked]; and it is something we come to receive and build into our lives by our desire to know, seek, and become like God [see Phil. 1: 6 - linked]. A “heart for God” comes to Christians via the Holy Spirit dwelling in our; and it becomes a heart after God’s own heart, when, in faith, we CHOOSE to let God’ Spirit reshape us into His own image and we seek to know and pursue God as we are reshaped BY GOD into His own image.
I pray that I, and any who read here, become like David became, “a man after God’s own heart.”
My Prayer for Today: You know my heart, Lord; and it is one which desires to know and serve You. Amen
Blogger Billy's Note: Today Swindoll and I, following his book, move on to another in the Great Days with the Great Lives series of Bible character studies; and in this next month or so we’ll be focusing on the life of King David, … his greatness and his weakness, … his ups and his downs, … but above all, his heart, which we’ll see from the beginning to the end is a “heart for God.”
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 13: 1 – 14 … Link to today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: So, today we move on to another Bible character of note, … King David; and Swindoll starts with a focus on the one quality God looks for when he seeks out leaders; and that is a heart to follow after His own heart. And in today’s initial passage, though it centers on the life of Israel’s first King, … Saul, this principle of heart-felt obedience to God is stated in 1st Sam. 13: 14a, where Samuel, God’s Prophet, says, “But now your [Saul’s] kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, … " which was a condition of the heart which Saul did not have. But it was a condition of the heart which David did have.
Most certainly, knowing David’s story, as you probably do, we know that David was not perfect in his flesh. No, he had major league carnal weaknesses; but God knew David’s heart; and it was a heart which was in pursuit of God’s heart. And as Swindoll points out as he helps me launch into this study of David, when God seeks out someone to do His will, the Lord does not seek the perfect heart; because in fallen mankind, there is no such thing as a perfected heart. No, God simply wants someone, prayerfully like you and me, who has a heart to seek after God’s will and His way of doing things. David had such a heart; and Swindoll asks his readers as I opened with the topic lead, “How is your heart?”
Yes, as I move into this study of David, one of the great lives in the Old Testament, I’m doing a self inventory, which, according to Paul in 2nd Cor. 13: 5 [link provided] is a healthy spiritual thing to do. And though I’m convicted by some of the sin patterns in my life – those besetting habits, like my tendency toward gluttony – which I detest, I know that I have a heart for God’s way and for His will, which I seek primarily through His word. I’m not bragging about it; it is simply my heart to seek after God’s heart. Otherwise, why would I gladly and expectantly get up each morning, as I am here today, digging into God’s word and using a spiritual shepherd like Chuck Swindoll, to help me grow in my faith and help me follow my Lord? No, that’s not my ego talking or me showing off for your benefit; that’s my “M.O.” which, praise God, is in hot pursuit of my Lord.
Only you can speak to your heart; but we read above, as God was to seek out David to be His anointed leader, God is looking for those who pursue His will and hold onto a desire to be obedient to His commands (which we, of course, primarily find in His word). We see this principle and process, not only in 1st Sam. 13: 14a above, but also in a parallel teaching of 2nd Chronicles 16: 9 [link provided]; and so, I hope you’re asking yourself now if you have a heart which seeks to be obedient to God and to be transformed as Paul wrote in Romans 12: 1-2 [linked], a passage I do hope you have memorized.
But you may ask, is a heart for God’s heart implanted by God or does it develop through our own choices? And the answer to that is “YES.” It is both something that is planted in our hearts when we come to receive Christ as our Messiah/Savior [Gal. 2: 20 - linked]; and it is something we come to receive and build into our lives by our desire to know, seek, and become like God [see Phil. 1: 6 - linked]. A “heart for God” comes to Christians via the Holy Spirit dwelling in our; and it becomes a heart after God’s own heart, when, in faith, we CHOOSE to let God’ Spirit reshape us into His own image and we seek to know and pursue God as we are reshaped BY GOD into His own image.
I pray that I, and any who read here, become like David became, “a man after God’s own heart.”
My Prayer for Today: You know my heart, Lord; and it is one which desires to know and serve You. Amen
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