2009 – Day 140.May 21 – A Sheltering Tree
Passage of the Day: 2nd Samuel 15: 1 - 18 … Link to passage for study …
My Journal for Today: Once again in David’s life in today’s passage, we read that he has to flee from those who had expressed love to him. In the past it had been Saul before David became king. Now, in our passage today, David is King of Israel; and he must flee his own son, Absalom, who had grown strong and was plotting to take over the kingdom. Strategically, David had to retreat from the “city of David,” Jerusalem.
And, as Swindoll points out, it had to be uplifting that a number of David’s men stood with him, providing the cover of their loyalty and standing with their King. Swindoll points to the poet Samuel Coleridge who likened friendship to a “sheltering tree.” And the point of this study is that we all need strong trees to cover us when the heat goes up or a tree to lean on when the wind blows.
And our devotional author, Chuck Swindoll, asks if his readers have at least one strong tree to provide shelter and support when the sun bears down or the storms of life come our way. David had his brothers in arms, … friends who would die for him and stand with him – no matter what. Do you have such friends? I know that I am blessed to have more than one band of brothers, as David did, whom I believe would stand over me, with me, and around me – no matter what! And as David felt, I’m sure, having friends like this is often the strength which will carry one through when things get hot or when the winds of the times blow hard.
I hope that any who read here have a grove of trees, or at least one such strong tree, which [or “who”] will be there to cover you when the heat of life beats down or to provide support when the storms of life blow. As I’ve said so often over the years, “Lone Ranger” Christianity just doesn’t cut it in this life. Christians need to stand together, needing and providing mutual support when things get hot or stormy. Swindoll encourages his readers from the devotional for this day to have or find a tree, or preferably more than one, which will be there in the tough times of life to supply shelter and support. With such “trees” in life, the heat is bearable and the support is so welcome. But without such shelter/support, life is going to be very difficult to bear.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for the support I have in life. Amen
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
2009 – Day 119.Apr. 30 – A True Friend
2009 – Day 119.Apr. 30 – A True Friend
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 23: 14 - 18 … 14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. 15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. 16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” 18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
My Journal for Today: I’m glad that Swindoll brings up the relationship which David had with Jonathan again. It is a truly remarkable friendship, isn’t it? And we read just how remarkable in this short passage highlighted today.
Here is this young kid, whom Jonathan’s dad, who just happens to be the king, has sworn to kill; and Jonathan, who normally would be the 1st born, heir apparent, reaches out and befriends the one man who is anointed to become the King. And this might lead one to ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?”
Well, there’s a lot that is very unnatural about the friendship between Jonathan and David. The normal thing would be for Jonathan to be jealous of David and to do all he could to undermine David so that he could take over and be the king in the future. And then there is the depth of this friendship, which goes way beyond what most “friends” would think, say, or do for a “friend.”
That’s why I agree with scholars who write about Jonathan as a type of Christ in the Old Testament. Because, when we think about normal, human friendships, the covenant friendship exhibited by Jonathan for David is the kind of “friendship” which Christ has for you and me as Christians. This friendship, exhibited by Jonathan for David, is like that described in John 15: 15, where Jesus says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."
How many friends do you have like Jonathan was for David? How many friends do you have where the relationship is a “covenant” friendship; … where the friend would die for you, and even more importantly, would live for you. It’s a friendship where you can regurgitate any emotion all over your friend; and he’ll be there to hold your head … to support you … to protect you … to encourage you … or to say by you, … no matter what. How unnatural is such a relationship? And yet this was the friendship between Jonathan and David; and Jonathan had the character of Christlikeness way before Christ walked the earth.
I personally think that this relationship comes from Scripture to illustrate just how super-natural it is for Christ to love us in our humanity; and it is also there to illustrate the kind of relationship we should have for our closest friends, especially like the relationship we should have for our spouse. Remember that Christ’s covenant love/friendship with the Church is often pictured in the New Testament by a covenant marriage relationship; and that’s the kind of love and friendship any Christian should have for a true friend, especially a spouse, whom God has given you to share life with as a “friend.”
My friend should be someone I would give over all my possessions whenever that friend has need. It would be someone I would share their burdens or their victories … 100%. It would be someone for whom I would set aside all other earthly titles and/or loyalties. And as I said, it would not only be someone for whom I would die but for whom I would totally live.
I hope you have a friend like that. I do; and I am blessed.
My Prayer for Today: Jesus, You call me “friend;” but You have also given me another who is a Jonathan for me; and in this dear one, I am a blessed soul. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 23: 14 - 18 … 14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. 15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. 16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” 18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
My Journal for Today: I’m glad that Swindoll brings up the relationship which David had with Jonathan again. It is a truly remarkable friendship, isn’t it? And we read just how remarkable in this short passage highlighted today.
Here is this young kid, whom Jonathan’s dad, who just happens to be the king, has sworn to kill; and Jonathan, who normally would be the 1st born, heir apparent, reaches out and befriends the one man who is anointed to become the King. And this might lead one to ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?”
Well, there’s a lot that is very unnatural about the friendship between Jonathan and David. The normal thing would be for Jonathan to be jealous of David and to do all he could to undermine David so that he could take over and be the king in the future. And then there is the depth of this friendship, which goes way beyond what most “friends” would think, say, or do for a “friend.”
That’s why I agree with scholars who write about Jonathan as a type of Christ in the Old Testament. Because, when we think about normal, human friendships, the covenant friendship exhibited by Jonathan for David is the kind of “friendship” which Christ has for you and me as Christians. This friendship, exhibited by Jonathan for David, is like that described in John 15: 15, where Jesus says, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."
How many friends do you have like Jonathan was for David? How many friends do you have where the relationship is a “covenant” friendship; … where the friend would die for you, and even more importantly, would live for you. It’s a friendship where you can regurgitate any emotion all over your friend; and he’ll be there to hold your head … to support you … to protect you … to encourage you … or to say by you, … no matter what. How unnatural is such a relationship? And yet this was the friendship between Jonathan and David; and Jonathan had the character of Christlikeness way before Christ walked the earth.
I personally think that this relationship comes from Scripture to illustrate just how super-natural it is for Christ to love us in our humanity; and it is also there to illustrate the kind of relationship we should have for our closest friends, especially like the relationship we should have for our spouse. Remember that Christ’s covenant love/friendship with the Church is often pictured in the New Testament by a covenant marriage relationship; and that’s the kind of love and friendship any Christian should have for a true friend, especially a spouse, whom God has given you to share life with as a “friend.”
My friend should be someone I would give over all my possessions whenever that friend has need. It would be someone I would share their burdens or their victories … 100%. It would be someone for whom I would set aside all other earthly titles and/or loyalties. And as I said, it would not only be someone for whom I would die but for whom I would totally live.
I hope you have a friend like that. I do; and I am blessed.
My Prayer for Today: Jesus, You call me “friend;” but You have also given me another who is a Jonathan for me; and in this dear one, I am a blessed soul. Amen
Friday, April 24, 2009
2009 – Day 113.Apr. 24 – A Kindred Spirit
2009 – Day 113.Apr. 24 – A Kindred Spirit
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 18: 1 – 4 … 1 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
My Journal for Today: If you are a “David,” do you have a “Jonathan” in your life. As Swindoll emphasizes by today’s devotional, intimate friends are very rare. Generally we are blessed if we have one; but it’s very rare to have two or more friends who would always be there for you – NO MATTER WHAT! These are friends who don’t keep score, … who defend you when you need defending, … and who will give generously of their time, talents, and treasures to make life better for you.
This was Jonathan, Saul’s first-born son, to David; and in today’s highlight passage we see that Jonathan sealed that friendship with a covenant. The concept of covenant was very important to this middle-eastern culture. When two partners or friends wanted to show that they would be there for the other one, a covenant was “cut” between the two. And if you study “covenant” in the Bible, you’ll see that God established a covenant with Israel which involved the shedding of blood and the exchange of vows.
And though we don’t read of the sharing of blood in today’s passage, we do see the exchange of garments and armament, signifying Jonathan’s and David’s pledge to one another to be there for the other and to fight the other’s battles if necessary. It was a declaration that anything one had the other was welcome to claim; and it also said that each considered the debts incurred by the one to be the debts of the other. Covenant in biblical times was more than a close friendship. It was the joining of one life to another.
Think of the covenant God made with Abraham or with Noah or with Moses and with David. This was God pledging His all for these covenant partners. Think of the way a covenant marriage SHOULD BE. Two take vows to be there for one another ... FOREVER. And in a real covenant marriage, there is an exchange of vows and rings to signify the joining of one life to another. If you’re married, do you see your marriage partner as your covenant partner for eternity? Christ certainly sees what He did on the cross, shedding His blood for anyone who would receive His act of sacrifice, as His New Covenant to mankind.
So, I hope you can see that Jonathan is a type of Christ in today’s passage. Christ was willing to exchange His garments of righteousness for my rags of sin, just as Jonathan was willing to give David his robes and armor, the robes and armor of the son of the king. This was Jonathan willing to set aside everything for David when David received that covenant promise; and I hope you can see Jonathan being a picture of Christ for each of His covenant partners – you and me, if we are Christians.
I hope you have a covenant friend/partner in life. I do in my wife. I do in a dear friend of mine. And above all, I do in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord Jesus, I am bound to You for eternity in covenant love; and You to me. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 18: 1 – 4 … 1 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
My Journal for Today: If you are a “David,” do you have a “Jonathan” in your life. As Swindoll emphasizes by today’s devotional, intimate friends are very rare. Generally we are blessed if we have one; but it’s very rare to have two or more friends who would always be there for you – NO MATTER WHAT! These are friends who don’t keep score, … who defend you when you need defending, … and who will give generously of their time, talents, and treasures to make life better for you.
This was Jonathan, Saul’s first-born son, to David; and in today’s highlight passage we see that Jonathan sealed that friendship with a covenant. The concept of covenant was very important to this middle-eastern culture. When two partners or friends wanted to show that they would be there for the other one, a covenant was “cut” between the two. And if you study “covenant” in the Bible, you’ll see that God established a covenant with Israel which involved the shedding of blood and the exchange of vows.
And though we don’t read of the sharing of blood in today’s passage, we do see the exchange of garments and armament, signifying Jonathan’s and David’s pledge to one another to be there for the other and to fight the other’s battles if necessary. It was a declaration that anything one had the other was welcome to claim; and it also said that each considered the debts incurred by the one to be the debts of the other. Covenant in biblical times was more than a close friendship. It was the joining of one life to another.
Think of the covenant God made with Abraham or with Noah or with Moses and with David. This was God pledging His all for these covenant partners. Think of the way a covenant marriage SHOULD BE. Two take vows to be there for one another ... FOREVER. And in a real covenant marriage, there is an exchange of vows and rings to signify the joining of one life to another. If you’re married, do you see your marriage partner as your covenant partner for eternity? Christ certainly sees what He did on the cross, shedding His blood for anyone who would receive His act of sacrifice, as His New Covenant to mankind.
So, I hope you can see that Jonathan is a type of Christ in today’s passage. Christ was willing to exchange His garments of righteousness for my rags of sin, just as Jonathan was willing to give David his robes and armor, the robes and armor of the son of the king. This was Jonathan willing to set aside everything for David when David received that covenant promise; and I hope you can see Jonathan being a picture of Christ for each of His covenant partners – you and me, if we are Christians.
I hope you have a covenant friend/partner in life. I do in my wife. I do in a dear friend of mine. And above all, I do in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord Jesus, I am bound to You for eternity in covenant love; and You to me. Amen
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