Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of lyrics from Guy Penrod singing … Count Your Blessings … poignantly singing of God’s prescription for envy and strife.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1st Samuel 18:8-9 [NKJV] …
8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul eyed David from that day forward.
… Saul surrendering to jealousy allowed Satan an in-road to his mind/heart concerning David.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1st Samuel 18:5-15 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… King Saul became jealous of young David; and jealousy caused God’s Spirit to leave the King.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Exodus 20:17 [NKJV] …
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
… The last, and most difficult, to observe from God’s TOP TEN list of commands.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Proverbs 10:6 [NKJV] …
6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous. But violence covers the mouth of the wicked
… God, thru Solomon, blesses those heart of the righteous; but curses the lives of those who live wicked, selfish lives.
Reference Passage #3 [NKJV] : … Isaiah 26:3 [NKJV] …
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
… If we focus on self and our own wants, we’ll never have peace of mind/heart.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Alyson Kieda, tells a personal story to illustrate how we all can let jealousy come between our relationship with God. The ODB author wrote: I gladly agreed to babysit my grandkids while their parents went out for the evening. After hugs, I asked the boys what they did over the weekend. (Both had separate adventures.) Bridger, age three, recounted breathlessly how he got to stay overnight with his aunt and uncle—and he had ice cream and rode a carousel and watched a movie!
Next it was five-year-old Samuel’s turn. When asked what he did, he said, “Camping.” “Did you have fun?” I asked. “Not so much,” he answered forlornly. Samuel experienced the age-old feeling of jealousy. He forgot how much fun he had camping with his dad when he heard his brother excitedly tell about his weekend.
Jealousy or envy have been pictured (see photo) as the “green-eyed monster,” … a character trait we all, as sinners, exhibit at times. And God’s commandment against this monstrous trait is the last on His list of 10 Commandments [see Exod. 20:17]; and I think it’s listed last on God’s top 10 because it’s likely the most difficult for man to abide by. As in the OBD story above, even little kids easily and often exhibit selfish envy of others. And if you’re a parent or grandparent, you’ve seen this trait of envy express itself in the little ones.
And it was the one character trait which brought King Saul down with his jealousy of young David (see highlight passages). So, … how do we, as Christians, combat this very pervasive human tendency?
Well, if you listen to the linked song and meditate on the reference scriptures above, God’s prescription against envy and jealousy is our choosing to focus on God, rather than self (see Isaiah 26:3) and then, as Guy Penrod sings, choosing to dwell on our gratefulness to God rather than on our selfish desires.
Good plan for today [and all days], don’t you think?
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, … Help me to focus on Your many blessings rather than on my desires. You’ve given me so much, especially shedding Your blood for my salvation. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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