1 Sam. 19-21 & Lk. 11:29-54

With the encouragement of my wife and a good friend (probably the only two who ever read this) I am going to try to continue writing. Rest assured, I have kept up with my daily readings (which I enjoy) but it is more difficult for me (as you can see) to be faithful to write daily. I will try to do better!

I do hate that I didn't write about Joshua and there are some interesting stories in Judges...Ruth might not have garnered any great writing...

But nonetheless, we find ourselves in 1 Samuel. To do a little catch-up - Israel has demanded a king. Although God is not happy about this (because up to this point, He has been their king) He tells the prophet Samuel (who also is not happy about this) to go ahead and anoint a man named Saul. Saul is a tall and handsome man, the type of man a nation can take pride in. And he is a fighter, a brave man, a warrior - even more reason to like him. But he doesn't listen (or rather obey) very well. God leads him into victory after victory, but one day when God told him to destroy a town completely, Saul decides he has a better idea (why do we ever think that?!). Saul decides to take some plunder and offer it to God as a sacrifice. But through this mishap Saul loses the Spirit of the Lord and his kingship, and we learn a valuable (and surprisingly hard to believe lesson):

1 Sam. 15:22 - Obedience is better than sacrifice.

God wants us to obey Him. All of the worship and prayers and sacrifices in the world don't please Him as much as our simple and faithful obedience.

And thus, God chooses someone to replace Saul, a young man named David. David is serious and passionate about God's reputation and glory, hence he kills the giant Goliath because he dared to speak against the armies of God. As you can imagine, Saul becomes jealous of David (and not completely understanding that God had given His Spirit to David) he continues to try and kill poor David. One such example is in today's reading, 1 Samuel 19-21.

Saul throws a spear at David in an attempt to kill him (as we'll see Saul really enjoys throwing spears at people) but David dodges and runs away. Saul's son Jonathan (who becomes great friends with David and later in life David takes in Jonathan's lame son Mephibosheth) takes up for David and argues with his father about David's integrity. But Saul continues to go after David and his daughter Michal, David's wife, saves David this time. So David and Jonathan have a talk and devise a plan to know whether or not David should flee. David skips a dinner, Saul gets furious at Jonathan for protecting him, hurls a spear at his own son (I told you he likes doing that) and humiliates Jonathan in front of everyone. So Jonathan sends David on his way. And David flees to another town in great fear.

--------------------------------------Ready for a little application?

How incredible is it to know now just who David was and how God chose him and used him and look back on David running and hiding and in great fear. We often doubt God's plan for us and we can't see with God's eyes the plans He has. But if we will just be faithful and obedient and continue trusting God, He will use us to do awesome things.

Also, how wonderful to have good friends. Jonathan and David's friendship is an awesome picture and not something to be overlooked. I have had many friends in my lifetime, but I can count on my fingers the number of people who I have a special connection with - people I know I will always be able to trust, people who would do anything for me. And I will would give my life for those people and their families. Their is nothing quite like that bond and it is truly special to have people in your life like that. What a blessing from God.