2 Samuel 22 -- I AGREE, David!

I love hearing David’s descriptions of God as God had revealed Himself to David, and David’s wonder that God would stoop down from His throne to do all of this for David.  I particularly noticed that, besides describing God as a shield, David described Him as his defender – an active participant in David’s well-being.

 

David didn’t look on his times of trouble and exile as times when God deserted him, but instead said, “The Lord supported me.  He took me to a safe place.  Because He DELIGHTS in me, He SAVED me.”  That’s probably the most important things for us to understand.  God’s love for us motivated Him to provide salvation for us through the death of His Son.

 

God was active in David’s life to produce a leader after His own heart, and He came down from heaven to do so.  “You have stooped to make me great.  You give me a better way to live, so I live as You want me to.”

 

I also saw something here that reminded me of my second adoption trip, because the facilitator was completely amazed at how everything happened at lightning speed when most adoptions were taking 4-6 weeks when mine was door-to-door in 18 days:  “People I never knew serve me.  Foreigners obey me.  As soon as they hear me, they obey me.  They all become afraid and tremble in their hiding places.”

 

Father, like David, I’m led to shout out how You have worked in my life to enlarge my faith and my trust in You.  I’ve seen You do amazing things that are unexplainable by any earthly measure.  Yes, You have blessed me with my sons, but also along the way You used those hardships to reveal Yourself to me and to enlarge me so that in turn I can magnify You and give glory to Your name as David did!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 21 -- Seeking The Lord's Face As A Nation

A drought gripped the land.  Probably in the first year, it was simply attributed to weather patterns.  During the second year, as we would, people probably looked hopefully for change, which didn’t come.  When a third crop failed, David knew something was wrong, and he sought the Lord to determine the cause.

 

Saul had been killed in battle 30 years prior, but God had patiently waited to correct a problem Saul had caused, and when the people themselves hadn’t done it, God finally decided to get their attention.

 

Joshua, centuries before, had not sought the Lord to discover God’s truth about a group of people claiming to be from far away, suing for peace and asking to be Israel’s servants.  Instead of asking God, he’d granted their request, only to discover they’d lied and were from nearby and part of those God had ordered destroyed to cleanse the Promised Land.  Joshua’s pledge had been kept all those years, but Saul had at some point decided to go after them, wrongly believing he could help his nation by violating a pledge made before God!

 

Now, David was left in the difficult spot of needing to rectify Saul’s rash behavior to give these people the legal retribution called for under the law.  And they wanted payment-in-king – the death of seven of Saul’s descendants as payment for murders by the king.

 

David had vowed years before to protect Jonathan’s descendants, so he wisely looked for other descendant lines;  otherwise he’d have found himself in the same hot water as Saul.  The offended people ended up doing the killing, and the bodies were hung on trees as a curse.  David decided that the disgrace would continue until God Himself showed He was satisfied by bringing the rain again (it lasted 6 more months).

 

How easily today we look at droughts as only weather cycles.  We never consider inquiring of the Lord as a nation whether our actions have caused a drought (except for global warming allegedly caused by our pollution).  How God might be choosing to bless us if only we would humble ourselves as a nation before Him and seek His face, rather than allowing godless leaders to sideline such actions and lead us further to destruction!

 

Father, as a nation I fear we’ve become a terrible disappointment to You.  Events seem to have conspired to make it almost impossible for Christians to effect change anymore.  Must we suffer when we are unable to rectify the situation?  Help us to seek Your face and begin to understand if there is any way to overcome the godlessness of America today, or whether we are part of what You are doing to chastise our nation for the sin of ignoring You and Your will.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 20 Beginnings Of Rebellion

Clouds on the horizon are beginning to signal trouble for David and for Israel.  No sooner was Absalom defeated and David re-entering Israel than another wannabe began to foment dissent.  Sheba probably sought to lead a combined every-tribe-but-Judah army or possibly even the throne, and he talked the other tribes into going home rather than making the short 20-mile trip with David to Jerusalem to see their king resume his duties.

 

David had made his relative Amasa the commander of the army, replacing and upsetting Joab, since Amasa had supported Absalom in the rebellion and Joab had killed David’s son Absalom despite David’s direct order.  David was probably attempting to unify the country by including the rebels in the reconstituted government.

 

There was too much political intrigue going on.  Joel murdered Amasa and took control again of the army, then chased Sheba to an Israelite city and began attacking it!  The citizens wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valor and tossed Sheba’s freshly-removed head over the wall to stop the attack.  Israelites were beginning to fight Israelites, and that did not portend well for the nation.

 

Father, help me to understand Your wisdom when it comes to people.  Show me Your truth.  Lead me to know Your heart and to take actions only after consulting with You, for I do not have a corner on wisdom.  I cannot fathom motivations.  Only You can.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 18 & 19 Fathers And Their Sons

David’s original answer when Nathan told him the story of the rich man taking the poor man’s sheep was finally coming to a conclusion in David’s own life:  the baby he and Bathsheba had together had died; Amnon had been killed; Tamar had been raped; and now Absalom, who’d tried to usurp the throne, had also died.

 

My commentary noted these things:  “When the enemy is your own son, there can be no triumph and no celebration … David tasted once again the pain of forgiven sin … When it came to dealing with his sons, David needed all the help he could get, but perhaps he wouldn’t admit it … It’s never too late for God to work.”

 

Father God, I know that it was Your original intention for fathers and sons to be close friends.  But sin has a way of messing that up on both sides – sons growing up and making their own decisions and choices, and fathers wanting to hold on to them and help them.  I know that my relationship with my dad suffered and took years to repair, and it was partly my fault.  Please let that not happen with my boys.  They are a treasure from You, given to me when I least deserved them.  Help all three of us to keep Satan and sin from messing that up.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 16 & 17 Taking What Comes, Knowing God Is On His Throne

Absalom was on his way to kill his father David and take the throne.  Not wanting a blood bath in Jerusalem, David and his family fled the city and headed for the border, travelling quickly by night.

 

The servant tasked with taking care of Jonathan’s lame son Mephibosheth came to David with travel supplies and telling David a lie that Mephibosheth was seeking the throne.  David, tired and drained, didn’t think to check out the story first and granted the servant ownership of everything that was Mephibosheth’s as they fled the city.

 

David’s friend Hushai agreed to stay behind and offer his counselor services to Absalom, which set up a spy network inside the palace to relay intelligence to David.  Absalom’s chief counselor, Ahithophel, was Bathsheba’s grandfather, who was motivated by vengeance to ruin David.  His first suggestion was that Absalom publicly make it known that he was having sexual relations with his father’s concubines – a visual slap in the face to his father.  Absalom was only too happy to comply. 

 

Ahithophel then suggested a quick, surgical attack on David with a small, fast-moving group of soldiers to find David and kill him with little bloodshed.  But Absalom asked for a second opinion from Hushai, who appealed to Absalom’s pride by suggesting he muster a huge army with Absalom leading, to overwhelm David’s forces completely.  Absalom took the bait.  While preparations were being made, the spy network sent out two runners to alert David.  The scene was set for a civil war, pitting father against son, uncle against nephew, and cousin against cousin.  It wasn’t going to be pretty.

 

Father, thank You again for Your wise counsel, particularly in how David rose above the fray by accepting insults and injury rather than causing great destruction in his city.  It helps me to know that You ARE on the throne and will one day “balance the books” for losses that don’t seem fair.  I can leave that up to You.  Thank You for reminding me to always consider motives and help me to seek Your face so that, despite what is happening at the moment, I will end well.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 15 -- Faith In The Tough Times

I was so impressed with David’s faith in God and God’s promises to him as David discovered that his own son was attempting to usurp the throne.  From my commentary:

 

“It’s one thing to experience God’s power when you’re facing giants or fighting armies, and quite something else when You’re watching people tear your world apart.  God was chastening David, but David knew that God’s power could help him in the hour of pain as well as in the hour of conquest … David recognized that God’s loving hand of discipline was upon him, and he admitted that he deserved every blow.  But he also believed that God’s gracious hand of power was still at work in his life … The Lord was still working out His perfect will and never did David rise to greater heights of faith and submission … When you read David’s exile psalms, you can’t help but see his trust in God and his conviction that no matter how disordered and disturbed everything was, the Lord was still on His throne.  No matter how David felt, he knew that the Lord would always keep His covenant and fulfill His promises … David knew that his throne was safe in the hands of the Lord.”

 

Father, I’ve watched You work and show Your faithfulness to me over the past three years at work while others wondered what was happening.  You’d taught me to trust You absolutely to take care of my life and whatever I was doing.  I know Your faithfulness.  Your timing even for my reading this morning was excellent as You again proved how in control You are of everything yesterday.  More than anything, I am so glad that You gave me the faith to trust so fully in You.  You make my world rock-solid in the face of uncertainty.  I know You are fully in control, with Your hands on the steering handles.  My job is simply to keep pedaling on this bicycle built for two.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 14 -- Be Careful What You Wish For

David missed his son Absalom, even though Absalom had killed his brother Amnon and fled the country – even though Absalom had raped his half-sister.  Yet David also was aware that his subjects might question his own integrity if he pardoned his own son for the murder.

 

Joab cooked up a scheme to have an actress tell David a story which would bait him into approving forgiveness in a similar but fictitious situation, calling his hand on fairness and requiring that he allow Absalom to return home, and it worked.  But David effectively kept Absalom under house arrest.  Absalom’s handsomeness and princely status began to develop quite a following for him despite his guilt – as if the murder he committed really didn’t matter.  Even today people seem willing to excuse much that their idol’s do.

 

Absalom wanted Joab to intercede, but Joab was wisely not going there, afraid that David might see it as collaboration with a traitor.  Absalom then showed his true colors by having his servants burn Joab’s ripe barley field to get his attention.  Joab finally arranged a reconciliation and David was reunited with Absalom after five years of separation.

 

Out from under house arrest, Absalom would now begin his “electioneering” to get the people’s approval to take the throne from his father.  My commentary said, “David was about to lose his throne and crown, his concubines, his trusted adviser Ahithophel, and ultimately his son Absalom.  It would be the darkest hour of David’s life.”

 

Father, You’ve shown me over the years that I need to be careful what I wish for, because I just might get it.  If it’s not in Your will, it’s not worth having.  Please help my desires to only be Your desires. Let me be fully certain that the things I want are totally in Your will.  Help me to make tough choices in order to be where You want me to be when You want me to be there.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 13 -- Reaping What We Sow

My commentary said that in chapters 1-10, God empowered David to defeat his enemies.  But after his sins of adultery, murder, and deception in chapters 11-12, the rest of 2^nd Samuel describes him wrestling with problems caused by his own children.  Despite these problems, he still depended on God:  “What life does to us depends on what life finds in us, and in David was a muscular faith in the living God.”

 

“God had forgiven  David’s sins, but David was discovering that the consequences of forgiven sin are very painful.  God had blessed David with many sons, but now the Lord would turn some of those blessings into curses.”

 

His son Amnon developed an unnatural desire for his half-sister, Tamar.  Rather than quashing those thoughts and directing them elsewhere, he let a sense of entitlement feed them, making it worse each day.  Thoughts will eventually become actions if we continue to feed them.  Amnon even confided in his cousin about his sinful desires, bringing them out into the open.  His cousin encouraged him and even schemed to help him!  “Anybody in our lives who makes it easy for us to sin is certainly not much of a friend,” my commentary said.

 

Amnon’s lust grew and what he thought was love quickly turned to hate after he raped his sister.  “Sexual sins usually produce that kind of emotional damage.  When you treat other people like things to be used, you end up throwing them aside like broken toys or old clothes,” my commentary noted.

 

Tamar’s full brother Absalom schemed for two years and saw his chance to avenge his sister’s rape and subsequent disgrace, ordering his servants to kill Amnon, in a repeat of what his father David had done to Uriah!  It would be 5 years before Absalom and David would see each other face to face again, for Absalom fled the country to his grandparents’ home after the murder.

 

Father, it’s tragic to watch how sin is conceived with what Amnon probably believed to be harmless thoughts, and the way a family was destroyed by the actions which eventually resulted from those thoughts.  Please help my boys and me to understand the vital importance of taking each thought captive and wrestling the bad ones out of our minds rather than nursing them to eventual fruition.  Let us never believe that we are entitled to them.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 11 & 12 -- God's Chastening Is LOVE

Boy, these chapters are loaded with info for us guys.  And my commentary said it in ways that bring it all home:

 

“God does not allow His children to sin successfully … The good things that we receive in life, we pay for in advance, for God prepares us for what He has prepared for us.  But the evil things we do are paid for on the installment plan, and bitter is the sorrow brought by the consequences of forgiven sin…Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do … If you are idle, don’t be alone.  If you are alone, don’t be idle … By lingering and looking [at Bathsheba bathing], David tempted himself.  By sending the messengers, he tempted Bathsheba, and by yielding to the flesh, he tempted the Lord….  David thought he was deceiving everybody, but he was deceiving only himself.  He thought he could escape guilt when all the while he was adding to his guilt [while plotting to cover up his sin] … If we open the door, sin comes in as a guest but soon becomes the master… Though God in His grace had forgiven David’s sin, God in His government had to permit David to experience the consequences of those sins … Chastening is not punishment meted out by an angry judge who wants to uphold the law; rather, it’s difficulty permitted by a loving Father who wants His children to submit to His will and develop godly character.  Chastening is an expression of God’s love.”

 

The child born of David’s lusting for Bathsheba died as Nathan had said.  But God in His grace enabled them to have Solomon.  And my commentary said that every time David and Bathsheba looked at Solomon, his very presence reminded them that God had forgiven their past and guaranteed their plans for the future.”

 

Father God, I thank You so much for Your love for me, even when it has to be shown through chastening.  Please speak loudly to me when I’m in the middle of temptation and in danger of sinning.  Overwhelm me with Your love for me so that I won’t try to love myself more than I love You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 7-10 The King Humbled By God's Grace

One day it hit David that he was living in luxury, while God was “living”, by His presence at the Ark in the tabernacle tent in relative squalor.  When David told his trusted spiritual advisor Nathan about his concerns, Nathan told him to go and do what he really wanted to do because God was with him.  Yet that night God told Nathan that David would not build him a Temple.  So was Nathan wrong in his response, or rash in appearing to be a yes-man to David?  My commentary said, “When Nathan told David to do what was in his heart, he wasn’t affirming that David’s desires were actually God’s will.  Rather, he was encouraging the king to pursue his desires and see what the Lord wanted him to do.”  Rather than spending his time building a Temple, David was to find out that God would rather have him continue shepherding the people and setting a godly example.

 

God then told David His plans for David’s future family, including the Messiah.  It was all too amazing, and David didn’t know what to say.  God had brought him from a boy shepherd to the kingship, and as if that weren’t enough, God had also said David’s future descendant would rule forever as Messiah!  David realized his unworthiness, and could only say, “Lord God, who am I?”

 

Later in chapter 9, David began to share God’s kindness, and that included remembering his deceased best friend Jonathan, and for Jonathan’s sake he sought out any heirs he might have in order to share God’s kindness with them.  My commentary said, “So it is with God’s children:  they are called and saved, not because they deserve anything from God, but for the sake of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  God in His grace gives us what we don’t deserve, and in His mercy DOESN’T give us what we do deserve.”

 

David brought the crippled 21-year-old son of his best friend into his home, unofficially adopting him and making him part of his family.  God does that for us, too, and so should we continue to do the same.

 

Father, like David, I marvel at what You’ve done in my life.  I so don’t deserve Your kindness and love.  Like a spiritual cripple, I was most unlovely, yet You brought me back to You and treated me as family, and through what You did for me, You led me to do the same for my boys!  You are such an awesome God!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 5-6 Training Time For Reigning Time

David was 30 when he took the throne in Hebron, where he ruled for 7.5 years.  He finally became ruler over all Israel and would reign for 33 more years.  “ After experiencing years of turbulence and division, the nation at last had a king who was God’s choice and the people’s choice.  God takes time to prepare His leaders, and much to be pitied is the person who succeeds before he or she is ready for it,” my commentary said.

 

In chapter 6, I kept noticing references to obedience.  “God’s work must be done in God’s way … God’s people must obey God’s Word … No amount of unity or enthusiasm can compensate for disobedience,” my commentary said.  David’s area of disobedience seemed to lie primarily in collecting wives, which God had forbidden to His kings.  Trouble was brewing …

 

Father, I so agree that You require training time for reigning time.  I pray that I will not get ahead of Your will.  Help me to learn and to obey everything You set out for me in Your Word.  Let me not try to get ahead of You and Your will because of impatience.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Samuel 1-4 A King Navigating A Minefield

David faced quite a mess after the deaths of Saul and his sons.  He needed to move from Ziklag, where he’d been living, back into Israel.  He surely wondered what his Philistine host would think of that.  He also needed to unite Israel, but political maneuvering was rampant as different people tried to set themselves up as friends of either David or Saul’s remaining son.

 

People acted without authorization and killings resulted which complicated matters greatly.  David’s habit of collecting wives was also sowing seeds for future conflicts.  David thankfully kept consulting God and made certain that he disavowed all actions taken by others that weren’t in God’s will.  God did overrule those actions and even used them for His purposes, showing His great sovereignty in spite of men’s sins, giving true meaning to the phrase, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  My commentary said of David during this time:  “David let God control him as he faced one emergency after another.  He was a man empowered by God, and God brought him through each crisis and helped him to succeed.”

 

Father, that’s what I want said about me.  I want to depend wholly on You, and I need You and Your wisdom to navigate all of the things I face in this life.  Please keep me in Your will.  Show me where to walk, and forgive me when I stumble and admit it.  Make me a man after Your own heart.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 28-31 An Inglorious End And A New Beginning

Saul’s reign came to an end.  He failed to show humble, obedient faith in God, letting his paranoia take control of his life.  He even found a witch to call up long-dead Samuel because God had stopped talking to him.  The news he received wasn’t good:  He and his sons would die on the battlefield the next day.  Samuel said, “The Lord has left you and become your enemy.”  That said it all.

 

As Saul was dying in battle against the Philistines, David was pursuing the Amalekites who’d burned his city and made off with the families and possessions of David and his men.  God was keeping David from having to fight against his own people with the Philistines and helping him take care of long-festering problems caused by Saul’s own disobedience.  God brought David out of exile and placed him onto the throne finally in Hebron.  His kingship had begun.

 

Father, I so need Your wisdom in dealing with issues I face at work as well.  You put me there and yesterday You reminded me not to let discouragement and disillusionment set in.  Show us Your will today, Father, as we too step out in faith.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 26-27 Discouragement & Despondency

Once again God gave David an opportunity to prove to Saul that he wasn’t trying to take his life.  God caused a supernatural sleep to come over Saul and his men, allowing David to enter Saul’s camp undetected and retrieve Saul’s spear and water jug.  Once safely away, he called out to Saul and Abner (his army general responsible for Saul’s security) to notice what was missing.  Saul couldn’t be trusted to show the same courtesy to David.

 

There’s a shadow of turning as chapter 27 begins:  “But David thought to himself, ‘Saul will catch me someday.  The best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines.’”

 

My commentary said, “God was using the difficulties in David’s life to make him a man of God and to prepare him for the throne, but now he decided to go his own way and solve his own problems.”  David was choosing to leave the Promised Land.  He did continue to raid Israel’s enemies, removing those whom Joshua and his contemporaries had failed to destroy according to Moses’ commands, while telling the Philistine king that he was raiding his own countrymen.  But the years on the run, living in less than ideal conditions, were taking a toll on David, and his thinking to himself was in some ways taking his focus off of what God was doing in his life.

 

Again, from my commentary:  “God’s children must be careful not to yield to despondency.  Moses was discouraged over his heavy workload and wanted to die, and Elijah ran from the place of duty because of fear and discouragement.  When we start to look at God through our circumstances instead of looking at our circumstances through God’s eyes, we will lose faith, patience, and courage, and the enemy will triumph.  ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.’”

 

Father, my heart needed to hear that word this morning.  You know the things that have been dragging on and just recently seemed to stall entirely.  I need to hear Your word on the situation, and I don’t want to lean on my own understanding.  Please guide me exactly in what You want to happen.  Continue to reinforce my patience, and let me not succumb to the soul-numbing aspects of discouragement and despondency.  I want to be doing what You know is best, in Your timing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 25 -- The Lesson DAVID Learned, Not Nabal

Rather than focusing me on a mean, stingy, rude man named Nabal, God surprised me by showing me how David almost made a big mistake.  When David’s men reported Nabal’s refusal to supply them with food in return for their protection of his shepherds and flocks, David boiled over and swore revenge.  My commentary said:

 

“David could forgive Saul, who wanted to kill him, but he couldn’t forgive Nabal who only refused to feed him and his men.  That wasn’t a capital crime.  David’s anger got the best of him; he didn’t stop to consult the Lord, and he rushed out to satisfy his passion for revenge.  Had David succeeded, he would have committed a terrible sin and done great damage to his character and his career, but the Lord mercifully stopped him… When the Lord isn’t allowed to rule in our lives, then He steps in and overrules.”

 

Nabal’s wife Abigail did what her husband had refused to do and saved the lives of her household.  When she met David, “She pointed out that the Lord had stopped David from avenging himself … She admitted that her husband deserved to be judged, but she wanted the Lord to do it, not the king … David blessed the Lord for providentially stopping him from killing innocent people, and he also blessed Abigail for her wise advice … David wrote in Psalm 141:5, ‘Let the righteous STRIKE me; it shall be a kindness.  And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil; let my head not refuse it.’  How we receive reproof and counsel is a test of our relationship to the Lord and our willingness to live by His Word.  David admitted that he was wrong, the Lord forgave him, and the Lord worked out the problem for him … When David heard the news of Nabal’s death (from a stroke), he praised the Lord for avenging him and preventing him from doing it himself.  David’s concern was the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.”

 

Father, that’s the kind of intervention I want You to do in my life whenever I find myself being controlled by my passions.  Keep me from dishonoring You by my thoughts and actions, and help me to listen to reproof wisely given.  Let me not reject it, but see it as David did in Psalm 141 – as balm sent by You for my healing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 24 -- The REAL Takeaway

I remember the first time I taught this chapter to high school guys.  Their imaginations were much more fertile than the chapter itself J  And of course their general take on the whole episode was one of humiliating your enemy.  But four words tell a much different story in verse 5:  “Later David felt guilty.” 

 

Why??  David held the office of king in high esteem, and even though God was using this encounter for His purposes, David saw what he’d done as “an insolent act of disrespect that humiliated Saul,” my commentary said.  Even though we’d be hard-pressed to find a Saul-supporter today, after all the proof of what Saul had tried to do to David, David was experiencing conviction.  No doubt God was using it to temper David’s judgment and to manipulate the entire episode for His intended result.

 

For David, as the opportunity first presented itself, he had to determine how God intended to use the occasion.  His men tried to assure him that Saul’s presence in their cave was divine intervention in response to David’s prayers and that Saul should be killed.  “David was too wise in the truth of God’s Word to interpret this event as a signal for him to kill Saul, for the law says, ‘You shall not murder,’ “ my commentary said.

 

God had other messages to convey, and the snipped-off corner of Saul’s robe indicated “that the kingdom had been transferred to David … and the cloth was proof that David did not intend to kill the king.”

 

David had prayed for God to vindicate him before Saul, proving that David was not out to kill him.  God allowed David to participate in his own vindication through these events, giving him “a holy boldness that came from a heart that was right with God,” my commentary added.

 

When we’re trying to determine God’s will, we’d better remember that David’s men were sure this was God delivering Saul to be killed, while Saul was equally sure that God had delivered David to him!  Perspective is everything, and the most important perspective isn’t ours but God’s.  We have to take ourselves out of the equation and ask God what He wants us to do in every situation, for we can all too often think that we know best. 

 

Father, thank You for showing me this even yesterday.  Help me to remember that “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” (Prov 16:32)

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 23 -- WHAT To Do??

David was a man on the run from a jealous king, with 600 people under his care.  It was therefore vitally important that he made correct decisions.  How did he do it?  “David asked the Lord … The Lord answered him.”  Over and over and over.

 

In his hatred of David, Saul was failing to defend Israel from Philistine invasions.  David acted more kingly by being concerned for his future subjects and traveling to help despite his own problems – even when those he helped were unappreciative enough that they told Saul where to find him!

 

This chapter has important information about how God informs us of things.  David asked God if Saul would come.  God answered yes.  He then asked if the leaders of the city would hand him over to Saul.  God again answered yes.  It would at first seem that God was leading David to be captured by Saul.  But what I’ve read over the years is that what God was doing was telling David what would happen if he stayed on his present course.  In other words, “This is where this is going if you do nothing different.”  So David moved, and Saul did not capture him.

 

The people of Ziph were afraid that Saul would call them collaborators because David was in the area, so they ran to Saul with news and agreed to do reconnaissance.  Saul said, “The Lord bless you for helping me!”  But Saul had ordered 85 priests killed and had been rejected by God as king.  God WILL NOT BLESS things that are out of his will, even when we ASK!

 

As Saul chased David’s men around a mountain, he was leaving Israel undefended again because of his hatred of David.  God sovereignly allowed the Philistines to again attack, and upon receiving word of it, Saul had to break off the chase and rush to defend his country.

 

Father, thank You for the reminder that I need to ask you for guidance in all things and to listen for Your reply, because You are faithful and will help when we ask.  Thanks also for the reminder to always stay in Your will.  Continue to guide me.  Help me to determine when Your answers include that implied “if you stay on this present course” so I’ll know to change course.

 

Your Brother

1 Samuel 21-22 On The Run, But In God's Will

For the anointed king of Israel to have to be going through all of this was quite a shame.  Out of food, he had to beg for bread from the high priest.  Later Jesus would use that event to show the Pharisees that God desired mercy more than ritual.  David also regained ownership of Goliath’s sword, which may have opened doors for him as he fled to Goliath’s hometown, of all places!  But facing the Philistine king there, he decided to pretend to be a madman, thinking that no one would think him a threat if he was.  Several more moves followed as he tried to get his parents to a place of safety (back in the land of Moab where his great-grandmother Ruth had come from) and as he tried to stay ahead of Saul’s spies.

 

My commentary noted that this was the period when David wrote many of his encouraging psalms, when others might have become greatly discouraged.  But the comment I liked the best was this:  “No matter how we feel or how dismal the circumstances appear, the safest place in the world is in the will of God.”

 

Father, remind me of this when I get discouraged.  That’s where I want to be – right in Your will.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 20 -- The Hardest Times When In God's Will

This chapter has always seemed so poignant to me.  From Jonathan’s standpoint, he was put in an impossible position – wanting to remain loyal to his father, King Saul, yet also having to finally admit that his father’s heart was filled with evil and knowing that he would have to go against him.  It was also terribly unfortunate that his father’s anger was directed towards his best friend, David.  Jonathan had come to understand and readily accept God’s will for his life – that he wouldn’t become king that his best friend would.  There was so much unsaid about this:  Jonathan was agreeing to let his future family become substantially poorer by his choice, with a resulting loss of prestige as well.  And had it not been David assuming the throne, he’d have had to worry about his entire family being assassinated.

 

David faced a similar conundrum.  He was right in the middle of God’s will but facing terrible persecution by being there.  And the heartache of separation from his best friend surely didn’t feel like a blessing from God.  Yet my commentary said, “It wasn’t God’s will that David permanently join himself to Saul and his family, for they belonged to the wrong tribe and represented a rejected and condemned monarchy.”  Sometimes God’s will is hard, but it is also necessary and designed to bless us in the end.

 

I faced a similar circumstance years ago when my own best friend was moving.  God had put us together, I could tell, to grow me spiritually.  I wondered what would happen, and my heart was breaking.  But through that event, He strengthened me and gave me the desire to fight all the more to know more about Him on my own.  Similarly, the task of adopting from Ukraine meant huge changes for me – going from single guy to single father was unimaginable, but enduring the whims of a foreign government just made it worse.  But through that experience God amazingly watched over and guided me and grew my faith incredibly!

 

Father, help me to see any persecution I endure not as a curse, but as a blessing, knowing that through it You are in the process of perfecting me and driving me headlong into Your perfect will.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 19 -- The Politician Who Would Do Anything To Stay In Power

On the worldly plain, I can see why Saul was attempting to have his son-in-law David killed – Saul was a politician and like most politicians, he’d do anything to stay in power.

 

But on a spiritual plain, Saul had to know, through Samuel’s words and through the absence of the Holy Spirit in his life, that it was not in God’s will that his family would continue to rule Israel.  He was therefore choosing to fight God.

 

My commentary reviewed everything that would happen in David’s life, up to and including the birth of his descendant, Jesus Christ, in his distant future, and stated, “No wonder Satan was so determined to kill David!”

 

God was David’s defense and refuge, but that didn’t mean that David would foolishly hang around while Saul continued to try and take his life.  His wife urged him to leave for his own safety, and as my commentary pointed out, “God uses human means to accomplish His divine ends … David’s faith was not in himself or in Michal’s schemes, but in the Lord …”

 

David found Samuel but Saul discovered where they were and sent three different groups of soldiers to kill him.  “God protected David and Samuel, not by sending an army but by sending the Holy Spirit to turn warriors into worshipers.”  When Saul decided to do the job himself, he too was made to fall down, worship, and prophesy about God.  My commentary noted that this proves a person can have a remarkable religious experience and yet have no change in character.  Judas did the same.

 

Father, I trust You and You alone.  I rely on You to guide me through the minefields Satan has laid on this earth.  I’m sorry that I didn’t always do that, and also for times when I seem to want my own way.  Please keep me safe from the evil one and from my own willfulness, and help me to guide my sons to trust You as well.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford