Saul Chases David

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There was much movement in today's reading, so here's a map that will show where the action took place:

It's hard to read but the best I could find (I looked at about 10 of them)--if you know how to increase the size on your browser, you can increase it in size. It gives a good general flavor to where the activity took place.

Psalm 52 clearly describes the future of all tyrants, and 52:1 in particular presents the case for why that judgment will be harsh, severe and CERTAIN. At the beginning of today's reading, 1 Samuel 22:7 describes how Saul (and all tyrants) operate--through fear, coercion and favors for support. Saul was only able to complete the massacre of the priests of Nob because he had a lackey in Doeg who was willing to throw away any sense of morality and justice for personal gain.

But those gains are short-term, and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't been paying attention to the news. Everything occurring in the Middle East in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere is precisely because the tyrant in charge (be it elected like Mubarak in Egypt, coup plotters like Gaddafi or whatever manner) lost control of his army, his source of enforcement and protection. This has been occurring throughout Africa for the past twenty years as thug leadership throughout the entire continent are either waging civil war or being overthrown by the people. Being a tyrant is a good job when you have an army to enforce the regime, but loses its allure when the masses tire of despotic rule and realize that their numbers will overwhelm anything a tyrant can manage.

For those old enough to remember, Psalm 52:5-7 is an excellent description of what happened in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Repressive governments were overthrown in in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary and other Iron Curtain countries, and the people in those countries were jubilant. There is a very real chance that similar events will happen in Cuba and North Korea in the near future, since the piles of money necessary to support an oppressive army are dwindling and unrest is building. Being a despot is usually not a good long-term strategy.

The important thing for us to remember is that David never lost faith during these ordeals, and as we face our travails in life, we need to have the same steely resolve of David and remain faithful. We're all good Christians when times are flush, but it's when times are tough that our true character is revealed. Pray that we all remain faithful like David when we suffer setbacks in life.

Scott

An Olive Tree (April 18)

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God;  I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.
                                          Psalm 52:8 NIV

Our readings have provided many examples that despite Israel's failures, God's unfailing love to Israel endures.  God never fails and has the perfect plan.  His understanding is totally complete, comprehensive and clear and is in contrast to our incomplete, imperfect and imprecise understanding.  We can give thanks for God's unearned and undeserved love.

We read in this Psalm of David that he, David, is like an olive tree.  An initial reaction might be one of not being impressed.  On further consideration, the reaction should be one of great impression, for below follow some facts from Wikipedia about olive trees:

        During WWII, Greeks who stored olives and olive
           oil survived the German occupation much better than
           Greeks who did not store olives and olive oil.
        Olive trees have lived for up to 2000 years
        Olives were exports from Cannan 3000 years BC
        Olive trees are very drought resistant
        Athenians claimed the Olive grew in Athens first
        The olive leaf was a symbol of abundance, glory, and
           peace
        Olive oil is used in anointing
        The olive has been a symbol of peace, purity, power, 
           wisdom and fertility.

May we be olive trees, flourishing in the house of God, trusting in God's unfailing love and being lights showing Christ's love to the world.

Pray for safety and protection of Church leaders that God wraps his protective arms around them and their families.


In Christ,


David P

Four Psalms

Remember, put your email address in the space at the top of the page and click the "Submit" button and you can have posts emailed to you. Talk about having no excuse to read the blog...

We had four psalms in today's reading, two of which establish a new pattern in David's writing. David pleads, and almost DEMANDS, that the Lord come to David's rescue. We'll see many of this type as we read the psalms, but this type has a sense of urgency as well as a clear expectation that the Lord will come to David's defense, and we're given a good reason why this is in Psalm 5:4, which states "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell."

We've already encountered a number of people in the Bible who started out good and fell by the wayside for any number of reasons--Adam, Samson, Saul, and David and Solomon will join this list as time goes by, but it hasn't happened to David yet. God already anointed David as the successor to Saul (unbeknownst to Saul, by the way, to clear up a bit of table discussion from this morning--1 Samuel 20:31 seems to make this clear), but Saul had taken a dislike of David based on petty jealousy. Imagine you're at work and your boss starts hurling spears at you like Saul did to David (twice--1 Samuel 18:10-11 and 1 Samuel 19:9-10)--probably a good time to get a new job, and in David's case, a good time to hit the road.

As we know, things won't end well for Saul, and the Psalm verse tells us why, and that simple verse can do much in explaining much of the violence that occurs in the Old Testament. God does NOT take pleasure in evil and he will NOT allow the wicked to dwell with him or in his land. I'll say it again, all the war, bloodshed and violence wasn't taken on behalf of a jealous god, but God's response to a people not willing to obey him. There would have been plenty of room for Philistines, Amorites, Amalekites, Hizzites and any other -ite that can be named if they had acknowledged the Lord as their God, but they chose not to, of their own free will. They were witnesses to the power of the God of Israel and chose  to ignore it.

God simply won't allow evil to stand, and today he's still giving every opportunity for people to realize that he IS God and to accept him, because the day is coming when he will again judge and punish the wicked just as he did then. That's why it's so important for us to spread that message of salvation and redemption as far and wide as we can, because even though no one knows the day or the hour, the end of each day brings us one day closer to it.

Scott

Psalm 133 (April 17)

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.  It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.  For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life evermore.
                                       Psalm 133 NIV

Together in unity!  Reminds one of the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5 NIV: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

We are born of the Spirit and through Christ, there is unity.  We are all differnt parts, but one body.  We are anointed by the Spirit and as we learned in Pastor Vokt's sermon today, anointing sets the anointed aside and allows God to equip the anointed one to complete a task.  We learned about the anointing of Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper by Mary today.  The anointed was anointed. 

Think of what was done to Jesus during Holy Week.  He died for our sins and rose from the grave to conquor death.  His perfect, complete, satisfactory, efficient sacrifice was for our, your and my, sin.  His sacrifice allows us to approach God through Him and be acceptable to God. 

Pray to have your eyes on the Cross this week and to be open to the Spirit's guidance.

In Chirst,

David P

Success (April 16)

Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army.  This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well.

In everything he did, he had great success, because the Lord was with him.  When Saul saw how sucessful he was, he was afraid of him.
                                   From 1 Samuel 18 NIV

Here, David was a success on many occasions.  Webster tells us that success is: the favorable or prosperous termination or attempts or endeavors; the attainment of wealth, position honors, or the like; a successful performance or achievement; a person or thing that is successful; (obs) outcome. 

It has been said that David is still a hero  for the citizens of Israel for he was such a success in battle, in guiding the kingdom, in his leadership abilities.  One might ask why David was so blessed?  We will learn that his walk with the Lord was close.

As we read yesterday, David gave praise to the Lord and promised to continue to give praise to the Lord.  He had a very close walk with the Lord.  We will see that David was led by the Lord and did not take matters into his own hands, by his own will.  We will clearly see an example of this next week on April 19, in Samuel 24, where David spares Saul's life.

We also see that David became respected, a leader, a successful leader by having his eyes open to the Spirit's guidance and using that guidance with wisdom and courage to complete his tasks.  We learn from David that success comes from following the Lord in our tasks. 

His will, not "my" will.

What kinds of succesess have you seen this week by following the Lord?

Have you seen fear in someone as a result of another's success?

Pray for unity in the church, community, nation and world.

In Christ,

David P

David and Goliath(April 15)

Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the Living God.
                                   1 Samuel 17:36 NIV

Here we read about David, a humble, Spirit filled, good shepherd, who stands for the armies of the Living God and seeks his meek, well fitting clothing for the duty of facing Goliath.  David is not use to the helmet and armor Saul placed on him for battle.  We clearly see God using the meek and lowly of this world to show His power against the strong and mighty of this world.

Consider the courage David was given while looking over the flock to kill the lion and the bear in dangerous conditions. He, in a very real sense, put his life on the line for his flock. Think about how that background and training plus the faith the Spirit gave him, equipped him for the daunting task of facing Goliath. 

Remember God will equip you for the tasks He asks you to do.

Think of the parallels between David and Jesus.  Think of God's attributes.

Where do you turn when you have a "Goliath" to face?

Pray for strength and courage to run the race, to complete the tasks and to follow the Spirit's call.

Pray for protection from the flaming arrows for church leaders everywhere.

Pray for the Spirit's guidance and gift of wisdom for church leaders as they discern future directions for ministry.

In Christ,


David P

The Lord My Rock

I'm posting again today to test out that new email feature I described in my last post, so do two things first:

1. Read my previous post first (the one titled "The Lord Does Not Look..."

2. Read the April 15th reading first, since this is what I'm referencing

I'll skip David and Goliath, since it's a well-known story. I'll focus instead on the psalm we read, since it's an excellent introduction to the style that David uses when writing, which usually looks like this:

1. Praise and thanksgiving

2. Reasons for praise and thanksgiving

3. Promise to continue praise and thanksgiving

But in this instance, look exactly why David is praising the Lord and thanking him--because he "trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle." This verse should come instantly to mind whenever we sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers," since we ARE in battle today, the most important battle that will ever be fought, the battle for our very souls. I'm won't speak definitively on whether David was referencing physical or spiritual battle in this psalm, but there's absolutely no reason why we can't use it to our advantage and take great comfort in it.

War and battle are frequently used  as imagery in the Bible, most memorably for me in Ephesians 6, where Paul describes the armor of God. No, we're not to arm ourselves to the teeth and go out converting people to the Lord at tip of our swords, and we need to remember that the war isn't one we're waging (or in other words, that we started), but that is BEING WAGED AGAINST US. We're NOT in a battle of our choosing, and we're not instructed to lie down and be overrun. We're to defend ourselves, and this goes one step further when we discuss how we should minister and tell the story of the Lord.

If I've mentioned this before, my apologies, but while in college at the University of Iowa, there were occasions when traveling preachers would come and speak on the Pentecrest. One preacher in particular sticks in my mind, and he was very strong on the Law (and how us pagan, heathen college students were falling short) and what would happen (we were going to go "Straight....to.....HELL!"), and he seemed pretty happy about that prospect. I didn't hear a Gospel part, which to me is an important part of the message. We face the same dangers if we approach others in this confrontational manner. I'm not stating it doesn't have a place from time to time, but how often have YOU been convinced of something because someone said "You're an idiot, you're wrong, and you're going to be ruined." I'm thinking the common response isn't "You're right! Tell me what to do! I've been such a fool!"

We give testimony with our lives and how we live them. As we continue to read the psalms, try to adopt its form into your prayers. Begin with thanksgiving and praise, and you'll see the benefits David listed in Psalm 144:12-14. If indeed the Lord is our Rock, it's incumbent upon us to live lives that reflect that.

Scott