Greetings everyone! Keep the comments coming!
1st Samuel chapter 21.
King David is on a mission and he wants to make sure he is kept holy. In fact, even when it's not a holy mission, he wants to ensure that he is kept holy.
Before I go and preach somewhere I find myself wanting to be holy before God. I want to be a holy servant before the Lord so he can use me to the fullest when I preach. I want to make sure that the words that come out of my mouth are truly his words and not my own.
Here's the problem: on a normal day when I'm not preparing for an upcoming sermon, I'm not as self-conscious with my “thought life” and I'm not as conscious with my “brokenness” before the Lord. In other words, I'm more “sloppy” with my spiritual walk.
if I was as concerned with my spiritual walk everyday as I am before I go and preach, I feel I could be used more by God to impact lives around me. I feel I would be more concerned for lost souls and more motivated to reach outward.
Lord help me to want to be holy everyday and help me to want to be used to the fullest everyday that others might come to know you.
Verse 12 stood out to me today.
“And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.”
This was the same shepherd boy who God used to defeat Goliath. Remember where Goliath was from? Gath (1 Samuel 17:4) Uh-oh! Was it payback time for Achish?
David didn’t seem to be afraid of anything with God on his side, but now we read that he was much afraid. I see this as showing that he is a human with emotions including fear. We all have limitations and some fear can keep us safe from harm sometimes. In this situation, David came up with a clever plan by pretending to be crazy and avoiding any potential trouble. While I think fear can be a good thing at certain times, there are also times when we need to make decisions based more on faith than fear. We shouldn’t live our lives in fear, but walk by faith.
I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:6-9.
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.”
Awe – those are some of my favorite verses (2 Cor), Jim.
David lied to Ahimelech, the priest, to protect himself from Saul. It seems like a small lie but it led to the death of 85 priests in the next chapter. There is no such thing as a white lie in God’s economy. We shouldn’t categorize or minimize sins. A sin is a sin and leads to consequences. Is this convicting or what?
We would think David is a lost cause here. He lied to the priest and relied on a sword rather than God. But God saw his heart. God’s acceptance and forgiveness is conditional – based on the motives in our hearts. But, our forgiveness must be unconditional because we can’t see what’s in another person’s heart.
David’s story reminds us not to write someone off because they are in “Gath”, withdrawn from fellowship, acting crazy. Paul says in Colossians 3:12 that the deepest part of me is to be nothing but merciful, meek and kind – knowing that only God sees the longing of the soul and the heart of the matter.
David was never a lost cause – in fact, it was during this time that he wrote Psalm 34 & 56. Take a few minutes and read those chapters and see where his heart was at.
Thank you, Lord, for your Living Word and for your Spirit that speaks to us through it.
Hey Colin! Thank you for sharing! I glad it touched you! Our God is so good! Blessings to you!
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