Good morning everyone!
1st Samuel chapter 22.
2 thoughts:
1. I'm surprised how David's Brothers came to fight under David's command. Once they were jealous and angry with David just before he killed Goliath. Now they are willing to fight under him. Some maturity must have occurred.
Jealousy is difficult to get rid of. We have to swallow our own pride and learn to be thankful for the gifts of others and learn to rejoice for how God is using them. We have to learn to encourage them and pray for them. We have to learn that we too are uniquely made with gifts and abilities to be used by God for his purpose and his kingdom. And I am confident that there are others looking at us and being jealous.
2. I am amazed how we can become so consumed with an act of sin that we become blinded to how destructive our behavior is. As a result of our blindness other people get hurt and we are the cause of it but we continue to justify our sin and actions.
Who am I jealous of? Lord help me rejoice in my gifts and the gifts of others. Help me love and support them.
Lord help me not be consumed with anything or anyone except you! May I be so consumed with you that I'm driven to want to serve you more. Learn of you more. Share You More. Love others more. Help others more. Encourage others more.
Saul was complaining about not being informed about David and then Doeg the Edomite had to open his big mouth to answer him. I think of Doeg as a nasty tattletale, trying to get decent people into trouble. We just recently saw how good it was that David had true friends who he could trust. They did what they could to help protect David. Doeg was not one of those friends!
Saul confronted Ahimelech and was upset about how he helped David. Ahimelech responded by telling Saul that he didn’t consider David as an enemy, but told Saul how David was really a faithful servant. Saul wasn’t accepting it and made another bad decision here. He blamed Ahimelech for conspiracy and wanted him killed along with the other priests. The servants of the king knew better and would not lay their hands on the priests of the Lord. Doeg stepped up again, this time to do the killing. Eighty-five priests were killed along with people of all ages from the city of Nob. This may seem like some part of a plot in a Star Wars episode, but it’s all right there in the Bible!
This reminded me of the idea of separation of church and state in our country and how the original intention was to keep the church protected from the power of the state, but how it has been twisted to now be interpreted by some as keeping the church out of the state. We see in this chapter how political power can be abused and misused to do some terrible things. I think that it’s a good chapter to read when considering why it is so important that we have the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
I was thinking today of Micah 6:8.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”