Good morning!
1st Samuel chapter 31.
This chapter is a fulfillment of God's promise that he made against Saul for his disobedient heart toward the Lord. God declared Saul would die and the kingship position would be stripped from him.
At the same time, David is in a battle and God delivers the enemy into his hands. David is victorious.
What happened to Saul and David is a picture of our outcomes in life.
- If we reject Jesus and choose a life of outright disobedience toward God and a life of selfishness, then we face death, hell, an eternal separation from God in the Lake of fire.
- If we receive Jesus followed by repentance, living a life obedient to the Lord, then we receive God's ultimate reward spending eternity with him in heaven.
I'm reminded of Joshua's comment in Joshua 24:15 when he says choose this day whom you will serve. Whether it be false gods that meet our selfish desires or the true Living God. Joshua says as for me and my house we will choose to follow the Lord.
May my heart always be on fire for the Lord Jesus never to compromise my faith by the grace and strength of God.
David and Saul remind me of the wise man and the foolish man from the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 7:24-27.
“Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
We saw in the previous chapter yesterday how God helped David at a point when everything seemed to be going wrong. The “rain” fell in David’s life and he was distressed, but he was on the Rock. God gave David the victory. In today’s chapter, we saw the “rain” fall on Saul. He was defeated and lost his life. His life had been built on the sand. He was warned and we knew this was coming as the outcome of his disobedience. It seems to me that while David was running further away from Saul, Saul was running further away from God in his own selfishness.
I was also reminded of a passage from Matthew 5:43-45.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I (Jesus) say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
It’s so important to have Jesus as our Rock to be the right foundation in our lives. May we always show His love and stand in Him to be ready when the rain comes.