Wed.’s Devo - Life From Death

Read: 1 Samuel 26:1-28:25; John 11:1-54; Psalm 117:1-2; Proverbs 15:22-23
David must have had some men in Ziph hated him as much as Saul because they were the same ones who turned David into Saul in 1 Samuel 23:19. Saul had his most elite soldiers with him looking for David, but instead, David found him.
David and Abishai snuck into Saul’s camp at night while everyone was asleep. (I wonder who had watch that night?) They stole Saul’s spear and his water jar. When they had gotten a safe distance away, David woke Abner up. Abner was Saul’s commander of his army. David taunted him with questions about his ability to keep the king safe.
Saul recognized David’s voice and they had the same conversation they had last time. Saul repented of trying to kill him and David returned his spear and water jar. Saul blessed David and prophesied that he would do many heroic deeds and surely succeed.
They parted, but David knew he would never be safe as long as Saul lived and as long as he lived in Israelite land. He decided to go to live with the Philistines. He went to Achish, the royal city of the king of Gath. Achish, also known as Abimelech, welcomed him and he brought his two wives with him. David asked to be moved out of the royal city to a place in the country so he was given Ziklag. He and his family lived among the Philistines for about a year and four months.
From Ziklag, David would take his army and attack neighboring enemies of Israel and leave no one living to give him away. He told the Philistine king that he was fighting cities in Israel. King Achish believed David so much that when he was about to go to battle against Israel, he invited David and his men to fight with him. He promised that David would emerge his armor-bearer, the most prominent position.
Saul had banned all mediums from Israel, but when he faced the vast Philistine army without Samuel or the ephod, he caved and sought for a medium. He found one in Endor who immediately perceived that he was Saul and that her life might be quickly over. He assured her that she wouldn’t die so she brought Samuel up from the grave. He scolded Saul for disturbing his sleep then told him he had lost his kingdom to David and become an enemy of God’s. He and his sons would die the next day in battle and the battle would end in defeat. Needless to say, Saul was distraught. He ate his last supper of unleavened bread just like Jesus did the night before he died.
In John, Jesus woke Lazareth up from his sleep of death, but he walked out of his grave and lived. He was under a much better covenant than Samuel was under.
I love what Thomas said when he learned they were going back to Judah where Jesus was a wanted man. He said, “Let’s go, too and die with Jesus.” I don’t know if he was being sarcastic or what but it makes me laugh. It reminds me of the scripture: “They overcame by the blood of the lamb, and the word of their testimony and that they loved not their lives unto death.”
I think that Jesus reaction at the tomb of Lazareth was God’s reaction at the tomb of his son’s. He was both sad, that the people had no faith and mad that Satan had killed him.
This left the religious leaders with an even greater problem - Jesus had raised a man from the dead! Instead of making them believers, it made them more determined to kill him and stop his miracles. Sin is so blinding.
Lord, may our eyes be open and may we see life from death!