Wed.’s Devo - Wise Decisions

Read: 1 Samuel 24:1-25:44; John 10:22-42; Psalm 116:1-19; Proves 15:20-21 Saul came with 3,000 of his elite warriors in search of David. Saul stopped to rest in a cave that David’s men were hiding in. David’s men saw the opportunity to kill Saul and tried to get David to act on it. David crept close enough to cut a piece of Saul’s robe while he was sleeping but couldn’t bring himself to kill him or allow his men to. When Saul left the cave, David called after him and told him what he had done. He showed him the piece of cloth he had cut from his robe. Saul broke when he realized his life was in David’s hands but he had refused to end it. He even confessed that he knew that David would one day be the king and that the kingdom would flourish under him. Saul made David swear not to kill him or his family. David swore he would honor his request and Saul left. Samuel died at this time and was buried in Ramah, a city of refuge. There was a wealthy man named Nabal that had 4,000 sheep and goats in the wilderness of Maon. His wife’s name was Abigail. David’s men had been protection for Nabal’s shepherds while they grazed their sheep and it was time to sheer the sheep. David had been a shepherd so he knew that when it was sheep shearing time, all the town would have a celebration and everyone who helped in keeping the sheep would be invited to the feast. His men would qualify for this invitation so David asked if they could come. Nabal foolishly refused his invite making David so angry he got his men ready to go and fight Nabal and his family. Abigail overheard what Nabal had said to his men concerning David so she wisely and quickly prepared food for David and his men. She took it to them and humbly begged forgiveness for the foolishness of her husband and contended for his life. David thanked her and promised not to harm her family. When Nabal found out what she had done he immediately had a stroke. He died 10 days later. When David found out, he sent his men to get Abigail to marry her. She gratefully came and joined David. David also married Ahinoam. Saul had given his daughter Michal to a man named Palti. David had the wisdom to wait on the Lord. He knew God had anointed him as the king and that it would come to pass but he wisely waited on God to bring it to pass. In John, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Hanukkah. Hanukkah commemorated when Israel came back to Jerusalem after being exiled for 70 years. They found the menorah in the Temple but only had enough oil to keep it lit for one day. It would take seven days to make the olive oil to refill the lamp. Miraculously, God kept the menorah burning for seven days.J Jesus was the light that keeps shining miraculously in the world and in us. The people that couldn’t see this were children of the darkness, not children of the light. People kept asking Jesus to tell them if he was the Messiah or not. He pretty much answered that if they didn’t know by now, they were not his sheep. They didn’t recognize the voice of the shepherd or the light. The people didn’t like that response and took up stones to stone him. Jesus asked them for what miracle were they going to stone him for. They responded that they weren’t stoning him for something good he did, but for his blasphemy. They said that Jesus was only a mere man and was claiming to be God. Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6 where God was talking to the judges calling them ‘gods.’ If God could call the judges ‘god,’ why did they say it was blasphemy for him to call himself the Son of God? If they couldn’t believe what he said, he told them to at least believe that his works were God’s works. They tried to arrest him again but he slipped away and went to the Jordan where John had baptized. The people that followed him talked among themselves concluding that John didn’t do miracles but everything he had said about Jesus had come true. Lord, may we not take things into our own hand but learn to wait on You to bring your plans to pass. May we have wisdom to know when to act and when to wait.