Tues.’s Devo - God’s Victories

Read: 1 Samuel 29:1-31:13; John 11:55-12:19; Psalm 118:1-18; Proverbs 15:24-26 The entire Philistine army showed up to fight Saul and Israel. King Achish came with David and they were going to bring up the rear in the battle. When the other Philistine commanders saw David and his men there they were very upset. They didn’t trust that David wouldn’t turn on them and fight for Saul. *** King Achish tried to stand up for David but to no avail. He finally told David that he would have to take his men back home and not fight in the battle. David was upset but had no other choice. It was a good thing because when they returned home they found their whole town had been attacked by the Amalekites and everyone had been taken captive and the town pillaged. *** His men were so upset, they wanted to kill David, but David encouraged himself in the Lord. God protected David and David asked the priest whether to pursue the Amelekites or not. The priest inquired through the ephod and God said to go and they would recover all. *** David had 600 men, but 200 of them were too tired to continue. They stayed with the supplies and the rest went after their families. *** On their way, they found a wounded Egyptian from the Amalekite army who had been left to die. David nursed him back to health. He was promised they would not turn him over to his owner if he led them to the Amalekites. He did and they found them eating and drinking. David and his men took them by surprise and recovered all. When they got back to the 200 who had guarded their stuff, David made a proclamation that they would get the same as the ones who went to war. That became a law. *** David also sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah in twelve towns who were his friends. *** Meanwhile, back at the war between Saul and the Philistines, Saul, his sons and many others were killed. The Israelite army fled and the Philistines took the bodies of Saul and his sons and hung them on the wall at Beth-shean. The people of Jabesh went during the night and took their bodies down and buried them. They fasted for 7 days. *** It is amazing to see how God saved David from having to be in the battle where Saul was killed. If he had been there he would have been blamed for killing Saul and he would have not have gone home to save his own family. But God orchestrated it where Saul would die and no one would be able to blame David, and David was able to recover everything that had been stolen from him. He was able to share his wealth with leaders of Judah that would one day be loyal to him as their king. *** In John, it was almost time for the Passover celebration. People had arrived in Jerusalem early to go through the purification ceremony so they would be able to participate in the sacrifices. They thought they might see Jesus there. The priests and Pharisees were also looking for Jesus to arrest him. *** Six days before Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany to eat with Lazarus and his family. Mary then took her expensive jar of perfume and anointed Jesus feet with it. She wiped it with her hair. When Judas Iscariot saw this, all he could think of was the money they could have gotten if they had sold the perfume. Jesus told him to leave her alone because she was doing this in preparation for his burial. *** As they all left for Jerusalem, they grew a crowd. Everyone wanted to see Jesus and Lazareth. The priests decided they needed to kill Lazareth also since he had gotten so popular. *** The people coming to Jerusalem were singing the Hallel they always sang on the way to Jerusalem. When they saw Jesus they sang it to him and laid down their palm branches to let him walk on them. Jesus was riding on a donkey fulfilling the words of Zechariah, “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming riding on a donkey’s colt.” *** All the people were wanting to see Jesus who raised Lazareth from the dead. The Pharisees were didn’t know what to do now; Jesus was the talk of the celebration. *** Lord, thank you that you orchestrate our lives just like you did David. You save us from waking into traps set by the enemy and you bless us with good things.