Wed.’s Devo - Israel is Saved

Read: 1 Samuel 13:23-14:52; John 7:30-52; Psalm 109:1-31; Proverbs 15:5-7 The Philistines had a garrison at Michmash and Jonathan took his armor-bearer to the Philistine garrison. He believed that God could save with a few the same as he could save with a whole army. It was the Lord who was going to give them the victory. His armor-bearer was willing to do anything Jonathan told him. *** Jonathan came up with a sign. The garrison was staying up on a rocky crag and if they saw him and his armor-bearer and wanted them to come up, then Jonathan would know that the Lord had given them the victory. *** They showed themselves to the Philistines who told them to come up, so Jonathan and his armor-bearer knew they were going to win. They climbed up the cliff and killed 20 Philistines. God shook the earth and it quaked so loud it threw the rest of the garrison into a great panic. *** Saul’s spies saw this and reported it back to Saul. Saul did a roll call and discovered Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing. He called for the ark to be brought, but the noise in the Philistine camp became so loud, he called his men to battle. There were Hebrew defectors who changed their allegiance back to fight for Israel. When the people of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing they came out of hiding and fought for Israel and it was saved. *** Saul was so determined to win, he put a curse on anyone in the army who ate anything before Israel was delivered. Jonathan hadn’t heard the rule and he ate some honey and was refreshed. When the battle was over and the men could finally eat. They were so famished they started eating the animals of the Philistines before they were dead. This was reported to Saul and he rebuked the people. He had a huge stone rolled over where they could kill their animals on it. He set up an altar to cook the meat and sacrifice to the Lord. *** Saul inquired of the Lord to know if they should pursue the Philistines, but he got no answer. He then asked the Lord who had sinned that he was not answering. Was it him or Jonathan or was it someone among the people? The Lord said it was him or Jonathan, not the people. Then the priest drew lots to find out it was Jonathan who had sinned. Saul asked Jonathan what he had done and he told him he had eaten the honey. Saul was going to have Jonathan killed, but the people stood up for Jonathan and saved him. *** This is a very good example of the power of our words. Saul’s curse, no matter how foolish or unfair, almost killed Jonathan. Our words are life or death. We need to wield the sword of our mouth very carefully and purposefully. *** In John, the Jews were trying to find the perfect time to arrest Jesus, but God’s hand would not allow them to do it till he said it was time. *** The Pharisees heard the people wondering if Jesus was the Messiah because of the wonderful miracles he did. They had had enough, so the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus told them he wasn’t going to be with them much longer. He was going somewhere they wouldn’t be able to come. They would look for him, but not be able to find him. *** They wondered if he was going to go and teach the Greeks. They didn’t arrest him. *** On the last day of the feast, the priests were doing the water libation where the priests bring water in a pitcher up from the Siloam Springs (the springs of living water) and pour it on the altar. Jesus stood and said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Then out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. *** The people heard this and some thought he was The Prophet who had been prophesied would come and some thought he was the Messiah. Some argued he couldn’t be either because the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem and all they knew about Jesus was that he was from Nazareth and no prophet was said to come out of Nazareth. Some wanted him arrested, but no one wanted to be the one to do it. *** The chief priests who had sent their officers to arrest Jesus asked them why they didn’t do it. They told him that no one spoke like him. Nicodemus declared that they needed to give Jesus a hearing before they judged him. *** Lord, may our words bring life as your words did. May we speak truth and not be afraid of the outcome. You are our defender. You alone have the words of life.