Thurs.’s Devo - David and Goliath

Read: 1 Sam. 17:1-18:4, John 8:21-30, Ps. 111:1-10, Pr. 15:11 This is such a familiar story but it always amazes me when I think that Goliath’s vest weighed 125 pounds! What a big man with very strong muscles! David spread his faith around until he was brought before Saul. Saul didn’t even recognized David as his harpist. Saul started doing his regular mode of operation which was ‘doing it his way’. He tried to dress David in his armor. David refused to do it man’s way. He went out unprotected with faith as his shield. He took his first stone and completely felled Goliath. That stone stood for the Word of God. It just takes one verse spoken in faith to see the devil fall. I love that David took Goliath’s own sword to cut off his head. Goliath was the principality and once he was conquered all the little demons fled. Satan’s camp is not in any sort of unity or form. It is total chaos and disloyalty. Jonathan noticed the power and favor on David and loved and honored David as himself. I don’t know of any other friendship in the Bible as sweet as theirs except maybe Jesus and John and Ruth and Naomi. Jesus warns the people that they cannot come where He is going unless they believe He is who He says He is. Otherwise, they will die in their sins. Even Jesus was totally obedient to his Father. Great are Your works, Oh Lord! Our hearts lay open before You. Make them holy Yours.

Wed.’s Devo - To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

Read: 1 Sam. 15:1-16:23, John 8:1-20, Ps. 110:1-7, Pr. 15:8-10 Once again, Saul has taken matters into his own hands and did it his way. He chose to please his men over God. Once again God told Saul he would take his kingdom away. Saul begged Samuel to come back with him and offer a sacrifice so the people would think that God was pleased with him. Saul was a people pleaser. The problem with being a people pleaser is that you will never succeed. You can never make all the people happy. Pleasing God is the only satisfying option. We do that by obeying Him, not by our presents and sacrifices. Samuel had to obey God’s word and anoint the youngest of Jessie’s sons even though the older ones looked like a king. God could see David’s heart and it was the heart of the king God was looking for. God got David into the palace covertly as a harpist. If we obey God…He will bring it to pass. In John we have the story of the woman caught in adultery. I once asked God what Jesus wrote in the sand because I know God loves to reveal his mysteries. He led me to Jer. 17:13, which says, “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” I think that is what he wrote…the names of the men standing around watching. He must have started with the genealogy of the oldest. As they saw their names being written in the ground I have to believe the Holy Spirit reminded them of this verse. How could Jesus know their names except through supernatural God? It caused them all to leave. Lord, help us to obey You and do everything Your way instead of ours. May our lives be pleasing to You for You are who we long to honor.

Tues.’s Devo - Hearing from God

Read 1 Sam. 13:23-14:52, John 7:30-53, Ps. 109:1-31, Pr. 15:5-7 In our Old Testament reading two things stood out to me. The first was how Jonathan decided himself what the sign would be to show them whether to go up against the Philistines or not. I think sometimes I am so afraid of manipulating God that I am afraid to put out a fleece. God wants to lead us and talk to us and sometimes we need a tangible answer. It’s hard to hear when you are in the midst of something and you especially if you have a preference. Jonathan just threw a fleece out there and didn’t waver at the response. His armor bearer represented his guardian angel who had his back. The second thing that hit me was Saul’s flippant vow. Did he stop and think about it? His warriors were in the midst of battle and he forbids them to eat? How foolish. It wasn’t the vow that I was so amazed at, but the fact that Saul was going to actually kill his innocent son until the men took up for Jonathan and ransomed his life. Grace and truth always triumph over judgment and the law. In John, the people are celebrating the feast of tabernacles. During the feast they would do a ceremony called the water libation. At the feast of tabernacles God judged the nation for rainfall. To invoke God’s blessing for the next year they would bring water from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple. It was a great ceremony of joy. It was during this ceremony that Jesus stood and said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” This saying alone made many believe He was the Messiah. They got tripped up over his origin yet no one asked him where he came from. God doesn’t want us to come to Him because we have figured it out, He wants us to come in faith.

Mons.’s Devo - God Moves During the Feasts

Read 1 Sam. 12:1-13:22, John 7:1-29, Ps. 108:1-13, Pr. 15:4 Samuel says his parting words as he leaves the scene as the last judge and Saul enters as the first king. He reminds them of their sin of wanting a king then of the time of the year. It is the wheat harvest, the same time of the year that God gave the Law on Mt. Sinai. This is the time of the feast of Pentecost. Just like the time of Moses there is thunder and rain and the people are in awe of God and their leader. Saul rules for 12 years but makes a bad mistake early in his reign. He impatiently offered the sacrifice that only Samuel was to offer. This displeased God so much, He told him He was done with Saul and was going to raise up a king after His own heart. Saul moved according to his own heart. In John, it is the time of the feast of tabernacles. All the Jews are to go to Jerusalem on this day with their family. Jesus tells his family to go ahead of him. They are not believers in Him and He doesn’t want them to hinder what God tells Him to do. Halfway through the feast he appears in the temple courts and starts teaching. The people are still debating whether Jesus is the Christ. Jesus always knows their thoughts and words and answers them. If they were such keepers of the law then Jesus wanted to know why they wanted to kill him. Isn’t “thou shalt not kill” in the top ten? They denied wanting to kill him. They argued over his birth saying no one was suppose to know where the Messiah came from. They didn’t understand it wasn’t talking about his hometown, but his heavenly beginning. Lord, help us to remember that the tongue that brings healing is a tree of life!

Sun.’s Devo - Deep Sayings

Read 1 Sam. 10:1-11:15, John 6:43-71, Ps. 107:1-43, Pr. 15:1-3 I couldn’t help noticing all the “threes” in this reading: three men, three goats, three loaves, 300,000 men of Israel, 30,000 men of Judah. Three means to conform to the seed since that is what God created on the third day. The desire for a king was their seed of rebellion against God and Saul was the result. He started out humble and good but didn’t end too well. In John, Jesus started out saying that no one could come to God unless God drew them to Him. Then Jesus gave one of his toughest-to-believe teachings. It was all about how we must eat Jesus’s flesh and drink His blood. When the disciples told Him that this saying was hard for them to swallow, Jesus said that this was why no one could come to Jesus unless God enabled him to. Only God can open our spiritual eyes to see. I think I am so use to being able to “see” that it is hard for me to realize others can’t. Even among Jesus elite group, there was one who never did see. Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand Your great mysteries.

Sat.’s Devo - The King of Kings

Read:1 Sam. 8:1-9:27, John 6:22-42, Ps. 106:32-48, Pr. 14:34-35 Israel had rejected God as their king and wanted a king like all the other nations had. So first, Samuel told them all the cons of having a king and what they could expect. They still wanted what they wanted which was a king. This reminds me of a friend I had who fell in love with a guy who was not a Christian and had lived a life of lies and trickery. I sat her down and told her just what her life would be like if she married him and moved out west with him. Everything I said would happen did and she ended up blaming me for marrying him. She told me I had failed her as her mentor and friend and that I should have physically restrained her from marrying him. As funny as that sounds, she was dead serious! God never makes us do anything, but he will warn us when we are about to make a mistake. It is our responsibility to trust him and we alone bare the consequences. In John, Jesus reminds them that it wasn’t the great leader, Moses, that sustained them in the wilderness with bread, but it was God. Jesus came to earth to teach them that that bread was Him and He would sustain them just like the manna did for the Israelites, only this bread gives eternal life. Lord, may You always be our number one King!

Fri.’s Devo - Giving up what you need.

Read: 1 Sam. 5:1-7:-17, John 6:1-21, Ps. 106:13-31, Pr. 14:32-33 Once again Israel has gotten themselves in a pickle, but so have the Philistines. What was a blessing to the Israelites was a curse to the Philistines because the ark didn’t belong to them. It’s rightful place was with Israel but Israel had despised their God by worshipping other gods. Israel got their ark back and repented of their false gods. Samuel assembled them in Mizpah to intercede for the people. They were in the middle of a draught so Samuel took water that was precious to them and poured it out to the Lord. The Philistines attacked in the middle of the sacrificing and the Lord thundered down in such a way it threw the Philistines into a panic that allowed the Israelites to win and be restored to peace. In the New Testament, a little boy gave up his food to allow Jesus to miraculously feed a multitude. What is God asking us to give up so that He can do a miracle? I think for me, it is my comfort zone. I think God wants to move me to a different place and I need to sell out and go. God is still pleased with our sacrifices they just are not the blood of goats but they are sacrifices of the heart. Lord, may we be like Phinehas in our Psalms today that stood up and proclaim righteousness in the midst of wickedness.