Author: Chris Johnson

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 28:3-20; 31:1-6 (day seven)

Psalm 66:18
If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;

There are times we feel like Saul.  Stuck between a rock and a hard place we cry out to God hoping for relief, but all we receive is silence.  It is a heartbreaking reality that drove Saul to a witch.  A witch is not usually our first option, but just as blindly, we blame God for being silent.

The deafening distance between you and God is not God’s design.  God’s design is for the two of you to be inseparable, but the sin in your heart causes you to drift further and further away from God as if the sound of speech can no longer reach.

Repent.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 25:1-34 (day seven)

Nabal claims he does not know who David is:

v.10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.

But surely Nabal knewDavid.  The only way Nabal wouldn’t have known David is if he completely ignored everyone around him:

v.15-16 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not insulted, nor did we miss anything as long as we went about with them, while we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were with them tending the sheep.

Abigail knew who David was:

v.30 And when the Lord does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel.

Now there is a chance that Nabal was as foolish as his name sounds, and he did not know who David was, but I imagine this was just one more excuse in a life of excuses.  Nabal was not going to help anyone because helping another would lower his take.  So, he did what we do when we don’t want to do something: come up with an excuse. There is always a reason not to do good when you don’t really want to do it, but beware, even the greatest excuses do not work on God.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 24 (day seven)

1 Samuel 24:20 “Now, behold, I KNOW that you will surely be king, and that the Kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.”

Saul finally said out loud the reality that they had been living for a long time.  Saul finally said, “I know”.  I know what God is doing in this situation.  Sometimes it takes us decades and scars to figure out the will of God, but when we finally look up and say, “I know”, what then?

How are we to respond to God when our hard heads finally realize that God is at work in a situation?  The faithful thing to do would be to immediately drop everything and get in line with God.  More realistically though, we walk the other way like Saul did, going back to the comfort of our own homes.  We are going to face days in our lives when the will of God is contrary to our own desires, when our flesh just wants to run home.  Don’t run.  Resist the flesh by trusting the will of God, and you will see the Kingdom of God in ways you never thought possible.

Re:Verse reading— 1 Samuel 20:1-17, 30-42 (day seven)

“For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.”
-1 Samuel 20:31

Saul had a plan for his son.  After Saul built the kingdom of Israel for himself, he imagined his own legacy solidifying by his son becoming a powerful ruler.  Their family name would be established forever.  It is a plan that most every parent comes up with for their growing children.  A plan that puts them in the strongest possible position to be safe, strong, and wealthy.  We truly want our children to climb to the top of the ladder and have more than we ever dreamed of.

Our problem is that we often dream like Saul in worldly definitions of success that only happen at the expense of others.  Our hope of safety, strength, and wealth for our children often look no different than the Joneses down the street.  These worldly expectations will only hinder our children.  Let us pray for and imagine a different future where our hopes for our children are holy.  The only way to plan for our children’s future is to hand them and their potential over to God.  God is the only one who can see into a distant future and prepare them to be genuinely successful.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 17:1-11, 26-32, 38-51  (day seven) 

The particulars are mentioned, but it really didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that Goliath was 9 feet tall or that he wore 126 lbs. of armor or that he yelled really loudly. Those things impressed Israel, but they didn’t matter in this battle.  The only fact that mattered to the outcome of the battle was the mocking. Six times in this passage Goliath taunts or defies God.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.  (1 Samuel 17:45)

Defiance always leads to destruction.  When you refuse to acknowledge God as the author of the universe by leaning on your own strength and understanding you will fall.  There is no other way.  You cannot sustain yourself, especially with a pride like Goliath. Whenever we think we finally have the battles of this world figured out on our own we will fall flat on our faces.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  (Proverbs 16:18)

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 16  (day seven)

Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well. 1 Samuel 16:16

As Saul’s kingship spiraled out of control the only calm he found was David strumming the harp.  Typically, a harpist would be relegated to the background, left in the halls to fill the court with idle notes, but not David.  David’s music healed.  I hope when we step into worship this morning we are expecting to be healed through the music.  Our music is not meant to be idle or merely entertaining, our music together is more. The music speaks to the glory of God and teaches our theology note by note.  Do not overlook the music as a moment for growth and healing.  A song may be just what you need.