What to do?

7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

 8 Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won't strike him twice."

 9 But David said to Abishai, "Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD's anointed and be guiltless? 10 As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go."

 12 So David took the spear and water jug near Saul's head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the LORD had put them into a deep sleep. 1 Samuel 26:7-12

If I was David here is what would be going through my mind.

"God, what are you up to?"

"This is the second time you've delivered Saul into my hands. Do you want me to kill him? I've heard the stories of how Jael delivered Israel by driving a tent peg through Sisera's temple while he slept (Judg 4:21). Lord, is that what you ask? Are you going to keep giving Saul into my hands until I do, is this what you desire?"

"But Lord, I also remember how convicted I was immediately after I cut off a piece of Saul's garment (24:5). I'm sure I did what you wanted…I think?"

"And Lord, I saw you move against Nabal. It was your vengeance and not my revenge that took him out (25:37-39). Are you asking me to wait upon you again?"

That's a lot to think about as you're standing over Saul surrounded by 3,000!

Remember, David was a man after God's own heart and he had become sensitive to what God desired. He didn't have to ponder and pray about his decision, there was no delay, and he knew what he was supposed to do.

I wonder if my delays in decisions come about because my heart isn't in the right place.

Have I been on my face
enough, have I walked with God enough, have I sought after Him enough before I get into a situation that I can immediately respond?

Seek after Him and May God guide your every step in this New Year.

Step up

5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

 6 David then asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, "Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?"
      "I'll go with you," said Abishai. 1 Samuel 26:5-6

How many of us would volunteer for a suicide mission?

That appears to be what Abishai does.

Put yourself in Abishai's shoes. Saul is in the innermost part of the circle of his troops. Abner, who is a heroic warrior and Saul's body guard, is lying right next to the king. You have to sneak through a maze of warriors, fearing that at any moment someone will wake up. If they were warriors wouldn't they be taught to sleep with one eye open to guard their king? Someone among these 3,000 has to be on watch. One bad step, whether you touch a warrior or just step on a stick and you're as good as gone!

Then, once you get to Saul, how do you get back out?

Would you volunteer for that?

I have to admit, I probably wouldn't.

Last week I watched the movie "The Kingdom", which is about suicide bombers in Saudi Arabia, who would die for their faith. After watching that I wondered what kind of faith must a person have to do that?

I started to think about Christianity in the US and wonder about the strength of our faith. To what level would we go? Ponder that a moment…how far would you go for your faith? Would you go this far:

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned^[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

 39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:32-40

That is our legacy!

Will you be the one that says "Here I am, send me"?

Been down that road

1 The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?"

 2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search there for David. 3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, 4 he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived. 1 Sam 26:1-4

Okay, wait a minute…did I miss something?

Haven't we been here before?

Didn't Saul make David swear he wouldn't kill him?

16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And he wept aloud. 17 "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. 18 You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. 19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today. 20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21 Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family." 1 Sam 24:16-21

So why is he back pursuing David?

Look back at this verse:

22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. 1 Samuel 24:22

Notice David made an oath, but did Saul?

Saul's repentance was never deep, yeah, he confessed his sin, but he made no attempt to root it out of his heart.

I see this everyday in Christianity, we want our "get out of jail free" card but really have no desire to turn and go the other way. I watch, and you do too, as people accept His gift of grace and then go on living the same way they always have; there is no difference.

Maybe you've had the same conversation Saul did, but with God.

"Is that your voice, God?" And you wept aloud over your sin. "You are more righteous than I," you said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly, I know I've sinned against you. I know of the good you did to me; I was delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. I have been your enemy. How do I get away unharmed? I can't believe the way you've treated me today. Giving me what I need, not what I deserve. I know that you must surely be king and that the whole kingdom is established in your hands. Now swear to me LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family?"

Have you been there?

You've been there, but you keep doing the same ol' things that get you in trouble. You just can't shake it; you're stuck in the same old habits, routines, rut.

Don't be Saul.

When you are stuck in a rut, the only way out is a hard right turn!

Truly repent and go a different direction.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Immanuel

It's Christmas Eve, so I decided instead of continuing on in 1^st Samuel I would remind us why we celebrate Christmas?

Hundreds of years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah declared the prophecy of the Messiah,
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel."
Isaiah 7:14

Immanuel = God is with us.

Some of you may be familiar with that prophecy and may have even known what "Immanuel" means, but I'd challenge you to look at another verse about Isaiah and Jesus. I recently listened to a sermon by Francis Chan about this verse and it changed my thinking.

Isaiah
said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. John 12:41

Isaiah lived hundreds of years before Christ, how did he see Him?

Not only how, but what did Isaiah see?

Here is what Isaiah saw:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!" 

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Isa 6:1-5

Try to get rid of some the images of Jesus you've seen since you were a child and focus on this passage for a minute. Here's why, Jesus was only on the earth for a short time, He was in Heaven, came down for a short time and then went back up into His glory, where He still reigns.

That would be a much better picture of what you should have in your mind in my opinion. If we have a small view of Jesus we can get very casual about Him. We can treat Him with disrespect in our singing, serving, giving, and praying, if we have a low view of who Jesus is.

Look back at that verse; Isaiah saw him and he was sitting on a throne, He is so big his robe filled up the whole temple, and these high angels – they covered themselves from head to toe because they felt they were unworthy to look upon God, a sign of respect a sign or awe. One of those angels cried out to the others, screaming – Holy (set apart, distinct, not like us), so Holy…he was screaming so loud the foundations shook!

Think about that for a moment, the foundations shook because he was speaking so loudly about his glory. When was the last time your worship shook anything?

Can you imagine being in Isaiah's shoes at that moment. The whole place is shaking and that goes on 24/7!

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits^[a] of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

   In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
   to receive glory and honor and power,
   for you created all things,
      and by your will they were created
      and have their being."
Rev 4:1-11

That is who Jesus is, that is who we are speaking to. Your whole life you've been taught about Jesus being someone else, which is true, mostly, but that is just a small part of who He is.

This Christmas may we show some respect for who He is…and the fact that He got off that throne and came to be "with us"! He got off that throne and humbled himself to be with us. He got off that throne where He is and always will be worshipped 24/7 to be "with us". He was persecuted, suffered and died so we could be with Him. That's why we celebrate Christmas!

Here's the really cool thing, He notices you right now, God notices you, and says he loves you!

When God looks at your heart right now what does he see in return, reverence, awe, respect for who He is, or does he see arrogance?

When Isaiah
saw God in all His glory, it humbled him. My prayer is that through God's Word you might see Him differently and be humbled.

This Christmas join me as we give God a new respect, a new reverence for who He is; bow to someone bigger than you.

"His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"
Isaiah 9:6

Whoa!

41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants." 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel ^[d] son of Laish, who was from Gallim. 1 Samuel 25:41-44

Whoa, what's up with that? Another wife? #3!

I think he had 7 by the time he was done.

Isn't David supposed to be a man after God's own heart?

I was tempted to just move on to the 26^th chapter and not deal with this, but I won't…let's look at this.

A number of godly men in the Old Testament had more than one wife; some even had women on the side, ever hear the word concubine?

I can't find where God forbid OT men to have more than one wife. Part of "the Law" even has instructions for the man with more than one wife (Deuteronomy 21:15).

There is a verse in (Deut 17:17) which forbid a king not to have "many wives", nor too many horses or money for that matter.

In the New Testament, we find that elders must be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2), I even heard some argue what exactly that means. To me it's pretty simple, I shouldn't have multiple wives!

It seems to me that every time there are multiple wives mentioned in the OT problems arise. If you need an example look at the story of Jacob's two wives and two concubines, and the "family" that results; God corrected Jacob on a lot of things, but not about his wives. The nation Israel actually came from the offspring of the four "wives" (2 wives, 2 concubines) of Jacob.

In the New Testament marriage to one woman is clearly the "ideal". Paul's words in Ephesians chapter 5 make it clear that marriage was intended as a picture of the relationship of Christ to His church, and a multiple wives certainly doesn't seem consistent with that! I would challenge you to read Ephesians 1:9; 1:22; 3:3; 4:15; 5:18; 5:21-33 about marriage and see how far we have drifted anyway from the "ideal".

Here's the deal, the more I know the less I understand, especially when it comes to the OT. Try fitting Lot's offering his two virgin daughters to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, so that they won't rape his male guests (Genesis 19:8) into our "morale" Christianity today.

I personally think we avoid such subjects in the church today because we have a hard time explaining them, and if we can't explain them then "men" will look down on us. I'm sorry I would rather serve a God who I can't explain that one that I can. Seriously, who am I to try to explain God?

I'm wondering if the church today is more concerned with morality (keeping "the Law") than the heart issue. I think Jesus harshest words were about that.

Having spent a tremendous amount of time looking at the life of David, I can't explain his actions; lying, stealing, killing, infidelity, multiple wives, etc., but you always know where his heart is.

Wow, how far have we drifted from the idea.

Advent Conspiracy Promo Video

Our Provider

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head."
      Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, "David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife."

 41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, "Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master's servants." 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five maids, went with David's messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Paltiel ^[d] son of Laish, who was from Gallim. 1 Samuel 25:39-44

I walked into the office the other morning and Scott had taped a sheet of paper to his door that he had written "Jehovah-jireh, my provider".

Do you know who Jehovah-jireh is?

He is the God who provides.

Look at the verses above again and see how God provides.

God avenged David's insults from Nabal without David having to do anything. Wow, if we would only learn to let God fight our battles, rather than providing vengeance at our own hands.

God provided for Abigail's
request: "When the LORD shall deal well with my lord, then remember your maidservant." (v.31)

David did and took her as his wife. She was given an incredible opportunity to serve and contribute to the future of Israel.

God provided Abigail for David. God provided David with a very wise helper, who comes at a time of great loss for David. He has lost both his mentor Samuel and Michal, his wife, but now has a woman who he can respect and love.

God not only gave David a wife of beauty and wisdom, but also one of humility and submission.

Think about what she was giving up. She would have to leave her comfortable home to live a life in caves and deserts. Instead of being in charge of a large farm and servants, she is now the wife of a fugitive. She must know that there will be times of loneliness as David goes off to fight the Lord's battles. She would even have to endure being captured.

But, she knew Jehovah-jireh would provide; He already had!

God faithfully provides for our needs, at the time He knows we need it.

The name Jehovah-jireh
first appears in Genesis 22 when Abraham, in obedience to God's command, took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to offer him for a burnt offering. After Abraham and son had arrived and prepared the altar, Isaac said to his father,

7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
      "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
      "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

 8 Abraham answered, "God
himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. Gen 22:7-8

And that is precisely what God did: He provided a substitute to die in the place of Isaac. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh", meaning "the Lord will provide."

Abraham did not experience God's miraculous provision without first giving obedience to God's command.

God will provide, but will we do our part and obey?