Devotionary

Latest Episodes:

Ep 623 – 1 Samuel 29:1-11 Aug 31, 2018

Show notes

A bad decision is a bad decision, whether it's made by a faithful follower of God or a sin-prone pagan. And in 1 Samuel 29:1-11, we're going to see that both Saul and David had made some particularly lousy decisions that had left them both in a lot of trouble. But the big difference was that David had not been abandoned by God, while Saul had. He was on his own. And his bad decisions were going to produce even worse outcomes. There would be no last-minute reprieve or a last-ditch rescue by God. But David was going to find himself miraculously rescued from the mess he had made because His God still had plans for him. David wasn't always the brightest bulb in the box, but he had a love for God and a desire to do the right thing. And while he was fully capable of making some highly questionable decisions, his God was by his side, using his poor choices to teach David lifelong lessons about trust and faith.

Ep 622 – 1 Samuel 28:8-25 Aug 30, 2018

Show notes

There's a big difference between remorse and repentance. Sorrow for what you have done and the consequences your actions have caused is not the same as having a repentant heart. And in 1 Samuel 28:8-25, King Saul will regret his decision to seek wisdom from a witch. Since he could no longer hear from God, he took it upon himself to seek the counsel of a medium, a known practitioner of black magic and the occult. This woman should not have existed because God had commanded that all such individuals be driven from the land of promise. But not only was she there, Saul knew right where to find her and turned to her in his time of need. And when the spirit of Samuel the prophet appeared to Saul and confronted him for his disobedience to God, Saul fell on his face in fear. But it was too little, too late. He was not repentant. He was simply sorry that things had not turned out as he had hoped.

Ep 620 – 1 Samuel 27:1-12 Aug 28, 2018

Show notes

The ways of God are not always understandable to us. The path He lays out for our lives may not always make sense or lead in the direction we had hoped. And there are times when we complicate matters by forcing our way onto God's will. We try to help God out by coming up with our own plan of action, a self-created strategy that sounds so logical and yet ends up making matters worse. And in 1 Samuel 27:1-12, in the face of Saul's never-ending attempt to kill him, David will revisit a plan he tried earlier in his life – with less-than-satisfactory results. He'll seek refuge among the Philistines. And while this time the outcome appears to turn out for the better, it will be based on lies and deception, and eventually put David in a very difficult situation. While God's ways may not always be appealing, the plans of man are never an improvement. God will always get His way. And when we try to circumvent His will, we always end up doing more harm than good.

Ep 621 - 1 Samuel 28:1-7 Aug 28, 2018

Show notes

Up to this point in the story of David's life, there has been a concerted effort on the part of the author to differentiate between David and Saul. Their lives have been purposefully juxtaposed by their antithetical natures. One was a man after God's own heart, while the other was a man from whom God had removed His Spirit. David has been characterized by faithfulness and obedience, while Saul has been the poster boy for faithlessness and disobedience. And yet, in 1 Samuel 28:1-7, we are given a surprising glimpse into a similarity shared between these two men. They each had the habit of taking matters into their own hands. And in this one chapter, we're going to see what happens when anyone refuses to seek the will of God and chooses to manage their life on their own. Autonomy, while extremely attractive, rarely turns out well. Being the master of your own fate may sound appealing, but it always has consequences, most of which are far from pleasant.

Ep 619 – 1 Samuel 26:13-25 Aug 27, 2018

Show notes

It seems like every time David turned around, he was confronted with the temptation to take Saul's life. For whatever reason, the unlikely, yet very tempting opportunity to rid himself of this thorn in his flesh kept presenting itself. This time, as recorded in 1 Samuel 26:13-25, it had been as Saul and his troops slept in their camp. David and Abishai had snuck into their midst, and had stood over Saul as he slept. Abishai had seen it as a God-ordained opportunity to kill Saul, even offering to do the dirty deed himself. But, as before, David refused to lift his land against the Lord's anointed. But he was going to use this as an opportunity to prove to Saul that he was not a threat to his life or his kingdom. He simply wanted to make things right. If he had sinned against Saul, he would confess. He just needed to know what he had done. And David's honesty seemed to make an impact on Saul, eliciting a confession of his own and a promise to allow David to live. But Saul's words would prove unreliable and his offer of a truce, ephemeral.

Ep 618 – 1 Samuel 26:1-12 Aug 26, 2018

Show notes

Fools are everywhere. We don't always recognize them for what they are, but they're there nonetheless. And David was about to discover that, while Nabal the fool was dead, there was another fool about to show up in his life. It was his old nemesis, King Saul. While David had enjoyed a much-needed break from Saul's relentless attempt to kill him, Saul was far from done or gone. And in spite of his earlier encounter with David, Saul was none-the-wiser. In fact, he was as big a fool as ever, living his life as if God didn't exist. He would continue to try to thwart God's plans by eliminating God's choice of David as his replacement. But, as usual, he would fail. And David would continue to learn some invaluable lessons from watching the life of this troubled man. As 1 Samuel 26:1-12 will reveal, sometimes the best way to learn how to live a godly life is by watching those who live ungodly. Saul, his life marked by foolishness and characterized by ungodliness will provide David with a powerful lesson on how NOT to be a king.

Ep 617 – 1 Samuel 25:39-44 Aug 25, 2018

Show notes

Everybody has a weakness. At least one. And David was no exception. His personal point of weakness was his love for women. In fact, we might say he had an obsession for women. And Satan was going to have a field day using David's obsessive preoccupation with the opposite sex to undermine his commitment to God. It's not there was anything wrong with David, a red-blooded Hebrew male, from being attracted to women. It's that he couldn't seem to control his attraction. He had a lust problem. And he used women to satisfy his own desires. But not just physically. Women stroked David's ego. They provided him with satisfaction and a feeling of significance. His conquest of them provided him with a sense of power and control. But they became a huge distraction in his life, keeping him from fully placing his hope and trust in God. And in 1 Samuel 25:39-44, we're going to see David driven by his desire for Abigail and distracted from his God-given mission to become the next king of Israel.

Ep 616 – 1 Samuel 25:32-38 Aug 24, 2018

Show notes

Save yourself! Sounds like good advice, especially if you find yourself in danger and have the option of getting yourself out of the situation. But sometimes, our attempts to save ourselves are motivated by a refusal to accept where God has placed us. We don't like our circumstances, so we come up with a way to escape them. Rather than trust God and look for what He might be trying to teach us, we take matters into our own hands. And in 1 Samuel 25:32-38, David was going to see get a first-hand lesson on the difference between self-salvation and the kind God can bring. Men make lousy saviors. Because we lack the power to bring about true change. David could have dealt with Nabal on his own terms, but the outcome would have been less-than-satisfactory. He could have wiped out Nabal and all his men, but he would have destroyed his own reputation while doing so. David could try to save his own honor or let God do it for him. He could seek revenge or allow God to enact vengeance – according to His terms and on His timeline. But, like David, we all find ourselves wrestling with the subtle snare of self-salvation.

Ep 615 – 1 Samuel 25:18-31 Aug 23, 2018

Show notes

We don't always know what to do. And depending upon the given situation, we can sometimes run the risk of doing the wrong thing. That's when it pays to have friends who can step in and give us wise input. In 1 Samuel 25:18-31, we find David so angry at Nabal's disdainful treatment of his men and disrespectful attitude, that he is close to taking the fool's life. But Abigail, the wife of Nabal, will step into the middle of the mess, providing wise and godly counsel to David that will prevent him from doing something he would later regret. Sometimes God places others in our life to direct and protect us – from ourselves. David was justifiably angry. But the worst thing he could do was allow a fool to goad him into doing something rash. Nabal had gotten the best of David, pushing all the right buttons to get the man after God's own heart to respond in an ungodly way. But Abigail would preserve the life of her foolish husband and protect the integrity of David's name by giving him wise and godly counsel.

Ep 614 – 1 Samuel 25:9-17 Aug 22, 2018

Show notes

Fools can be exasperating. And their actions can cause even the wisest individual to respond in kind, making equally foolish decisions out of frustration or anger. And in 1 Samuel 25:9-17, we're going to see David almost allow Nabal the fool to drag him down to his own level. Fools have a habit of breeding foolishness in others. They bring out the worst in the people around them, because they can be so frustrating to deal with. And David, put out with Nabal's obnoxious treatment of his men and flippant disregard for his status as a warrior, comes close to putting an end to Nabal's foolishness by bringing an abrupt and well-deserved end to his life. But, fortunately, the story doesn't end that way. God will intervene, using Nabal's wife to protect David from committing murder and providing David with a timely lesson on how to deal with the fool in his own life: King Saul. David was going to learn to fear fools because their foolishness was contagious. The best way to deal with a fool is to leave them in the hands of God.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected