Ecclesiastes 4:4-5

I believe this verse is more relevant today than any time before. In this verse, Solomon is telling the successful that instead of honor by others for their efforts to get to where they are today, they are met with envy and strife. While the successful person may in well have good intentions to their climb, while at the top they are met with opposition and troubles. You do not have to look far today to see this very thing taking place in our society. Those who have not, believe they are entitled to what the other person has, and if they cannot get it without working for it, anger erupts. There is nothing new about this and Solomon continues the thought in verse 5 when he tells the reader that the person of strife still does not try to work for it but instead expects handouts.

As I stated earlier, this reality is being played out in major ways in our society today. Company owners are being demonized for being rich, people that work on the line believe they should have everything the owner has, and those that choose not to work at all sit around believing they are still entitled to a rich lifestyle. What ever happened to the idea that you get what you put into something? The person that chooses not to work should not be living a lifestyle like the one that goes in to work every day to earn what they have. The worker did not put their family’s livelihood on the line to risk it all to create the company they work for, so they do not deserve the lifestyle the owner earned. And the owner should not be judged for what they have because they are the one that put all the time, effort and risk into the company.

But despite all this, there is a deeper reason for all this strife and un-contentment, it’s that people take their eye off from what is important, following God. I used to be the one that was not happy with what I had and thought that, because I have a job, I should have it all. And all that did was make me unhappy about where I was in life and deeper in debt. Nothing I did generated the satisfaction I was looking for, and I believe that nothing I would have done to get more could do it for me. The problem was not the lack of things but the lack of correct focus. I needed a heart change.

Jesus tells us in Mark 8:36 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”. Although I was already a Christian, my heart was not heading in the right direction and my spirit was sorrowful. It wasn’t until I refocused and understood that I needed to give more of myself to God instead of getting more things in this world. I found the contentment I was searching for, not in a thing, not in a level of success, not in what others thought about me, but I found it when I finally realized that what God really wanted from me was “ME”. Today, I know I have made the right choice because I found the rest and joy in His arms that I so desperately search for in all those “things”.

Ecclesiastes 1 & 2

It is commonly believed that King Solomon in his elder years wrote this book to warn the people that this world has nothing to offer in comparison to what God does. As king of Israel, rich beyond any other person, and wisdom the surpasses the wisest of people, he had plenty of opportunity to experience the pleasures of this world. And as he is looking back upon all that he has done he concludes that it was all for nothing. In fact, he uses the phrase “Vanity of vanity” meaning that after all the effort he put into doing those things and gaining all the material goods, if meant nothing in the bigger picture of life.

As you read these two chapters, he used the phrase “striving after wind” to describe how futile the pursuit of all he gained in this world was. Just as wind slips through your fingers as you try to catch it, so does all the things of this world. No matter what it is that you worked hard to get, whether it was a new car, home, raise at work, better job, etc., all these things go even faster than they came. And for most, those dreams that occupied much of their time and effort never happened for them no matter how hard they tried. It was like reaching out to catch the wind and finding nothing but an empty hand.

This is not to say that we should not want to provide for our family, to make enough money to take care of them, and maybe enough to help others too. But it is the motives behind the scenes that make all the difference. Why do you want that job, why do you need to make more money, why do you need a new car, etc., is it in the pursuit of people telling you how nice you look behind the wheel or are you dedicating it to do whatever the Lord need of you to do with it? Solomon also reminds us in these chapters what happens after a lifetime of gathering “things” in this world.

First, he tells us in chapter 2 that after all the toil and striving of the heart to get the things you believe you wanted, a person’s days are full of sorrow, and the work is soul crushing. A person ends up working for their possessions instead of their possessions working for them. To get to the place in one’s life where if you were to change anything about your circumstances you would run the risk of losing it all, makes you a slave to your things. I have personally known of people that made their decisions based on what it took to keep everything they have gained in this world and regretted it in the end.

Solomon also tells us in chapter 2 that for all the work you put into gaining all your possessions, in the end you are just going to leave it to someone that did not work for it. It’s true, no matter how hard you try, you will not take your possessions with you into the next life. Someone in your life will end up with it and if they do not like it, they may just end up disposing of it anyway. So, if the things in this world that you are chasing so hard bring your heart turmoil, and you will not be able to hold on to it forever and the person that gets it next may toss it, then what’s the point? Exactly! We are to seek the eternal things of God. The things that will last forever and we can take with us. Things like a godly life, trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior, generosity, soul-winning, etc. The things that will get you face to face with Jesus in the end and hear those 6 blessed words, “Well done good and faithful servant”.

1 Kings 9

The title to this chapter is “The Apex of Solomon’s Reign”. At this time, Solomon has completed all the construction on the temple, the king’s house, and all the other construction he was wanting to accomplish. In this chapter, he is several years into his reign, and the people continue to be amazed at his wisdom. He had everything at his command and his authority over everything was demonstrated when he was able to give away nine cities to the king of Tyre as a thank you for the cedar wood all those years. And to top it all off, this is the second time that God appears to him and delivers a promise.

God tells Solomon that He has heard his prayers, He has consecrated the temple that Solomon built and He will dwell there always. Then God tells Solomon that if he continues to live upright and with integrity like his father David, He will continue to keep his descendants on the throne of Israel. God also tells him the consequences of not keep his walk with Him alone that will extend even to the people. God makes it very clear to what Solomon must do and not do to keep the land in the Israelites possession and to have his descendants on the throne. It would seem very clear and easy to follow, but he doesn’t.

We know from other books in the Bible that Solomon allows his flesh to dictate his worship and the worship of his people. He marries and has for concubines a thousand women. And as he takes these women into his household, he allows provisions for their false god worship that spreads to all the people of Israel. As we know from history, the people of Israel do not get to keep their land but has been conquered and exiled multiple times, Solomon’s descendants do not sit on the throne, and there is no temple in Jerusalem today. It didn’t even take one lifetime to set a people on a path that led them to rejecting the Messiah when Jesus arrived.

The same can happen to our household too if we do not guard our walk with God. Being the spiritual leader of my home does not end when my wife and daughter follow Jesus, but I am ever to continue to strive to be the godly man that He has called me to be in His words. I am to continue to walk the walk and talk the talk because like Solomon, if I allow lies into my life and turn from following God fully, what will happen to those that come after me? Thanks be to God that He keeps me strong in my walk and my grandsons get to see what following God looks like. Through our conversations and their observations that we stand strong for God, they both know Jesus as their Lord and Savior today.

I you were ask them today, they would tell you they LOVE Jesus. But what if I were to say my job is done and I can let myself enjoy the things of this world that are against God? How would that shape the way my grandsons continue to walk with God and then what would their children see as truth. It starts with me now, just like it started with Solomon then. The direction of our descendants can be shaped by how we follow God today. Stay strong, stay upright, stay in God’s word, stay connected to Jesus, and you can help shape the generations to come by being the person God wants you to be now.

Psalm 71

Psalm 71 does not have a named author, but whoever they are, they rested in the assurance of God’s protection. Not just because they read it in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, but because they experienced it. But that is usually what it takes before we can believe something, and if you doubt this statement then let me give you an example. It’s a very common situation where a parent cooks in the kitchen and a toddler comes into the room. As the toddler becomes curious about what the parent is doing, they make their way to where the parent is to observe them. Before too long, curiosity overcomes the toddler and the parent sees a little hand making its way to the boiling pot.

Concerned for the toddler’s safety, the parent redirects their hand and tells them, “Don’t touch, its hot”. After a brief pause, the little hand starts to come back up, and the parent repeats the prior warning and escorts the little one out of the room. Now that the parent believes the crisis has been adverted, they go about their business of preparing the meal and is now standing in front of the sink. The toddler sees their opportunity to fulfill their need to discover and runs to the stove and touches the pot resulting in a very painful burn to their hand. It is now that the toddler understands what “hot” means and does not attempt it again. Something that only experience can teach.

Returning to Psalm 71, experience has taught the writer that God is steadfast and can protect them as stated in verses 1 through 3. And then they back it up in verses 4 through 6 when they tell the reader that they know it because they experienced it themselves. In these verses, the writer talks about from a young age, they have been given protection and comfort by God and because of that they will praise Him continually. As demonstrated by the toddler in the story, we have a hard time understanding something until it happens to us, this includes myself. I can tell that God, even before I became a Christian, was already protecting me and helping me through the hard times.

It is those experiences that make the words in the Bible about God as the Good Father come to life for me, and if you think about your life, I know you can find the times that He was working in yours too. Whether you are a Christian or not, God has been there for you. Helping you along the way even if you did not understand who or what was behind it. And when you come to understand what He has done for you behind the scenes, tell Him thank you. If you come to that realization and you are not a Christian, then continue to think about what God really wants to do for you. He wants to save you! Consider accepting His free gift of salvation through the sacrifice Jesus made for you, so you can finally be freed from the penalty of sin and know your eternity is secure with God.

Psalm 49

Psalm 49 tells us that the one with the most toys, still dies! There has never been a time like now. The ways to make money, spend money, and use money to increase quality of life are numerous and an easy trap for so many. I say this from firsthand experience, so I know it’s true. There was a time when the thought that I needed the latest toy, the name brand whatever, and that keeping up with the Jones’ was a gospel. I allowed it to affect my thinking and my bank account in the most terrible ways. And after all that, I found no contentment in this lifestyle. And then I met Fast Eddie.

It was several years ago when me and another Believer were sitting at a restaurant eating breakfast, talking about how we are not using our finances properly for God’s kingdom, when I noticed a man walking to the payphones and newspaper change returns, hoping to find some unclaimed change. As I watched him walk out of sight, I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I ask him in for a meal and share Jesus with him?”, which is what we were just talking about. As we sat there, I cannot tell you what was being talked about because I was in heavy prayer that if God wanted me to do this, then bring this man back to me.

Just then I looked up and here he came from a direction I was not expecting and walking straight towards us. Praise God! I banged on the window and motioned for him to step in, which he did cautiously. I asked if he would like to join us and I would buy him breakfast, which he was eager for that. As we sat and talked, we found that he was a Christian too and that he loved talking about Jesus. We also found out that he had lost his mother a couple years ago and then his father a couple months before this encounter. He talked about how the other residents at the adult foster care were mean to him when he talked about Jesus. As he talked, we saw a picture of a person that had little, lost both his parents, and was not liked.

As we continued to talk, we were feeling good about what we were doing for him and that’s when it happened. The thing we were doing to be a blessing to him turned out to be a blessing to us instead. While he was telling us about all the negative things currently happening and that the highlight of his month was that he found two $5 bills on the same day, he then laid a truth on us that rocked us to our core. As all this was happening, telling us things that would make us feel sorry for ourselves, things that people have lost hope long before all of it, things that would be considered the opposite to what this world says will make us happy, Fast Eddie told us something that I will never forget.

As I am typing this, I still get goosebumps and my eyes start to water all these years later, because it has that much impact on my spirit. The moment he made this statement is the last thing I remember clearly because it all became a blur after this. He said, “But I am content!”. These four words changed how I looked at money, things and what this world had tricked me about for so many years. Those words gave me the clarity in this world to ask God what does He want me to use my finances for instead of what can I buy for myself today. Although I have never seen Fast Eddie again after that day, I know that one day I will see him in heaven and I will walk up to him and thank him for the best Biblical lesson on finances I could have ever received.

Psalm 42:1-2

Today I worked 7 hours on yard work at 80-degree temperature, while taking very few water breaks. If I can say there is one thing that I wanted more than rest after this, was water. My mouth was beyond dry and the veins in my hands all but disappeared. I needed water, and I needed it soon. Normally when I drink water, I like it ice cold with a splash of flavoring, but at this point I didn’t care about that. I grabbed water straight from the tap and oh was it satisfying. That is how much I desired a drink of water in that even slightly cooler than room temperature water was all I needed to refresh me.

In Psalm 42:1-2, the sons of Korah wrote that as a deer pants (desires) for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. The description of the deer desiring water in this psalm is from the extreme need for water so desperately that one could almost walk up and touch it before it runs off. At a time like that, the deer is willing to risk its own life for just one more drink of that water to refresh it. That is how our soul should desire God. That we will be willing to risk something, even up to our life, just to get one more drink of that Living Water (John 4:13) that Jesus describes to the Samaritan woman at the well.

And just like I knew today that if I did not go in and get a drink of water before the effects of dehydration kicked in, I can tell when I am neglecting the living water of worshipping God, even just for part of a day. The reading of His word, the prayers, the studying, the hearing truths told by godly preachers, etc., is the water that my soul pants for, and to neglect it SHOULD turn desire into desperation as the day goes on. This is how all Believers should feel in this situation, but Satan’s great trick is to get us so busy that we don’t hear the cries of our soul for that water.

If you feel that the days are getting away from you and there is too much to do in a day, then you are just where he wants you. Don’t let him keep you in a state of busyness but make time for God so that you get that water to where it needs to go. Doing it early is ideal, but God accepts anytime as long as you make that time for Him. Your soul will thank you for it.

1 Kings 5 & 2 Chronicles 2

Wisdom alone does not build a temple. For all the wisdom that King Solomon had, the wisest thing he did in the building of God’s temple is ask for help. He did not let pride get in the way and say to himself, “I can do this all on my own”. He didn’t try to take from others the things he needed to complete the build or have someone else make the bargains that got the thing needed. He did the asking himself. In these chapters we see that Solomon wrote a letter to King Hiram asking for the cedar trees of Lebanon in the building of the temple. By this time, Solomon had been king for four years and his wisdom was well known by the surrounding nations.

So instead of force or backroom deals, Solomon used his wisdom and influence with king Hiram to get the trees that would be the best for the build. And King Hiram was more than happy to do this and even sent some of his skilled people to help with the work. Because Solomon was humble, wise and direct, he not only received what he asked for but more. The next wise thing he did was to be generous in return. Every year for the seven years it took to build the temple, Solomon sent to Hiram the following in return: 120,000 bushels of wheat, 120,000 bushels of barley, 120,000 gallons of wine and 120,000 gallons of oil. This kind of generosity and character tends to make others want to help you become successful in all you do.

Song of Solomon

There’s no wonder how King Solomon got his 700 wives and 300 concubines with smooth words like these, “Your belly is a heap of wheat” and “Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon”. Boy what a talker this guy was, I should take notes and see what my wife, Patty, would think about these lines. I will let you know once the doctors release me from the ER, Ha-Ha. But seriously, these words were completely the compliment that this woman was looking for, and she responded in this song in the same way. This “Song of Solomon” was considered the gold standard for songs in that day. You may have seen in some Bibles the title “Song of Songs” instead, meaning that this was the greatest of all songs at the time.

No matter the title or the way they expressed their love to each other, the principle behind the song is still relevant today. Do we love the one we are dating, or married to, in this way, and do we let them know it with the passion that these two did in this song? I remember when I was dating Patty and I would write her poems expressing my feelings for her, and she kept them to remind me every so often that I was a sentimental one back in the day. When we were dating it was easy to express those feelings in this way while I was discovering something new all the time about her, but as the dating went on and then into marriage the writings stopped. The reason why wasn’t because I learned everything about her or that I was falling out of love, but it was much simpler than that.

I realized that I had caught my prize. As people start dating, we really work hard to gain the other person’s love because we love them and cannot imagine not having them in our lives. But there is this point when you become confident that they feel the same and you begin to let off the gas a little. Maybe not write as many poems, maybe not dress in the most stylish clothes you have in the closet, or maybe you stop letting them know how much they mean to you every five minutes. It’s easy to say that life got busy, and if you are married with kids, that all your free time is wrapped up in what they have going on in sports or other activities, all the time the longing gaze and sweet words turn into staring at the Tv and snoring.

I am not talking from a spot of “I got this”, but that I am just as guilty as most others. I have allowed time and things to take my attention from showing her the love with the same enthusiasm I did when I was in hot pursuit of her affection. Yes, I have heard all the stories of her past, but because she loves telling them I will love hearing them again. I will tell her I love her cooking and will ask where I can help out more around the house. I will chase after her like I still have to catch her, and I believe then she will know that I think she is as “awesome as an army with banners” (6:4)

Proverbs 17:10

As we are going through Revelation on Sunday mornings at Grace Bible Church, this one verse can sum up the heart of most people during that time. So far in the first six chapters of the book, we have talked about the Antichrist coming on the scene promising false peace after those that profess Christ has been raptured into Heaven. We read about wars and famine that will be severe and most will be affected by one or both severely. We seen where disease and wild beasts will continue the carnage of people until a third of the population are killed. And that was before what we discovered in today’s reading the breaking of the sixth seal which brought disasters so immense that no one disputed that they were judgements from God.

In this section of chapter six, we see worldwide earthquakes so severe that all the mountains and islands are moved out of place. We see the effects of multiple volcanos erupting because is the earthquakes and meteorites hitting all over the earth like never before. We see that the atmosphere will be filled with so much silt that the cosmos appeared to disappear. And after all this, most people will cry out to the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them in the cave from God’s judgement. They see the devastation, they mourn the deaths, they know the worst is yet to come, because they know that this is the wrath of the Lamb for the sins of the people.

How stubborn does one have to be to see all this and still refuse to bend a knee to Jesus. The book of Revelation was written for a couple reasons. First, to let those that have trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior that no matter what happens in this world, we win. Second, to let people know that there will be a day that the wrath of God over the sins of mankind will come to this world and you do not want to be here when it happens. And third, to show that no matter how much God will pour out His wrath on the world, He is still merciful enough to allow people to come to Him for forgiveness through Jesus during all this. In Joel 2:32, after it describes the destruction of seal six, it says “And it comes to pass that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance. Praise God for His mercy.

No matter the things a person has done, no matter if they feel like they deserve forgiveness, no matter if the world is crumbling down around them, God will always have His hand out ready to catch you and give you forgiveness in Christ. All you have to do is ask!

Proverbs 14:14

You reap what you sow. As a Christian, proverbs 14:14 is important for us to remember and is very relevant in our walk with God. It’s true that God protects us from so many things that can cause us harm, but He will not stop everything. The first part of Psalm 14:14 tells us that someone who is backsliding from God’s way, will reap the natural consequences of their actions. We are not to take the gift of being forgiven of every sin we have, and will, commit and make it a license to find ways to be forgiven for more. The desire of a Believer’s heart should be to want to follow God’s direction for our life and to be a good ambassador for His kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Just like the ambassadors of this country that go out on the President’s behalf are not to say or do anything that the President wouldn’t, we as God’s ambassadors should strive to represent the values of God to the people of this world. It’s a hard thing to do, when our actions look more like the actions of this world than of God’s will. And because we are His ambassadors, there will be times that He decides to correct our actions and there will be times that He allows the natural consequences to do it instead. Either way, if it is God’s desire that all come to repentance and seek Jesus, 2 Peter 3:9, then He must ensure that His ambassadors are leading others in that direction. And be thankful He does do it this way, because unlike the President who removes a bad ambassador from their position if they act in this manner, God will never remove you from being the saved.

And this brings us to the second half of Psalm 14:14 that tells us a good person, one being a good ambassador, will reap what they sow also. Just as God corrects a bad ambassador, He rewards the good ones. It says in Matthew 7:11 that God wants to give good gifts to His children. But what father on earth wants to reward bad behavior from their child? God doesn’t want to reward that same type of behavior either, but He is willing to give gifts to a Believer that is demonstrating the values of their Heavenly Father. This is not saying that you will be rich and famous, but it does say that the gifts He has for you in this life and the next are just waiting for you if you follow Him. So, if you are asking, “Why do I not feel the gift of peace in my life?” or “Where is all the joy that the Bible talks about?”, then take a step back and ask yourself, “Am I being a good ambassador to God’s kingdom?”.

Proverbs 13:24

As we look around at the world today, we see the youth in it that missed this verse in their life. They are involved in “Teen Takeovers” where people are being stabbed and the area they take over is vacated by people there just to enjoy themselves. We see a generation of youth that lack basic respect for authority and dismiss common respect for other human beings. They believe they are animals and insist on litterboxes in the school and think that their beliefs must be shared by all or they will resort to violence. They lack the basic ability to debate civilly with people that disagree with them but instead turn to hate speech about the other side. It’s not all of them, but their numbers are growing as the generation of “Gentle Parenting” youth are emerging into their own.

God understands that a child left to their behaviors without redirection through loving correction, can go up rebellious and destructive. In Proverbs 13:24, it says that the parent that does not use discipline to correct a child is not demonstrating love for them. Discipline is needed to correct negative behaviors and to keep the child safe. To demonstrate this, would you allow your child to jump into water filled with electric eels? Of course not, you would do whatever is necessary to spare the child harm including discipline up to restraining the child so they could not get any closer to the water. And that would make you a loving parent, so why is it that just because the danger is not immediate one would believe that discipline is not required?

Danger is not just what you can see directly in front of you. It sometimes takes a while to develop and if you truly love your child, you will protect them from dangers now and what can happen. God understands the connection between love and discipline when He tells us in Hebrews 12:6 that those He loves He does chastise. And yes, it is not pleasant for either the parent or the child to have to turn to discipline, but as we read on to verse 11, we see that discipline produces right actions as they grow up. And when we do discipline, remember a couple principles when we do. First, make the discipline fit the actions. You do not want to cause anger because you go to the furthest end of the discipline spectrum for everything they do wrong.

And second, make sure the discipline is close enough to the wrong actions to still be understood why they are being disciplined. As Proverbs 13:24 continues, it says that the parent that loves the child will discipline them early. This means that as soon as possible, implement the discipline so they can see that the discipline was for a specific action they did. The is especially true the younger they are. Also, do not forget the most important step of discipline, and that’s to do it from a place of love. If you are doing it because you are mad, then that’s not the best time to issue discipline. Remember that this is being done to protect the child, not to satisfy your anger about what they did. In the end, they have a much better chance of being a respectful member of society that knows you love them.

Proverbs 8

In the first 3 verses, we can see the metaphorical way that wisdom, depicted as a woman, is crying out to all who will listen. It is a general call in a way that someone would be crying out for help in a public place to anyone willing to heed it. By the call being so public about it means that wisdom is not hidden for just a few, but available to all (verse 4). The call is not a quiet one as we read “she” lifts her voice. God does not want to keep wisdom hidden but always welcomes seekers. But we still must be willing to seek her, it’s a partnership. Like salvation, God will not thrust wisdom onto a person, but He is more than willing to give it freely when you seek His wisdom.

God’s wisdom promises truth and reliability. It’s timeless, trustworthy and priceless. God also uses different ways for one to gain wisdom. It will not be an instant process where you wake up full of wisdom one day but will be a process of seeking and finding in the situations of your life. This is not to say you will never receive wisdom that comes straight to your mind from God’s Spirit, but He does put enough situations in your life to develop it. Here are some things we can do to find wisdom:

1. Look for wisdom in your everyday life.
2. Look for wisdom in God’s words.
3. Accept wisdom for the wise people around you.
   1. Friends, parents, coworkers, a pastor’s sermon, etc.
4. Ask God daily what He is trying to teach you this day and during a situation in your life.
5. Slow down enough to listen for God’s wisdom.
6. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you all things (John 14:26).

As we continue in this chapter, we are told that wisdom comes with prudence, knowledge, discretion, insight, and strength. True wisdom is not just an accumulation of information but comes with the tools to use that information in a correct manner. Let’s look at each one of wisdom’s friends to see the complete picture:

1. Prudence helps us to think before we act. I know I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had utilized prudence more often in my youth and maybe need more of it even now.
2. Knowledge and discretion work together to help us to know when to speak and when to be quiet (again a lifelong work in progress).
3. Insight is looking below the surface of a problem to see the whole picture.
4. Strength gives us the courage to do what is right even when it’s not the popular thing to do.

Like any great sword, just having it in your hand does not fight off the enemy (folly). So, in your pursuit of wisdom, remember to ask God to give you the training to use it correctly. With the sword of wisdom and the training of prudence, knowledge, discretion, insight and strength, you will be able to avoid many of the traps this life has to offer.

Proverbs 5:1-6

In a way it is ironic that King Solomon is advising his son on the avoidance of other women in this chapter. This is the man that ended his days with 700 wives and 300 concubines. Once again, it is proven that wisdom alone does not stop a person from falling into the traps of this world, but we must rely on God to give us strength to fight evil. We see that in Solomon’s situation, it was when he started giving in to his wives’ request for foreign gods to be set in Israel that he really took a sharp turn away from following God’s way. He started off with the small, another wife here and another wife there, and ended in the big when he accepted the false gods of those women into Israel. That is how sin does it. It lets you enjoy the small sins and then hooks you into the big ones. I know this chapter deals with adultery, but we can replace the woman with anything that tempts us into sin.

Solomon starts off reminding his son to keep these words in his heart so that when the time comes, he can be ready with the correct response. Looking at the passage, he does not tell his son if the day comes but is preparing him for when the day does comes. We need to keep in mind that the tricks of the devil come in just three forms (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life), and he is good at cycling them through until he finds your weak point. We know for Solomon, that women was a weak point as he ended up with 1,000 of them.

In this section of Proverbs 5, we see Solomon telling his son that a woman can be smooth in their talk and what she says will be sweet to a man. This is not exclusionary to a woman to a man but can work both ways. He also tells him that her words can be like wormwood which is a bitter plant in the middle east that, when used in proper amounts, was considered medicine, but anymore and it becomes poisonous. Her actions are like a two-edged sword that cuts both the body and the spirit (comfort and happiness). Her feet, the path she leads, will bring a person that follows her to their destruction.

In verse six he is reminding his son that if he refers back to the beginning of this section, he can ponder the wisdom of following such a woman and avoid her if he knows what’s good for him. This hold true for all of us too, not just a man or a woman, but anything that we want to possess more than we want to follow what God says is good and right. So, heed the warnings form those that came before and made the mistakes already, keep your eyes on God, and remind yourself by speaking out loud the truths of God’s word. It makes it hard to justify your actions when you hear yourself say out loud what is the right thing to do.

Proverbs 4:1-13

We have heard about generational wealth, but how often do we hear about generational wisdom? Solomon starts off by telling his children that they need to hear what their father has to share with them. As wise as Solomon was, he also knew the value of wisdom from those that have come before him is. In verse three, he tells his children that the wisdom he was about to share was given to him by his father (King David). And in verse two, Solomon tells his children that he is giving good teachings, whether it was by personal experience or handed down by his father, he trusted what he had gained in his past to pass these words on to his own children.

In this Psalm, he gives a couple practical truths about what wisdom can do for a person if they get it and gain insight about it. The first one comes in verse six when he writes that wisdom can protect us from making mistakes or being tricked by the things of this world. This is most likely why he is giving these truths while his children are young. Knowing that if they receive them and incorporate them into their lives now, wisdom can prevent them from falling into some of the tricks in this world that try to lead a person astray from following God. The younger you start with a child, the easier it is for them to say no when the time comes.

Another thing that wisdom will do is that it will lift you up beyond where you are now. Gaining wisdom only has benefits for a person’s life. It points out the right direction to go, where you have gone wrong and how to make it right, have you successfully finish the race that God has laid out for you, prevent you from making certain mistakes, help you avoid sin, and much more. But there is one thing that we must remember when we are pursuing wisdom is that we seek the right one. Remember in verse three, Solomon tells his children that some of his wisdom came from his father and we know that he had wisdom far beyond his father’s, that because he tapped into the true source of real wisdom.

Solomon received it directly from God, and we have access to some of that same wisdom. Not just in the writings of Solomon, but the entire Bible was given for our learning (Romans 15:4). Through daily reading, studying, praying, meditating, and letting the Holy Spirit reveal truth to you from the Bible, you will find the wisdom you need to overcome this world. If you are thinking that you have read the Bible before and that it has nothing more to teach you, that would be in error. The Bible is the one book that you can study for a lifetime and not exhaust the truths to be found within its pages.

Proverbs 1:1-6

The book of Proverbs by King Solomon is known as one of the wisdom books of the Bible. Solomon remembers, from when God asked what he would want and he chose wisdom, that wisdom is something a person acquires from God. According to Romans 11, all praise goes to God for His mercy, knowledge and wisdom in His creation. As the creator of all, God is the only one that knows exactly how it all works. One misconception is that wisdom and knowledge are the same thing. Knowledge is the accumulation of information stored in your brain, while wisdom is the ability to use that knowledge correctly. In Proverbs, Solomon is not wanting to just give knowledge like so many already had, but to tell the reader what to do with the knowledge one has already.

We have all heard the saying “Book smart but no common sense”. This is having knowledge without the wisdom to correctly use it. In this section, we find four things that are action words in the pursuit of wisdom. In verse 2 we perceive the words of understanding. We must become aware of wisdom. We need to understand that under our own discernment, we cannot have true wisdom, but it’s by God’s Spirit we will be given understanding (v. 23). In verse 3 we need to receive it. A gift is not a gift unless there is someone receiving it. The same is with wisdom in that if it is a gift we want from God, we need to receive it from Him. If we are not willing to receive it then God, being the perfect gentleman, will not force it upon us.

Verse 5 has a very important verb which is to hear. Me being a Lions fan, I know what it is like to not hear when my wife is talking. I have developed a good sense of when to nod my head and say “yep” and “ok”. Do you ever feel that God is talking to you, but you are not hearing what He has to say? But in this verse, He promises that if you hear Him you will increase in wisdom. Also in verse 5 is the word attain. To attain something is to acquire something. When we acquire something, we are adding to what we already have, but we also must give up something for it. In this case, we are giving up our limited understanding for God’s infinite understanding of the situation. In short, to gain godly wisdom we must perceive, receive, listen and add to, the things God has for us to become wise.

1 Kings 3

In this chapter, God comes to the new king of the people of Israel, Solomon. This is a very familiar chapter about how God asked Solomon what he wanted, and Solomon chooses wisdom. Such a correct choice at the age of twelve. I am not wanting the focus of this devotion to be about his choice, but in the way that God came to him to present the question. Solomon was asleep at the time which seems to be a common way for God to communicate. He did it with Job, with Solomon, in Joel 2 and Acts 2 it says that men will dream dreams, to Joseph and others.

Why would God choose this method of communicating with us? If I were to answer that question, I would probably say it because it is the only time that we are quiet long enough for our spirit to hear what He has to say. Think about it, we get up, get ready and eat breakfast, then we go to work and back home, we get ready to eat dinner and then get some work done around the house. After all that, we are ready for a break, so we turn on the TV and hear what the news has to say or to be entertained. Before you know it, it is time for bed where you fall into a deep sleep after a hard day.

I know you next thought, “What about the weekend?”. I got you covered there too. Saturday is yard work and project day, and Sunday you are in church in the morning, football in the afternoon and then back to evening church. The next day is Monday, and the cycle starts all over again. Looking at the week, when does God have time to speak in that small still voice of 1 Kings 19? Answer, when we are asleep. I do not lay this all out to make you feel guilty, as many good Christians are following that same schedule. I do it to challenge you to do something about it. Find that time of silence during the day sometime when it is just you and God.

Make it a priority to go somewhere quiet, for at least 5 minutes to start with, and pray, read the Bible, or maybe just think about the last sermon you heard. Anything to open that door of communication between you and God. And before you finish, tell God that you will be listening for His voice on your spirit. He may impress upon your heart in a direction to go, or maybe he will speak to you through a dream. Whatever way that God chooses to speak to your spirit will be unmistakable. And if you ever wonder if it is really Him talking, ask yourself “Does it sound like the words I read in the Bible?”.

Psalm 82

In Psalm 82:2, God is asking the judges of Israel “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?”, which is a totally legit question coming from the Supreme Judge. As we look at how this world is, does it not seem like justice is not being served? Right is wrong and wrong is right? That the wicked are catching all the breaks while the people of God are being told they are guilty of anything they can come up with? As the day of Christ’s return grows closer, there is an increased feeling in the air that anything associated with the name of Jesus is being rejected as the right things?

It should come to no surprise because the Bible tells us in Luke 17 that as it was in the days of Noah and the days of Lot, Jesus will be revealed. What the days of Noah and the days of Lot have in common is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. You may remember the days when the phrase “I speak my own truth” was just getting started. That’s the problem, we are not the source for truth, only God is. And now look where we are at in this world, we have kids pretending they are animals and the schools are putting litter boxes out for them to use, we have men thinking they can have babies because they claim to be a woman, we have church leaders telling people that the Bible is not 100% true, etc.

The doors have been opened wide, and most people have walked through them. They are the doors to whatever I think is right for me is the right thing to do. I heard a statistic today on the radio saying only 40% of the people in America go to church. And we are not fooled into thinking every one of them are in a Bible believing Christ centered church, and not all the ones in a good church are Believers in Christ as Lord and Savior. The number of true Christians are growing smaller each year, and it does not appear to be reversing any time soon. For those of us that do follow the true Jesus, all this I talked about in today’s devotional should not be a thing of discouragement but of hope.

Why do I say hope, because what is happening in the world today can go one of two directions from here. Either we continue the trend and Jesus comes to take the church out of this world. If that happens, we begin our time in Heaven with the Father engulfed in His glory. Or the opposite direction and we get to be a part of a revival that this world has never seen before. Either way, things will be better for the Believer. If Jesus is not coming back in our lifetime, then let’s work hard for the alternative, the revival. To do this, all Believers need to do their part to share what Jesus has done for everyone when he died on that cross. So, get out the word that there is a Savior that loves them enough that He gave His life so they can live.

Psalm 78

In Psalm 78, Asaph is reviewing the history between the Israelites and God. He talks about the power God displayed in the wilderness and the rejection the by the people through it all. Asaph does not paint the Israelites in a good light and rightfully so. God was very good to them and at every turn they complained and at times fully rejected Him and turned to false gods. Even when their disobedience resulted in the death of thousands of their people, they continue this cycle of rejection, punishment, return to worship, and then eventual rejection again. But this is not what this devotion is about.

Today’s devotion comes from verses five through eight of Psalm 78. In these verses it tells us that the Pentateuch, the first five book of the Old Testament, were given by God so that the fathers can teach it to their children. But there is to be a purpose to the teaching, it would set the hope of the children upon God, so they would not forget the good things God has done for their people and would follow the commandments given by God. And that takes us to verse eight when he says the reason for this is so the children will not be like their fathers, OUCH!

It’s not that the fathers were bad at being fathers. It’s not that by following their fathers they would become bank robbers or a camel thief, but that being like their fathers would mean they would miss the most important thing which is to follow God in all your ways. God does not want to be your God so that you can claim it on your resume or so people think you are a good person. God wants to have a relationship that involves your full obedience to His prescribed way to live and in return He will be there by your side all the days of your life. He wants to guide you, protect you, let you feel His love, give you a safe harbor in the storm, and will be there to mend your broken heart. All He asks is that you follow Him as your God. A small price to pay for all the benefits that a follow receives.

Psalm 76

As we continue in the Psalms written by King David’s worship leader Asaph, we come to Psalm 76 which is a song he wrote about God’s power. He starts it by recognizing that the name of God is well known in Israel. The people there understand how great God is because it was part of their history that the Red Sea was parted, the ten plagues that was a direct assault against Egypt’s false gods happened, he provided them food from nothing, and the manifestation of God can be seen in their tabernacle. The people of Israel had no problem understanding the power of God and had a respectful fear for Him.

The United States use to have that same understanding and fear of the power of God, not because they saw what He had done in the wilderness, or because it was part of their history, but because they understood that every word of the Bible, and what it says about God, is true. But that is not the case for many Americans today. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some of us that truly believe what the Bible says and wants to follow the One and Only True God, but our numbers are getting smaller. Today, people want to be entertained, they want fast paced worship and a God that does not make them feel uncomfortable.

2 Timothy 4:3 tells us that one day the church will be filled with people who do not want sound doctrine but instead want their ears tickled with pleasant things from the Bible and not the whole truth. Yes, God loves us and sent His Son to die for our sins, but it does not mean that He accepts the sin in us. As Psalm 76 continues, Asaph talks about God’s anger towards the nations burning and that it is a lasting anger unless it is satisfied through the right paths. For the unsaved, the only satisfaction for God’s wrath is to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior.

For the saved, we need to seek a forgiveness in our relationship with God, and we do that by having an honest discussion with Him. Like King David in Psalm 51, we acknowledge our sins and confess them to God as the one that we have sinned against. We admit that He has the correct verdict in our wrong doings and He alone has the ability to judge right from wrong. Whether you are saved or not, you must come to the understanding that we are not better than others and we definitely fall short of God. We must not seek for what we can get out of God, because forgiveness is already more than we deserve, but instead ask God what we can do for Him.

Psalm 73

As we finish up the last couple days of the Book of Psalms, we will be looking at the Psalms writing by Asaph, the appointed worship leader of Israel during King David’s time. In Psalm 73, he is contrasting God’s interactions with the righteous and the wicked. It is true that God does interact differently according to your status in Christ. If you reject the gift that is the finished work of Christ on the cross, then you will be treated as an enemy. Like a person that has told God you do not need Him in your life and that you can be your own decider of what is right or wrong. But a person who knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is held in a totally different light in the eyes of God. John 1:12 tells us that all who believe in Christ as Savior is given the right to become the children of God. But as imperfect as a child we can be, we are still in the family.

In Psalm 73, Asaph starts off telling the reader that God has been good to the people of Israel, those that are pure at heart. Right off the starting line, he is distinguishing between those that are followers of God and those that are not. God had never promised to look upon a person because of what nation they are a part of, but how their heart is. It goes to show us that there is only two ways God sees a person, either sinful or pure of heart. Never does God say in His word that a good effort is recognized, or that a person that did so many good things in their life has paradise coming. He says either you are a child of God, or you are not and that decision is made individually according to your status. This is not because your parents were Christian or that you were born in the right geographic location. It is all based on your decision of who Jesus is according to the Bible.

As Psalm 73 continues, Asaph tells us that the guilty wear their sin as a necklace proudly. Pride is the sin behind the rejection of Jesus in your life. For you to tell the Creator of the universe that you know what’s better for your life and eternity, is arrogance and misguided. For example, I have put together many pieces of Sauder furniture over the years for myself and others. There was this one time that I was putting together a TV stand for an elderly neighbor and thought I had done enough of them, that I could do it without instructions. As I was coming to the end, I realized that there was one piece that for some reason I could not get in place. As I reviewed the directions from the manufacturer of the stand, I realized that there was no way this would fit where it needed to be at this stage of the build. It actually needed to be installed at step #3, and I had to dismantle the whole thing to get back to that step. I use the manufacturer’s instructions from then on.

That is the way it is with salvation. There is an instruction book, the Bible, and there is no way a person is going to get to Heaven unless they follow the directions from the Manufacturer. As the Manufacturer of all that is, God knows what it takes to become the finished person that He calls a son or daughter. As the One that made it all, He has that right to set the standard. And like Asaph says at the end of the Psalm, “But for me it is good to be near God”. No truer words have been said.

Psalm 143

If you were to go to a good movie or seen your favorite singer in concert, you would not be able to contain yourself when you met your friends the next day. You would start from the beginning and give them a minute-by-minute account of the experience. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s natural to take something you are passionate about and want to share your excitement with anyone that will listen. This is how King David is about the things of God in Psalm 143.

In verse 12 he says that he will make known to others the mighty deeds God has done. He has had a life full of things that God has done and can firsthand testify to His goodness. As a result, David loves to tell anyone and everyone that will lend him their ear what God has done in his life. Over the past few weeks we have been talking about the life of David, and consistently he would be overcome in worship to God, and we also see God do things to deliver David from harm because of His love for him. This is a relationship we can have with our God if we choose.

Not that we want a closer relationship to God to gain favor or things, but that we desire to please Him in a way, that it is so pure in motive, that in return He blesses His children like a good father does (Matthew 7:11). If you doubt me about this, then put it to the test. For the next 30 days truly give yourself to God and ask what He would like from you. Maybe He is asking for you to be more kind, or more active in the local church, more generous with your time and finances, or with whatever you have been holding back from Him. Give your all to Him and see what he does with it and then watch as your testimony grows day by day till you have such a story to tell that you cannot wait for someone to listen.

Psalm 141

In verse five of this Psalm, King David says it quite plainly that the righteous accepts rebuke. That if he is found doing something wrong, someone that is a righteous person can correct him, and he would consider it as kindness. To be rebuked by that person is like anointing him into correct relationship with God and he accept it. David knew the importance of having people that are right in God’s eyes close to you. They are the ones that when things are going down a dark path, they will be there with outstretched hand ready to pull you back onto solid ground.

I can tell you that my friends are that type of friend. Don’t get me wrong, if I fell off a roof and could open my eyes, they would be laughing while trying to ask if I am ok in-between breaths, but when the time comes, they will be in my corner trying to help me see the errors of my ways. And don’t feel sorry for me, I would be laughing just as hard if it was one of them instead of me, that’s just the way it is with us, and I wouldn’t change a thing about that. I would hope and pray that all of you will find friends like this in your life.

Another part of this verse is that you would be willing to accept the rebuke. Proverbs 9:8 says a wise man will love you for rebuking them. If you have a Brother or Sister in Christ pointing out the errors of your ways, this is a good thing. It may not feel like it at first, but this is good for you. To be in a right relationship with God is always better than the temporary enjoyment you will get out of sin. I will tell you from personal experience that when God uses a godly friend to correct your actions, it is better than God having to tell you directly.

In Proverbs 12:1, the Bible tells us that a person who loves correction loves knowledge, but a person that hates correction is stupid (it’s words not mine). Don’t show others your mental state by your willingness, or unwillingness, to correction. There are so many other ways a person can show them that.

Psalm 139

The Lord does not make a mistake in anything He creates. In today’s Psalm, King David tells us that our God is there even in the womb. That there is no limit to His investment in each and every one of His created people. In verse 7, David asks the question “where shall I flee from your Spirit?”. It’s not a question that he is looking for an answer, but one of a rhetorical nature due to our God being all-knowing and all-present, that there is no where He is not. This is not to be something fearful, but as we read in verse 10, God holds us in His right hand as a loving father would.

As we continue in the Psalm, David describes the intimacy between God and His creation of you. It says in verse 13 that God knits us together exactly the way He intends. Wonderful is His handiwork and deep down we know that He made us in love. Even before we took shape, God saw who we can become. And precious to Him is every thought of who we are. We were made for a purpose, and God does not make mistakes.

Imagine how devoted we would be if someone in our life told us that when they think of us, they hold every thought captive due to its worth to them. We would be overwhelmed with flattery that the very thought of us could do that to another person. Well, we do have someone that is telling us that, in this Psalm. God loves you and cares for you. He does not see your deformity or disorder. He knows the mistakes you will make and the damage your body will take. He knows that your thoughts will be far away from His and the pleas he puts on your heart to return will be ignored so many times.

But He still loves you more than you can ever imagine, and all He wants is to restore the relationship that He intended to have with us before sin entered this world. He does not care what you look like, what you have done in the past, what horrible things you have said about Him before, all he wants is you. To have you as a member of His family with all your faults and troubles. There is nothing between you and God except your own resistance.

Psalm 109

The theme of Psalm 109 is King David crying out to God to pass judgement against those that falsely accuse him of wickedness to turn the heart of others against him. His enemies may know that they cannot right out defeat him with God, and others, on his side so they try to eliminate one of them from the equation. If they can turn his allies against him, then maybe he will lose hope and become venerable to attacks. This tactic is still used today by those that oppose the people of God. But there is a reason that this is one of their first attacks against believers, it’s from their father the Devil.

The title Devil comes for the Greek origin of diabolos which means accuser. One of the Devil’s main attacks against Believers is to accuse them of wrong despite if it's true of not. In Zechariah 3, the Devil is standing there accusing Joshua of his wrongdoing to the angel of the LORD to disqualify him from service to God. But fortunately, it is not how the Devil sees us but how God sees us that matters. As the chapter progresses, the angel (most likely preincarnate Jesus) tells Joshua to remove his filthy clothes as He forgave his sins already. When people try to accuse us of wrongdoing, they are trying to get others to see us dressed in dirty clothes that do not exist anymore.

I remember my early years as a Believer; I spent so many years thinking about the dirty clothes I had worn before Jesus. It made me feel that I was unworthy to be used by God effectively. This is why the Devil uses this tactic, it’s effective. As long as he can have others remind us of who we were, then we may start to believe we are of no use in God’s kingdom. Nothing is further from that, God has made us a new creature, the old is gone and we are wearing clean clothes. God does not only see us as useful, but He sees us as worthy to be a champion in His army. So, remember that when the false accusations start coming your way, you are not what they see but who God says you are that matters.

Psalm 101

This Psalm contains nine “I will” statements by King David as he describes his walk with God. He starts off with “I will” sing and play music. In this first part of his walk, he is praising God with the talents He gave him. David was known as a great poet and musician, and he used this talent often in his worship to God and recorded several for us to read in scriptures. This form of worship came easy to him and felt as natural as waking up in the morning, but he also understood that worship didn’t stop there.

As he continues in the Psalm, he says that he intends in searching out the ways that are right to God and pledges, “I will walk with integrity”. This is a form of worship that many people do not think about, the worship of obedience. To find out what pleases God and then follow it is just as much worship as singing. In John 15:10, Jesus tells us that if we keep His commands then we abide in His love, and if we keep the Father’s commandments we abide in His love. This tells us that an expression of our love for God and how we make His ways our ways. This is where the rubber meets the road in our worship.

Then David states, “I will” keep those that are wicked far away and gather other Believers close to him. There is something to be said about not forgetting your worship together, Hebrews 10:25. In this Psalm, David knows that spending time with others that do not believe the same way can have a negative impact in his behaviors. To have others that want to lift you up in the Lord instead of bringing you down into the mud, you need to have fellow Believers by your side, and to have many together in worship is a great place to recharge your batteries. Do not get me wrong, you will have unbelievers in your life in one way or another, but they are your mission field and need to see the love of Jesus in your life, which is hard to do if you look more like them than your Lord.

Worship is more than a song or a verse, it’s a lifestyle. And in all that you do you are in worship. Whether is it singing in the car, reading your Bible, listening to a message from the pastor, or even when you realize that the clerk gave you too much change and you give it back to them, so their drawer is not short at the end of the night. All that is good and all that is right is worship. So, the next time you are cut off in traffic, remember that you can be in a state of anger or a state of worship, your choice.

Psalm 64

In Psalm 64, King David is talking about the plans his enemies have against him and talks about their tongues being like a sword and words like an arrow. It’s true, one’s words have the power to lift up another or to tear them down. They can bring joy or sorrow. They can make a person feel valued or valueless. The words that come out of our mouth has more power in another person’s life, especially those closest to us, than most people realize.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences”. We know this to be true today when we see the number of people committing suicide because of things said by others. Words have real power in this world and people need to learn how to use them correctly. Our words are to be the life giver, to help lift another up when they are down. Too often people are relying on that old saying of, “You have to kick em’ while their down.”, when dealing with people in need of a kind word.

The Apostle Paul was great at making lists in his writings. He would list off the Fruit of the Spirit, list things that are a blessing when in God’s will, and list sins that are highly offensive to others. It comes to a surprise to some that when he is listing things like murder, sexual sins, stealing, etc., he also includes one who gossips. That is how dangerous a tongue can be. Today, lets pledge to use our tongue to lift up, not to tear down.

Psalm 46

If you have been keeping up on these devotions, you may have noticed that there was nothing posted for 5/11/26. Little did I know that a Psalm I was considering doing a devotion about the other day would become real yesterday. For no apparent reason, my wife developed an extreme form of dizziness and needed rescue workers to help her off the floor. The doctors do not know the source of it and there is no certain trigger that brings it on, so it is a mystery as of this writing. But that’s not how the day started.

I had made plans for yesterday, that I thought, was already a full day’s worth. First, I would meet a couple guys at 6:45am to golf, then I would go home and relax before starting my devotions and sermon prep. From there I would get cleaned up and ready for lunch followed by getting my grandsons, like I do every weekday after school. After they left, me and the wife would probably go to town or maybe just sit till it was time to go to the grandson’s baseball game. From there I would eat dinner, continue sermon prep and then relax for the rest of the evening. No part of my plans involved caring for my wife’s elderly mother who she is the caregiver for. It seemed so simple, till it wasn’t.

I was at the 16^th hole of my plan when the call came in from the wife that she was having a medical emergency and I needed to come home immediately. As I reached my driveway, I was met by the ambulance and that’s when my prayers reached 2^nd gear. I will not go into detail about the incident but will tell you that my plans for the day were not on my mind anymore. It is replaced with prayers, getting the mother-in-law situated and resting, getting someone to pick up the grandkids, and getting to the hospital ASAP. As we spent the next few hours having them run tests, scans and IV’s, it could have turned into a time when intrusive thought would enter the equation and we begin to question why.

But that is not what King David tells us in Psalm 46. David tells the reader that our God is our refuge and strength in such a time as this. He is our help in trouble, and with Him, our fears can be quieted. Yesterday when it was all starting, it felt like verse 2 & 3 when David says though the earth be removed, thought the mountains be carried into the midst, through the waters roar with trouble, and the mountains shake. But it wasn’t like that, there was a certain calm in the storm, and although we still have no clue why it is continuing today, the rest of the truths in Psalm 46 stand strong. It tells us not to fear, God is in the midst while we go through the storm, He is our refuge and strength, and He tells us that we can be still because He is God.

Today we don’t have answers, and tomorrow there may be more questions than today holds, but no matter with that day brings God is still standing with us.

Psalm 62

In verse 1 & 2, King David is telling the reader some truths about what it means when he says, “God alone”. God alone does my salvation come, God alone is my rock, God alone is my fortress, in God alone I will not be greatly shaken. These words are true on so many levels that I have experienced myself, so I know it to be so. As a teen and young adult, not knowing the Lord, I chased a lot of different things in this world to try and calm the storm that was inside. My emotions were unstable, my mind leaned to thoughts of self-harm, my finances were a wreck, and I was making the people I loved miserable. My whole life was not stable like a rock but was like the sands that moved beneath one’s feet at the beach.

Then one day it happened, I felt something I never felt before, something was speaking directly to my heart. As I watch the play called “Heaven’s Gate and Hell’s Fire”, I could feel something changing inside me. I knew at that moment there was something I needed to do and do it fast. As I sat there for the rest of the play, I told myself that whatever they told me I had to do, I was going to do it. Then the time came, they announced that if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior to step up to the stage. Before you could say, “Hey, where did Ron go?”, I was in the aisle and at the stage. I was so fast that I sat at the back of the auditorium but was the first in line to do what I knew was the only thing that could help me.

That night I accepted Jesus into my life, and I never regretted that decision. The road was not a smooth payment to travel, but it had its bumps and hills as my flesh tried to fight for the old life. Looking back, I can see how unstable life can be in those “not best of times” that comes our way, but I can definitely tell you that once I quit resisting God’s work on my life, I had my rock. My ground started to solidify, and I can feel that there is nothing this life is going to throw at me that my God cannot calm the unrest trying to start in my body. He really is the solid rock, the fortress in hard times, and in Him alone can I trust with my eternity.

Psalm 53

In this Psalm, King David tells us a person that denies the existence of God is a fool. The word fool here is not one of a light jab or some kind of hyperbolic language to state they are just mistaken. The word used here means a person that is morally corrupt and is unwilling to seek after God. The Psalm continues to call their deeds corrupt and vial, and that the heart of mankind does not want to be accountable for their actions. Verse 2 states that God looks down and cannot find a person that understands and seeks after Him.

 And God would be correct in His assessment of the heart of the people. Without God intervening in in the state of our heart, we would not seek Him but rather continue to do what is right in our own eyes. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit of God prepares our hearts to accept the truth of our sin and His holiness. Without the Spirit revealing this to our hearts, we would remain in the desperately wicked state that Jeramiah 17:9 tells us we are in before salvation, and we would be incapable of knowing anything different.

This is the great blessing that God gives to each and every one of us, the knowledge that we need a savior. That our condition is desperate and eternal without something being done to remove the stain of sin from our hearts. I do believe in free will and that the decision to come to Jesus Christ was mine to make, but I also understand that this belief was only because God awoke my heart to the reality of my condition. This doesn’t take away from my salvation but makes it much more precious because He sought me.

The God of this universe allowed me to understand my condition so I could come to Him freely and accept the work that Jesus did on the cross so we can be together forever. God could have chosen to ignore the heart of mankind and leave us to our fate, but He didn’t. As Romans 5:8 states, while I was still a sinner (His enemy), He allowed Jesus Christ to pay the penalty I deserved. His mercy is limitless and is available to everyone.

If you are reading this and you have never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior so you can have this too, please pray now something like this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I have fallen short of the holiness that God expects due to my sins. I also believe that you have paid the penalty for the sins of everyone that trusts in you by dying on that cross. At this time, I ask you to come into my life as my Lord and my Savior. To have my sins forgiven and my name written in the Book of Life guaranteeing that one day I will be with you forever in Heaven. Please give me a life of purpose and that desires to do what is right in your eyes. Amen.

If you have prayed this prayer, I would love to hear from you and help you find a true Christ following church to start your life of growing in the joy of being a Believer. You can email me at pastor.gbc.tecumseh@gmail.com

Psalm 37

As I was reading Psalm 37 written by King David, it became very clear that some of the teachings in this Psalm are also found in the Book of Proverbs. It should not come as a surprise knowing that the writer of Proverbs is David’s son Solomon. For example, in verse 16 it tells us that having little and righteous is better than having much and wicked. In Proverbs 16:8 it says better is little with righteous than great gain with injustice. Or like in verse 23 when David tells us that the Lord directs our path and the same is said in Proverbs 20:24. There are others example, but what they say is not the point of this devotion, legacy is.

In comparison, many values that David held, Solomon wrote throughout the Proverbs. This is evidence that when we tell our kids something, they do hear us. The same can also be said about what we do in front of them and then watch them grow up to imitate it. When Proverbs 22:6 tells us to train up our children so they will not know what is right as they reach adulthood, it does not say to do this in word only. Kids are like sponges, they soak up everything around them including the words and actions of the adults in their life. My wife told me a story about a child that did not appear to be listening to the Bible story that day, only to watch as they took chalk and drew the whole point of the story on the pavement accurately. They are always aware, maybe not completely but enough, that they do retain what is happening around them.

The old saying, “Do as I say and not as I do”, never held any water. Kids will watch, they will add it to their memory, and they will imitate some form of this action you demonstrated to them when they were young. Are you leaving the legacy you want to leave with both your words and actions? If not, take a long look at the little one that will one day grow up with some of your traits instilled in their life, and ask yourself, “What training will I give them today?”. The rest of their life will thank you for the good training you give them now.

Psalm 32

In Psalm 32, King David is rejoicing at the forgiveness of his sins by God, and for good reason. Starting in the Garden of Eden, the penalty of sin is death. Yes, there is a physical death that will be experienced, but more importantly is the eternal death of separation from God. John 8:24 quotes Jesus telling the disciples that unless people believe He is the Son of God that was sent to take away the sins of mankind, they will die in their sins. To be separated from God means the person is condemned to hell for eternity, to remember the One that you rejected and suffer the pain and torment of your decision.

And don’t fool yourself by thinking that you have been doing just fine without God so far, so what is an eternity more without Him. The truth is that you have never experienced a single moment without God’s presence in your life. You may choose to not recognize it, but He has been right there in the good times and bad times. Showing you mercy along the way of not making you pay for every wrong thing you have done in this life. All He wants in return is for you to accept the gift He has waiting for you of salvation through His Son Jesus.

Looking at this Psalm, David starts off telling the reader that happy is the person that is forgiven, the one that their sins will never be counted against them, the person that shouts for joy because their heart is made clean. David also has advice in verse 5 for the ones that have already asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of their life when he says that he acknowledges his sin to God. Our relationship with God is like our relations on earth, in that, when we do something wrong against another person, we need to ask for forgiveness to bring some mend to back to the relationship. Not that your salvation was ever at risk, but your day-to-day relationship is strained under the pressure from the Spirit’s conviction of your sin.

This is where 1 John 1:9 comes in, when it tells us to ask for forgiveness and God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness. But unlike our relationships with other people, God fully restores our relation to Him 100%. He does not hold any of it against you or bring it back up in a later argument. He forgives it fully and never brings it back to your attention later on. And a person with their sins forgiven and their relationship with God fully intact, joyous indeed is that person.

Psalm 27

In Psalm 27, King David is singing praises to God to express the faithfulness he has experienced in his life. He starts chapter 27 out by stating that he does not need to fear anything because God is his light in a dark world, and the rescuer when times get hard. He understands that the victories in his life against his enemies, like the giant Goliath, was delivered to him by God. Knowing the history of the battles in the Old Testament, there are enough of examples of victories because of God intervention in a battle, that we can also take comfort in knowing that He can intervene in our struggles today. There is a confidence in this life that comes from knowing that God has your back during the hard times.

I love the reminder for us in verse 7 & 8 when David says he cries out for God to be gracious and give him answers to which God responds, “Seek my face”. This is the thing that so many get wrong in their walk with God. They cry out for help when times are hard but forget God the rest of the time. God wants you to keep seeking Him, even in the good times. If you go back a couple verses, we see David praising God for hiding him from the trouble coming. If we seek God even in the good times, then we may find that we have less hard times because He has hidden us from them. But remember, this is still life and we will have hard times. And we are not to seek God in the good times so that we never feel hard times, we seek Him because He deserves it.

In verse 10, he finds comfort in knowing that even if the people in this world are undependable, God will never cast him away. This is probably one of the most important points a Believer needs to understand, God is not like the people in your life. As Believers, we cannot judge what God will do based upon experiences we have had in our past with other people. People can break promises, God cannot. People can be unnecessarily cruel, God loves you. People can abandon you, God will never leave you or forsake you. God is not like anyone you have even met in this life, so when you are seeking Him in the pages of the Bible, rid yourself of preconceived notions of how you think others see you and let God tell you how precious you really are in His eyes.

 

Psalm 23

This is considered to be among the most beloved chapters in the Bible by many. The imagery of this chapter is one of peace and comfort no matter what the situation. To start out with “The LORD is my shepherd” tells us that God has everything in His hands. The shepherd of a flock would ensure leading them to good feeding grounds, fresh water and to protect them from other wild animals. The flock knows the voice of the shepherd and runs when they call. I know this first-hand with my cows. All I have to do is whistle and they come running because they know that I have something good for them today.

As the chapter goes on, it tells us that God restores our soul so that we have the strength and energy to take on the day, no matter what that day may bring. And when He has given you the strength to carry on, He can direct your steps so that you overcome it in the right way. Sometimes the easy path is not the path that brings honor to God or yourself. I have walked the path that if I had taken the easy way my trouble would have disappeared in a matter of months. But the easy path would not have led to a testimony of God’s goodness and a real lasting outcome that was 100% better than the easy way, but it did take years to accomplish. In the end, it was well worth all the work to do it the right way.

It also tells us that in our dark times, those times that we suffer loss, hurt, persecution, sickness, or any other thing that tries to steal joy from our life or even our life itself, God is still with us. Because He is with us along the whole way, we do not need to fear what the world throws at us, because no matter what comes our God is bigger and we as Believers have already won the war. God anoints Believers as His sons and daughters and wants good things for us. All that we have is a blessing from God including the people in our life. We may not always feel the blessing, but as a Good Father, He wants to give you good gifts, so look for the good in it instead of searching for what you believe is wrong.

King David ends with “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”, which is so true. Again, we as Believers may miss the goodness and mercy of our life if we believe we deserve more. The fact that God saved us through Jesus’ finished work on the cross, is already more than we deserve (mercy). But he still gives us food in our belly, people that love us, pleasures in this life, and a closeness to Him if you seek it (goodness), that you will not get from this world. But nothing tops the end of the Psalm when he says that he will “dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. There is nothing that can be compared to the fact that we will be in God’s presence forever and ever when we trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, and if that is not enough to keep the joy in your life then you may be missing the point.

Psalm 15

In this Psalm of David, he describes a person of godly character for the reader’s benefit. This can be considered a shopping list of what a person should strive to be and what to look for in another person they want to associate with. He starts with acknowledging that we should be humble in our understanding that God alone is holy and to come into His presence on our own merit is impossible. In verse 2 he is telling us to be a person of integrity and honesty. A person that when it is time to make the hard choices to do what is right instead of what is popular, we choose what’s right to God first.

To be a person that does not use their speech to hurt another because we know that sometimes words hurt longer than a physical pain can. We are not to lie about another person’s character nor turn on our friends who have been there for us when we needed them. In verse 4, David describes a person that conducts themselves with dignity and has a proper understanding who God is and shows Him the respect He deserves as Creator and Savior.

At the end of verse 4 he tells us that when we make a promise, we are to honor that promise even if it costs us something to do so. For us, to be known as a person of our word is worth more than some inconvenience or loss of time or material items. Verse 5 he informs us to not be a person that loans out money to make money from interest nor takes a bribe to show favor to one person over another. And then he ends the Psalm by letting us know that these are the things that please the LORD, and when we please Him, we stand on solid ground.

Psalm 7, 10 & 11

Throughout these Psalms, there is a common thread which is stated plainly in Psalm 7:8 “The LORD judges the people”. As we dive into these Psalms, we find that God is the only one that has the right to judge due to the wicked heart of humans. We as people tend to look at another in judgement of their actions, mostly so we can distract ourselves from our own, but the lens we use is cracked and a righteous judgement cannot be performed. At best, we can only compare our flaws to their flaws and see if society looks more favorable upon what we have done compared to the others.

Matthew 7:5 tells us to take the beam out of our own eye before telling another of the speck they have in theirs. This is why when we approach another about a sin they are involved in, first we must clean our house of our wrong doings, and then we are to approach with what God says about it not what we think instead. It is then that we let God be the judge of their sin and if it goes right, it will awake them to what the Holy Spirit has been trying to tell them all along. And a must for these situations, you are to approach the other person in love and not in a judgmental way.

I know that telling a fellow Believer about their sins is uncomfortable and feels like we should mind our own business. But to allow them to continue in their sin is not showing them love but is allowing them to continue in chastisement (discipline) from God. If you love another, you will want them to be free of their actions and to start enjoying the blessings described in these Psalms for those that do what is right according to God’s standard. You may not believe it at the beginning of this process, but they will thank you for it in the end.

1 Kings 2

As the death of King David approaches, he takes time to instruct his son Solomon one more time to follow God’s ways. Proverbs (the book of wisdom) chapter 22 is written by Solomon many years into his reign as king of Israel. In verse 6 he is telling his children to train up their children in the way they should go, and when they grow old, they will not depart from it. Was Solomon remembering the times that his father gave him direction to follow God, and now is doing it for his children? Probably so.

When I look at my own time growing up and my father giving me directions on how to do something or how I should conduct myself, there are many things he taught that I still live by. Your kids will remember what you say and do in their development. That is why it is so important to teach them in what God says while they are growing. The things they learn from God’s words will stick with them the rest of their life. It does not mean that they will never make a mistake or rebel, but it could help them from getting into too much trouble.

 

1 Chronicles 11 & 2 Samuel 23

In these two chapters, they list the 37 mighty men that were the champions in King David’s army. They were the ones that were sent out when the big projects needed to get done. Their bravery and strength were unmatched. For example, Benaiah killed a lion at close range. What made it impressive is that he followed that lion into a pit on a snowy day which would have given the lion all the advantages, but Benaiah was still victorious.

Like David, we need to surround ourselves with mighty men, the difference is that they need not be the strongest, bravest, or biggest, they just need to be strong in their walk with the LORD. In this world, there are many chances to do something to displease God, and if you are not with fellow Believers then your support in the battle is not there. There is strength in numbers, but the key is that those numbers must be on your side.

It would not have turned out good for King David if he would have surrounded himself with mighty Philistines. They were his enemy and would have taken this opportunity to kill him. The same is true in our spiritual battles. If we surround ourselves with people that are doing what we do not want to do, then most likely we will end up doing it too. But, if you surround yourself with others that are strong in their walk, and do not want to do the things that you are trying to stay away from, then you will have each other to lean on and support in the avoidance of that thing.

I like to use the example of clean shoes and mud. If you are a clean pair of shoes and you walk in mud, chances are 100% that you will get mud on you. If you think that you are such a clean pair of shoes that you would rub off the clean onto the mud and make it clean, you would be sorely mistaken. Same is true for the people you surround yourself with. It is so much easier for you to have the wrong things to rub off on you than it is to get those wanting to do wrong to change their ways just by being around you.

1 Chronicles 28-29

At the end of chapter 28, King David comforts the about to be king, Solomon, to be strong and courageous, which is reminiscence of Moses to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:23. Both times the charge was given to the one that would be taking over as leader of the people of Israel, but in Solomon’s case there was a twist. When Moses told Joshua to be strong and courageous, Joshua was about 84 years old. For Solomon, he was about to become the king of Israel at the young age of 12.

I remember myself at age 12, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was not the age for me to own a fish and definitely not the age to start leading others. While it is true that kids had to be more grown up during this time due to the conditions and traditions, 12 is still young to become king. This may be the reason that David went on to say not to be afraid or dismayed because God was with him and promises to never leave. As comforting as that is, Solomon still had to be wondering if he could really do the job.

As we keep reading to the end of chapter 29, we see that Solomon’s rule was blessed by God and no other king was prosperous like him. Solomon proved that age is just a number, and that being young is not a sign that you are not capable. In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul tells a young Timothy to not let his age be despised. In another words, he is not to let his leading of the church be lessened because he is young, but that he is to be bold in fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for him.

There is something to be said about the Christian with more time behind than ahead as far as the wisdom they bring to the table, but equally, there is something to be said about those that have their youthful energy and enthusiasm to do the work of ministry and make it look easy. In the end, it takes both the go-get-em youthful approach with the we have tried that before and it did not work, to get things done while avoiding the landmines of ministry. So, when it comes to a spiritual leader in the church, whether it be the pastor, elder, or that one the people trust they know what the Bible says and they lives it, but it proves that it is not a person's age that is important but the strength of their walk with God that is.

1 Chronicles 23-26

In these chapters, King David appoints the Levites to the service of the temple once it is completed by Solomon. When he finished appointing them, he had 24,000 to oversee the work of the LORD, 6,000 as officers and judges, 4,000 as gate keepers, and 4,000 musicians to play instruments. It took 38,000 Levites to do all that the temple required for its day-to-day service year-round. I do not know of any church that needs that many volunteers to make everything happen in service to God.

But it does take many hands to provide the programs and services that Jesus would ask us to do for our community. Both inside and outside the walls of our churches are many ways we can reach the people of our community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we need the hands and feet of Believers to make it happen. Yes, the pastor is the paid person in the church, but there is no way he can do it all alone, it takes volunteers too.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, states in James 1:23-25 that if you are a Believer then you will be a doer of good works and be blessed for it. He also goes on to say in chapter 2 that faith without works is dead. This means that you can be a Believer, but if you are not doing anything with that faith, then how will others know you are a Believer? It is by good works that we witness with our lives that we believe in the saving power of Jesus and we use our talents to share that with others. As James said, be doers of the word not hearers only.

1 Kings 1

God always has a plan that man tries to subvert, but that never slows Him down. In 1 Kings 1, the beginning of the end for King David has started. As his health continues to decline, his son Adonijah tries to make himself king while David is still alive. He grabs all the necessary things such as the sacrifices, the priest and the witnesses to the ceremony. The problem with this is it was going to be an illegitimate anointing, and was missing the most important components to it, King David’s appointment and to be a part of God’s plan.

God had already determined that King David will not be the one to build the House of God due to the blood that he has shed during his reign as king. God did tell him that his son would, as the next king, be a man of peace and build the House of God. We know that Adonijah could not be that son if he was willing to scheme to get the throne and was so overly ambitious that he would most likely continue to grab territory just like his father did. We know that David picked Solomon to be that king when the profit Nathan told Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, to go remind David of his prior decision and to announce it quickly to the people.

God knew what kind of king He wanted over Israel to accomplish the tasks ahead, but once again, a person thought they could change what God has set in motion. God has a plan, and the faster we realize that He has a specific task for us to do, the faster we can fall into His will and get the job done. I know this to be true in my own life, and thanks be to God that I followed His path that led directly to Grace Bible. I have seen what it looks like when a person kicks open doors of opportunity, and the outcome rarely goes well. We are called to be the followers of God, not the doorbusters.

2 Samuel 24 & Psalm 103

In 2 Samuel 24, King David has let self-reliance creep into his heart by having a censes done so he would know the strength of his army before the next campaign. Forgetting that God has delivered enemy after enemy in miraculous ways, even with small numbers in the past. Being self-reliant can be a dangerous place to be for a Christian. In the book of Revelation, we find the church of Laodicea thought themselves to be self-reliant and that made them lukewarm towards the truths in God's words and Jesus tells them the He will vomit them out of His mouth. We should always be in the position of leaning on the Almighty God for all our needs. I have found on countless occasions that when I depend on God to see me through a situation, it goes much smoother than when I rely on my own understanding.

I would like to share one such incident about a time I was working on the car's master brake cylinder. By no stretch of the imagination am I a mechanic, but I did not have the money to get this done, so I figured "How hard can this be?". An hour and a half later of trying to get the cylinder to bleed so the brakes would receive the fluid they need to work, I was at a spot of knowing that I do not know what to do next and this being our only car, I needed it badly. It was then that I stopped, and in tears, I cried out to God to let me know what to do because like I said, I did not have the money to get help. It was immediately after crying out to God that an answer came to my mind of what I would need and how it is to be done. This was not me but God that placed that thought and minutes later, I had fully working brakes.

Like David in his self-reliance, he repented of his actions and so did I. We have a God that created the universe and the physics that make it all work together perfectly, so of course He can help us by giving you the answer. The key was to humble myself and ask. And when we find ourselves relying on our own strength, we need to ask for forgiveness and become reliant on the One that made you. It is then, what David wrote in Psalm 103 rings true, God will separate you from that sin as far as the east is from the west and a right relationship will be restored.

2 Samuel 22

King David has expressed his feelings into a song about the goodness of God. It is a song of God delivering him from his enemies and keeping him as king of Israel. In the beginning it tells us that God is his rock, his fortress and his deliverer. He then goes on to state that death was approaching, and he called on God for help. Then verse 6 happens. God from His place in heaven hears David's voice. There is some truth in that verse for all Believers.

When times get hard, we can cry out to God and He will hear us every time. We do not serve a God that can only listen to a few people at a time, but a God that hears all His children all the time. Just as an earthly father recognizes their child's cry in a crowded playground, God can hear us no matter where we are. Hebrews 13:5 says that God will never leave us or forsake us. This assures us that He is always just a cry away, so you can take comfort in knowing that God is always listening for your voice. He is a Good Father, and he can recognize your voice among the billions of other voices and will be there in your time of need.

2 Samuel 19

In 2 Samuel 19 we see that despite the victory over the rebellion led by his son Absalom, King David is in heavy mourning over his son's death. Not that he can be blamed, he loved his misguided son and gave orders not to harm him. Mourning is sometimes thought as not allowed for Christians, and with good intentions other Believers try to help by quoting scripture and tell them it will be alright. But what if a Christian does not feel like it's going to be alright?

We see many times in the Bible of people that mourned over their circumstances, and there is even has a book called Lamentation which means "the passionate expression of grief or sorrow". God gave us the ability to love others, and it is because of that love we hurt so much when they are gone. But God is love, and He will make a way for the sun to shine again. I know what you are thinking, here he is with a scripture and telling me it will be alright. Nope, I going to tell you to mourn, but not to forget God in the process.

In a time of heavy mourning, it is easy to block out everything else including God. The one person that is truly bigger than any situation you can face. And when a Christian cannot seem to get a foothold on their mourning, it is ok to seek help from professionals. There are some really good Christian counselors that want to help people, like those who are mourning, see that never forgetting is ok and that there are calmer seas ahead. Yes, life will never be the way it was before, and the pain of the loss will always be a part of your memory of them, but the seas will get calmer and the waves of pain will get smaller.

In Lamentation 3, the prophet Jeremiah is in mourning for his people and expresses it by writing his soul is far from peace, he has forgotten good times, and his soul sinks inside him, but he then follows it up with verses 22 through 24: Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” As bad as the day may feel, God is there still and is protecting you from becoming consumed by the situation in your life. His is love, He is mercy, and He is faithful, and He is waiting for His children to run back into His arms. 

2 Samuel 18

The problems between King David and his son, Absalom, are coming to an end in this chapter. So, for a quick recap, Absalom was trying to win the people of Israel over to make him king over David. It came close to working too, but God intervened and Absalom was caught in a tree by his neck and some of David's men killed him there. Make no mistake, Absalom was looking for the death of his father so that there would be no challenge to the throne in the future. With that being so, David still gave instruction not to harm Absalom if his people saw him which was clearly ignored by some. 

David was demonstrating love to his son despite his son choosing to be his enemy at this time. David was showing the heart of a godly parent in this situation. David knows that Absalom wants his life, and he knows leaving Absalom alive risks him attempting this again. But at the risk of his own life, his love for his son is too great to allow harm to come to him. At the end of the chapter, David says that he would have died instead of Absalom because of his love for him. Does this sound familiar? It should, this is what Jesus Christ did for us.

Romans 5:8 states that God loved us so much, that while we were still an enemy (sinner) Jesus died for us. The physical manifestation of God took our place on the cross because He knew that this was the only way that we could become His sons and daughters. If you are a parent, think about the love you have for your child and what you would do to protect them from harm, and then magnify it by an endless number. That is the love that God has for you, and if you let Him, He will protect you. As that hymn from Anthony J. Showalter titled "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms", we sing that we are safe and secure from all alarms when we are leaning on the everlasting arms of our God.

Psalm 3

King David is writing this Psalm during the time that his son Absalom is trying to take the kingdom from him by trickery and force. He starts out in verses 1 & 2 talking about the number of his enemy and they would believe that not even God can deliver David this time. But then the rest of the Psalm is David acknowledging that the numbers of the enemy is nothing in comparison to the might of God. He calls God his shield, provider of strength, supplier, source of courage, and savior in hard times. It would have been easy for David to give up hope because the numbers were growing in support for Absalom, but he did not waiver.

This is a good lesson for us to learn in our own lives. There will be hard times. Times when the enemies will be attacking us. Times when things don't make sense and the solution seems too far away. And there are even times that are so desolate, that no one would blame you is you lost hope. Even Job's wife told him to curse God and die to find relief from all that had happened to him. But for every Job situation, we can have David faith. The faith that not only saw him through his current situation, but the faith in what God can do in that as a young man he approached a giant with a sling and a stone.

For all the giants in our lives, God has our sling and stone waiting for us to face it with confidence and strength. And although the situation one day will be one that we will not see the other side of in this life, God will resolve all our troubles in the next one thanks to the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. But until then, remember that our God is the Creator of all, sustainer and provider of our needs, and our security in troubled times, and with God on our side, the giants of this life seem a lot smaller. 

2 Samuel 8 & 9

In 2 Samuel 8 & 9 we see accounts of the wars of King David with the surrounding nations. At first look, it sounds like David is the only one fighting in these battles. In 2 Samuel 8:13 it says that David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites. Surely, he did not strike down 18,000 Edomites by himself, but that he took his army with him to accomplish this victory. He may have come up with the battle plan, but it was his whole army that executed it. In 1 Chronicles 18:12 it is confirmed that it was not just David conquering those Edomites. 

This is true for ministry too. It is not just a one person show, or even a team of people doing the work for Jesus. 1 Corinthians 12 uses a body to demonstrate the need for many people to do what God has for the local church to accomplish. It states that there is one body but there are many members that make up that body. I know this firsthand from my time as a Volunteer Coordinator of a church. It did not matter how passionately the pastor and leadership wanted a ministry to start up, if there were no volunteers for it, it was dead at the planning stage. The body need the parts to do the work, and if the parts are missing then the body is not a whole. 

This is why, if God directed you to a church, He has a plan for you at that church. Something He wants you to accomplish for Him with the people there. It is usually something that He has gifted you to do like playing music, being a prayer warrior, teaching kids or adults, etc. It may be a something that takes a lot of time or just a few minutes, but it is all important to God and the people of that church. So, when you are thinking about what you get from your local church, don't forget to also ask what you can do for God's mission there too. You are special and gifted in ways that fit perfectly where you are, and when you are fulfilling your purpose at that church you will know that Jesus is saying "Well done, good and faithful servant". And there are no sweeter words that can be heard than those when you are in ministry.

2 Samuel 7

In 2 Samuel 7, King David comes to the realization that while he is living in a comfortable cedar home, God still had His home in the Tabernacle (tent). A structure that is not permanent and always in need of repairs. While a home is warm and protective, a tent can be cold, and creatures can find their way into it. For thousands of years, God's Tabernacle was this temporary tent able to be moved at a moment's notice, but still not a permanent structure among the Israelites.

Sometimes this is a good picture of how we can be with God. We want to pull Him out when we are having hard times. Times when things don't make sense or we need to make a big decision. We sometimes like Him being in a tent so that when things are going well in our life, we can move Him out of the way and take control. But God wants a permanent residence. A place in your life that is front and center. A place that when you look at life and others, you see it though His eyes. 

We find the lumber to use in the building of this permanent home for God in our lives through Bible reading, prayer, meditation on His words, fellowshipping with other Believers, and an earnest desire to want Him to be front and center to everything we do. If you still have God living in the metaphorical tent of your life, today's reading will remind you that God belongs as a permanent part of all you do.  

Psalm 96

Psalm 96 is a great Psalm to motivate a person to witness to others the good news of God. Verses 2-3 say "Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, all his marvelous works among all the peoples!" (ESV). It's true! God has been good to all the people, it's just that some do not recognize it (yet). It is our mission as Believers in Jesus Christ to help them open their eyes to God's goodness, even in the hard times. This is what's called mercy. Getting something we did not earn or deserve. We as humans have disobeyed God, rejected Him, and sometimes told Him we know better, but instead of God displaying His wrath He shows us mercy. Like Romans 5:8 says, God still showed us love even when we were still sinners and that He allowed Jesus to die for us while we were in that condition. That same act was for all that choose this gift, so we as the saved are to share it. 

Some other truths about God from Psalm 96: He is glorious, marvelous, great, creator, strong, holy, ruler, judge, and to be exalted. These are just a few of how great the Bible describes our God. We serve a great God, full of power, grace, mercy and love, and He wants the opportunity to be that for all people. He intended it from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, and He will recreate that paradise again one day for all those that accepted that free gift of salvation. If you are not sure what to say to someone to share how to become the saved, invite them to Grace Bible where they can hear it there every Sunday. God bless and enjoy the day that the LORD has made!