Today's reading from the One Year Chronological Reading Plan is 1 Samuel 17:32-19:17, Psalm 59 and 1 Samuel 19:18-24. Click here to read.
This passage truly shows what kind of boy/man David was.
I absolutely love the speech he gives to Goliath and the Philistines (and perhaps to the waiting Israelites as well!), clearly proclaiming the power of God, and giving God the glory for winning the battle that hadn't even started yet. What absolute faith he had. Incredible. And, of course, God does just that through his willing servant.
Are we willing to be used by God for His glory? Are we absolutely confident in God?
I also love how humble David continues to be, despite his growing accolades, despite the love of the crowds and their chants. Even though he knows he has been annointed as the next king, he serves King Saul, and doesn't try to further his own agenda. He waits patiently for God's timing. And serves while waiting!
I don't know about you, but I have trouble waiting patiently, nevermind serving while waiting patiently!
The Psalm was a great reminder of David's trust in God, that his enemies would be defeated in God's time, and that God was his fortress, refuge and strength. A great reminder for us to turn to God, even when things are going contrary to plan, or to what we think God's plan is or should be for us.
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Samuel 20-21, Psalm 34
5 comments:
Serving while patiently waiting is indeed a challenge!! Both run counter to human nature, which is why the combination is so rare, I guess. We always have this tendency to wait until the conditions are [what we think will be] perfect before we spring into action, but so often, we end up doing nothing as a result! I've never thought about it before, but David is a really great example of simple, humble service, even though he may have felt his talents or his time were being wasted.
I just spoke to our ladies group on Monday night about developing a heart-attitude of servanthood because we are first and foremost a bondservant of God. This aspect of David's life would have actually made him a perfect character study!
I also loved David's words to the Philistines when he went out to meet Goliath. Verse 16 of the Psalm in today's reading stood out to me as well:
But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
There are so many things to love about the story of David. Many of them you talked about already, but also the friendship between David & Jonathan, the fact that Saul's efforts to make things go badly for David all met with frustration and defeat, Michal got to marry the man she loved and help to protect him from her father...
Did anyone else find it gross that David actually brought 100 Philistine foreskins to Saul in order to marry Michal? Blech.
I know, right? EEEWWWWW! What I found even weirder about that passage is that David wasn't interested in becoming Saul's son-in-law until Saul asked for the hundred foreskins! It's like that somehow SWEETENED the deal for David!! And then he went above and beyond the call of duty and came back with twice as many "trophies" as the asking bride-price! This is all just so bizarre.
Bible.org's commentary explains it in a way that makes some sense, I guess:
This time, Saul is much more thorough. He offers Michal to David and then instructs his servants to promote the idea with David so that he will accept the offer this time. His servants speak to David, telling him that the king really likes him, and that everyone wants him to become the king’s son-in-law. David responds as we should expect, by pointing out his humble standing in life and his inability to pay an appropriate dowry for such a noble woman. What he could afford to pay would be an insult to Michal and to Saul. Here is where Saul appeals to David: he does not want David’s money -- David can pay the dowry in different currency -- Philistine foreskins! Now this catches David’s interest. He wants Michal, and he is eager to do battle for the Lord, so he accepts the offer. Instead of getting himself killed, however, David fights the Philistines and presents the king with double the number of foreskins he requests.
But even if it makes perfect sense, it's still really gross!!!
What you just mentioned above LL reminds me of David's character later on "I will not give the Lord that which cost me nothing". I think he had a strong sense of integrity and wanted to have to sacrafice for benifit. Not that it was right or wrong to accept anyway, he just was one of those type of men.
There was a lot of bizare in these passages I thought. I kept getting uncomfortable every few paragraphs. Saul's evil coming and going (I'd actually like to do more reasearch on that), his drama of "oh, I love you!" and then throwing spears at him, and the foreskins (my thought was "if there had to be a certain amount, who the heck volunteered to count them??...ewwwww!...'one little, two little, three little foreskins'...LOL!" I know, now i've ruined that song for us all...FOREVER), but then, out of the bizare I was ready for a good laugh and you know what...it came.
Michal get's a house idol (okay, WHY David do you have an idol in your house?? AH-HEM!?), puts it in the bed, put's goat's hair on it's head and says it's David...sick. Am I the only one that found that hillarious? That is one big house idol...i always thought of them as the hand held size since Rachel sat on them on the camel. This one must have been the life size model.
Oh....dear.
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