Devotionary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We all know fools. We may not recognize them as such, but their conduct speaks for itself. The Bible has a lot to say about fools, with the Proverbs of Solomon dedicating a great deal of space to the topic. And in 1 Samuel 25:1-8, we are introduced to a man whose very name meant “fool.” We’re not told why his parents chose to give him that name, but as the story unfolds, we’ll see that he had no problem living up to it. Even his wife will confirm his foolishness. But why is this story included in the Bible? And why did the Holy Spirit inspire the author of 1 Samuel to place it where it is in the story of the life of David. It should become apparent that the introduction of Nabal into the narrative is anything but a coincidence. He shows up at just the right time, providing an incredibly important insight into the heart of King Saul. Nabal was a fool, but so was King Saul. And David was going to get some helpful pointers on how to deal with a fool, straight from Nabal’s wife. She had learned not to suffer fool

The Bible puts a huge emphasis on the condition of the heart, not the physical organ that pumps blood through our bodies, but what the Hebrews understood to be the seat of man’s emotions, will and intellect. And you can’t read the story of David and not wonder why this particular man had been deemed by God to be a man after His own heart. Why? What was it about David that caused God to make this assessment? David, like all men, had plenty of flaws. And if you’re familiar with his story, you know that he was capable of committing some pretty serious sins, including adultery and murder. And he seemed to struggle with doubt just like the rest of us. So, why does God single him out as a man after His own heart? Well, in 1 Samuel 24:11-12, we get a small glimpse into the heart of the man, as he has a chance encounter with King Saul. Missing are any hints of hatred and bitterness. He doesn’t rail on Saul. He doesn’t shake his fist in the face of God. Instead, he placed his fate in the hands of God, trusting in the

Taking matters into our own hands is always a constant temptation for the people of God. It’s an occupational hazard that comes with the territory. But we have to resist it, because doing things our way always results in less-than-satisfactory outcomes. And the other danger we face is misreading the circumstances around us, and determining something to be the will of God simply because it seems to be the most attractive option. In 1 Samuel 24:1-10, David is going to be presented with just such an occasion. He will find himself face-to-face with his arch-nemesis, King Saul, and provided with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to eliminate this thorn in his side once and for all. But there’s only one problem: David doesn’t have permission from God. Yes, his friends assure him that this is a God-ordained chance to set things right, but they were speaking out of turn and without God’s permission. They were well-meaning, but ran the risk of causing David to violate God’s will. Had David listened, he could have elimi

Trusting God can be difficult, even in the best of times. But when things start to go south and our circumstances take a turn for the worse, it becomes virtually impossible see God, let alone trust in Him. We begin to doubt and despair. We question His presence and raise issues concerning His goodness. But one of the things we have to learn is that God is present in our lives at all times. He is there in the good times and the bad times. And it is often that in the bad times we end up seeing Him most clearly if we look for Him closely. In 1 Samuel 23:15-29, David will find himself in yet another difficult situation. He will be betrayed once again by the people of Israel. This time, it will be the Ziphites who try to turn him in to Saul. And just when it looks like Saul has David backed into a corner, God steps in and provides a way of escape. But you have to look closely. Because, at first glance, it looks like little more than a coincidence. But God is there, behind the scenes, proving His power and assuring

When reading the story of the life of David, it is easy to make it all about the shepherd boy turned king. The tendency is to read the details of his life as history and seeing the various stories surrounding his life as purely biographical in nature. But it’s important that we remember that we are reading divinely inspired Scripture, and there is far more here than meets the eye. David was a real man and the accounts we have about him in Scripture are true. But, ultimately, these passages are about something far greater. They provide a foreshadowing of someone far more important to come. And, in the case of David, his life provides us with some fascinating parallels to the Good Shepherd and King of kings who was to come. If we look closely at 1 Samuel 23:1-14, we can see some similarities between David and Jesus that are far from coincidental in nature. They are meant to link the man after God’s own heart with the Son of Man in whom God was well pleased. David was a type of Christ, a man chosen by God to be

Have you ever experienced dark days? Of course, you have. We all have. Even as followers of Christ, we can find ourselves walking through what David once described as the valley of the shadow of death. Faith in Christ is not some kind of spiritual force field that protects us from days filled with difficulty or moments that bring despair. One of the things about faith is that it is based on what is unseen. The author of Hebrews put it this way: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). And in 1 Samuel 22:14-23, we will see David having to place his hope in God when everything around him seemed to be spiraling into a black hole of doubt and despair. His actions had resulted in the slaughter of the priests of God, their families and all the citizens of Nob. And he felt responsible, even though the genocide was the work of Doeg the Edomite, under the orders of King Saul. David couldn’t believe what he had heard. He was shocked at the ungodly actions

There are few things as unattractive as self-pity. But the myopic, me-centered nature that accompanies feeling sorry for yourself is usually visible to everyone but the person having the pity party. They see their actions as justified and expect everyone around them to agree with their assessment of the situation. And in 1 Samuel 22:6-13, we get to see King Saul having a royal pity party, accusing all those around him of betrayal and demanding that they see him as the victim. But Saul’s problem was not a lack of compassion on the part of his servants, but the lack of a relationship with God. He was on his own. God had removed His Spirit from Saul and his ability to see things from a godly perspective had vanished at the same time. All that remained for him was a life of pervasive self-pity and paranoia. He could trust no one. Even his own family members. And, in spite of being the king, surrounded with all the royal trappings of success and comfort, he could find no joy or satisfaction in life. He had disobey

The ways of God can be mysterious and, sometimes, even a bit strange. And nobody knew that better than David. Here was a man who had been chosen by God, anointed by the prophet of God, and yet found himself living like a fugitive with a bounty on his head. He went from being the son-in-law of the king to the top spot on Israel’s most-wanted list. And in 1 Samuel 22:1-5, we have the story of David seeking refuge in the cave of Adullam where he is joined by a ragtag group of disgruntled Israelites who want to make him their leader. Whether he liked it or not, David was going to be thrust into a leadership position by God. He was going to learn how to shepherd the flock of God by inheriting a motley group of misfits and malcontents who shared a common dislike for Saul. God’s school of leadership was not going to be easy. His preparation of David to ascend to the throne of Israel was going to be filled with difficult days and even more difficult people to manage. But David was going to learn to trust God. His inc

Sometimes, trying to live the Christian life can leave you feeling a bit crazy. It’s not exactly easy trying to live out your faith in the midst of a sin-filled world. And there are times when this life of faith leads us to do some crazy things in order to survive. Rather than trust God, we find ourselves taking matters into our own hands and the results are always less-than-satisfactory. David would learn that invaluable lesson when he made the fateful decision to run from King Saul and seek refuge among the Philistines ­– the sworn enemies of Israel. David’s strategy was not God-ordained and would end up putting him in a very precarious position. Seeking to preserve his own life by his own methods, he would end up risking death at the hands of his enemies. His solution would prove far from ideal. And it all began when he failed to trust God. The very same God who had anointed him king was fully capable of making him king. But David had his doubts. He let his outer circumstances determine his outlook on God.

Where do you go when you have nowhere to go? Most of us have never been in the predicament, but that is exactly the scenario David was facing. He had fled from Jerusalem, afraid for his life and anxious to put as many miles as possible between he and Saul. But where was he supposed to go? Who could he turn to? He probably feared the presence of Saul’s spies everywhere he went. So, he headed to Nob, where the priests of God lived. Maybe they would be willing to show him some grace. But when David arrived the high priest was suspicious, wondering why David had appeared at their compound all alone, with no troops riding along with him. But David concocted a story that seemed to satisfy the priest’s apprehensions and, before he knew it, he was on his way with five loaves of bread and the sword of Goliath. But David had to resort to lies and deception to get what he needed. This was early on in the fugitive stage of his training with God and David had not yet learned the invaluable lesson of relying upon the stren