1 Samuel 22:1-23:29 ~ John 10:1-21 ~ Psalm 115:1-18 ~ Proverbs 15:18-19
Today is May the 18th. I was getting stuck on…I was right. I was going to say May, but I’ve been saying the wrong month now and then. I was trying to check myself on the fly. Sorry.
Hi. How are you guys doing today? Everybody good? I’m good. I’m good. I’m just walking into this global campfire with a nice cup of coffee and checking my calendar. We are locked and loaded. So it’s the 18th of May and man, we’re getting into this David story and this Saul story and we’re going to continue with that as we continue with the book of 1 Samuel. We’ve been reading from the Names of God Bible this week. So 1 Samuel chapter 22, verse 1 through 23, verse 29 today.
Commentary
Okay, so it’s pretty clear what is going on between Saul and David. It’s not ambiguous at all at this point. Saul wants to assassinate David and he is hunting David down and is getting stranger and stranger in his paranoia. He’s just killed 85 priests over David. I mean, that is like all we need to say about the state of mind of Saul at this point, but he’s also mobilizing the army so he’s using national resources to hunt this one guy down who hasn’t done anything. It’s just this perceived slight. It’s just this threat of the kingdom being pulled away from Saul and given to David because that is the prophetic word, so it is making Saul do really, really irrational things. And it is making David have to grow up really, really, really fast and become a very cunning warrior just to stay alive. He has to stay on the move and that is not over. We’ve got a ways to go in this story.
In the gospel of John today, Jesus talks about being the good shepherd and it is such a beautiful passage of scripture that also contains some of the most famous portions of scripture, like I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. That’s a memory verse from Sunday School, it’s very famous. Or John 10:10: A thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life. That is obviously a very famous scripture and that one verse pretty much encompasses the plot of the story we are living in, the story of life on earth.
It’s interesting because that is an often quoted thing, but it’s context is important. It is Jesus talking about being a shepherd and there being a sheepfold or a sheep pen and that it is a thief, it’s someone trying to get at the sheep, that would vault over that wall and try to get at the sheep and not go in through the door. But the sheep won’t follow a person like that because they don’t know his voice, which is a beautiful reminder that God isn’t being silent. We can know his voice if we’re his sheep. We can know his voice. We can follow him. I mean, I would take that one step forward and say we must find his voice and follow him. It’s not just something we can do. It is something we have to do if we want to follow the way, if we want to follow the way of the shepherd. And Jesus is saying “I am the good shepherd and I give my life for my sheep. Nobody else does that. Somebody hired doesn’t do that. They will run away, but I won’t. I love my sheep and I want them to have a life that is full with everything that they need. All they have to do is follow me. Know my voice.” So let’s give that some thought today.
Prayer
Father, we need your Holy Spirit to guide us. You speak to us in and through anything that we’ll pay attention to, whether it be circumstances, whether it be the voice of your Holy Spirit within us, whether it be the counsel that keeps occurring in different places. You are everywhere. Help us, Holy Spirit, to slow down, to find margin in our lives because this is where you do your work. Between our decisions and their repercussions, there is this opportunity to hear from you, to follow you, to seek your counsel, and to wait until we have, rather than just continuing to march forward into so many things. So we slow things down and invite your Holy Spirit to guide us today, lead us today, be our shepherd today. You are the good shepherd. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus and by his authority we ask. Amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on so check it out. Check out the Prayer Wall. Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Coffee and Tea Club. Just check out what is going on. Well, then you’ll know what is going on.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a link. It’s on the home page. Thank you, thank you, thank you humbly for your partnership and allowing the Daily Audio Bible and the community and the global campfire that we are to be burning every day, to be here every day. Thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s James, the teacher in LA. I actually don’t have a prayer request but have a praise report for you all. As many of you may remember, a few years ago I called in asking you guys for prayer because my wife and I had been trying to conceive for several years and didn’t seem to be having any hope or any movement or anything. And as again many of you may know, just over a year and a half ago my wife and I had our baby daughter and she just lights up our world. But I wanted to let you know that the Lord really put it on our hearts to move forward and keep adding to our family, so it is with a lot of joy that I’m announcing to you guys that we are expecting our second child. It’s the 15th of May right now. We’re going to be at 10 weeks tomorrow. We don’t know if it is a boy or a girl yet and I’ll have to ask my wife if we’re going to tell you guys that or if we’re going to keep that a secret until the baby comes. But we’re due in early December. We of course would appreciate your prayers for that. It’s really funny, the Lord’s timing, because basically he told us both get moving on this and boy, there was no delay. We…yeah. Love you guys. Bye.
Good morning family. This is Cherry C., Cherry Pie. I’m calling in. I have with me, y’all won’t believe this, I have my father-in-law’s nurse here and of course I tell everybody about Daily Audio Bible and I was telling her about the prayer request line and she wants prayer from you guys, so I’m going to give the phone to her. Hi, my name is Roshawn. I’m here in Atlanta and just going through some things right now. One is I would love to have one more child. I’ve also been having some issues staying focused and just trying to get it together. That’s it. And I just need some prayer and I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, she actually is so shy, guys. You guys have a great, wonderful day and thank you for prayer for her. She is trying to conceive and she’s trying to get back focus, so if you all can cover her. I’m sure you guys will. You guys have a great and wonderful and marvelous day. I am. Be blessed.
Hi DAB family. This is Beth. I am a long time listener and I was just listening to the Mother’s Day edition and I was listening to the story of Saul, the story I’ve heard many, many times before and the Lord just convicted me and I’m just broken and I really need prayer because I have been struggling with this sin for the past 15 years. Before this sin had this hold in my life, the Lord clearly told me one night in prayer service that I was to no longer do that. I might as well say that I was no longer supposed to drink. And I spent 15 years justifying whether or not I should be doing that and I’m having issues with my drinking and in spite of being a Christian and all of that. I’ve tried to quit for health reasons. I’ve tried to quit for weight reasons. I’ve tried to quit to be an example to this person or that person. I’ve written every single excuse why I should and it just occurred to me I’m so foolish this morning that I’ve not been obedient to what the Lord told me to do and that is the only reason that I should be no longer drinking. And so I pray that you guys would just pray for me and give me hope, guys, that I have strength and I don’t forget that I need to listen to everything that God is telling me, not just what I want to hear or the parts that I like. Anyway, I’m rambling now. So I love you guys. Please pray for me. I would really appreciate it.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. This is Billy from Montgomery. I wanted to say thank you to Brian and his family for doing this program. Brian, it’s really awesome. I’ve been a listener since 2009. It is really an awesome program. I love it. And I love all the DAB family. I love everybody in the family. It’s excellent. A very good program. Love it. I have a prayer request out there for a friend of mine. His name is Robert. We’re involved in a ministry here in Montgomery and it is called Hope Inspired Ministries. It’s a program where they take people that have a hard time, trouble finding a job, trouble filling out a resume, trouble filling out job applications and things like that and they help them go through the program and learn how to do all that stuff and help them get a job. There is a friend I’ve been working with. His name is Robert. He is looking for a job right now. They are doing an internship now, but then he is going to be looking for a job after that. So I just wanted to pray that he be able to get over his hurdles and get a job. He actually was running around with the wrong crowd in high school and got himself put in jail and then put in prison, so that is not a good thing either, especially if you’re looking for a job. So anyway, I just wanted to cover him up in prayer, that he would be able to get a job either washing cars or detailing cars or whatever they have for him. Anyway, I just wanted to put a prayer out there for him.
Hi Daily Audio Bible listeners. I’m a first-time caller and I’m also a pastor’s wife for about two years and I found the Daily Audio Bible through the reference of a friend after we had been going through some marriage issues. I had a moral failure and it was within our first few months of ministry and I know the devil was just planning this and he attacked me at a very weak moment. I just wanted to thank everyone for praying for pastor’s wives. I think it is very, very crucial that we pray for our pastors and our church leaders and hold them up because the church is just so under attack today and there is just a burden on my heart to pray for yes, the unbelievers, and yes, the coming back of Jesus himself, but just pray for the church currently wherever it is. There are so many that are dying. It just breaks my heart to see the vision within the church. If we just remember it’s not a building, it’s us, we are the church. So just continue to lift up the church today and that is my prayer request. Thank you so much. I love you. Have a great day. God bless you.