1 Samuel 24:1-25:44, John 10:22-42, Psalm 116:1-19, Proverbs 15:20-21
Today is the 19th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor, like every day of life that we can come to this oasis, this little place around the Global Campfire and let the Scriptures speak to us no matter what else is going on in our lives. And that is a joy. So, let’s dive in. No matter what else is going on in life, probably we’re not facing the kinds of things that this guy, this young man David, who’s become a national celebrity for killing a giant, and now the king wants him dead and is hunting him down like a fugitive, relentlessly, he probably has it a little more difficult today than we do. So, let’s dive in. 1 Samuel chapters 24 and 25 today.
Commentary:
Ok, as we continue our journey through 1st Samuel, we had like one sentence informing us that Samuel has died and, you know, we’ll get a little more into this as this story goes forward but, yeah, that’s the announcement. Samuel the prophet, the last judge of Israel, the person that brought the tribes to the place of the monarchy, to the place of their first king has died. Now David has no…no one to really run to and counsel with and he’s just on the run from Saul and we’ve been watching Saul and we see his insecurities and we see that his paranoia and insecurity has gotten the best of him and he’s…he’s acting irrationally and erratically. He wants David dead because he sees David as a threat, a threat to his kingdom, but also a threat to his family because if David ascends to the throne and he’s still alive or…or his family’s still alive then it would not be uncommon for that new King to…to completely wipe out every known relative in the house of the former king, in this case the house of Saul, to destroy from the earth or the memory of anybody who was related to Saul and wipe it from the earth, which is a terrible dishonor. And, so, Saul has all this going on in his mind. He’s listening to the voices of those who are around him who are…who are feeding into this conspiracy that David wants to harm the king. Can we just pause there and say that what Saul was thinking about David, at least from the narrative in first Samuel, he’s completely incorrect about his assumptions about David. He’s listening to things that are being told to him about David or David’s words or character are being interpreted back to Saul in a way that is incorrect and Saul’s believing it. So, it’s Saul’s conviction that, as erratic as it might be or as irrational as might be, David needs to be killed as quickly as possible. And then we have this scene where the king is searching for David in the caves of Engedi. And Engedi is a very non-place. It’s an oasis in the wilderness running freshwater down into the…the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. And there are caves all around that entire area. Qumran is around that area not too far. There all kinds of caves in their Qumran is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves. So, David’s hiding out in all these caves and he’s near Engedi the oasis where there’s fresh water when Saul goes into relieve himself to go to the bathroom. And, yeah, he needs a little privacy. So, he’s with his army and if, you know, if he just needed to pee, like he probably would have just done so, but you need a little privacy. So, this is how David could sneak up and cut off the edge of his robe. Saul’s busy taking care of business and so David can get the edge of his robe. As it turns out David comes out of the cave and Saul is confronted with the truth. So, this whole formulation, this whole belief that Saul has that David is his enemy and that is being reinforced by other voices in his life, now Saul has to face the truth because he’s facing David who’s holding the edge of his kingly rope. And David feels terrible about just cutting off the edge of his robe. But he’s demonstrating to the king, “what you think about me is not true. Can you not see the works that I’m doing? Can you not see that I could’ve killed you right now? Can you not see that I would not lay my hand on the Lord’s anointed? Can you not see that I’ve been running from you, not fighting you? Look at what I am doing and stop listening to what other people are saying or interpreting about me. Look at what I am doing.” And Saul is confronted with the truth and repents in this story. Of course, it’s the end, but in this moment, Saul is confronted with the truth and he repents.
When we flip the page, and we move ourselves into the gospel of John we see Jesus and a confrontation. They’re just…I mean the Jews are gathering around Jesus saying, “tell us the truth. Like, tell us plainly. Are s you the Messiah.” And then He basically told them, “I have told you plainly. You don’t believe me. So, therefore the things that I’m doing should bear witness and answer your questions since you don’t believe me.” Then all the sudden we’ve got a very, very similar story in the New Testament to the one that we were looking at with David and Saul. The religious leaders, the devout Jewish people have an interpretation of what they are expecting. They have theology and dogma written around it. And Jesus almost fits the bill. He’s almost the right recipe, but He won’t play the game. He keeps disrupting things. And, so, they have their way of what…of believing what they expect and what has been interpreted for them and they are trying to overlay what they are expecting and what has been interpreted for them onto Jesus. And then Jesus tells them plainly, “I and the Father are one.” And they immediately pick up stones to…to stone Him for blasphemy for comparing Himself to God, for elevating Himself to the level of God. Jesus actually uses the Scriptures and speaks from the Psalms, a Psalm of Asaph. He uses the Scriptures to defend what He has said. So, that’s Psalm 82, which reads, “the gods know nothing. They understand nothing. They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said you are God’s. You are all sons of the most-high but you will die like mere mortals. You will fall like every other ruler.” That’s the context, that’s the Scripture Jesus is quoting back to them in response to their accusation of blasphemy and then He says, “if I am not doing the works of My Father then do not believe Me but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.” So, in so many ways Jesus is saying, “stop listening to every voice that you are hearing about me and see what I am actually doing and let these works speak louder than what you are hearing.” The hard part about this is that we…we can look into these stories and see clarity until we have to put ourselves in different positions, like the nonbelieving Jewish devout in this particular story. Because we put a premium on trying to get people to believe the way that we believe and trying to continually adjust and…and tweak out and refine what we believe so that we’re believing the right thing. And a lot of this comes from our…our understanding that we are saved by faith, it is by grace alone. Like, there’s nothing we could do to earn it so why try to earn it. And yet the Bible is explicit in a number of cases where faith without works is dead, where if the action of your life is not congruent with the sayings of your life, then it’s a mismatch and you’re not being true. And then there’s this assumption that God is…like that Jesus isn’t really still upon this earth doing things…significant…like we hear rumors of it, we know that spiritually He’s doing these things, but it’s not the same so we’re not talking apples for apples. But we are though. We are talking apples for apples because the Spirit of the risen Christ indwells us. Like we’re the ones that are supposed to be out there doing the things that Jesus did, that like that’s how Jesus is supposed to continue His work in this world is that we open our eyes to see and stop just listening to what we’re told and actually look, open our eyes to see and look and find where God is at work in this world. And we will find Him at work in this world wherever the brokenhearted are being comforted and wherever the…those in bondage are being set free. It’s like we have this deep, deep longing for shalom, for things to be right, for things to be the way they were supposed to be, for things to…to be refined and perfected and we think that that is an eventuality, that is an eventuality when Christ is on the throne on planet Earth. Christ is on planet Earth in you, in me, in us. We have to open our eyes to see that the shalom we keep waiting for Him to someday eventually bring when He comes on a white horse and splits the eastern sky. He’s here in us. We’re supposed to be collaborating and bringing shalom. We can barely maintain that for an hour with in ourselves, much less spreading it to the world. Again, one of the primary…one…one gauge that is so amazing is to just go back and review the last few months of the things we’ve been posting on social media. That will tell us what we’re putting out into the world. So often what was said…what those posts are filled with is our defense of God, our defense of what we’ve been told, our defense of what we think we know, our statements of what God will and will not do and with whom He will do it and with whom He will not do it. And we could find ourselves in either one of these kinds of situations, whether from first Samuel or from John today where we have these assumptions, we believe this certain thing and what we’re seeing, although it seems like God is at work it doesn’t fit our mold and so we can reject it on some sort of technicality. If we’re gonna do that, if we’re gonna keep doing that, friends we’re never going to get anywhere. I keep thinking to myself, at least once a week, at least once a week. This is my 16th year that I’ve been reading the Bible every single day of my life. I’ve been studying this book diligently. I know it’s in this book. I know that every time I move through a revolution around the sun and a whole journey through this book I’m changed again and things that I thought last time are modified or corrected or refined and I know more because I’ve lived another year and I’ve seen more. And there are times that I think does this…does this matter, like what moves the needle here? Like, what actually makes significant profound change among the body of Christ to the point that we wake up to understand that it is Christ within that is going to matter and that we have to die to ourselves. And all of these things that we keep fighting about and fighting each other over and all we’re really doing is giving voice to our fears and how we want it and how God better want it because that’s how we want it. But the truth of the gospel….and we’re reading John and I’m like trying to be as serious as I can here because this is the last gospel and then we’re gonna move into the church era. God came in the flesh and disrupted what everybody thought, what everybody was expecting. That’s what we read when we read the Gospels. We see people’s hearts come alive in a way that has never happened before and then we see people that are confused by it and go like, “no. That does not overlay with what I think. God certainly wouldn’t do that with him. We know he is a sinner. We know that God wouldn’t heal on the Sabbath day. So, this is not of God.” That’s what they’re saying and God’s standing in front of them showing them with signs and wonders and words that awaken deep things that have been slumbering for so long. And still they killed Him. And they killed Him over their interpretation of the Scriptures. God was present in the person of Jesus modeling what He meant, revealing a kingdom and demonstrating what humanities supposed to look like. And still they missed it. And still we’re missing it. It really isn’t about our understanding. It is totally about our surrender. And I guarantee that when we begin to walk the pathway of faith it is going to be the adventure of a lifetime and so much of what we think we know will fall away as we actually walk with God. So, some things for us to think about.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit it is always…it is after we read the Scriptures and talk about anything we invite You because we need You to lead us into all truth. You are the truth. Jesus, You are the way, the truth, and the life. Of course, I’m not telling You something You don’t already know. I’m just repeating what You told us. You are the way the truth and the life. And, so, there is no one else to follow that’s gonna lead us there besides You. We can look at any hero, any example, any other human being on this planet, anybody that we throw up and…and…and say, “yeah there’s a model of…of somebody doing it right “and they’re still…like…they’re…we are all broken. You are whole. There is no wholeness without You. Shalom is not possible without You. And yet we have spent all of these thousands and thousands and thousands of years with all of our knowledge of good and evil trying to re-create an approximation of shalom all by ourselves on this world fighting out our political agendas, fighting each other’s nations, taking over, moving things around. We keep trying to re-create this sort of utopia, some kind of shalom without You. It’ll never happen and we’re guilty. As Your people we’re guilty. Thankfully, we can see examples from thousands and thousands of years ago in the Scriptures and know we’re not the only ones. But at some point, things have to change and may that change begin in us in our lifetimes. Come Holy Spirit we pray. Lead us into all truth, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi, my name is Noah and I started listening to the Daily Audio Bible maybe a few months ago and it’s just been really great and I’m extremely grateful to Brian and all the…the whole team that helps this come out every day, I’m sure it’s a lot of work. But anyway, I am here to…to share a prayer request that I don’t hear on here a lot. But the Holy Spirits kind of put it on my heart to reach out to you guys because I do need…I need prayer for strength and…and perseverance. God…God saved my life from a…a drug abuse problem and it was really ruining my life and…and I’m now almost 9 months sober, praise God for that. But I’d like to prayer for…I’d like to request prayer for a struggle that has been ongoing with sexually purity in the form of pornography. And I know that’s really taboo and…and people don’t like to talk about it a lot but it’s something that I and I know that other men also struggle with, but I know that I’ve heard some crazy miracles that have happened as a result of this community and I know God delivered me from drugs and I know that God can deliver me from this too. So, thank you guys, that’s all I got.
Good morning DAB family this is George calling from Michigan. I’m reaching out because I got a friend who has a 19-month-old niece her name is Kia and Kia has been battling cancer her…her entire life, her short life. She recently went through surgery back in January. Things seemed to be on the right road to recovery and now things have gone and gotten really dire. I just…I know this community is filled with love and hope and faith and just to ask you all to…to please lift Kia up in prayer. Just ask that God wrap His loving arms around her and just if it be His will that He heal her and bring her to complete and total healing. And also ask that God wrap His arms around the family and give them strength and courage just to know that…that He’s there with them through all of this. Thank you DAB family I appreciate it. God be with you all. Amen.
Hi DAB family this is Mom Tri’s from Texas. I am a first-time caller and have been listening for…this is my second year now. Love this community, love everything, it’s so encouraging. I…I’m calling for a prayer request that’s a little bit silly because I’m perfectly healthy and my kids and my family…everything is going great, but I could use some prayers of encouragement and strength as I’m a professional triathlete as of this year anyway. I turned professional this year and I have my first big race of the year coming up on Sunday, May 23rd. So, I’m a little nervous but I race for the glory of God and have the cross on my jersey. So, no matter if I come in first or last everyone knows that I race for God’s glory. I truly feel like this is His calling on my life and how I can reach others through this sport. So, if you would just give me some prayers of strength and perseverance when it gets tough, it’s a full Iron Man so it’s a long day, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Good morning DAB family this is Steadfast Stacy in Arizona calling on May 17th to pray for Jonathan and his pregnant wife. Lord in heaven thank you for Jonathan’s courage to call in and share with us his prayer request for his wife whose 7 months pregnant and has COVID pneumonia. Thank you that he knows you and that you work out…that you work out of time and space and that he’s asked us to pray for her healing for their situation with a one-year-old at home and a baby on the way. And Lord, I just remember those days when I was pregnant with our second and we didn’t have the COVID complication at all and it was overwhelming to me and I just pray that You would be with his wife to show her Your presence so strongly that she’s not overwhelmed and that You would continue to give Jonathan the perspective that You have these things under control and that Your presence would be strong and…and practical to them. Lord, that You would bring people into their lives, remember…remind them of scripture through Your Holy Spirit, that everywhere they turn that they would see You and that they would be comforted in You. I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hi everyone, this is Sherrie I’m in Canada and I’ve been part of DAB for…since January and it’s been wonderful. I’m just calling asking for prayer. I have a lot of stuff going on right now but what I’m mostly asking for is I’ve had long-standing issues with my left eye. First diagnosed 45 years ago. I had a corneal transplant last July and it took well but I’ve also had glaucoma in that eye and just two weeks ago my ophthalmologist told me that the medication wasn’t controlling it anymore and I had basically exhausted my options because of an allergic reaction to other medications. She did put me on an oral medication, but the reaction was so bad in my stomach that I kind of haven’t eaten…eaten much for the last three weeks, so, I’ve had to go off of that. She’s referred me to a glaucoma surgeon, not sure if she will do anything for me because of the corneal graft, risk to it. So, I’m asking for prayer…I’m asking for prayer for ultimate healing. I believe in God’s healing. I’ve received His healing in the past. I have seen people be instantly healed when I pray for them, but quite honestly guys I’m…I’m kind of afraid. I’m afraid of losing my eyesight in that eye and my eyesight isn’t great in the other one. So, I’m just asking for prayer mostly for healing, but that also medical options would be open for me. And bless you all. Thank you so much, take care.