2 Samuel 18:1-19:10, John 20:1-31, Psalm 119:153-176, Proverbs 16:14-15
Today is the first day of June, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we, as we march forward together into this brand-new month, the sixth month of the year, the 152nd day of the year. So, man, 151 steps we have taken together and we march with step 152 into this brand-new month. And may God shine His light upon us and be gracious to us. And lead us in the way that we should go and may we be paying attention and may we obey His leading, and may we continue to gather around the Global Campfire together and take the next step forward together as we navigate this brand-new month. We are obviously picking up where we left off yesterday, and that leads us first back into the book of Second Samuel, where we are reading of a military coup attempt by David’s son Absalom, who wants to be king in his father’s place. And that is going to require that his dad gets killed so that he can kind of take over, and the battle lines are being drawn up in all kinds of little things are going on. And, well, let’s pick up the story, today Second Samuel chapter 18 verse 1 through 19 verse 10.
Commentary:
Okay, so, as we begin this new month and as we pick up where we left off yesterday, this battle between David’s forces and Absalom’s forces has materialized and they fought in the forest of Ephraim and 20,000 people, 20,000 people died over this. And David was heartbroken because the one person he didn’t want to die, his son Absalom, died. So, David had to go through all of the emotions of losing a child, a child who wanted him dead. And then his army was demoralized because of the sadness of the king. And so, David had to kind of get himself together to encourage the troops while grieving the…the recent, like within hour’s loss of his son. So the kingdom is saved and…and David will be brought back to the throne. But he’s also lost a child, which changes everything.
And then, yesterday as we were ending the month in the Gospel of John, Jesus was hanging from a cross and had uttered the words, it is finished and had died and…and was left in a tomb. We greet this brand-new month with the aftermath of that and the aftermath of that is that Jesus isn’t in the tomb. And Mary Magdalene has going to the tomb and He’s not there. And so, she runs back to tell the disciples that somebody came and got Jesus body and they don’t know where it is. And so, Peter and John run to the tomb and sure enough, the body isn’t there. And so, they’re trying to figure out what’s going on and Mary, she lingers, she’s weeping, she’s upset about this, obviously. And as we reach the end of our reading in the Gospel of John today, she sees somebody that she thinks is the caretaker, the gardener. And she says, if you, like where is He basically, where did you put the body, because I’ll go get it. Like, wherever it is, where did you put Him. She doesn’t know that it’s Jesus that she’s talking to. So, it's…it’s really beautiful. She’s there all confused, she sees Jesus, in the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to her and the first thing that comes out of Jesus mouth, after His resurrection, that’s recorded in the Gospel of John, is her name, Mary. I can only imagine the flood of a emotion coming in that moment for May. And I think it’s beautiful that she thought He was a gardener. We started our journey in a garden, a long time ago back on January 1st as we began our journey through the Bible. And it was in the garden. So, for her to see Jesus, almost like a gardener is almost like a return, a restoration of what was lost. We will actually be concluding the Gospel of John tomorrow. And so, we have one more day left before we finish the Gospels. So, let’s drink deeply. That’s not to say that the territory that we are moving into isn’t important, it’s vitally important. But the narratives, the Gospels, that allow us to walk alongside Jesus, we are drawing to a close tomorrow. And so, let’s drink deeply and think back over all that we have learned and all that we have experienced in the Gospels as we continue our journey forward.
Prayer:
Jesus, we thank You. We thank You that we can come to the stories and get to know You. And we thank You for the story of Your resurrection. Today, our hope, our hope is in You for eternal life and it is Your resurrection from the dead, that gives us this hope. And so, we linger in the beauty, and the gentleness, the serenity of this moment with Mary, and we take these intimate, personal moments together with You, with grateful hearts. For Your unstoppable love for us. We love You, we adore You we worship You, we ask that You lead us forward in the way that we should go. And we pray this in Your victorious name. Amen.
Announcements:
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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If you find that being around the Global Campfire is…is life-giving then thank you, humbly and deeply for your partnership. As we move into summertime, thank you deeply, we couldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
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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.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hi, DAB Family. This is God’s Life Speaker, I’m on a beautiful morning walk. Oh, I can smell the honeysuckle, so beautiful. Thank You, Lord, for all of our senses, right, that we could not just see Him but just feel Him with the wind blowing and the honeysuckle smell. Yeah, it’s just beautiful, thank You, Jesus. I have struggled with calling in to the gentleman who lost his son at 24 to suicide. And then Jerry, from Duluth called in and he said exactly what I just could not say, that he feels that he’s gonna get the phone call every single day because of the mental health his son struggles with. And I am with you because I’ve called into this prayer line since, I don’t know, it began in 2017 for my son, Joshua, who’s now 23. Who also struggles with mental health. And I guess, the worst of it would be the parting of them from this earth where we just feel like, as long as they’re here there might be hope to reach them somehow, someone to speak to them. So, Lord, cover this family that has had to bury their 24-year-old son. Lord, that You would just give them peace that is surpassing any kind of human understanding, that doesn’t come from friends, Lord, it comes from You. That they may just embrace that. That You meet their every need. That You sit with them, Lord. We ask it, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Good morning, DAB, this is Romans 12:2. I would like to pray for Jamie in New Jersey. I want to say, Jamie, thank you so much for your testimony. Every time you call in and you pray, and you say this is Jamie in New Jersey, standing on the word of God, I always get a leap in my heart and just joy. So, I want to say thank you for being consistent and just dedicated to following the Lord. I want to pray for you now. Lord Father, I thank You, oh God, for bringing Jamie in New Jersey, Lord, unto DAB. He’s a blessing to myself and I’m sure to many others. I just lift him up to You, whatever challenges he has, oh God, Father, that You, oh God, would clear the way, that You would make a path. You said You would make crooked paths straight, that You would be a light to our feet and a lamp to our path, oh God. So, today, oh God, I just lift him up to You, Father. And I pray, Father, that that the things that he’s challenged with, that You would intervene, Lord, and You would give him clear direction, that the Holy Spirit would be his guide. Father, You said You would leave us a comforter and Father, I just pray today, oh God, in the name of Jesus, that that comforter, the Holy Spirit, would be Jamie’s guide today. It would direct and order his steps, oh God. That his needs would be met, Father. And I thank You that he’s a blessing to many. I just pray, oh God, for his health and strength, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Father, that He would be complete, not lacking anything. In the name of Jesus, I just thank You Father for Jamie and for the message and for every time he calls, the joy that I receive and the joy that he gives to others. In Jesus name. Amen.
Hello, Daily Audio Bible Family. This is Anne, Starting Over Sister, in Texas. And I just wanted to say again how wonderfully appreciative I am of Daily Audio Bible, Brian and his whole family and the entire community all over the world. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, what we have in this community. And I love hearing everyone who calls, praying with and for all of you. And I had a accident at the gym a week and a half ago. And fractured my left elbow in ten pieces. And I now have half of a faux elbow and I’m so thankful I live in a time when such things are available. And I’m recovering slowly and I have a long recovery, including physical therapy ahead. So, please say a prayer for me that God will help me during this time to have His perspective on everything, including my work, which is I need to work but it’s really been difficult. And just that God will help me to stay close to Him and have wisdom to make good decisions and do what’s right in His eyes, no matter what. I love you all family. God bless.
Hey DAB brothers and sisters, this is Phillip. I’ve been listening for about 2 and a half, I think, coming up on three years, here from Iowa. And I really appreciate all of you guys. I truly appreciate the Hardin’s putting this together. And I pray that you would continue to keep going and continue to preach the Gospel here, as you have been. I just wanted to ask prayer for my wife and my marriage. My wife has been getting deeper and deeper into kind of a fundamentalist/separatist branch of Christianity over the last number of years. We’ve been married almost 9 now. And it…it makes it pretty impossible to have any unity in our marriage. She’s very antagonistic. I’ve been going to a really good church here in town for almost a year. And that has been a huge help. And so, it’s just hard to share any of that with her. She’s…she’s been hurt and I’ve been part of that. I’ve hurt her in many ways and so I’ve been fighting that. Fighting a porn addiction on my part and been having some very good success with some help from some other great guys. Praise the Lord. Only through His power. But I would love to have her along on the journey. So, if you would pray for her to see who Christ really is and to follow Him and not what some men are teaching her online. I pray this in Jesus name.
Hey, Daily Audio Bible. This is the Pastor from Seattle. I would like your help, if you could join me please in prayer. There are three people who are seeking treatment for their post-traumatic stress and some other issues affecting them. And I just wanna make sure, the odds are against them and I want to make sure that they are able to get the treatment, the help and the blessings they need. And their names are Alexandria, Frank and Dennis. So, if you could join me, I’d appreciate it. Heavenly Father, You are so good. And You never wished for us to suffer from addiction. And for people who have gone into harms way in service professions and have seen such tragedy, it’s sad to see them suffering as a result of their service. So, I ask for Your blessing with my three friends and I ask that You please help them to get the treatment that’s right for them. Open up doors and leave no obstacles in front of them. Please help Dennis, and Frank and Alexandria, not only to find their way into the treatment that they need, and to have a path that You have lit in front of them, where You light Your, light the path in front of their feet. But also God, to maybe find their way back to You, into the comfort of Your arms. In Your Holy Heavenly, Wonderful name we pray. Amen.