August 16, Reading 1 – 1 Samuel 25

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Abigail’s prompt wisdom saves her husband and his workers. Abigail is an example of faith in action. She is like the Israelite midwives in Egypt – she saved lives. Her words also kept David from the stain of vengeance and bloodshed, from bloodguilt.

SJA Notes

* Blessed God, may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You!

“David also strapped on his sword.”

The wrath of a king!

Consider the character of David the almost-future king.

Strong and blazing is his wrath. But too, he is able to show mercy, and even repentance at foolishly-made vows.

Consider the character of Nabal, the one the king is angry toward.

A worthless man, full of spite and anger.

We can then turn and consider Jesus.

When He returns, it will be as a conquering King, and wrath will come upon His enemies.

The suffering servant of Isaiah says in Isaiah 63,

“I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath;”

And a little further,

“I trampled down the people3s in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

This is the wrath of the King of kings.

We are told in Revelation 19 that Jesus, the rider on the white horse named Faithful and True, will tread the winepress of the fury of th4e wrath of the God the Almighty.

In Jesus we see the character of a king.

What else have we to do but to throw ourselves on His mercy and in turn tell people about Him, their need for Him!

Because if we are not found in Him when He returns, then His wrath is what we face.

* God Almighty,

May we see Jesus today, and may those around us know Him, and escape from Your just wrath at our sin.

Amen.

August 15, Reading 1 – 1 Samuel 23, 24

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

David does Saul’s job – he delivers Keilah from the Philistines. The people of Keilah are like us – in their pragmatic ethics. David is long-suffering. David’s unsuccessful attempts to win Saul through sparing his life reveal why we need Jesus – He is the one who could meet a ‘Saul of Benjamin’ but once and win him! Acts 9:1-8.

SJA Notes

* Dear God Above, You know our folly, the wrongs we have done are not hidden from You. Please deliver us from sinking in the mire!

“And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.”

Saul raged and plotted, but could not capture David.

There are similarities here between David and Jesus.

In Luke 4 we read that the rulers and teachers rose up and brought Jesus to a cliff to throw Him off of.

“But passing through their midst, he went away.”

God kept Him from the hand of His enemies. Just as God kept David from the hand of his enemy Saul.

We see clear David’s strong and steady conviction in God’s sovereign hand at work.

Even though from one perspective so many problems would have been solved – David looked at his interactions with Saul from a heavenly perspective.

David trusted that the Lord would fulfil His promises in His time without David needing to take any shortcuts.

Jesus was not able to be taken until the time appointed by God Himself.

It is what C.S. Lewis so wonderfully tells us in the character of Aslan giving up his life, surrendering himself to the enemy.

Jesus, God in the Person of the Son, submitted under His Father’s will, was taken, became a curse for us – So that we would have blessing, life eternal, rescue from the wrath of God (the just punishment for our sin).

We can be exhorted to trust in God has we see David doing here, in His sovereign hand at work in our lives.

* Dear God,

Your mercies and grace abound to us, thank You!

Thank You for coming to earth and becoming curse for us, so that we would have such blessing as being saved into an inheritance of eternal life.

Thank You Lord!

Amen.

August 14, Reading 1 – 1 Samuel 21, 22

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

David flees to the Tabernacle, next to Gath, and then to a hideout cave. Jesus’ words: The foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Luke 9:58 Jesus was drawing a direct comparison of Himself with David. Both were rejected Christs. Saul show himself to be a Cain, with murderous designs against a close relative.

SJA Notes

* Mighty God, may the righteous be glad, exulting before You, jubilant with joy!

“So the priest gave him the holy bread, …”

This is the event that Jesus refers back to when the Pharisees try to trap him about the law and the Sabbath (Matthew 12, Mark 2).

David and his men have been on the run, and they flee to a safe place.

Ahimelech the priest exhorts David regarding the holiness of him and his men.

When the Pharisees attack Jesus, it is not because they want the Sabbath to be kept holy – They fear Him, that He is taking away their power base.

Holiness.

Jesus upgrades our thinking about these things.

The Pharisees had it wrong.

For us, someone greater than the law of Moses is come, greater than the stone temple, greater than our understanding of the law.

It’s Jesus!

Holiness is about Him – Following Him, knowing that He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

We are not at the mercy of a particular day. Instead it is God’s mercy that has been shown toward us, as while we were still telling God to go away, He came and did His powerful, effective, once-for-all work.

Holiness is about perspective.

David had the right perspective. We know that David had a very strong conviction of the Lord’s sovereign will.

Let us take hold of God’s command to us, as in Leviticus 20,

“Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your  God.”

As we read in 1 Peter 1, God is saying,

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

* Heavenly Father,

You alone are God. There is none like You.

You call us to be holy for You are holy.

Please help us to understand better what it means to choose and decide each day to be holy.

Amen.