Posts Tagged ‘David’

The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness

Posted: May 12, 2013 by Pam Larson in 1 Samuel, Devotionals/Commentaries, May
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And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it.  The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.  Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all. —1 Samuel 26:22-24

Bob Deffinbaugh comments:

david.saulFor David, the events of this chapter are a high water mark for David’s grasp of God’s truth, and for the application of it in his life. David stood tall outside that cave in [1 Samuel] chapter 24, but he stands even taller here in chapter 26. He is confident of God’s protection and care, and of Him as the one who will reward his righteousness and judge his accusers. If in chapter 24 we see David gently rebuking his king, in chapter 26 we see him rebuking those who have set the king against him. David now sees his flight from his enemies in terms of its spiritual implications.

If David has grown spiritually after the events of chapter 24, and this growth is evident in chapter 26, we must conclude that Abigail plays a significant role in this. The things David affirms as true in chapter 26 are the very things about which Abigail assures him. If David has any doubt that he will become the next king, Abigail assures him he will reign over Israel (25:30). Though David wants to take vengeance on his enemies (i.e. Nabal), Abigail reminds him that God will better handle such matters, and that leaving this to God will keep David from any regrets (25:31). Does David fear for his life? Abigail assures him that his life is safely in God’s hands (25:29). It is said that behind many great men, there is a great woman. Certainly that was true of David and Abigail.

Do some scholars agonize that chapter 26 is too similar to chapter 24? It is similar, because it is a kind of replay of chapter 24. When God wants to teach us a lesson, if we fail to learn that lesson through one experience, God will continue to bring experiences our way which confront us with the same basic test. I think the reason there is a second incident in chapter 26, so similar to the one described in chapter 24, is that God wanted David to retake the same test so that he received a higher score.

January 4 Psalm 4

Posted: January 4, 2013 by Pam Larson in Bible Passages, January Bible Readings, Psalms
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January 4

Psalm 4 (ESV)

Answer Me When I Call

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

4:1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

2 O men, [1] how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry, [2] and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Son of David and Son of God

Posted: May 11, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Mark, May
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And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?  David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.’

David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

Coty Pinckney helps us understand Mark 12:35-37

Note that Mark begins this section, “And Jesus answering . . .” Jesus continues to speak to the scribe, explaining what he lacks, what he must understand and believe prior to entering the kingdom of God.

Jesus then quotes from Psalm 110 — a Psalm that all parties acknowledge as a prophecy about the Messiah. David himself is the author of this Psalm, which begins, “The Lord said to my Lord . . .” To us, that sounds very strange. In the Hebrew version of the Psalm, however, the first “Lord” actually is the name of God, “Yahweh” or “Jehovah,” not the word “Lord.” Recall that the Israelites came to revere the name of God so highly that they thought they should never pronounce it. Instead, when coming to the name of God during a public reading, they would substitute the word “Lord” for the name of God. In most English versions of the Bible, you can tell the difference; if the word “LORD” appears in all capital letters, the Hebrew word is the name of God.

So David begins this Psalm, “Yahweh says to my Lord”. David refers to the Messiah as his Lord. And yet the Messiah is said to be the Son of David. Jesus asks, “How can this be? How can the Messiah be both David’s son and David’s Lord?”

There is only one answer: Jesus is both the son of David and the Son of God. Jesus is God. And the scribe needs to acknowledge this if he is to enter the kingdom of God.

So when the greatest commandment states, “Love the Lord your God,” we are to love Jesus as well, for Jesus is the Lord our God.

Not because of who I am, but because of what You’ve done

Posted: July 8, 2011 by Pam Larson in 1 Chronicles, Devotionals/Commentaries, July
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1 Chronicles 17:16-22 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant.19 For your servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.  And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. 

Who am I?  The question David asked, has been asked many times by many others, including “Casting Crowns.”  Here is a very unique version of their song, “Who am I?” Here are the lyrics to the first verse:

Who am I? 
That the Lord of all the earth,  Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I? 
That the bright and morning star,  Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Not because of who I am,   But because of what You’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,   But because of who You are.

Costly drink

Posted: July 5, 2011 by Pam Larson in 1 Chronicles, Devotionals/Commentaries, July
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1 Chronicles 11:15 Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, when the army of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

 The ESV Study Bible makes this comment:

This may at first seem wasteful of David, and ungrateful, but it is a gesture showing great value. He likens the water to the blood of his men, and for David to drink the water obtained at the risk of their lives would have been to take their blood lightly. But to pour it out before the Lord was a way of saying that he was not worthy of it, and he was offering it to the Lord instead. Such “drink offerings” were often poured out before the Lord: see Gen. 35:14; Num. 15:7–10; 28:7–15; etc.

Discipline vs Punishment

Posted: May 19, 2011 by Pam Larson in 2 Samuel, Devotionals/Commentaries, May
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Bob Deffinbaugh comments on 2 Samuel 13 and the tragedy in Israel’s royal family:

….this text is placed immediately following the passage that depicts David’s sin and its personal consequences in the death of his first son by Bathsheba. This is not only because the events of chapter 13 follow closely in time to those of chapter 12, but because chapter 13 describes further consequences of David’s sin. The sin of David that was once personal and private comes to impact the entire nation. David’s sin affects him, his wife and son, and now other members of his family. Soon, David’s sin will divide the nation and deprive David of his throne for a time.

I believe it is true that the death of David’s son (chapter 12), and now the rape of his daughter and the murder of his son (chapter 13), are not God’s punishment for his sin, but God’s discipline. If David were to be punished for his sin, he would have to die. Nathan assured David that he would not die, because his sins had been taken away. The tragedies which take place from this point on are meant to be instructive and corrective, even though they are also painful. This is completely consistent with the teaching of God’s Word (see Hebrews 12:1-13).

A Time to Kill or Not?

Posted: May 11, 2011 by Pam Larson in 1 Samuel, Devotionals/Commentaries, May
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And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.  And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.”  So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
—1 Samuel 24:3-7

Bob Deffinbaugh, in a mesage “A Time to Kill or Not”

This is truly an amazing story. Who would ever have thought that “nature’s call” would result in the peaceful parting of David and Saul on such an occasion? God is sovereign. He is in absolute control of all things, and “all things” includes things as basic as the “call of nature.” By means of this very natural (our children would say “gross” or something of the sort) event, some very supernatural things happened. First, David and Saul met and parted, yet without the shedding of any blood. Saul confessed things we would never have expected from him. David not only repented of his act of cutting off a portion of Saul’s robe, he kept his men from killing Saul. And all of this is the result of Saul looking for a pit stop, and finding it in the very cave where David and his men “just happened” to be hiding. God is able to employ “nature” to achieve His purposes. What a marvelous God we serve!

God Revealed in His People’s Generosity

Posted: July 12, 2010 by Pam Larson in 1 Chronicles, Devotionals/Commentaries, July
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John Piper on 1 Chronicles 29

1) “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness . . .” God is great. He is expansive. He is larger than any reality in the universe. When any little human greatness happens on the earth God means for your mind and heart to think about his magnitude and be more moved by him than by the little echo of his greatness that moves you here.

2) “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power . . .” God is powerful. All power belongs to God. He is not only big, he is strong. He is stronger than any atomic power like a hydrogen bomb, or any natural force like a hurricane or the ocean tides or an exploding star. He is not only great in size, but he can move that greatness to accomplish all he wills. He is very powerful.

3) “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory . . .” God is glorious. The word implies beauty and splendor. In other words, his greatness and power together are beautiful. They are not ugly. When we see God for who he is, our souls respond with tremendous satisfaction because we were made to behold glory. We were made to exult in infinite beauty. God is the source and essence of all great and powerful beauty—all glory.

4) “Thine, O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory . . .” God is victorious. The word means endurance—lasting and persisting and prevailing until all resistance is exhausted and God alone stands triumphant. God is always victor. He cannot be defeated.

5) “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty . . .” God is majestic. This means that he has the marks of royalty or kingliness. When he rides by, you take off your hat or you salute. You don’t slouch and you don’t swagger. You don’t joke and you don’t jest. You stand in awe, and tremble with joy that you have been granted to see and not die. God is majestic.

6) “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth.” God owns all things. “Thine, O Lord, is . . . everything that is in the heavens and the earth.” God owns the world and everything in it. He owns your home and car and television. He owns your mind and emotions and will and your very life. He gave it freely as a trust, and he may take it whenever he pleases and do you no wrong. We are not our own. Nor is anything we possess our own. God owns all of it. We are only trustees—of life and thought and possessions. What a revolutionary truth this is—we need to ponder it far more often than we do.

7) “Thine is the dominion, O Lord.” In other words he not only has the splendor of royalty, he has the authority of royalty. He actually rules as king over the world. He owns all that is in the heavens and the earth and he governs what he owns—namely, everything. He has dominion—ruling authority as king over all. His kingly decrees always hold sway.

8) “Thine is the dominion, O LORD, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all.” God is the head over all things, that is, the leader and final authority. But not just that: it says he makes himself known as head over all. God is not incidentally or accidentally over all. He chooses to be head over all. He exalts himself over all. His position in the universe is a position he chooses to keep, his reputation as head over all is something he wills to make known. That is what was happening in Israel when the collection was taken for the temple and when Bethlehem Freed the Future from debt. God was exalting himself as head over all. Not to see that is to miss the main thing that has been happening.

9) “Both riches and honor come from Thee . . .” Not only does God own all things and rule all things and exalt himself as head over all things, he also is the source of all riches and honor that come to any man or woman or child. This is a direct challenge to media assessment of the event. From a merely human standpoint the riches and honor came from inheritance or good stock markets or shrewd real estate deals or savings accounts or hard work. But David says, “No, riches come from God.” This is the invisible work of God in and under and behind our work. You can’t see it. You believe it and exult in it because you believe in God, not because you see it with your physical eyes. And this invisible reality is the main thing in our lives and in our church and in our world.

 

Three Men and a Little Drink

Posted: May 25, 2010 by Pam Larson in 2 Samuel, Bible Passages
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2 Samuel 23:13-17 And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord 17 and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it.

Bob Deffinbaugh comments at Bible.org-

These things the three mighty men did.The incident described in these verses could have occurred before David became king, while he was still fleeing from Saul. The “cave of Adullam” is first mentioned in 1 Samuel 22:1. This is where David located after he fled from Gath. It is where a number of his kinsmen joined him, along with others who were also out of favor with Saul. At some point in time, David and his men were in this cave while they were at war with the Philistines. The Philistines had taken possession of David’s hometown of Bethlehem and were garrisoned there. Perhaps as they were running out of water and David was thirsty, he verbalized what was meant only as a wish. If only he could have but a drink from that well in Bethlehem. No doubt he had drunk from it many times in his younger years and grown particularly fond of the water it provided.

Some of his men could not help but overhear what David said. He had given no orders to fetch him some water from that well. He had not even intended that anyone would be prompted by his words to attempt to get some water from it. But to these three brave men, David’s wish was their command. The men left the safety of the cave, marched some 12 miles or so to Bethlehem, broke through the enemy lines, drew water for David, and then marched back another 12 miles to bring it to him.

When presented with this water, David did what at first seems very unusual 125– he refused to drink the water, and instead poured it out on the ground. This is not because he disdained the efforts of these courageous men, nor because he did not wish to drink the water. I believe his actions demonstrated that he refused to drink the water because the courage of those who obtained it was too noble to do otherwise. David never intended to put these men’s lives at risk, merely to satisfy his own desires.126 The kind of devotion his men showed to him was the kind of devotion that belonged to God. Pouring this water out before the Lord was David’s highest expression of appreciation and regard for these men. The water was a symbol of the blood these men nearly shed, serving him. The highest use to which this water could be put was the worship of God, and so David poured it out to the Lord.

Promise Breakers and Promise Keepers (2 Samuel 21)

Posted: May 23, 2010 by Pam Larson in 2 Samuel, Devotionals/Commentaries, May
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Bob Deffinbaugh’s comments on 2 Samuel 21-

David’s dealings with the Gibeonites, at its roots, is a matter of keeping covenants. Israel had made a covenant with the Gibeonites. Even though this covenant was 400 years old, it was still to be honored. Saul broke that covenant by trying to rid the land of them. No matter how good his intentions might have been, the covenant must be kept. The breaking of that covenant had serious consequences. It cost Saul and his sons their lives. It brought a famine on the land of Israel. There were other covenants involved as well. Much of what is described in our text looks like the fulfillment of God’s warnings for breaking the Mosaic Covenant in Deuteronomy 28-30. In addition, David’s covenant with Jonathan had to be honored, so Mephibosheth was not handed over to the Gibeonites.

God deals with men in terms of covenants. Time does not weaken these covenants. Covenants are to be kept. Even when men do not take their covenants seriously, God does…..

….Thank God that He is a covenant keeper. Throughout Israel’s history, His chosen people stiffened their necks and disobeyed the One who saved them from slavery in Egypt. How easy it would have been for God to wash His hands of this rebellious people. But God kept His covenant. He kept it by bringing adversity on His people when they sinned (such as the famine which came on Israel in David’s time), but He also provided a Savior, who perfectly kept the Mosaic Covenant and fulfilled the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. He inaugurated the New Covenant, by which sinful men are saved through faith in Jesus Christ and His blood, which was shed to make an atonement for the sins of men.

To read the rest of the sermon, click here:

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