“Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)
When sin is loosed in a situation, the hold on the truth of the various parties to it becomes one of the first casualties. As this chapter unfolds, we see various different individuals lying in one way or another. It’s all part of one big mess which ultimately lies at the feet of Saul. Read the rest…
“I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me live in safety. (CSB – Read the chapter)
Think for a minute about where this journey started. David was mad. He was upset. He was offended. He was hurt. Things weren’t right in his world to the point that he was losing sleep over it. You and I have been right there with him too. We’ve felt like the world is out to get us. Or maybe it was just one person. But that one person was stealing our joy, which actually means we were giving it away to them because joy is something that can’t be taken, it can only be given. Think about all of that and read these words again. How’d he get here? How can we make sure we arrive here with him? Read the rest…
“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and new wine abound.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
David was hurt. He had been deeply offended by someone and was bothered so much by it that he couldn’t sleep. Rather than just stewing about angrily, he took all of his angst and cried out to God. And as he cried out to God, He gradually began to gain some perspective on the whole situation. Perspective doesn’t often actually solve a problem, but it does give us peace in the midst of it. For David here near the end of his prayer, he realized that his joy in the Lord was deeper than anything his enemies knew. And when we realize that we have something good our enemies don’t, we usually start to feel better. Read the rest…
“Many are asking, “Who can show us anything good?” Let the light of your face shine on us, Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
You’ve heard the old saying: What does misery love? Company. If we’re going to be miserable for some reason, if we can at least have someone else miserable with us, it won’t be quite as bad as it would be otherwise. So here’s some good news for those times when you are lying in bed unable to sleep because you’re upset from some wound of the day: You’re not alone. Read the rest…
“Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
As David continues wrestling with the angst of some offense he’s been dealt, in v. 5 here, he turns explicitly religious for the first time. What on earth will offering “sacrifices in righteousness” do for us when we’ve been offended? Is religion supposed to save us when we’re mad? Read the rest…
The Nexus 