Tag: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 28:5-7

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“When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.’ And his servants said to him, ‘Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.’”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

When was the last time you felt alone, scared, and desperate? Saul was a mess here. His world was falling apart and even though he was the king of Israel, he had a pressing sense that he couldn’t do anything about it. That’s a scary place to be. It’s the kind of place that leads us to make some choices that would normally not even enter on our radar. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 24:5-6

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“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.’”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had the opportunity to take a shortcut? Sometimes shortcuts can be a good thing. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo this past summer. It was a great zoo, but it came near the end of several days out of town, all of which had involved a pretty hefty load of walking. Trying to cover every square inch of the place was going to be more than three sets of little legs was going to be able to handle. Fortunately, there were a few shortcuts to get from one place to another that allowed us to see nearly everything without walking all of it. That was a good shortcut. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 23:12

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“Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.””  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever done something good only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever given of yourself somehow to help someone else only to have them either throw it back in your face or else stab you in the back later? There’s an old adage that one good turn deserves another, but more often life seems to work out by way of a more cynical adage: No good deed goes unpunished. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 18:1

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“As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Do you have a friend? I don’t mean an acquaintance. I mean a real, genuine, honest-to-goodness friend. Someone you could call in the middle of the night with anything and they’d be there in an instant if you needed them? We live today in a culture where this kind of deep, soul-level friendship is a rare thing all the while people hunger for relationships. This story may be just the antidote we need for this poison. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 17:55-56

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“As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, ‘Abner, whose son is this youth?’ And Abner said, ‘As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.’ And the king said, ‘Inquire whose son the boy is.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)‬‬

One of the questions that quickly comes to the mind of the perceptive reader here is how chapters 16 and 17 can be harmonized. One seems to say one thing and the other another thing. This is the kind of apparent conflict that gives critics of the Scriptures plenty of ammunition to fire away at its credibility…or so they (and sometimes we) think. But, while this is yet another place where things are harder than usual to understand at first glance, a little bit of thinking reveals that it does not pose nearly the challenge that it seems.

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