One Year Bible, May 19

1 SAMUEL 24:1-25:44                                                                                                        
#7. EN-GEDI:  En-gedi is an oasis, with a fountain in it, springing up right beside the Dead Sea, in the middle of the Wilderness of Judah. This is a type of the Holy Spirit, a leaping fountain in the midst of death.  Here, Saul was delivered into David's hands, but real faith can wait for God.  However, David DID snip a piece off Saul's robe just to let Saul know he was there. David regretted doing it deeply because it showed disrespect and compromise toward Saul (24:6). See Psalm 18.

MEANWHILE, BACK TO KING SAUL:  David promised not to touch Saul or harm him.  Saul wept and said, "Thou art more righteous than I; for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil."   Even in his insane state of mind, Saul knew better.     Saul got David to swear that he'd defend Mephibosheth (Saul' seed).

#8. CARMEL:  God hides us in His weapon-bag (purse), and we are weapons in His battles, not our own. T his is for our own protection, so that we have no regrets later in life because we have hurt someone who was innocent.

ABIGAIL AND NABAL:  (25:3) Abigail was the whole package: beauty and brains. AND, "she was a woman of good understanding."  Nabal, whose name means "Fool", was "churlish and evil in his doings".  The Truth paralyzed Nabal (v.37), then the Lord smote him and he died. David married Abigail.

RESPONSE:   Keep in mind that "ruling" in the Bible has less to do with privilege, than it does with responsibility.  And before that can happen, God takes us through paces to mature us and teach us some things so that the Kingdom life we are supposed to be modeling isn't perverted. The closer David comes to the Throne, the greater the trials, the bigger the threat. As the Apostle Paul put it, "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:" (2 Cor 1:8-9)  Today, I must stay in God's purse and shut up. Never defend myself. Never demand my own way. Never complain.

JOHN 10:22-42                                                                                                                
HANUKKAH:  Feast of Dedication (cleansing of the Temple).  It is "winter" - their hearts are cold. This chapter is the last of Jesus' public ministry. After this, He will "dedicate" Himself to the 12.

BELIEVE:   The purpose of the Gospel of John was to convince people to "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." Ignorance does not produce unbelief; unbelief produces ignorance. They were locked in their own willful unbelief and consequently they could not understand the simplest claims of Jesus Christ. They didn't believe because they weren't Jesus' sheep. NOTE: It does NOT say that they weren't Jesus' sheep BECAUSE they didn't believe. It was the other way around!

RESPONSE: I think that most of us want to understand something before we will believe it. We say, "seeing is believing". Here we learn that in the spirit realm, "believing is seeing"! The rest of the Gospel of John will reveal what is seen by those who believed. When I approach Jesus, the Word and the Spirit, I must believe - then I will get understanding.

PSALM 116:1-19                                                                                                                
JESUS TRIUMPHS OVER DEATH:
LOVE:  I love the Lord because: He hears my prayers, He delivered me from death, He is full of grace and mercy and has "dealt bountifully with me."  "LOVE" means to love intimately not just companionably. Ardent and vehement love that causes lives to be intertwined. The unspeakable love of God toward His own.

FAITH:   "I believed, therefore have I spoken." How can I repay God for all He has done for me? He has loosed all my bonds, so now I belong to Him forever. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death o His saints."  "Precious" is not a GOOD thing here - it means "costly, difficult, weighty" in a negative sense. God "spends us" very carefully.   "Faith" and "belief" are the same word in the original language. The Hebrew word is "amen". To give oneself in utter abandonment.  There is the outward evidence of faith and belief in our obedience to God.

PROVERBS 15:20-21                                                                                             
When a fool sins, he not only does not repent, but he even boasts in how bad he was!   A "person of understanding" KNOWS that the "wages of sin is death".  That ALL sin leads to bondage and self-deception.  

RESPONSE:  Sin isn't funny. But there are people who think it is. They are "fools".