Posts

JONATHAN AND HIS ARMOR BEARER

“And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.   When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.  And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.  As for Saul [the King of Israel], he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.” (1 Samuel 13:5-7).   King Saul found himself in difficult straits.   An innumerable host of Philistines had gathered their forces at a place called Michmash in the highlands north of Jerusalem.   Much of Saul’s army was frightened because of the overwhelming odds and went to hide themselves in the caves, hills and pits around the...
Post a Comment
Read more

AND DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD HIS GOD

“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God .” (1 Samuel 30:6).   David was a young man whom God wanted to apprehend.   God saw in David what nobody else was able (or willing) to see.   They only looked on the outside, but God could see into David’s heart.   This is why the LORD had sent Samuel to anoint David to be the next King of Israel.   Their first king, Saul, was after the people’s heart, but David was a man after God’s own heart.   After his anointing, however, David found only trouble.   Saul was jealous of David and saw him as a rival for the throne.   He resented David’s popularity with the people, his military victories, and his closeness to God.   Saul’s jealousy eventually turned to hatred and rage, and he openly sought to kill David.     Aft...
Post a Comment
Read more

MIXED WITH FAITH

“LET US THEREFORE FEAR, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [the Israelites] : but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it .” (Hebrews 4:1, 2).   It is clearly taught throughout scripture that our ability to enter into God’s rest does not depend on our personal strength, performance or willpower, but on our faith.  The Israelites mentioned in the above verse had everything they needed to enter into God’s rest with the exception of one key ingredient: faith.    When our children were young, my wife would make homemade whole wheat bread for the family almost every week.  She would mix all of the ingredients together (including the yeast), distribute the fresh dough into loaf pans, and then set the pans with towels over them on top of the furnace floor registers to rise.  After...
Post a Comment
Read more