The Sword of the LORD

“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.     After some close calls with Saul, David believed that he

Fall has fell!   At the Dodds’ house, as I’m sure is true at yours, we find ourselves engaged in a number of chores that come with the change of seasons.   I’m starting to clean up the garden - pulling up the spent plants, enriching the soil with compost, grass clippings, and leaves - and then tilling the ground to mix in all those good things.   There are plenty of leaves to rake, and flower beds to clean up.   Then there is all the lawn furniture to be stowed away in the garden shed for the winter.   I also like to change all the batteries in our smoke alarms every fall, cover the air conditioning unit, and put a clean filter in the furnace.   My wife and I have lived in our current house for 50+ years.  We moved into it in 1973 and raised all five of our children here.  The furnace that heated the house when we moved in was originally an old coal burner that had been converted to burn natural gas.  It was huge and took up most of one room in our basement.  Furnaces like ours wer