Author: pastortravislv

1 Samuel 26:9-11 – But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.
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This account reads much like the account from chapter 24, where David had the opportunity to kill Saul in the cave. Saul Is again pursuing David unrighteously. David again has Saul in his grasp. David again receives counsel from a friend saying that this is the opportunity from God for David to avenge himself. But, David again refuses to strike the LORD’s anointed.

David did not fall for the counsel of a friend who counseled him wrongly. Even though that friend tried to make the counsel look spiritual, David recognized it as not from God. In our own world, we need to be very careful about how we receive the counsel from others. Sure, they may be able to build a circumstantial case that makes their plan look like it is from God, but we must be even more wise. We must know what God has called us to in his word, and we must never waver from that.

Also, I personally am challenged by David’s words to take the long view of difficult situations. David recognized that God, in his own timing, would take care of Saul. David would not kill Saul. Instead, David said that he trusted that Saul might die in battle, or the Lord might strike him down. If neither of those things would happen, Saul would just die of old age, but David would not strike him. This attitude of David’s is good. So often, we see things that need to be changed, but we can not change them without going against a biblical principle. In such cases, we need to trust God, like David did here, to take care of the circumstances so that we need not violate one biblical principle for the sake of another.

Dear LORD, I again come to you and I ask that you would grant me the wisdom to ignore the counsel of people who do not speak your word and your will. No matter how spiritual they can make it look, I pray that I will not fall for it. I also ask that you will help me to remember your sovereign hand. Help me to remember that you are in control, and that you will work circumstances out for good and for your glory. Let me never violate your principles for the sake of even other good principles. I want to obey you and your word fully.

Romans 12:3 – For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each
according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:10 – Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
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These two verses, for me, make a powerful connection and challenge. In verse 3, Paul describes how we ought to think about ourselves. Unlike the pattern of the world (v2), we are to think of ourselves with sober judgment. We are not called, here in the word of God, to self-esteem thinking. Instead, we are called to have a very real understanding of who we are before God. Since we are all sinful creatures of a holy Creator, we recognize that if we think of ourselves as we ought, we will think of ourselves as lowly and wretched creatures who are rescued by a holy, perfect, and loving God.

Then, in verse 10, we are called to outdo one another in showing honor out of brotherly love. There is not only any room for the secular world’s self-esteem culture, there is also no room for a culture of putting others down to build yourself up. We are not to strive for making others look bad so that we can look good. ON the contrary, out of love, we are to make sure that we actually compete to show as much honor and love as we can.

In my own personal world, I see these two verses as a great reminder and challenge. I need to be reminded by God to think of myself with a righteous and sober judgment. I am not special. There is nothing about me that would make God want me. Instead, God makes me special as a gift, not because of anything I have done to earn it. And, on the other side, my own lowly view of myself should also help me to be kind and loving toward others. I must not live to complain or gripe about things others do in order to tear them down and build me up. I must not live to make a good funny remark to embarrass someone else and make myself look witty. Instead, I need to learn to live with a right view of myself before God and to love and respectfully honor others, building them up instead of myself.

Dear Lord, I pray that you will help me to view myself with sober judgment and true biblical reality. I ask that you would help me to have a heart of love that builds others up rather than tearing them down. I ask especially that you would help me to honor others as you command. Grant, I pray, that I would have a heart that matches the call you have for my life in how I treat others.

Psalm 66:13-14, 18-19

18 If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;
19 But certainly God has heard;
He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
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In many a life circumstance, people have prayed to God for deliverance. There are millions who, when in differing distresses, have called out to God for rescue. Often, such prayers are accompanied with a promise of some sort. “God, if you will just get me out of this one, I will give half my money to the church,” they cry. “Lord,” they plead, “just heal my son, and I will never again miss a Sunday morning worship service.” On and on go the prayers and the promises.

What I think is interesting in Psalm 66 is that we see two things that we ought to learn about our prayers. The first comes last. In verses 18-19, David points out that, had he regarded iniquity or unrighteousness in his heart, God would not have listened to his prayer. At a point when David was in trouble, he prayed to God. He asked God for help. He vowed to worship God upon his deliverance. But, David acknowledges that, if that prayer had been empty, God would not have been fooled by it. Had David truly wanted to sin and remain in sin, God would have known not to answer simply because of an empty vow.

Then, in the earlier verses, David, after his deliverance, is planning to do what he had promised to God. No, David most certainly did not buy God’s grace through is promise of worship. However, David promised God worship from a thankful heart upon God’s faithful rescue of David. Then, after God did rescue David, the king goes through with his vows. David made no empty promises to God.

Are you in a point of distress? Is there a time in the past when you were? Have you been tempted to pray to God, promising him something from you if he will just help you out this once? If so, know that your prayer did not trick God. God knows you and he knows your heart. If your heart was full of self, sin, and schemes, God was not swayed by it. If you are thinking now that you can promise God something to buy his favor, you are completely missing the point of knowing him. God is not bought. His favor is not for sale or for bargaining. Nor is prayer for the man or woman who does not care an ounce about who God is or what God really wants. Prayer is for the person who desires God’s will and God’s glory, or for the person who wants God to help him or her to desire that.

Also, we need to recognize that we do not want to be the kind of people who go back on our vows. When we promise something to God, we ought to become the kind of people to carry it through. God is worthy of our praise. How dare we ever keep it from him.

Dear Lord, I ask that you would help my heart to be right before you. I do not want, under any circumstances, to be the kind of person who would try to bargain with you. I do not want to regard iniquity in my heart. I pray that you would make me pure. Create in me a clean heart, that I might best please you with my life and my prayers. And, Lord, I will worship you, for you are worthy of all worship. Please help me never to turn from that calling.

1 Samuel 24:4-6 – The men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. It came about afterward that David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the LORD that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’S anointed.”
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David was mistreated and abused by Saul in terrible ways. Throughout his life, all David had ever done toward Saul was to serve him faithfully. Saul, however, was jealous of David, spoke out against David, and even tried to hunt him down and kill him. Even as this account begins, we find David hiding in a cave with his men, seeking to get away from Saul and his men out to kill them all.

With the way that David had been treated, it is obvious why his men would have said to him what they said in the above verses. They found Saul in a vulnerable position, and they suggest to David that this is the way that God would deliver him from his enemy. David is tempted to listen to them, but in the end, he realizes that this is not the way to honor God.

In our own lives, there are going to be circumstances that are very difficult. Often we will be abused or hurt by others. In those instances, our friends and families may well offer to us solutions to our problems. Like David, we may even receive counsel from these people who claim to be thinking about our best interests and the Lord’s will. However, if we are not careful, like David, we may be tempted to reach out our hands and do what is dishonoring to God.

We should be careful to take steps to avoid doing what is against God’s will, even when it seems right. In order to do this, we must first be certain that we are committed to God’s word and God’s word alone as our standard for upright and Godly living. There is no room for us to bring in another book of ethics. God has revealed to us, in his word, everything that we need for life and Godliness (2 Peter 1; 2 Timothy 3:15-17). We must make God’s word our standard. We also must be careful not to surround ourselves with friends who do not hold God’s word as the only standard of truth, morality, and God’s will. David was surrounded by men who were not Godly, and it showed up in their counsel. We must not allow this to be the case in our own lives.

The fact is, the world’s solution can be very tempting. The voice of the flesh is very subtle. Our friends may even try to convince us that something is clearly “God’s will,” even though they have no desire to follow his will. We, however, have to stand firm. WE must never break God’s principles and standards, regardless of how tempting the situation makes it. We must never justify evil actions, regardless of how much our friends try to convince us it is OK. We must live by God’s word and for his glory forever.

Dear Lord, I come to you this morning, and I ask that you would protect me for the ungodly counsel of my own flesh and of people who do not have your word in their hearts. Help me, as David wrote, to hide your work in my heart that I might not sin against you. Teach me to rightly interpret your word and rightly discover your principles for every area of life. I am committed, by your grace, to live by your word and your word alone. I plead with you to help me to do this by your power and for your glory.

1 Samuel 20:1-4 – Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?” He said to him, “Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” Yet David vowed again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death.” Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
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The thing that catches my attention here is the friendship between Jonathan and David. David feared for his life, because he knew that Saul, Jonathan’s father and king of Israel, was out to kill him. In a previous encounter, Jonathan knew that his father had it in for David, but he told Jonathan about it. So, when David came to Jonathan with his fears, Jonathan tried to comfort him by telling him that he had not heard anything about his father planning such a thing. David, however, had already been chased by Saul, and knew that he was in great danger.

The point that caught my attention is verse 4, where Jonathan tells David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” Jonathan was not yet convinced that Saul was out to kill David. He wants to keep David safe, but he needs to find out the details of this situation for himself. However, even though he does not think David is correct about his father’s motives, he agrees to do whatever his friend needs. He lets David know that, without question, he will be there to help him, even if he is not fully convinced David is in danger.

What a joy it must be to have a friend like Jonathan who vows to you his help without even knowing the danger! Jonathan is right there to help his friend, and will do so regardless of personal cost. This is not, of course, to say that Jonathan would have sinned against God for David’s sake—such a thing would not be righteous or admirable. Jonathan was, however, willing to help his friend, even before being convinced of the facts.

You and I could use more friends like this. And, honestly, the way to have more friends like this is to be friends like this. We need to ask God to help us to become friends who love like Christ loves. We need to be willing to receive our friends in their time of need, and to sacrifice whatever we must to help them so long as that sacrifice is not sin. Let us remember that we do not live for ourselves, but for the glory of God. We most certainly can do a better job of glorifying God in the way that we stand alongside our friends in their time of difficulty.

LORD, I thank you for this picture of true biblical friendship. I praise you that you have designed us for such relationships. I thank you that you show us what real friends do when one is in need. I ask that you will first make me into a real friend for others. Help me to be the kind of man who willingly gives and serves to meet the needs of my friends in need. I also ask that you would give me a few friends like this, who will stand with me whenever troubles come my way. Make me a friend and give to me friends who will pray, protect, serve, and sacrifice for one another. Of course, please never let me be motivated to sin for my friends, but help me to always honor you above all. Please glorify your name in my friendships.