1 Samuel 30 today..... 1_Samuel 31 tomorrow....

Read it.
Sandj


Chapter 30: verse 1-6... not a very nice way to be greeted upon return home... kind of adding insult to injury after being kicked off the Philistine team... I know that there have been times in my life when I just felt like nothing was going right, and I didn't see how it would get better any time soon... but then, it seems that I was only focusing on the negative things, which are so easy to find... how much better it made things to notice the blessings (albeit sometimes very small ones, but blessings none the less)... for example, here in verse 2, it mentions that none of the women were killed... that is definately a blessing, and quite frankly a miracle, considering all the killing everyone seems to be doing of each other's villages all the time lately. The end of verse 6 really gives us a key to how we can make that change in our perception from negative brooders to blessing counters... "David found strength in the Lord his God"... we may not be able to trust in people or things or circumstances, but we can always trust in God's love, justness, and unchanging faithfulness, and His truth based on His character. I also find it interesting that David found strength in God after he had wept and felt distressed... sometimes I think that we believe we must be strong at all times and never 'break down'... but how then, if we are always strong in and of ourselves, can we find strength in God?... it is when we pour out our frustrations, discourging thoughts, desires, and sadness, that we make room for God's peace, comfort, and strength to fill us... I think that is partly why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, that when he is weak, then he is strong... because only when we come to our end, and stop relying on our selves, and our 'strength' can we then fully discover true strength, by relying on the strength of God to sustain us.
verse 7-10... sometimes we think that when God calls us to do something, He means for us to do it alone, or that if we have to let others go on ahead because we have reached a point of much needed rest, that we have somehow failed in our mission, or something... but God does not call us to work for Him on our own... we are all part of a team, and we all need to work together to acheive His ultimate goal... we all get tired sometimes, and when we can, we must spur others on or pick up the work of others when they need help... but when we are the ones who need encouraging, we need to be humble and allow others to spur us on and help us out... that is how a team works... a team does not involve everyone doing everything all the time... a team, instead, is about each person doing all they can to help each other work toward the common goal.
verse 11-17...I can't think of much to say here, but the study notes mention that it might be beneficial to reflect on how the slave might have been feeling, being forced to join the raid, being abandoned without food, being discovered by David's men, being fed and then interrogated by them, and finally being their guide to take them to fight your master... I'm not coming up with anything, but reflection on these things will likely bring something to mind, I would assume, since the study notes always seem to mention things worth mentioning.
verse 18-20... what a testament to God's faithfulness... you know, it just occured to me that David had asked God's advice first before he went and retaliated and took his stuff back... that is something we can all learn from, I think, becuase we should never assume that just because we lose something that God wants us to have it back... yet, when we do rely on God's will and obey it, it is obvious how He faithfully provides us with everythin we need... sometimes that is by recovering what we actually lost (like here), and sometimes that is by blessing us with other things (like in Job's life story)... but either way, God never lets us down.... important for me to remember this as I can sometimes get so stuck on what I've lost that I never move on to see what God wants me to do (or not do) about it.... which means that I then, also, miss out on the blessings that God had in store for me, if I had but obeyed.
verse 21-25... reminds me again of how we are all part of God's team, with no one being better or less than any one else (we are all equally important parts of the 'Body'- 1 Corinthians 12)... it also reminds me about when Jesus gave the parable talking about how each of us, who accept Him, are given equal shares into the Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of when we finally make that decision (Matthew 20:1-16)
verse 26-31... David reminds me of a kind of Isrealite Robin Hood... he takes from the Lord's enemies and gives to God's people... interesting that he does not appear to give anything to the Philestines, but he does give to those who he told the Philestines he had been fighting and raiding (Chapter 27).
sandJ