"As long as that son of David is alive, you'll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!" 1 Samuel 20:31
These are not the words someone who is anointed by God to be King of all Israel would expect to be said of him. David was minding is own business, tending to his sheep when God had him brought from the pasture to be anointed as King by Samuel. Scripture tells us in 1 Samuel 16:13 that the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. The Spirit did not just come, it came powerfully. The ESV uses the word rushed instead of powerfully. The word rushed means to make prosperous, bring to successful issue, to cause to prosper, to show or experience prosperity.
From the moment Samuel poured the olive oil on David's head he was ready to be king. The Spirit rushed upon him ready to show David and allow him to experience prosperity. But instead of taking his position on the throne, he is running from his home, running for his life. Had the Spirit of success and prosperity that he received that day as a young boy left him? Even David questioned Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my crime?"
There are times when we are anointed for a season of service, destined for success, to experience prosperity in this season of service. We know we were called to complete this service. We fell the anointing as God confirmed His calling but the position seems to stay at arms length. We face troubles, trials, and testing. In other words, the anointing comes long before the appointment comes to fruition. We wait. We seek God and wait more. Paul calls this "working out our salvation." (Philippians 2:12)
What do we do in the wait? Trust in the Lord for each new day just like David. In his beautiful Psalm David says,
What do we do in the wait? Trust in the Lord for each new day just like David. In his beautiful Psalm David says,
"But those who trust in the LORD lack no good thing." (Psalm 34:10)
I like good things, don't you? Let's put our trust in Him through the troubles, trials, and testing as we wait for Him to bring to fruition the appointment He anointed us to have.
9 Comments:
Thanks Wendy! That was an amazingly timely devotional thought this morning. You can only imagine. I very much needed to read this. I will be curious to see where my journey leads. May your day be blessed for your faithfulness and filled with joy. Thank you again.
Wendy, this ties in so perfectly with what the Lord spoke to me yesterday through the lyrics of a song as I drove home from the hospital. I posted it on my blog this morning. Again here now, confirmation to keep waiting on the Lord. THANK YOU!
This morning I was touched by 1 Samuel 20: 4, "'Tell me what I can do to help you,' Jonathan exclaimed." Yesterday, I had some "Jonathan friends" who inquired the same thing of me. Precious ones who come along side others and aren't afraid to get involved in life's that are walking dirt roads. They come so close that their dust covered feet speak of their close proximity to the weary walker.
Waiting and walking with Him,
Joy
http://ponderinginhispresence.blogspot.com/2009/04/jonathan-friends.html
As I was reading these few chapters I could not help thinking about the character of Jonathan. He truly is a precious example of one who shows self-denial and a willingness to accept the will of God by elevating someone else above himself! Was he self-seeking? NO. Was he self-centered? No. By boldly questioning his own father he almost gets himself killed! He chooses to save David's life by helping him flee from his father.
He remains loyal to the vows he made with David. A true friend...
Jonathan could have avoided this risk to himself if he had decided not to get involved in standing up for David. To defend an innocent person from slander or future harm, whatever the cost to self, is to remain faithful to biblical truths by doing what is morally right.
When we find ourselves in situations where individuals are taking advantage of someone by...
threatening them...
making accusations...
intimidating them...
or being taken advantage of...
We should not remain silent by choosing not to get involved. This may not be the easiest thing to do; often times we may even by putting our own life in danger, like Jonathan did. But, it is the right thing to do! God knows our heart and will bless us when we do what is right!
So many wonderful lessons for us to live by today!
Thanks for all the comments yesterday! I absolutely LOVE banking on a couple of chapters throughout the day...allowing different verses to come alive as I read what God tells each of you! What a blessing ya'll have been to me!!!
Lori - AZ
Several times in the last few readings Jonathan has been described as "loving David as he loved himself"; a shining example of one of the greatest commandments; love your neighbor as yourself.
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." John 15:13
It seems as if Jonathan knew what was to come when he made his speech in 1 Sam. 20:13b-15. Much later David has the opportunity to fulfill this promise to Jonathan when he takes in one of Jonathan's sons as his own.
Also striking today is verse 22 "But if I tell him, ‘Go farther—the arrows are still ahead of you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for the Lord is sending you away," followed by the only bread available for David's journey was the Bread of the Presence. God was honoring His covenant never to leave David or forsake Him; a sign that He was going with David into battle and into the wilderness.
How rich!
I hope all of you are richly blessed by the presence of God in your journey today!
Karen, CA
Thanks Karen for reminding me of the covenant God made with David about never to leave him or forsake him. As I was reading about the only bread that was left ( and it was fresh bread at that) was the bread presented to God, "the Bread of Presence" I was thinking shouldn't the priest be asking God if it was OK? Should he just give it to David...and the spear as well. David just replied..."give it to me!" Your insight brought the answer to light and helped me to remember.
1 Samuel 21:7 "No Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord."
Hmmm this verse is just left hanging I assume we may be hearing more about "Doeg the Edomite".
I also love the close friendship through God that bound David and Jonathan to loaylty to one another.
It made me think of my friends in Christ and how closely we are bound to one another because God, through Jesus Christ, is that 3rd strand in our relationship. 1 Samuel 15:17
"And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendsip again, for Johnathan loved David as much as himself." Again the reminder of "Love your neigbor as yourself" we find in the Gospels.
In my NIV Bible notes describes Matthew 22:37,39 "Love, The Greek verb is not phileo, which expresses friendly affection, but agapao, the commitment of devotion that is directed by the will and can be commanded as a duty." So it seems to be different than the kind of love we most often think of that involves emotion and feeling. It's an action word and more than a noun. It's also the kind of love we can call upon, God's love, that helps us love those that are not so loveable in our life and circumstances. Sometimes we need to make a decision to love at those times others may not be so loveable. Our pastor that married us called it an "inspite of kind of love".
There is that strong sense of devotion between Jonathan and David. It's hard not to think of love in terms of feeling and emotion. But I also sense a bit of that emerges as well between friends. :)
Love to all, Debbie in Illinois
Once again, I see a foreshadowing of Christ in 1 Samuel 20:32. "But why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
Boy, Saul's anger was getting the best of him. He had become very ugly. "Saul boiled with rage at Jonathan "you stupid son of a whore!" he swore at him." You can tell that the spirit of the Lord had left Saul. No peace in his heart.
Jonathan loved David enough to know he'd be giving up his place in line as king to his friend. Now that's selfless!
May we all have peace in our hearts today.
"No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace."
Morgen - MN
I love how this bible puts the Psalm in context! We can see why the Lord said David was a man after his own heart. David's heart for worship and praise is so contagious!
Blessings!
Debbie - North Carolina
Great thoughts Wendy!
I too like good stuff and will continue to put my trust in Him as I await His promises and purpose to be fulfilled/revealed in my life.
Psalm 34:11-14 stuck with me today. It's a simple recipe for long life and prosperity as we await our season, and the ingredients are as follows:
i)Fear of the Lord
ii)Speak the truth
iii)Do good always
iv)Continuously seek peace
Instructions:
The word declares that one helping of this mixture on a continuous basis will enable us to live long and prosper!!
Praise God!
Chanan
Bahamas
Chanan
I love your points! Quick, concise and easy to understand.
W
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