My God My Everything

I was reading a passage yesterday in 2 Samuel 21: 1-9 that expressed how sincerely the Lord holds us to our commitments and vows. This passage is linked with a story in Joshua 9 about a promise made to the Gibeonites. The promise was that Israel would not destroy them as they continued their conquest of the promise land. This promise was made without seeking the Lord. The Gibeonites had disguised themselves and deceived the leaders of Israel, but regardless, God expected them to honor their vow. Years later King Saul had tried to destroy the Gibeonites and now the land was experiencing a famine. After inquiring of the Lord,…

I appreciate the many ways that God uses to get my attention when I need a course correction. Lately I have felt a distance from Him and this morning He used the story in my daily devotional to show me where I needed to change. The amazing part is that the message is a continuation in my studies, but it fits perfectly with where I am in my daily walk with Him. That is Godly orchestration. The message today was about the death of Absalom and the last verse was in 2 Samuel 18:18 which reads, “During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s…

I was reading about a time in David’s life this week that I think we can all relate too. The story is found in 2 Samuel 16-17 and it’s about a very discouraging season in his life where he experienced betrayal, humiliation and discouragement. His son Absalom was attempting to take over the kingdom and some of David’s advisers had betrayed him and joined forces with Absalom. As he and his family left Jerusalem a man named Shimei threw rocks at him and hurled insults; kicking him while he was down. David refused to retaliate because he believed that he deserved what was happening to him because of the choices…

Carrying around the weight of sin can be very heavy and draining. King David explained it well in Psalm 32: Blessed is the one    whose transgressions are forgiven,    whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one    whose sin the Lord does not count against them    and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent,    my bones wasted away    through my groaning all day long. For day and night    your hand was heavy on me;my strength was sapped    as in the heat of summer.  Then I acknowledged my sin to you    and did not cover up my iniquity.I said, “I will confess    my transgressions to the Lord.”And you forgave    the guilt of my sin. Hiding his sin only made his life worse. The guilt and shame consumed his…

Today is a new day. As I woke up tired from an active weekend I quickly realized that the enemy saw that as an opportunity to attack. From the moment I sat up in bed he was taunting me with negative thoughts and he continued as I took Roscoe on our morning walk. Along the way a few stray dogs decided to surprise us and what I hoped would be a quiet morning quickly turned into a heart racing section of the walking trail. Angry thoughts joined the previous negative thoughts I was entertaining and it started to escalate into a bad attitude. As I saw the beautiful sunrise I…

As I’ve been studying David’s life and discovering many wonderful attributes about his character it was sad to read the story of his downfall with Bathsheba today. It was also a reminder of how human any of us can be. Having just read about his compassion and grace to Jonathan’s son and to the men who delivered a kind message to Hanun, I thought how nice it was to see those characteristics in action. It also gave me reminders to have that same grace and compassion in my own life towards others. Today’s reminder from my studies was that as a person after God’s own heart we need to guard…

I love reading the bible. Each new chapter has compelling stories with twists and turns that keep me in awe of what God has done and is doing. In yesterday’s reading King David’s compassionate acts were humbly received and accepted by Mephibosheth. The story started out with David asking who he could show kindness to and ended with a changed life filled with acceptance and restoration. The very next chapter starts off again with David’s thought of showing kindness to Hanun son of Nahash. Another young man who had lost his father and needed compassion. This time David’s acts of kindness were not well received. In fact, due to bad…

As my quest continues to discover what makes one a person after God’s own heart, the most recent attribute I found was being full of loving-kindness and be willing to pour it out on others. In 2 Samuel 9:1 David asks, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” In those days it was common for a new king to completely eliminate the previous king’s family to prevent them from trying to reclaim the throne. Being a man after God’s own heart, David not only defied tradition but he actively sought to make their lives better. Jonathan had a…

Awhile back I received a message from God that a relationship I was in would experience healing and be stronger than ever. I’ve held on to that promise every time there is friction in that relationship. Over time the mind picture that I had has started to fade and I have began to wonder if it was just my hopeful imagination that thought of the outcome or if it was really from God. While reading my devotional about King David, the message took place when he became King of all Israel and he had defeated all the enemies and began to experience the promise God had given him many years…