THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

      The Voice was for you! “the wow effect” is normally for the crowd that you don’t want to be identified with. Jesus is quick to tell them, “the whole voice thing, that was for you…not for me”.  We would say, “You mean that’s not the way it normally is? God’s not always talking to you in an audible voice?”  Jesus’ answer would be, “no, that’s  Hollywood ”. There is no greater paradox than God himself, his workings and his dealings with humanity. Although there is no more Supernatural Being or experience in the Universe, God’s dealing with us, from the outside looking in, may seem unimpressive to the unsuspecting eye. We listen for “the audible voice”, we look for the “paranormal” but we get nothing. This is what attracts many people into the occult, is the “paranormal”, to them a spiritual experience must include “voices”, “objects moving”. In other words, “if you’re a supernatural being, if you’re not just like us, prove it!” With this in mind, now let...

    Without trying to be "melodramatic" this is a Life Changing event for David.  David is set to go to war against Israel. However, in God's Grace, Mercy and Providence He prevents David from making probably the worse decision of his life (aside from Bathsheba & Uriah).  It is a "Pivotal Moment" in David's life and God is behind it all orchestrating. God is the Master Orchestrator! Not only does David not go to war against Israel, but when he returns to Ziklag he finds that Ziklag has been raided and his family and the family of his men are taken captive. The scripture indicates that his own men are getting ready to turn on David and stone him. At this moment David decides to seek God, the God  of Israel, that is! The scripture says, "David encouraged himself in the Lord, at Ziklag!"  Had David gone to fight in the battle against Israel, he would never have been back at Ziklag, desperate, seeking his God and getting reconciled/right with the ...

         I just finished remarking in my mind, about how spiritual and in tune David is with God until I begin to read the next paragraph and then I'm forced to take it back. One thing that cannot be overemphasized about David is how truly righteous he is and what an awesome man of God he is.  That being said, he, like us, seems to flip flop back n forth between two opinions. In this paragraph he is on a roll,   9  But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?  10  As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish ."   David is right on the money here, not just on his convictions but also on his hunch about Saul's future. Saul will perish in battle, by the hand of the Lord. His convictions are right on, he's premonitions are right on, He's right on, he's in tune wi...

   WE have two instances of relationships gone bad in just one reading. The first part we read about David and Saul and in the latter half we read about David and Abigail. David has the perfect scenario he needs to convince Saul that he is not malicious; and at first it works, Saul calms down but eventually that "proof" is forgotten, it has no lasting effect and the relationship between David and Saul quickly deteriorates back to what it was. Trying to prove we are not "bad' and vindicate ourselves to those whose view of us has been tainted and/or even poisoned, is often a useless exercise. The cleverest argument, the most convincing evidence will have no lasting effect because the real issue is "their heart". When one individual in a relationship does not have a right heart, nothing can be resolved; however the opposite is also true, that when both individuals have a right heart, the worse circumstances can be reconciled.  Anything can ...

   I will be the last person to stand up the religious folks, especially the Pharisees, but it must have been hard to look at some man standing in front of you, claiming to be "The Son of God", miracles or not. I have seen miracles happen but never began to look at the people who performed them and think, "is this God?".  Now you can say, "well we know better today". How many times has God stood before us and we did not believe that it was Him? It's hard to see God and accept that it's God you see. And I mean this as a metaphor, imagine how much harder this is, when it's literal! Even Christians when witnessing a tremendous miracle stand there and say, "can this really be?". We almost try to dismiss, what we have witnessed, "maybe they really didn't have cancer, they were mis-diagnosed?"  We believe..., but we don't believe. I believe in you Lord, just don't stand in front of me and say, "This is me, God...

  Our reading today says,   "Then they kissed each other and wept together— but David wept the most."    I would imagine David wept the most.  David's life used to be simple. He had a family, he had a job that he loved, he had peace and quiet times out in the field, with God and his sheep, he was quite content sitting out in the fields, writing Psalms to God and watching over that flock that he had been assigned to by his Father.  Life was simple, life was carefree, life was good! David had no aspirations for anything else,  but yet God did (look out David!)   This poor, little shepherd boy gets called out of this simple, carefree living into a life of turmoil, hurt & disappointments. He is now very much removed and detached from his family, he is married to a woman who does not at all share his values or his love for God and now he is alone and on the run for his life and I'm sure David thought,  "how I long for when things wer...