January 17: 1 Samuel 17:32-50

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 17:39
David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. ‘I cannot go in these,’ he said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them.’ So he took them off.

Devotion:
Many times in our lives we will face people who will say we should not trust in God but trust in them or some other physical thing. Sometimes God will give you the strength to do something physical against an adversary and you will be surprised. Here David was led to the battlefield, not to join the army but to deliver food for his brothers; but he ended up fighting for the army!

David was not a warrior in the physical sense, but he was a warrior for God. His faith was firmly planted in God’s hands and he trusted God for everything. When he saw and heard what the Philistine was doing to the army of God, he was angry and wanted things to change so God could be praised. This was not something he wanted to do to show how strong he was or to show anyone up, he simply wanted God to get the glory instead of the philistines!

When Saul allowed David to go up against Goliath he gave David his armour and weapons. Saul was a big man so nothing would fit and all would be cumbersome; besides this would give glory to the weapons instead of to God.

David asserted his position as a child of God, without swords, spears or javelins, just God and God’s holy name! David gave this battle over to God and stepped forward to fight a foe for whom he was no match physically – but he was going forward with God as his guide and protector! David used a simple sling with a stone to defeat in God’s hands to defeat what nobody in the army was willing to go up against!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you really rely on God?

Will you give God more credit for things in your life?

January 16: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’

Devotion:
One of the most important things we learn from the bible is to not judge people by their outward appearance – or as we say in the West don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Samuel was now facing worrying times because Saul had fallen out of favour with God and a new king was being sought after. Samuel was worried for his own life in case Saul found out and wanted to kill him, but God had other plans.

God knew what might happen if Samuel declared he was going to anoint a new king, so he sent Samuel out with a heifer as if he was going to make a sacrifice to God. When Samuel got to Bethlehem the people there were worried in case Samuel had come to prophesy against them; they had that guilty feeling knowing they had each done something wrong…

Samuel called on Jesse to be consecrated along with all of his sons. Each of them came out to meet Samuel and Samuel looked at the outward appearance of the first son just as he looked at the outward appearance of Saul: he was impressed with what he saw.

But, as we said earlier, God had other plans. Each of the sons came forward and God said no. After enquiring if there were any other sons, they called for the youngest son who was tending to the sheep. A son who had not gone to join the army but stayed at home to care for their father’s sheep. This is the man God had chosen!

Points to Ponder:
Do you judge people when you first look at them?

How many people have you given a chance and been surprised by?

January 15: Mark 2:18-22

Key Verse: Mark 2:22
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.

Devotion:
I wonder how many readers are old enough to know about the canvas bags which used to hang on the front of jeeps a few decades ago. The canvas would obviously leak a little bit, but the water coming out would evaporate and keep the contents cool even in the brightest sunshine. But if the canvas bag dried out too much it would crack and the whole content of the bag would gush out making it useless! That is what I always think about when I hear these verses.

Back in those days the skin of an animal would be used to keep the liquids in; much the same as the canvas bag, but it would dry out much quicker when empty so when used again after drying out, it would split and be useless.

Jesus was trying to teach those listening that if we let our lives dry out without constant input of the gospel, we may well become like an empty vessel which has dried out and becomes useless once again. The initial comparison was between the disciples of some groups fasting and the disciples of Jesus not fasting. Jesus was trying to say they were constantly being filled with the gospel because He was with them.

If they were not constantly receiving the gospel they may well have dried out and become like useless vessels. The Pharisees were too consumed with recounting the scriptures word for word and making sure other people kept the myriad of laws which had been drawn up! Their ability to keep the scriptures was fine, but their ability to share it was not going so well because they were alienating themselves from the people...

Points to Ponder:
Do you keep up with receiving the gospel?

Do you share the gospel as well?