Year 4, Day 322: 2 Samuel 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

In this passage we see David become King officially.  We get to see him take Jerusalem.  A lot of things are going right for David.  There is every reason to believe that he has his life under control.

So what do I really love about David?  David pauses to discern from the Lord.  When the Philistines come out and attack him, he could have just assumed things were going well and headed out to battle.  He could have taken things into his own hands.  But he doesn’t.  He once more demonstrates why he is a man after God’s own heart.

David stops and inquires of the Lord as to what he should do.  He doesn’t do this just once; David actually does this twice.  He inquires of the Lord twice – each time the Philistines come to attack him.  In fact, when God’s plan changes the second time, David demonstrates that he is following the Lord by be open to the change of tactics.

God is in David’s Up position.  David follows God instead of himself.  David seeks the Lord before taking a major action.  David is a man after God’s heart because he submits to God and puts God in his Up position.

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Year 4, Day 321: 2 Samuel 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

I seem to be talking an awful lot about the three areas of sinfulness as we have dove into 1 & 2 Samuel.  Those areas are Approval, Appetite, and Ambition.  But I think this makes sense, truthfully.  As we look into the Hebrew history from 1 Samuel to 2 Kings we are going to get a grand sense of human government sliding into sinful patterns, which leads to the human populace sliding into sinful patterns.  We should talk often about Ambition, Appetite, and Approval because that is what the majority of the Hebrew history during the time of the kings is all about!

So as we look at approval, we hear in 2 Samuel 4 that Ishbosheth is murdered by the sons of Rimmon.  They think that such an act will bring them approval from David.  They think that such an act will grant them favor in the court of the king.  They think that they can advance their own social status through such means.  But they are wrong.

See, David has his own struggles with sin.  But approval is not one of them.  David does not struggle with getting his approval from God.  David does not have any difficulty being a king who from a political frame of reference is godly.  David has no need to seek the death of his public enemies; he has the full belief that God will establish him as king on God’s own timing.

So when these sons of Rimmon come to David they are surprised to find that David is angry that his rival has been killed.  I love this about David.  David doesn’t give his approval to an ungodly act, even if he does benefit from it.  For David, the only things that we should approve are the things that are ordained of God.  What a great lesson to learn today.

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Year 4, Day 320: 2 Samuel 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Appetite.  It’s one of humanity’s biggest issues.  I’m not talking about over-eating.  I’m talking about the consumption of things in the world that drive us to make decisions.

Ishbosheth has an appetite for power and control.  His dad is dead.  His well-known brother is dead.  He suddenly finds himself in an unexpected position of power and begins to like it.  So when Abner comes along and begins to demonstrate a little too much power, Ishbosheth’s own appetite for power is challenged.  He and Abner part ways because Ishbosheth doesn’t want any of his power to go away.

David doesn’t have an appetite for power.  That is why he has no problem accepting Abner’s allegiance when it is offered.  David wants peace among God’s people and sees Abner’s appeal for peace as a means to a good end.

However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t see David’s appetite.  While he might not have an appetite for power, he certainly seems to have an appetite for women.  We hear in this chapter that he has seven wives and is actively producing sons – and presumably daughters – through his wives.  He’s not just collecting political treaties, which daughters were often used to guarantee.  David is collecting sexual partners.

We all have an appetite for something in this world.  We will all struggle with something that captures our heart for consumption.  The question is whether or not we are able to recognize it and whether it will control our life or not.  As we continue to look at David, we will see again and again how this particular issue with his appetite will cycle through his life and reign as God’s anointed.

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Year 4, Day 319: 2 Samuel 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

2 Samuel 2 is really all about ambition.  In one sense, we have the ambition of the godly.  David is anointed as king over the Hebrew people when Saul is dead.  Most of the Hebrew people submit to the ambition of God.

However, there is also the ambition of the people of Benjamin.  These people are led by Abner.  Rather than submit to the will of God, they follow their own ambition.  They want a king on the throne that comes from their own tribe.  Thus, they set up one of Saul’s sons as king.

What happens when human ambition meets up with divine ambition?  Conflict ensues.  There is a civil war among the Hebrew people.  Conflict is the natural consequence when human will butts its head against God’s will.  Of course, the conflict doesn’t have to be external among people.  Often the conflict is internal within people, too.  We can feel conflict within ourselves when our own ambition puts forth a rival opinion over God’s will for our life.

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Year 4, Day 318: 2 Samuel 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

I can’t help but think about David’s mourning of Saul with respect to this idea of competency.  In the theological commentary from three years ago to which I linked above, I ask some hard questions.  I don’t like the answers that I would give to those questions.

If a rival of mine died, would I mourn?  If someone who has sought my destruction died, would I be upset?  If someone that truly wanted the worst for me died, would I mourn?

This is why it is so shocking to hear David mourn Saul’s death.  Wouldn’t you think David would celebrate?  First of all, this opens up the door for David to become king!  But perhaps more importantly it means David can stop running for his life.  Yet David doesn’t celebrate.  Rather, David mourns.

This is because David is a competent leader.  David isn’t focused on himself.  David is focused on the Lord’s Anointed, not David’s reputation.  David is competent because he can focus on God’s ways even when the wisdom of the world should tell him that he should really be celebrating.  With competence, we can choose the ways fo God instead of the ways of the world.

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Year 4, Day 317: 1 Samuel 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

As we finish this chapter and look at the death of Saul, I can’t help but see Saul’s life through the lens of appetite.  Saul sought his own desires.  Saul sought to feed his own inner passions.  Saul wanted to make sure that his own needs were met well before taking into account the needs of anyone else – especially God’s need.

Think about the kingdom.  Wasn’t one of the main differences between Saul and Jonathon the fact that Saul wanted to perpetuate his own lineage whereas his son Jonathon was able to accept that David was God’s anointed one?  Saul’s appetite was for his kingdom, his reign, his reputation.

Or think about what we know of Saul’s military pursuits at the end of his life.  It is David who has to save the Hebrew people from the Philistines and other Canaanites!  Saul is too busy chasing after David to do the job that he should be doing as king and protecting the nation.  Saul’s appetite for getting his own way – call it revenge, call it glory seeking, whatever – led Saul away from walking in the will of God.

Saul is a tragic story.  He is a great study in how someone can look so promising in so many ways from the start.  But he is also a classic example in the end of simply not having what it takes to stay the course and walk with God through all of life.  In the end for Saul, it is Saul’s appetite for his own passions that gets him into trouble.

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Year 4, Day 316: 1 Samuel 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

1 Samuel 30 is an interesting chapter.  David has been living among the Philistines.  He’s been raiding the other Canaanite people to sustain his life.  He’s been murdering innocent women and children in the process.  He’s been lying to the Philistine kings to cover his tracks.  But in this chapter – after his family is captured and taken from him – we get to see him begin to turn back to the Lord and inquire of Him.  When David’s life begins to fall apart, he turns back to God and put the pieces back together.  He begins to remember to get his approval from God and not from the people around him.

On the other hand, we see the people around David continue to fall into sinfulness.  When their life falls apart with David’s life, they don’t remember all that David has done for him.  They don’t think about what’s happened to David’s life, either.  They want to be done with David.  They want to take it out on David.  They want David to pay for the bad things that had happened in their life most recently – regardless of what David had helped them do in the past as they’ve all fled from Saul.  They seek their own approval.  They do what is right in their own eyes.

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Year 4, Day 315: 1 Samuel 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

Honestly, some times when I am reading through the stories of David I feel like I am trapped in the 1980’s sit-com “The Facts of Life.”  The theme song of that television show had lyrics that went something like this: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life.”  With David I feel like it is a perpetual flip between taking the good and the bad.

Not that I have any room to gloat, mind you.  I’m sure God feels the same way about me.

But look at what David demonstrates himself to be competent about in this chapter.  David has been going out and raiding Canaanite villages and killing everyone that he finds in those villages.  He’s been killing innocent people to hide his actions from Achish.  Then David completely lies when he asks Achish, “What have I done?”  David knows full well what he has been doing and hiding from Achish.  When David asks, “What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now,” David knows full well that Achish has nothing to offer because he’s been actively covering up his tracks and hiding them from Achish.  We also hear of David’s switching allegiance.  What title does David give to Achish?  David calls him “my lord the king.”  David’s allegiance to God is on shaky ground here when he starts calling Achish his “lord the king.”

David is competent.  But in this particular instance David is competent at all the wrong things.  He is a manipulator, mover, shaker, liar, and all around deceptive influence in the world.

Again, though.  To be honest, am I any better?  I don’t lift this up to David’s shame.  I lift this up to give me an opportunity to look at myself and wonder what I am truly competent at doing, too.  I know I’m competent in my sinfulness.  I hope and pray that like David I am periodically competent in the ways of God as well.  I hope that as my incompetence is exposed that people will say of me that I am a “man after God’s own heart, too.”

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Year 4, Day 314: 1 Samuel 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

I’m going to take an usual perspective on this particular blog post.  As a set-up, I’d really encourage you to go and read the theological commentary to which I link above.  Because the content in that post will really help lay the foundation for what I have to say here.

I’ve heard many people try to talk about this witch of Endor.  Some people call her an illusionist.  Other people call her demonic.  Other people teach that she must have given Saul some sort of hallucinogenic drugs.  There are plenty of rationales about which people talk through this story.

My rationale is this: this is God’s work.

Maybe this surprises you.  How on earth could God work in an act of necromancy, right?

Let’s look at the evidence.  First of all, the witch of Endor seems surprised that it is working.  So to me, that eliminates any explanation that she was in control of the result.  The witch seems to be as surprised as anyone at what happens.  Second, let’s look at the fact that Samuel delivers an accurate and truthful message from God.  If this was some demonic event, why would God’s truth be proclaimed through it?

No, I think there is only one reasonable explanation for what happens here.  God takes over a situation that should have been fraught with sin and turns it to His own advantage in order to give Saul yet another opportunity to see himself for who he really is.  This should have been an evil experience, but God takes over and takes control.

That’s authority right there.  God has absolute authority in this world.  There is nothing that is beyond God’s ability to control.  This is one of the most unique passages in the Bible to make such a point.  But rest assured.  God is in full control.

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Year 4, Day 313: 1 Samuel 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite, Ambition

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.
• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

In this chapter we get a chance to see David making some interesting decisions.  In spite of being saved more than once from Saul’s hand, David suddenly becomes convinced that he cannot be safe any longer among the Hebrew people.  He heads towards the Philistines to make a living.

This is where he really opens himself up for sin.  While he is among the Philistines, he has to provide for himself and his soldiers.  His need for appetite causes him to go out and fend for himself.  He takes to raiding other villages.  However, because he doesn’t want word to get back to the Philistines that he is doing the raiding, he is slaughtering the villages: men, women, and children.  The physical needs of himself and his men cause David to fall into even darker sinful patterns.

Of course, ambition plays a role in this as well.  David needs to make a name for himself and show the Philistines that he will not be leaching off of them while he lives among them.  So David continues to make raids not only to support his own people but to prove himself to the ungodly people around him.  Appetite and ambition often go hand in hand as we stray from the place that God would prefer us to live.

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Year 4, Day 312: 1 Samuel 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

We’ve been able to talk a fair bit about character with respect to David lately.  David has an absolute refusal towards coming up against Saul and taking matters into his own hands.  When it comes to Saul, David refuses to end his life and take his rightful place as king.

This is an interesting contrast to what we saw yesterday with Nabal.  David seems to have no difficulty lashing out and doing harm against Nabal in what seems to be far less dire circumstances.  What is the main difference?  David continues to use the words, “The Lord’s Anointed.”  David will not go against God and God’s assigned rulers.  It is one thing for David to take matters into his own hands against people.  But from David’s perspective he will not go against God’s chosen leader.

I find this refreshing – even though I know how flawed David’s character happens to be.  As many mistakes as David makes, he will not go against the person of God’s choosing – as flawed as Saul actually is and as often as Saul will take his life.  This is character.  It takes an incredible amount of character to not attack God’s chosen leader even when the leader comes out and seeks to end your life.  David’s character and respect for his relationship with God is astounding here.

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Year 4, Day 311: 1 Samuel 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

In this chapter we see three people act upon their power.  The first two, David and Nabal, give us a negative perspective of power.  David makes a reasonable request of Nabal for food because his soldiers helped protect Nabal’s flocks and shepherds in the field.  The request is reasonable, but when Nabal refuses then David takes things into his own hands.  David grabs human power and orders his men to come up and attack Nabal.  David is acting out of his own power in this story rather than acting out of God’s power.

For the record, so is Nabal.  David’s human response to Nabal is a reaction to Nabal’s human greed.  Nabal doesn’t want to share.  He believes that all that he has is his.  Since it is his, there is no reason to give anything to David.  He says so himself.  “Who is David?”  Since there is nothing in it for Nabal to give to David and his men, he acts out of his own power and refuses David’s request.

Fortunately, there is a righteous person among the men: Abigail.  Abail is discerning.  She knows that Nabal is being rash in his own demonstration of power.  She also knows that David’s rashness could come back to hurt his reputation once he becomes king.  Abail argues of out a position of God’s power, allowing God to deal with Nabal.  In this circumstance, it is Abigail who understands God’s power and how to act righteously.  Righteousness always comes when we understand that true power comes from God.

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Year 4, Day 310: 1 Samuel 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

This chapter is a great chapter into the heart of David.  We know so much about his failings in his later life.  There is the Bathsheba story.  There is the rebellion story of his own son, Absalom.  David’s humanity is quickly pointed out by many people – including myself.

So why does God call David a man after His own heart?  David comes within an inch of Saul’s life.  What more is that this happens when Saul is defenseless.  He is defenseless because he’s going to the bathroom and relieving himself.  As such, he probably doesn’t have his normal body guards there, either.  After all, who takes guards into a cave to go to the bathroom?  No, you post guards at the entrance to the cave and then go to the bathroom in private.  So Saul is truly defenseless here, prime for the picking had David wanted to pluck away his life.

But what does David do?  David cuts off a piece of his cloak.  David gets close enough to prove he could have hurt Saul had he wanted.  But he doesn’t intend any harm to Saul.  David respects life – even the lives of those who would desire to harm him.  I personally think that this is one of the most admirable traits of the soon-to-be-king.  David doesn’t intend harm to Saul even though Saul would intend great harm to him.  What is the character of God?  The character of God is to love those who do not deserve to know love.  That’s the David we see here, too, reflecting the character of his God.

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Year 4, Day 309: 1 Samuel 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

In this chapter we see several interactions about which we can view the lens of In.  First of all, let’s take a look at David and the town that he rescues.  David hears that they are being attacked by the Philistines and wants to go to their rescue.  His people question, so he goes to God and confirms the action.  Yet, after the town is spared – Saul comes against him to trap him. 

Clearly Saul is not In for David.  But neither is the town that he just rescued!  You would think that they would be loyal to David, after all he just rescued them from the hand of the Philistines.  But the town plans to turn David over to Saul.  They are not In for David.  Just because we do something for the benefit of another person, do not think that they are In for us.

On the other hand, we get to view Jonathon and David.  Even after Saul pursues David, Jonathon comes to David.  Rather than side with his father, Jonathon continues to side with David.  In fact, here in this chapter we see Jonathon confess that the kingdom is David’s and he will be at David’s side.  Jonathon is voluntarily giving up on his claim for the kingdom in order to be In for David.

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Year 4, Day 308: 1 Samuel 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Chemistry

• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.

What a cool chapter to talk about chemistry.  Even as David is on the run from Saul we can see God working through David to collect people around him.  In spite of the fact that David is an enemy of the state, God is able to use him.

David starts to collect the people around him who need him.  The poor come to him.  The oppressed come to him.  The people who need a leader or a support network come to David.  The people who were in debt gather around David.  Notice that David doesn’t turn them away.  Many people in the world would turn away the world’s outcasts.  David welcomes them with open arms.  He has the chemistry to take them and shape them regardless of whatever baggage they may carry.

Second, notice David’s chemistry with the one remaining priest from Nob.  All of his family has just died.  He could have easily hated David for being the motivating cause that led Saul to have Doeg the Edomite kill the priests.  But David overcomes this.  David welcomes the priest.  He reminds the priest that they have a common enemy who wants them both dead.  Then he reminds the priest that he will always have a home.

That’s chemistry at work.  God works through David to bring all kinds of people around him so that when the time is right God can work through all of them.

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Year 4, Day 307: 1 Samuel 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

The last time that we looked at character was when we were talking about Saul and him becoming king over the Hebrew people.  As we transition to more and more stories about David, it is also appropriate to examine this idea of character from time to time.

There are two stories in this chapter, both of which lift up the questionable side of David’s character.  First, David lies to the priest about why he is away from the king’s palace.  Rather than tell the priest that he is on the run from Saul, David says that he is on a mission from the king.  Here is a terrible lie, and we’ll see the effects tomorrow.

In the second story, we see David go to Gath and lies some more.  He pretends to be insane so that the king of Gath won’t pay any attention to him.  What he is really doing is trying to use the Philistines to protect him from Saul without telling them the danger of having David so close at hand.  I’ve got to be honest here.  In these two stories I’m not impressed with David’s character.  Not that I’m in any place to judge, mind you.  I’ve got my own flaws.

However, I do want to say one thing about David.  In this story we do get a sense of why God can be so forgiving to David.  David shows his character flaws when he is talking about human politics.  But when it comes to the things of God – the holiness of the men with respect to the bread of the presence – David doesn’t mess around.  David takes the purity of the men very seriously.  So while David is certainly flawed and more than willing to lie about human affairs to get his way, David does take holiness seriously.  He is a flawed human being, but he is a flawed human being in a genuine relationship with God.

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Year 4, Day 306: 1 Samuel 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

Here is another really neat chapter – one in which we can take a very interesting look at the concept of king.  When we consider Jonathon and the idea of King, we have a few perspectives to explore.  We will end up in a place that shouldn’t surprise us, but it may.

Remember that Jonathon is Saul’s son.  Jonathon’s dad is his king.  Or, actually, maybe not.  If there is anyone who should be innately loyal to Saul, we would expect it to be Jonathon.  But when we look at this chapter, we see that Jonathon isn’t loyal to his dad as king.

Instead, Jonathon’s king is God.  Jonathon’s authority comes from God.  When Jonathon makes a vow, it is God that Jonathon asks to hold him accountable.  Jonathon seeks God’s heart, not the heart of his father.

We see Jonathon desiring to see Saul in the best light when the chapter opens.  Who doesn’t want to see their parents as good people?  But when Jonathon’s eyes are opened, there is no doubt who the king of Jonathon’s life is.  Jonathon chooses righteousness and God’s servant David over his own dad.  That takes guts.  It takes a faithful servant of God the true King to do that.

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Year 4, Day 305: 1 Samuel 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection, Provision

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.
• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

Provision is an amazing thing to watch.  Sometimes God provides in ways that we can foresee and anticipate.  Sometimes God provides in ways that we could never expect.  We see examples of all of these in this chapter.

We see Jonathon watching out for David.  Remember that Jonathon is Saul’s own son.  So when Saul says that he wants David to die, Jonathon has to choose between his father and his friend.  It’s pretty cool – and fairly rare – that a person would choose their friend over their family.  But God provides David with a great resource in Jonathon.

The neat thing is that God isn’t done working for David in Saul’s family.  God gives David Michal.  Michal is David’s wife, but remember that Michal is also Saul’s daughter.  When Saul sends out spies to David’s house in order to kill him, once again God provides a member of Saul’s own household in order to save David’s life.

The last person we see fulfilling a part of God’s provision for David is Samuel.  When David has nowhere left to turn, he goes to Samuel.  Samuel provides protection for David when he needs it.  Of course, the truth is that most of the protection actually comes from the very hand of God’s Spirit.  God does an incredible job protecting and giving provision for David when he needs it.

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Year 4, Day 304: 1 Samuel 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

In this chapter we are introduced to a beautiful friendship.  David and Jonathon become good friends.  In fact, they loved each other as much as they loved themselves.  Their friendship is built on a genuine respect for one another and what God is doing in their life.  We’ll have the privilege of watching this relationship grow over time.

But what is really neat about this chapter is that nowhere does Jonathon get jealous.  As David gains power and prestige among the people, it is actually Jonathon who should be worried as Jonathon is the person next in line to be king.  But we get no sense of jealousy here.

Furthermore, Jonathon doesn’t turn on David when it becomes obvious that Saul has it out for David.  Jonathon keeps his friendship with David.  In spite of his father’s feelings, David and Jonathon become quite close.

This is true In.  True In doesn’t get jealous of one another; they give God the glory for when things go well in your life.  True In doesn’t follow in party line, they make up their own allegiances and stay true regardless of the world around them.  True In helps us point to God and stay close to God.

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Year 4, Day 303: 1 Samuel 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This chapter – while long – is a really neat chapter about identity.  You see, David knows his identity.  David hears about the battle when he is asked to bring some supplies to his brothers.  While he is there, he hears Goliath and becomes indignant.  He takes offense at Goliath’s insults leveled to God and sets out to resolve the issue.  He knows that he is God’s child and that he will find protection in the Lord.

This is a great perspective of identity.  Goliath is huge compared to this young David.  But David doesn’t get his identity from the world’s perspective.  David gets his identity from God and what God can do through him.  He could have easily believed that he was powerless against Goliath.  But through God, David knows that he is powerful.

Notice also that David refuses to wear the armor of King Saul.  David knows what his identity is not, too.  David knows that he is not a warrior.  David knows that he hasn’t tested the armor.  It doesn’t fit quite right. He cannot depend upon it.  So David casts off the armor and instead picks up 5 stones.  He only needs one – that’s how powerful God is.  But here is a clear case of David being successful because he knows what he is not.  He is not a warrior.  He doesn’t try to be one.  He focuses on his identity from God and lives that out.  And he finds success, because he is living as God would have him live.

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Year 4, Day 302: 1 Samuel 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

In is well-described as the people in our lives that give us spiritual counsel and whom we trust.  They are important people to us.  We all need people in our life who can speak truthfully and honestly in our life rather than people who just tell us what we want to hear.

This idea came across to me really well as I read this chapter.  Samuel comes to Bethlehem and the people are afraid.  Now, they aren’t afraid of his ability to conquer them or physically oppress them.  What they are afraid of is Samuel’s ability to speak truth.  They are afraid of Samuel’s ability to look at how they are living and convict them.  They are afraid of Samuel being able to do what true people of God can do.

So I wonder.  How many people do I have in my life that can challenge me like I should be challenged?  How many people in my life do I let that kind of truth come into my life through them?  Is that something that we as Christians in the Western World even value anymore?  Or do we want someone who will make us feel good, pat us on the back, and let us live the way that we want to live?

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Year 4, Day 301: 1 Samuel 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Today we get to see Saul’s third major sin against the Lord.  God tells Samuel to commission Saul to destroy the Amalekites.  Saul goes forward eagerly to do so.  However, when Saul is victorious he doesn’t destroy the Amalekites.  Saul destroys most of the Amalekites but allows their king to live.  Saul absorbs Agag’s wealth into his own rather than destroying it as God commands.

This is a sin of Appetite.  Saul doesn’t trust that God can provide for his whole life.  Saul sees wealth, animals, and provision in general.  Rather than allow it to be destroyed, Saul takes it for himself.  His appetite for accumulating wealth and being able to provide for himself guides his decision-making, not his faithful obedience to God.

Let’s be honest.  All of us do this from time to time.  But what makes Saul’s action egregious is that when confronted he lies about it.  Saul doesn’t repent.  He doesn’t confess.  He lies.  He tries to cover up his action.  His appetite takes over and he doesn’t want to get caught.  Saul is thinking about himself first and foremost.

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Year 4, Day 300: 1 Samuel 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

Saul displays a horrible perspective of decision making here in this chapter.  He makes a rash vow that ultimately places his son in jeopardy.  When his son – who knows that the vow his father made was silly – is found to be guilty, Saul demands justice.  Saul could have acknowledge how poorly timed his vow was.  After all, what general starves his soldiers the day of a big battle?  But rather than admit how foolish the vow was, Saul demands that his vow be executed even if it means that His own son must die.

Saul is after approval in this passage.  Saul wants the people to see how seriously he takes his own words.  Saul wants the people to take their own words as seriously as he takes his words.  He wants the people to look at him and admire him for being willing to have the “law” apply to himself as much as it applies to everyone else.

But Saul is in the wrong.  The vow he made was foolish.  It was foolish on many levels.  If Saul wanted approval, he should have repented of the foolish vow and shown the people what repentance looks like.  That would have not only gotten him the approval of the people – who ransom Jonathon back from death anyways – as well as gotten him the approval of God.

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Year 4, Day 299: 1 Samuel 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

Saul knows the Philistines are gathering against him.  He needs to be victorious.  After all, that’s why the people wanted a king!  The people want someone to rally the troops and follow.  So Saul feels the pressure of the situation.  He feels the pressure to succeed.

Saul’s ambition gets ahead of God.  Rather than waiting upon the Lord, Saul offers the sacrifice himself.  In his quest for ambition, Saul becomes impatient.  Because Saul wants to be victorious, he takes matters into his own hands.

Look at the consequences of Saul’s foolishness.  Saul’s son will not reign over Israel.  The line of kings will go through someone besides Saul.  Saul’s quest for ambition actually ends up thwarting his long-term ambition.  That’s how it often is with God.  When we take matters into our own hands, our efforts often act counter-productively to what God is actually doing.  We need to let go of our personal ambition and instead seek the Lord and His designs for our life.

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Year 4, Day 298: 1 Samuel 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Given everything that is going on, I find it absolutely amazing to hear these words from 1 Samuel.  The people have rejected God as their king.  They want a human king so that they can be like all the other nations.  God has every right to abandon them and forget about them.  God has every right to tell the people that they have made the covenant void.

But that isn’t what God does.  God has Samuel tell the people that God is still with them.  If they continue to follow God and God’s ways, it will go well with them.  God has every right to abandon them, but that isn’t what happens at all.  God sticks by them in spite of their rebellion.  God displays His desire to forgive rather than judge in wrath.

For that matter, so does Samuel.  Samuel follows God’s lead.  Samuel is saying farewell as the judge over the people in this passage.  But Samuel isn’t saying goodbye.  He will still pray for them.  He will still lift them up before God.  He might not be their leader anymore, but that doesn’t mean that he cannot pray that they find God’s will and obey it.  Although they have been rebellious, Samuel still prays for them.  That’s a man after God’s own forgiving heart!

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Year 4, Day 297: 1 Samuel 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

The Hebrew people make me laugh.  They were brought out of Egypt under Moses.  They conquered the Promised Land under Joshua.  All of this was put in motion by God.  But a few chapters ago they told Samuel that they don’t want God as their king – they want a human as a king so that they can be like the other nations.  I don’t know that there is a clearer statement of identity to be found.

Then we get to this chapter.  Saul goes out to battle and musters a huge force to go with him.  When he gets the victory, the people embrace Saul.  He can’t do wrong in their eyes.  In fact, they embrace Saul so much that they want to go out and kill the people who stood up and asked why Saul should reign over them!  They get swept up into a single momentous victory!

I heard someone say once, “The person who is in the position of victory always seems to be invincible at the moment.”  Victory comes and goes.

But it is interesting to see who desires to place their identity in being Saul’s supporters.  They rejected God.  They clearly don’t want their identity to be from God.  So they put their identity in the next successful human that comes along.  In their disobedience to God their identity shifts to a different source.

Of course, I’m not always any better.  I’m not judging the Hebrew people.  I’m learning from them.

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