2 Samuel 14:14 We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and He devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.

Our words and actions, and sometimes even our in-actions cannot be undone. Oh how I wish I could have hit “Rewind” and redo some ghastly mistakes. Sometimes immediately after it happened!

Luckily God isn’t sitting on His throne with some kind of big zapper, and blast me into the netherworld. (Though I might have deserved it if He did). Even more luckily for me, God doesn’t give us our just deserts without first offering us a way out. This seems to happen over and over and over.

I guess instead of woefully wishing I could “Rewind” my inadequacies and iniquities, I should pay forward the Grace, Mercy and Compassion the Lord has so freely given me.

2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the King’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

David has solidified his position as king. He has defeated his enemies at every turn. While his army is off fighting another war, David remains behind.  One evening he is walking on the roof of the palace and he spies Bathsheba, who is the wife of Uriah, one of his men. She is bathing.  He finds out who she is and eventually they have an affair.

David sends Uriah off on an unnecessary suicide mission and takes Bathsheba as his wife.

God is none too happy with this and serious problems ensue. As a result, great calamity falls on David and his House.

The important point of this verse is: David should not have been hanging out on his roof checking out the villagers.  He should have been with his army.  David may have had some issues before he spied Bathsheba, but sin did not rear its ugly head until David allowed himself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When we go where we shouldn’t have gone, it becomes a small step to do what we shouldn’t have done.

2 Samuel 7:3 Nathan replied to the king. “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

Sometimes it seems like God expects us to follow a rather big “Do” list and an even bigger “Do Not” List.  Of course this could not be further from the truth.

I want to say that our standing with God isn’t so much with lists as it is with relationship.  But to tell you the truth, sometimes I think that “Relationship” has almost become a buzzword of the fashionably pious.

Of course, it is about “Relationship”!  But everybody has a relationship with God.  Some good, some not so good, some relationships even deny His existence.  What matters is the type of relationship we have with God.  I believe what we need is “kinship”.

My dictionary defines “kinship” this way:                             1. Connection by blood, marriage, or adoption; family relationship. 2. Relationship by nature or character.

Synonyms are: affinity, sympathy, rapport, harmony, understanding, empathy, closeness, bond, compatibility, similarity, likeness, correspondence, concordance.

We attempt to get closer to God; God draws us closer to Him. As kinship with God develops, it brings affinity, rapport, likeness, and correspondence with God. God is with us and that opens up whole new avenues of thoughts and desires.

Ah, to be in such a position: “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

2 Samuel 6:20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal, daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

At the point of this verse, this is the story thus far:
For some time Saul has hunted David and his men. Twice, David is in the position to kill Saul, but lets him go. Each time Saul backs off, but only for a short time. Then the Philistine’s attack and Saul is killed in battle. Eventually, David becomes King of all Israel.

Once David is King, the Philistines renew their attacks. After David defeats the Philistines, he decides to move the Ark of the Covenant. (This was a chest that contained the tablets the Ten Commandments were written on, and perhaps a few other important items from the time of the Exodus).

There is great rejoicing as the Ark is brought into Jerusalem. David goes before the procession and dances with all his might. Michal, his wife, watches him from a window. Then she accosts David in the above verse.

To paraphrase David’s response, “First, I was not dancing in front of slave girls. I was dancing before the Lord God Almighty. And second, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

As a result of this encounter, David does not bless his house. Michal would be barren, and the best days of her life would be behind her.

As with Michal, sometimes our own ideas, whether they are judgmental attitudes, unfounded prejudices, or we simply try to put God in a box; get in the way of our own blessings

1 Samuel 21:13 …so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Up to this point in the First Book of Samuel, David has defeated Goliath, and then his fame spread.  Saul promotes David to lead some of his troops.  David becomes more successful than any of Saul’s other commanders.  Soon David’s fame exceeds that of Saul’s to such a point that Saul becomes jealous and fears David will replace him.  Saul plots to kill David, but David escapes and flees to Gath in Philistia. There he is taken to King Achish. David is scared and he pretends to be mad. Achish basically says, “I got enough crazy people here already! Get him out of here!” He drives David out of Gath where upon David hides in a cave.

According to the notes in my Bible, it is here that David writes Psalms 34 and 56.

This story struck me for a couple of reasons. First, the idea of David feigning insanity makes for a good story in itself.  However, upon further reflection, I couldn’t help but think about what David must be thinking. He was on top and going higher, only to suffer total fear and humiliation.

Perhaps some brokenness or humility is necessary. Perhaps it is those things that bring people closer to God.  We all face fear and frustrations; trial and tribulations. When we do, it would probably help us to remember some of the words that David wrote in his cave: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” (Psalm 34:18-19a).

1 Samuel 17:28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

The Lord was unhappy with Saul and chose David to become King of Israel. However, at this point in the storyline, no one is really aware of this and David had not yet ascended to the throne.  Saul, who was still King, led his men out to battle.

When the opposing armies assembled, Goliath the champion of the Philistines challenged Israel’s champion and taunted the Israelites and belittled them. Three of David’s brothers were with Saul at his encampment. David’s father, Jesse sent him with food for his brothers. When he reached the camp of Israel, Goliath was again hurling insults. David inquired what was going on. His older brother verbally blasted him.

The odd thing is, someone who should love David and know him best, accuses him of having an evil heart. Yet the Bible says that he was a man after God’s own heart. Eliab says he ignored the family’s sheep and came because he was conceited. Yet it was only because their father sent him that David was there. Finally he is accused of coming only to watch the battle. Yet no battle was going on. The Israelities, including David’s brothers were too afraid of Goliath. It would be David who would face Goliath with a sling and a stone.

We are often misjudged by others and misunderstood by people closest to us.  However, in the end, really only matters what God thinks of us (and what we think of God).

1 Samuel 15:12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel.  There he set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

What struck me about this verse or the story of the Bible that this is taken from, is not that King Saul built a monument to himself, or that once again he did not do as the Lord asked. The thing that hit me was that he was at Gilgal again.  Gilgal was where he was crowned King; the Kingship was renewed there; and finally he is rejected at Gilgal because of his disobedience.

Then I remembered that Joshua and the Israelites camped at Gilgal before the Battle of Jericho. It was there the Gibeonites made a treaty with the Israelites. Samuel held court at Gilgal.  A quick glance at my Strong’s shows that Gilgal appears to be a rather important place in the Bible. The name means rolling stone or circle of stone. Perhaps as in “coming full circle”.

Think about this: the Israelites refuse to enter the Promised Land; after a forty-year period, they come full circle; and are given a second chance to enter.

Saul is crowned King.  He doesn’t live up to potential. He is brought back to Gilgal. He disobeys the Word of the Lord.  Goes full circle again, and comes back to Gilgal, only to be unrepentant.

Our God is a God of the Second and Third Chance (and sometimes many more). When reading the Bible, the name, the place or the significance of Gilgal may go unnoticed. Just as multiple chances and opportunities are sometimes overlooked in our own lives. How lucky we are for the times of Gilgal in our lives and the times we are often brought “full circle”.

1 Samuel 14:36 Saul said, “Let us go down and pursue the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive”. “Do whatever seems best to you,” They (the people of Israel) replied. But the priest said, “Let us inquire of God here.”

Saul was anointed King of Israel. However, his behavior and attitude began to get him into trouble.  God would choose another whose line would be established as King.

I think this verse is a harbinger of things to come.

God established a king because the people wanted one. Then Saul presented his ideas before the people instead of God.  The attitude of the people was that he should do whatever pleased him.

It may be a stretch, but isn’t that’s what is wrong in America? The leaders of our society (whether it is our government, our heroes or our celebrities) become less responsive to what is right than to what they think the people want or what idea, product or attitude they can sell to the people and sometimes just whatever pleases the leaders themselves.

The masses unfortunately often follow the personality rather than the good. When they did it in the Bible, trouble ensued. Is it really any different today?

1 Samuel 12:23a  As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.

In this verse, Samuel, the last of the Judges of God’s Chosen People, anoints Saul king of Israel.  Samuel performs this act despite the fact that he knows it is wrong.  Though God was not pleased that the people wanted a king, He instructed Samuel to make Saul ruler.

As Saul is installed as the monarch, Samuel chastises the people for demanding a king. Even so, Samuel reminds those present that God has required him to pray for the people. (It is a sin if he doesn’t).

Makes me wonder: does God require any less from me?

1Samuel 5:9 And it was so, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and He smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerod’s in their secret parts.

First Book of Samuel: Hannah is barren and without children. She makes a vow to God, if she can have one child, she will dedicate him to the Lord. She becomes pregnant and gives birth to Samuel. She gives him to Head Priest Eli to be trained, as God’s own.

Meanwhile Eli’s own kids (who also serve as priests) are corrupt and abusing their position. Because of this and other issues, the Israelites suffer defeat at the hands of the Philistines. The Philistines take the Ark of God. Bad things happen to the Philistines because they took the Ark. This is what the above passage is about. (Note: emerods are hemorrhoids).

I don’t really have a comment on this… Perhaps it doesn’t need any of my comments.