David: Called A Man After God's Own Heart
Memory Verse:
'I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. '
John 10:9
Sermon Sentence: David was far from perfect but still loved and used extensively by God.
'I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. '
John 10:9
Sermon Sentence: David was far from perfect but still loved and used extensively by God.
Day 1
Read 1 Samuel 24:1-15
How do you know when you’re in God’s will?
This is never as “black and white” as we’d like it to be. Or at least it hasn’t seemed that way to me. In the example I gave during the sermon, Liz and I were very troubled in trying to choose the right path concerning my family’s situation. It may be easy to “read and regard from afar” and not attempt to understand what path you would have taken in the situation. And you have that luxury. But I’d suggest that you take advantage of an opportunity to reflect and learn from what happened to us. In 1 Samuel 24:1-7 we have an example – David. If anyone would have seemed “justified” in taking Saul’s life in the cave, it seems that David would have fit that “bill”. But David, as God described him, was “a man after His own heart…” (1 Samuel 13:14). There was a bond, a communication link, a relationship between God and David.
We have the opportunity to build our own, personal relationship with God. He’s given us His Word to read, learn, and build that relationship. But it can’t be built by engaging with God’s Word only on Sunday morning. Or by reading a verse here and there. This is something that I’ve wrestled with for a long time. And I’ve allowed myself to remain frustrated by my own lack of knowledge. But the truth is that I’ve never prioritized God’s Word above other priorities in my life. I’ve started to do that now in a group that has committed to each other to spend that time daily, reading chapters of God’s Word at a time. And, like anything else, that which gets the most attention and focus in our lives is where we progress.
I’m not as far along as I’d like to be, but there is progress in the right direction.
Looking introspectively, what changes can you make right now to positively affect the time you spend in His Word?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
How do you know when you’re in God’s will?
This is never as “black and white” as we’d like it to be. Or at least it hasn’t seemed that way to me. In the example I gave during the sermon, Liz and I were very troubled in trying to choose the right path concerning my family’s situation. It may be easy to “read and regard from afar” and not attempt to understand what path you would have taken in the situation. And you have that luxury. But I’d suggest that you take advantage of an opportunity to reflect and learn from what happened to us. In 1 Samuel 24:1-7 we have an example – David. If anyone would have seemed “justified” in taking Saul’s life in the cave, it seems that David would have fit that “bill”. But David, as God described him, was “a man after His own heart…” (1 Samuel 13:14). There was a bond, a communication link, a relationship between God and David.
We have the opportunity to build our own, personal relationship with God. He’s given us His Word to read, learn, and build that relationship. But it can’t be built by engaging with God’s Word only on Sunday morning. Or by reading a verse here and there. This is something that I’ve wrestled with for a long time. And I’ve allowed myself to remain frustrated by my own lack of knowledge. But the truth is that I’ve never prioritized God’s Word above other priorities in my life. I’ve started to do that now in a group that has committed to each other to spend that time daily, reading chapters of God’s Word at a time. And, like anything else, that which gets the most attention and focus in our lives is where we progress.
I’m not as far along as I’d like to be, but there is progress in the right direction.
Looking introspectively, what changes can you make right now to positively affect the time you spend in His Word?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-15
At the very heart of all sin is selfishness. That is why sin leaves an injustice. The problem is that most of the time, in those moments we do not extrapolate that to understand what has happened. We assume that sin is about us and to us. Rarely do we consider that in all sin there is an offense against others and an offense against God. Both need to be recognized to really lead to true repentance. Also, the practice of regular repentance is helpful like the exercise of a muscle. The more we refuse to repent in the small and big parts of life, the more easy it is to just not repent. I think the opposite of this tends to be true as well. The more that we repent in the small and large things in life, the easier the act of repentance becomes. The reason it is like that is because it is like we are living in a place of humility when we are honest with ourselves.
For David, Nathan had to wrap the story as an allegorical story in order to make him realize the offense that was against more than just God. David’s selfish decision seemed like a lapse in judgement on his part that could have been prevented with better boundaries. Sure it was that. But that is not all that it was. It was a selfish robbery of a marriage that he had no right to. It was also an overstep of his position and took advantage of a person that he was supposed to be caring for. SIn is always more than what is in our minds. The avoiding of sin is why we do not understand this. It is when we stop and spend time on it that God reveals to our hearts what is really going on.
What is the lesson you should learn from this story today?
How have you seen that sin in your life is an offense against God and also against others?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
At the very heart of all sin is selfishness. That is why sin leaves an injustice. The problem is that most of the time, in those moments we do not extrapolate that to understand what has happened. We assume that sin is about us and to us. Rarely do we consider that in all sin there is an offense against others and an offense against God. Both need to be recognized to really lead to true repentance. Also, the practice of regular repentance is helpful like the exercise of a muscle. The more we refuse to repent in the small and big parts of life, the more easy it is to just not repent. I think the opposite of this tends to be true as well. The more that we repent in the small and large things in life, the easier the act of repentance becomes. The reason it is like that is because it is like we are living in a place of humility when we are honest with ourselves.
For David, Nathan had to wrap the story as an allegorical story in order to make him realize the offense that was against more than just God. David’s selfish decision seemed like a lapse in judgement on his part that could have been prevented with better boundaries. Sure it was that. But that is not all that it was. It was a selfish robbery of a marriage that he had no right to. It was also an overstep of his position and took advantage of a person that he was supposed to be caring for. SIn is always more than what is in our minds. The avoiding of sin is why we do not understand this. It is when we stop and spend time on it that God reveals to our hearts what is really going on.
What is the lesson you should learn from this story today?
How have you seen that sin in your life is an offense against God and also against others?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Hebrews 12:3-17
For some of you, this must be a difficult passage to hear. Depending on how you experienced or learned discipline, this may be a struggle to work through. The writer is giving it to us as an encouragement. That means that if we are struggling with working through it in any other way, then we should think about what we are hearing versus what the writer is actually saying. The writer is telling us that the discipline comes from love and a place of wanting better for us. That is why they end it with the encouragement to lift your drooping hands and strengthen your knees. This is good news! Sin does not get to win in the end of it all. The enemy has desired to steal, kill, and destroy, but the gospel is that sin has lost its power and now can be turned into good. If sin only had the power to tear down and destroy, then it makes sense that discipline would be discouraging and defeating. But Jesus changed that. He defeated sin for us and makes all things work for the good, according to His purpose. His purpose is that we have life and good things and He restores us in our brokenness. Therefore, our sin is not the end or the trap! We have been freed and given the ability to live not in shame and brokenness, but forgiveness and restoration. We don’t have to keep being what we were! We can repent and be changed. That is the beauty of the discipline of God in our lives. Discipline should always be for the purpose and goal of restoration.
How have you seen discipline that is different from this idea in your life?
How should this help inform how you discipline in your family?
Where do you see the discipline of God in your life right now?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
For some of you, this must be a difficult passage to hear. Depending on how you experienced or learned discipline, this may be a struggle to work through. The writer is giving it to us as an encouragement. That means that if we are struggling with working through it in any other way, then we should think about what we are hearing versus what the writer is actually saying. The writer is telling us that the discipline comes from love and a place of wanting better for us. That is why they end it with the encouragement to lift your drooping hands and strengthen your knees. This is good news! Sin does not get to win in the end of it all. The enemy has desired to steal, kill, and destroy, but the gospel is that sin has lost its power and now can be turned into good. If sin only had the power to tear down and destroy, then it makes sense that discipline would be discouraging and defeating. But Jesus changed that. He defeated sin for us and makes all things work for the good, according to His purpose. His purpose is that we have life and good things and He restores us in our brokenness. Therefore, our sin is not the end or the trap! We have been freed and given the ability to live not in shame and brokenness, but forgiveness and restoration. We don’t have to keep being what we were! We can repent and be changed. That is the beauty of the discipline of God in our lives. Discipline should always be for the purpose and goal of restoration.
How have you seen discipline that is different from this idea in your life?
How should this help inform how you discipline in your family?
Where do you see the discipline of God in your life right now?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 4
Read 1 Samuel 25:1-13
Road rage has grown out of control in the last decade. Not in the way that you think I mean. I mean something completely different. I mean it has grown out of control for the rager and has become unfair. (Surely you will get the sarcastic joke by the time I am done here. Bear with me.) When I was younger and would get cut off, I felt free to express my disgust at the person that was wrong. If there was someone driving too slow, it made sense to ride their bumper a bit too close for comfort. If they changed a lane in a bad way or in a way that I did not approve of, I could passionately make my case in my car by flailing my arms in protest. Not any more. Now road rage seems to always escalate and the other person seems to all of the sudden feel they get to interject their opinions as well. Now a bumper riding becomes a brake check contest that then turns into windows down and actual words being shared. From there it gets outside of the car and then property and persons are damaged. It is almost like it doesn’t solve anything anymore because it gets out of hand. No one likes to be yelled at. No one likes to be cut off. No one likes to be belittled for a driving mistake. So the bigger the scene gets, the further away from the minor issue of driving transgression it becomes and the more about pride and protecting an image.
In fact, I would say that is true in more places than just driving. I guess marriage and parenting are like that too? The louder the argument gets and the more emotional, the more it becomes about just being heard and not being humiliated in front of people. I wonder if this story is more of a story about pre-car road rage than anything else?
How does your pride being hurt make you want to fight against that idea?
What does it look like in your life right now, to leave justice to God and trust that he will vindicate you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Road rage has grown out of control in the last decade. Not in the way that you think I mean. I mean something completely different. I mean it has grown out of control for the rager and has become unfair. (Surely you will get the sarcastic joke by the time I am done here. Bear with me.) When I was younger and would get cut off, I felt free to express my disgust at the person that was wrong. If there was someone driving too slow, it made sense to ride their bumper a bit too close for comfort. If they changed a lane in a bad way or in a way that I did not approve of, I could passionately make my case in my car by flailing my arms in protest. Not any more. Now road rage seems to always escalate and the other person seems to all of the sudden feel they get to interject their opinions as well. Now a bumper riding becomes a brake check contest that then turns into windows down and actual words being shared. From there it gets outside of the car and then property and persons are damaged. It is almost like it doesn’t solve anything anymore because it gets out of hand. No one likes to be yelled at. No one likes to be cut off. No one likes to be belittled for a driving mistake. So the bigger the scene gets, the further away from the minor issue of driving transgression it becomes and the more about pride and protecting an image.
In fact, I would say that is true in more places than just driving. I guess marriage and parenting are like that too? The louder the argument gets and the more emotional, the more it becomes about just being heard and not being humiliated in front of people. I wonder if this story is more of a story about pre-car road rage than anything else?
How does your pride being hurt make you want to fight against that idea?
What does it look like in your life right now, to leave justice to God and trust that he will vindicate you?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read 1 Samuel 25:14-44
David was a complicated person. As most people are when we really give them thought. David could restrain himself from slaughtering to get the throne that all signs seemed to point toward him getting soon, but then when it came to this small incident that mattered little to nothing, he flew of the handle and was ready to break every covenant with God he could to not be humiliated in front of his men. In fact, if you were to ask someone for the name of the Bible character that showed the most restraint in not doing what they wanted to do and rather trusting God at His word and waiting for Him to work, I bet David would make everyone’s top 3 list. In other words, he was both. He was a prideful hothead that seemed to struggle with anger and a quick temper, but he was also very reserved and careful in what he did.
Maybe a good takeaway from this story is to consider how reflective we are of ourselves. One of the biggest problems with pride is that it takes our minds off of hearing those around us and just focuses on hearing ourselves. It is really easy for me to convince myself of what I want to. It is really difficult to be willing to listen to those that are speaking against us and allowing them to speak into our lives. After studying the story where Nathan the prophet spoke against David’s sin by creating a story to illustrate the point outside of David’s life, to seeing the amount of flowery words that Abigail has to bring up to calm David enough to be reflective, maybe we should learn the lesson of being listeners rather than reactors.
Where should you be listening to those around you that you have not been lately due to pride?
Do you feel you are easy to talk critically to (not critically at) and what would those closest to you say?
What is a time recently you have allowed someone to speak into your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
David was a complicated person. As most people are when we really give them thought. David could restrain himself from slaughtering to get the throne that all signs seemed to point toward him getting soon, but then when it came to this small incident that mattered little to nothing, he flew of the handle and was ready to break every covenant with God he could to not be humiliated in front of his men. In fact, if you were to ask someone for the name of the Bible character that showed the most restraint in not doing what they wanted to do and rather trusting God at His word and waiting for Him to work, I bet David would make everyone’s top 3 list. In other words, he was both. He was a prideful hothead that seemed to struggle with anger and a quick temper, but he was also very reserved and careful in what he did.
Maybe a good takeaway from this story is to consider how reflective we are of ourselves. One of the biggest problems with pride is that it takes our minds off of hearing those around us and just focuses on hearing ourselves. It is really easy for me to convince myself of what I want to. It is really difficult to be willing to listen to those that are speaking against us and allowing them to speak into our lives. After studying the story where Nathan the prophet spoke against David’s sin by creating a story to illustrate the point outside of David’s life, to seeing the amount of flowery words that Abigail has to bring up to calm David enough to be reflective, maybe we should learn the lesson of being listeners rather than reactors.
Where should you be listening to those around you that you have not been lately due to pride?
Do you feel you are easy to talk critically to (not critically at) and what would those closest to you say?
What is a time recently you have allowed someone to speak into your life?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
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