28. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

In our text today we have the meeting of David and Abigal.  

Here is the story:

I Samuel 25:23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name–his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent. 26 ”Now since the Lord has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. 28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the Lord will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the Lord’s battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, 31 my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord has brought my master success, remember your servant.”

32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.” 35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”

Our story is very interesting today.  Abigal immediately reaches out to David to save her household.   Abigal also understands what God has done concerning David.   She makes the comment that the Lord will surely make an everlasting dynasty for David because he fights the Lord’s battles.    Abigal also understands that God is going to make David the next king of Israel.

She also asks David that when the Lord fulfills all the promises towards him that he would remember her.

If you notice in the text, Abigal admits that she is married to a fool.   Nabal’s name even means folly or foolish.   In this desert land that they live in, Abigal has somehow heard of the fame of David but moreso than that she is aware what God is doing in his life; information that her husband evidently is not aware of for he views David simply as a man that is on the run from his master. 

Well, what happens to Nabal?

Tune in on Monday, to see how this interesting account continues. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and take time out to share and love and be nice to someone and just take time out for you.   Be quiet before the Lord and just enjoy his presence.  

God Bless you!!!!!!!!

 Stay encouraged and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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27. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:I’m trying to catch a plane from New York back to Atlanta, so I’m running but I wanted to continue our story.  Today, we will look at Abigail’s response to finding out what her husband Nabal had done. 

Here is the story:I Samuel 25:18 Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless–all my watching over this fellow’s property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to himTomorrow, we will study the conversation between Abigal and David. Stay encouraged!God Bless  and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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26. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

In our text today, it picks up with Nabal’s response after David had sent men to him inquiring for help.Here is the story:

I Samuel 25:10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” 12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Put on your swords!” So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies. 14 One of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail: “David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

As you can see, our story is pretty much self explanatory.   Nabal refuses David’s offer to help him and his men so David gathers his men together to go to war against him.   One of the servants told Abigal (Nabal’s wife) what had happened and how David had been good to them and protected them in the wilderness and Nabal’s refusal to repay the good deeds and because of that; destruction was now coming to the house of Nabal.The story ends with the servant asking Abigal to think it over and see what she can do to help save the house of Nabal.Tomorrow, we will see what Abigal’s response is.

Stay encouraged!

God Bless  and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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25. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text opens up today with some very sad news; Samuel dies.  We have not heard from Samuel since he anointed David as king but this phenomenal prophet’s journey has come to an end.

Here is our story:

I Samuel 24: Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon. 2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings. 4 While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! 7 ”‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my young men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’” 9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

In our text, after the death of Samuel, David moves into the Desert of Maon and while he was there, he had been watchful over a wealthy man’s sheep and shepherds by the name of Nabal.    David is in need of food for his men and because he has been kind to Nabal’s property, he sends a message to him requesting that whatever he could spare, please do so.

Notice that yesterday’s lesson dealt with Saul apparently making amends with David and making covenants with one another.   Now our lesson shifts to David’s dealings with others. 

Tomorrow, we will see what Nabal’s response to David will be.  It is quite interesting.

Please notice in our text that Nabal has this beautiful wife by the name of Abigal.  She will be very key in our study.

Stay encouraged!!!

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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24. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text for today picks up with what Saul will say to David after he has found out that David had the opportunity to kill him but he did not. 

Here is the story:

I Samuel 24:16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. 17 ”You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. 18 You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. 19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. 20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21 Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” 22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Our story is very interesting today.  As you can see from the text, Saul is feeling remorse and has realized that David is more righteous than him for having the opportunity to kill his enemby yet he did not. 

You will also see in the text that Saul confesses to David that he is aware that he is suppose to be the next king of Israel and asks David to make a covenant with him that he will not cut off his descendants or wipe out his name from his father’s family.

David agrees.  He gives this oath to Saul despite how Saul has constantly tried to kill him.   

Saul does return home but will this be the end of Saul’s hunt for David to destroy him so that the kingdom have stay in the hand of Saul.   What Saul does not realize is that you cannot “kill” the plan of God. David was destined to be Israel’s next king.   Saul would never be able to kill David because of God’s plan on his life.

We’ll continue our story on tomorrow, but is this act of kindness enough on David’s behalf or will Saul quickly forget this conversation and turn on David again.

We’ll see as we continue our journey to David’s rise to the monarchy.

God Bless you!!!!!!!!

 Stay encouraged and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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19. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text for today picks up with what David will say to King Saul after he picks himself from the ground from paying honor and respect to the king.  The incidence was David seeing Saul in the cave and having the ability to kill him and end this chase on his life, he instead just cut off a piece of his garment and he later felt convicted that he had done that.

Here is the story:

I Samuel 24:9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 13 As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you. 14 ”Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”

As you can see from the story, David is letting Saul know that he had every opportunity to kill him and his men even urged him to kill him but he refused because he knew that Saul was God’s anointed.   He calls Saul his father.  He tried to let him know that he has not been guilty of any wrong doing or rebellion and that he has never tried to harm him.

Evidently, Saul also has men in the camp that have been whispering in his ears that David is trying to steal the kingdom from him.   David opens this conversation up by saying:  Why do you listen when men say that He is trying to harm him.

Tomorrow, we will study Saul’s response to David.

God Bless you!!!!!!!!

 Stay encouraged and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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18. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

In our text today, we pick up from the story where Saul stops pursuing David because Israel was under attack from the Philistines.  In our lesson today, the tables are turned and Saul falls in the hands of David.

Let’s look at the story:

I Samuel 24:1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. 8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

This is a famous account in the life of David.   Most people are familiar with this account.  Saul sets out to begin his journey of pursuing David again when he enters a cave to use the bathroom.   While he is there, David gets so close to him that he is able to cut a piece of garment.

David’s men are so excited because they feel that the Lord has given David his enemy into his hands and they want David to kill Saul.  Something so fascinating happens in the text.  David gets convicted that he even cuts a piece of his garment and tells his men that Saul is still God’s anointed and that he can not raise his hand to kill him. 

David actually calls out to Saul and bows before him and acknowledges him as king not as his enemy.  How powerful is that.   David was an amazing man and had such a heart and discernment for the things of God.   David has every right to end this madness, kill the man that is hunting him, and ordered all the priests killed and has attempted murder on him on several accounts.   People would have considered him justified in his actions but David felt that it was not the will of God for him to kill Saul seeing that he is still the man that God has in the position of the kingship though David had been identified by the prophet Samuel as the next king. 

WOW!!!!!!!!!  That’s pretty powerful.  David knew that God had not released Saul from the throne yet and though he would be Israel’s next King, David did absolutely nothing to ensure that he put himself in that position.    I love this passage.  It shows us that we don’t have to help God.   When it is our season to go forth and come into our destiny, then God will do it and prepare the way and move others out of the way if necessary.

It is all in the hands of God.  Our job is to be faithful where we are currently planted and be our best no matter what we are doing in life and God will honor our faithfulness and will cause all things to manifest in its season.

Tomorrow, we will see what David says to Saul after he has bowed down in reverence and respect to him.

 Be encouraged!

God Bless!!!!!!!

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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17. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone:

I’m headed home after a wonderful week in San Diego and Los Angeles. I did a women’s conference there and I missed everyone already. It was great… God is just so good. Well I’m at the airport headed home. We’ll pick up our study on tomorrow.

God Bless. Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily…..

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14. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text for today is as follows:

I Samuel 23: 19 The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? 20 Now, O king, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king.” 21 Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. 22 Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. 23 Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.” 24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David. 26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

In our story today, we still see the sovereign hand of God.   Saul got information as to where David was and when he went to kill him, a more pressing matter arose being that the Philistines were raiding the land.  Saul had to leave his pursuit for David and go and assure the nation’s safety.

God’s providence.   How Powerful.   No matter how close the enemy got, God always blocked him from getting to David.   God even raised up a foreign enemy to distract Saul from his obsession with killing David.  

We are nearing the end of Saul’s reign and the kingdom will soon be turned over to David but in all this, David is being trained to meet his destiny.   His men are being trained.  Yes, it is a terrible situation that they are end, but God is using it to build Israel a strong king and a strong army and turning David into a “a man after God’s own heart.” 

During this time that David is on the run is when he penned many of his psalms.   We find through the liturgy of song that David was becoming a worshipper, developing into a man that loved God and a man that craved  the presence of God.  I know you have heard me say this a lot lately but somehow this scripture is such a reality to me.   God does work all things together for our good. 

Have a wonderful weekend.   See you on Monday in webland.

God Bless  and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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13. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Today’s story picks up from where David escaped from the land of Keliah before the people gave him over to Saul.   Let’s look at the continuation of the story.   Here is the text:I Samuel 23:14 David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. 15 While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17 ”Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh. As you can see in our text, David was getting a little weary from his being on the run from Saul.  The text says that Jonathan came and strengthened his friend.  Jonathan went on to tell him that he was to be the next king of Israel and even his father knows that.   Isn’t it amazing how when we’re going through, people will come to us and tell us that they can see that God will do great things in our life but we just want the misery to end?   We hear that our mess will be our message and our struggle will manifest our destiny.   BUT WE JUST WANT IT ALL TO END.  We want to get to the other side of this pain.Those are all natural feelings.   While we do not know why God chooses certain routes to allow us to go through to work out his plan in our lives what we do know is that God is faithful and we can trust that God’s plan for us is far better than anything we can come up with and God even works our mistakes and failures together for our good and his glory.David is feeling a little weak but his friend comes to him at this strategic time to let him know that no matter what it looks like now, he is destined for greatness and even in this struggle, the text teaches that God did not give David into the hand of Saul.  God was protecting him the entire time no matter how close Saul got to him.

Jonathan and David made another covenant before the Lord and he encouraged him to not be afraid of his father Saul.Stay encouraged.   No matter what you’re going through, it will work together for your good, and you will come out of it and you will discover the plan of God for your life and it’s going to be so phenomenal.  Just trust him.   I told my husband on last week when I was going through a particular situation that I felt like I was in over my head and he quickly reminded me that I was taking on a burden and a problem that I need not to, he simply instructed me to give it over to God.   I know it is easily said but with time, practice, and experience we do learn to let things go and to give them to God in prayer and to stay focused and move towards our destiny. 

God Bless  and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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