Oh Lord, your gospel is precious
and mysterious. Thank you that your promises are true, that we can bank our
lives on them and proclaim them to the world around us.
Please help
me to live a life that is above the reproach of the watching world. Help me to
lead my family well. May I practice self-control in my private and public life.
Give me a genuine heart for your people and for sound doctrine. May I be able
to lead and teach well your commands.
Help me oh
Lord to sift through the traditions that creep into moralism. Help me to preach
truth in love, expecting and living obedience but not placing my confidence in
it. Help me to constantly point to your mercy and grace as the motivations for
our obedience. Keep me from the legalism that so easily encroaches toward pride
and self-satisfaction. May I lovingly call it what it is, and correctively teach
your word rightly. May I guard myself and others against this wayward tendency.
Amen.
Lord, help me to work hard at learning your word and bless
my efforts. May I be able to preach and lead well with what you have entrusted
to me. Help me to be patient in teaching and in enduring hardships. May I
fulfill the ministry you have given me.
May I follow Paul’s example and finish the race strong,
looking to Jesus, my Lord and Judge.
Help me to be wise, proactive, and glorifying to you even in
the face of trials.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit, give me the grace needed to
complete the tasks ahead. You are faithful always. In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
Lord, help me to avoid being entangled with those who love
other things more than yourself. May I love you more than anything. Help me to
watch out for but also protect others who are susceptible to learning or
knowledge without wisdom. May I not be led astray by various passions but
rather stay true to your word and your mission.
Help me to be wise in how I handle persecution as it comes
my way, may I be able to endure it with patience and love. May I hold fast to
the truth from you and your word and be found faithful. Help me to rely on the
truth of your word and the power in the scriptures. May I learn it and live it
to equip myself and others for every good work. Amen.
O God, may I receive the grace you have given me. May I
remember and put into practice the instruction you have given me and that has
been given me by faithful men and women. May I not fear suffering or discipline
but may I faithfully focus on the work you have called me to do.
Help me to remember Jesus Christ and those he came to save
as motivation to endure through hardships. Help me to remember the glory that
is yet to come and the warnings against faithlessness. Thanks you for always
being faithful, even when I am not.
Help me to work hard, to handle your word rightly and
faithfully. May I teach and practice it well as I also lead others to do the
same. May none unnecessarily waver in their faith because of me. Please give me
wisdom to deal with those who handle your word carelessly and who leave trouble
in their wake. May all of us who are yours depart for wrong doing. Help me to
lead myself and others to repentance.
Help me to be used for honorable service to you. Help me to
be and remain holy for your work and not for the dishonorable work of others or
myself. May I follow those how call on you from a pure heart. May I discipline
myself and not simply follow the passions of my flesh but may I pursue
righteousness, faith, love and peace.
Please give me the wisdom and insight to avoid foolish
controversies that distract and hinder your work. Help me not to engage in them
myself and help me to keep others from doing the same.
O God help me to be kind and patient, not someone who fights
or causes quarrels. May I be someone who represents you well and brings those
who have strayed back to you through my words and conduct. May I be used by you
to save others from the power of the Devil and his plans. Amen.
David is now on the run and truly alone. He can’t go to
Samuel the prophet, he can’t go to Jonathan his friend and ally, he feels the
weight of fending for himself, by himself. He has felt the bloodlust from his
enemies in battle before but now he also feels it from his own countrymen. A
price is on his head, the king’s men are everywhere, the walls are closing in.
In his desperate flight, provisions are basically
nonexistent as he comes to the city where the tabernacle and priests are. David
is resourceful, cunning and desperate and in this moment his faith in his God
falters, he lies to try and save his own neck. He tells the priest that he is
on king’s business (information traveled a bit slower than CNN or a twitter
feed back then) and that he needs some food. The only bread available is the
holy bread which only priest were allowed to eat. The priest Ahimelech decides
to follow the spirit of the Law instead of the letter of it and feeds the man
in his desperate need (latter endorsed by Jesus). Oh ya, and he gives David Goliath’s sword
which they just so happened to have on hand. (What?)
So where would you go if the king was seeking your life from
every side? Right, over to Gath, the enemy city that was the home of the giant
Goliath who you famously killed a while back…and you are carrying his huge,
unmistakable sword with you just to rub a little more salt in that wound. How
desperate do you have to be to run to your hated enemy? Anyway, people
recognize David and tell the king of Gath. So now what? Again, in his
desperation, instead of trusting God, David deceives. He pretends like he is a
mad man and gives an Oscar winning performance as he slobbers all over his
beard and scribbles on the city gates. It works, and he escapes.
Question:
What would
have happened if David would have sought the Lord’s help instead of lying in
these situations? God was gracious to
David even though he didn’t handle these situations exactly as he should have.
He still spared his life and will still use him to do great things. David’s
actions were wrong and they will get him into trouble, but God still has a plan
for David, He will protect him and keep His promises.
Lessons:
It’s never right to do the wrong thing, no matter how
desperate we are. None of us are perfect, we all sin but that’s not a good
excuse. Still, our God is gracious and merciful and still chooses to use us
despite our mistakes and poor choices at times. This won’t be the last time
that David sins, and his some of his sins will have drastic consequences.
Sometimes our sins have drastic, even lifelong consequences as well, but God
will always take back the truly repentant. God will always use the willing and
repentant. So, when you sin, or make a mistake, don’t let it prevent you from
getting back up and continuing to pursue God and his word. Let God’s glory
shine even in your desperate need. It’s never right to do the wrong thing.
Remember Jesus doesn’t get lost.
