Tuesday, January 7, 2014

David Moves from Keilah to the Wilderness of Ziph (1 Samuel 23:7-18)

7/9/2010 9:35:08 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  From Keilah to the wilderness of Ziph

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1Samuel 23:7-18

            Message of the verses:  “7 ¶  When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars." 8  So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. 9  Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here." 10  Then David said, "O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. 11  "Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down." 12  Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will surrender you." 13  Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.
    “14 ¶  David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. 15  Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16  And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God. 17  Thus he said to him, "Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also." 18  So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.”
           
            I can see the wonderful heart of David in this section because of his care for the people of Keilah.  David was not only looking out for the men he had under his command, but by leaving Keilah he was looking out for them as well.  David saw what Saul did at Nob and it hurt him greatly, so he does not want to see this town destroyed like Nob and so after inquiring of the Lord he decides to leave and travels to the Horesh.  It is at Horesh that Jonathan comes to see him, as he risks his own life to see his friend David and renews their covenant and tells David that Saul realizes that he will never catch David and that David will become king and that he will serve with him.  However this was not the plans of the Lord as the next time Jonathan is mentioned in 1Samuel is at his death while fighting the Philistines on the battlefield where his father also dies.
            David then moves to the wilderness of Ziph which is near the Dead Sea, and Dr. Wiersbe comments that after being there it is a wonder that David and his 600 men could survive there, but the Lord was with David and would protect him from the hand of Saul as mentioned in the highlighted portion of the text for today’s SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can see that through all of these trials and tribulations that David is going through that the Lord is teaching him and making him to be the man He wants David to be.  There are trials in my life as well and I pray that I will handle them as well as David handled his trials, submitting to the Lord and continuing to rely on him to be his strength in troubled times.
My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Put on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
2.      To begin to memorize and meditate upon verses that will change my life and to be transformed by the renewing of my mind as I fill my heart with God’s Word.

Memory verse for this week:  1Thes. 4:3.

 3  For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

7/9/2010 10:01:26 AM
           

            

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