8/9/2010
9:00:02 AM
SPIRITUAL
DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
An hour of daring and devotion
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1Sam. 31:11-13; 1Chron. 10:11-14
Message
of the verses: “11 Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard
what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12
all the valiant men rose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul
and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh
and burned them there. 13 They took their bones and buried them under the
tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.”
“11
When all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 all the valiant men arose and took
away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh,
and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
13 So Saul died for his trespass which
he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not
keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it,
14 and did not inquire of the LORD.
Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.”
This was a brave thing for the
people of Jabesh-gilead to do. It must
be remembered that this was part of Israel that settled on the West side of the
Jordan River and it was Jabesh-gilead that was rescued by king Saul when he
first became king and so they must have done this because for that reason. They would have had to travel across the
Jordan River and go some fifteen to twenty miles and then come back in order to
accomplish this task. The bodies were
then burned and their bones were buried.
Israel did not practice cremation and the reason they did not bury their
bodies was because they were too far decomposed to do so, so they buried the
bones. Later David would move them to
their family tomb. (2Samuel 21:13-14)
The author of 1Chronicles, and some
believe it to be Ezra, adds to this incident when he says that Saul died for
his trespass which he committed against the Lord, and then goes on to explain
what that was.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: It took a
lot of courage for those men of Jabesh-gilead to do what they did, but this was
the right thing to be done for Saul and his sons, as even though the man did
not deserve respect he was the first king of Israel and so the office of king
should be respected.
There are times when it takes
courage to do things that I don’t want to do, but need to be done and so I must
remember the courage of these brave men and do what it is that I think the Lord
wants me to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Praise the Lord for giving me the confidence
of teaching the lesson yesterday, and giving me the peace that caused my IBS to
subside.
2. Give myself to the Lord for
Worship and service.
3. Ask the Lord to search my heart
for unconfessed sin.
4. Put on the spiritual armor
because I am in a battle every day.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path
today.
6. Continue to learn contentment.
8/9/2010
9:22:05 AM
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