Today, I am just going to note some passages that I've written down the last few days. I may add a note or two but then, maybe not. 2 Samuel 18 : 1-3 NLT David now mustered the men who were with him and appointed generals and captains to lead them. He sent the troops out in three groups, placing one group under Joab, one under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one under Ittai, the man from Gath. The king told his troops, “I am going out with you.”  But his men objected strongly. “You must not go,” they urged. “If we have to turn and run—and even if half of us die—it will make no difference to Absalom’s troops; they will be looking only for you. You are worth 10,000 of us,......" For some reason, when I read this passage this morning, I thought of the contrast with the disciples deserting Jesus when they arrested Him. Ephesians 1 :17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so ...

King David had made a promise to Jonathan who was David's friend and Saul's son. Later, he made good on that promise. 2 Samuel 9 tells the story of King David asking if anyone still lived who was part of Saul's family. He was told, "yes". So King David had Jonathan's son come to see him. This story is remarkable for a number of reasons. 1) Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, was crippled. In that culture and time, people who were crippled were a burden on a family and often were beggars, unable to do more. 2) David restored all of Saul's property to Mephibosheth - all of it. He didn't just give Mephibosheth a little house somewhere.  He gave him all the property that King Saul had had. (See verse 7) 3) On top of all that, David had Ziba, formerly one of Saul's servants, and his family farm and take care of the property for Mephibosheth. The Ziba family was not a small one.  There were 15 sons and 20 servants!  This is a lot of people for David to ...

I've picked up my One Year Bible again.  I read it completely through a couple of years ago.  I've been reading some devotionals but haven't felt like I've been getting enough scripture so I started The One Year Bible again. NLT One Year Bible Softcover   By Tyndale House The One Year Bible, which helps people read the entire Bible in as little as 15 minutes a day, guides readers through God's Word with daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. New Living Translation. I enjoy this because it is a lot of scripture each day and because it is a translation I do not normally read. Everyday I get the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. So, I am enjoying reading more of the Bible again.  There is an online blog that goes with this each day but I haven't started using it yet. Here is a link to it if you are interested. When I picked up the Bible, I started on the date that it was.  So, I started very late...

The Bible gives us examples how to approach the throne. In First Samuel 1:10 , Hannah approached God "in bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD". Esther approached after much fasting (see Esther 4 - 5 ) (Yes, I know she was approaching the king's throne but she fasted and interceded in prayer before approaching the king's throne.) In Exodus 17 , " Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD." And don't forget how Jesus approached God in complete submission and obedience on the cross! From these few verses we see that 1) we should approach the throne - God expects it.  God is prepared for it.  2) we should be humbled and prepared to be honest.  3) We should approach God's throne as an act of praise. God already knows what we need.  God already knows what we want.  God wants us to understand what we need and what we want and that God can provide all ...

I wonder how we got to a place where we think it is all about us.  Even we Christians think that, though we don't exactly know or acknowledge that we do.  We think God forgives us because he loves us.  We think that He sent Jesus because He loves us.  It's not about us. Isaiah 43:25 (NLT) records that God says: “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again." God did not forgive us for us.  God did not send Jesus for us. God did not create all of this for us.  Not even the best of us.  God created us, forgives us, sent Jesus for HIS SAKE. 1 Samuel 12:22 : " For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own."   2 Samuel 7:20-22 : " What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant....

I read a devotional today that someone sent me.  I don't know who wrote it.  Because I don't know anything about the origin, I can't add a link to it. This particular devotional writing was about a psalm that David had written.  The devotion made reference to David hiding in a cave. Qumran  - Dead Sea Scrolls Then I was reading the daily Bible reading about Elijah ...who was hiding in a cave.  So I got to thinking about caves. There are all kinds of caves. I looked up the word CAVE in the Enhanced Strong's Lexicon which is part of the Essential Bible Study Library that I have.  The Hebrew words that are sometimes translated cave are also sometimes translated as den, hole, and cavern.  Caves were used for hiding places and burial sites and as a place to live .  Joshua used it to hold five kings who were hiding there as prisoners.  In 1 Samuel 24:3 , Saul used it as a toilet.  Caves were also used to store things. The Dead Sea Sc...

Luke 24:45 (TNIV) Then he [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  This is the second verse of three that are parts of a continuing logic in my mind.  The verse where God is calling Samuel (1 Sam 3:10) illustrates that we need guidance to understand what is expected of us.  Eli had to tell Samuel what to do next.   In this verse in Luke, Jesus uses the confusion of His death, resurrection and appearance to the disciples to explain all of scripture.  Many parts of scripture were prophecy that really made no logical sense to them.  Some scripture was probably thought to be little more than rambling by questionable "prophets" rather than having any value in their day.  Some scripture may have even been thought of as little more than folklore or unrelated to reality. But in this verse, Jesus reveals that He is the fulfillment of all of scripture . "THEN He opened their minds...." After He was crucified and raised fro...

1 Samuel 3:10 (NIV) The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." Today there were three diverse scriptures in my readings that seem to go together.  I'll write about them independently and how they converge later. In this verse, Samuel, who has not been introduced to God yet (see verse 7: Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.) was hearing God call his name. He did not know how to respond.  His mentor, Eli, told him how to respond to the call, "speak, for your servant is listening." This is how I also should respond to God's call, Speak, for your servant is listening.  This response is appropriate to tell God that He won't be wasting His words and instruction on me because I will listen.  This response conveys that I recognize God as Master, that I am only a servant, that I am ready to obey the...