Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 452 - David Was A Double Agent, God Had His Double Purposes (Please click here for English podcast)

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

OT DAY 452 - David Was A Double Agent, God Had His Double Purposes (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3. Open your heart to praise the Lord

And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:10

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Samuel 29:1-11)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=撒+母+耳+記+上+29&version=ESV

4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”

6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” 8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 1 Samuel 29:4-8

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

Do you think David really betrayed Israel and the Israelites? If not, why he followed the Philistine's city-king?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

David has succeeded in deceiving Achish, one of the Philistine city-kings, into believing that David really has gone over to the Philistine side, but the other Philistine city-kings are not so gullible. Like any decent double agent, David keeps a bold face and looks Achish in the eye, protesting his loyalty, though maybe Achish is also not shrewd enough to notice an ambiguity in his protest.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.112.

So, David is a double agent! Why God leads him to do that? Well, that's God's double purposes. The first purpose is for David to get away from Saul's chasing so that David won't be killed. The second purpose according to some commentaries is for David to learn those high-tech skills of making iron weapons because if you aware there were only a few top Israelites like Saul and Jonathan had iron spear and sword. That's why that is so important for David to return the spear to Saul.

God always has His own unusual and special way of doing things in critical situations. The question is, do you have that total trust in God to follow His lead in that unusual way?

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to trust in you totally so that we will follow your lead no matter how impossible it is. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. Do you think David intentionally make his plan to be a double agent?

2. Are you willing to trust God totally so that God's purpose will be accomplished?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?

Praise and Thanksgiving

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

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http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

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