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Today: Psalms 66:13-20; John 13:18-38; 1 Samuel 13; 1 Samuel 14:1-23
Psalms 66
“Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul.” Psalms 66:16
I am bold about my faith in God because of what He has done for my soul. I was physically dead but He brought me back to life. I was suicidally depressed, addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol, and He miraculously healed me from all of those. I was a selfish stupid person chasing after meaningless vanities. He gave my life meaning and filled my heart with love and joy. I cried out to Him from the deep dark pit I had dug for myself and He rescued me. I praise Him because He has given me a new soul. I praise Him because “He has given attention to the sound of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor His favor from me.” (v.19-20)
John 13
Jesus was obviously disturbed that Judas, someone in His inner circle of disciples, was going to betray Him. John wrote, “He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, ‘Truly, truly I say to you that one of you will betray me.” (v.21)
The disciples were obviously clueless about Judas’ true character. When they asked Jesus who it was who would betray Him, He said, “The man is the one for whom I shall dip the bread and give it to him.” (v.26) Then Jesus proceeded to dip the bread and give it to Judas. I don’t know how Jesus could have made it any clearer. But even then, the other disciples thought Judas had only left to buy food or to give something to the poor.
But Jesus knew. His time left with the disciples was short…
1 Samuel 13-14
We see a contrast between the new Israelite King, Saul, and his son, Jonathan in 1 Samuel 13-14.
King Saul talked big. But he wasn’t trusting or following God. The Israelites had been disarmed and were greatly outnumbered by the Philistines. Saul was afraid. All of his men were afraid. They had deserted their king to hide in caves. Saul panicked when Samuel didn’t show up as scheduled and he offer burnt offerings himself (which was against Jewish law).
But Jonathan DID trust in the LORD. He showed great courage, and God gave him a miraculous victory.
