Time with Jesus - 23 Nov 2013
A classic Biblical example is the
way David became King of Israel. Yes, Samuel had anointed him as the next King
of Israel; the one who would succeed King Saul. But David was living in
obscurity, looking after his father’s flocks. He was not among those who were
called upon to fight against the Philistines. Some suggest he was too young to
be “called up”. Others have suggested he just happened to be the one left out
of the “draft” because someone had to take care of the flock. Whatever the
reason, instead of lining up with his brothers in the face of the Philistines,
he was focusing on singing Psalms to sheep. The sheep didn’t listen.
God did. God heard the sweet voice of a man after His own heart, singing the love
songs he had composed to the God he loved and worshipped. In that sense, David
was in a better place than all his brothers fighting at the “front”. To succeed
in life, it’s always better to be close to God than to be anywhere else. If you
must fight against the enemy, the best place to be is where God wants you to be.
What is particularly fascinating is
he didn’t go to the “front” because of some whim of curiosity about what was taking
place. From his point of view it was unnecessary. If God was on Israel’s side,
Saul and his army didn’t need David’s help. In fact, if his father hadn’t
decided he needed David for another purpose, David would not have left the
sheep. In this instance, his father, Jesse, heard that his other sons were in
need of a good square meal. In 2013, all we need to do is phone Mr Delivery and
we can have whatever we want delivered to our door.
If you are in the Bethlehem
Hilton, all you need do is phone room service. But it would be another 3000
years before anything like that was available. Jesse’s solution was simple.
Send David to the “front” with a tray of sandwiches, or whatever was used as
the equivalent of sandwiches in those days. Now Israel is not a big country.
For David to walk from Bethlehem to the front would not have been too
difficult. It was about 25km from present day Jerusalem to the battle site. 3
So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other
on opposite hills, with the valley of Elah between
them. 1Sa 17:3 NLT
How many times David walked to and
from Bethlehem before his confrontation with Goliath, is not known. We can say
that Jesse’s delivery boy ended up being God’s delivery boy! He delivered the
coup de grace to this 9 foot giant! In so doing he delivered the Philistines
into the hands of the Israelites. It also marks the end of his time as a
shepherd boy. From this point he becomes a member of Saul’s army and very soon,
one of Saul’s top army generals.
We are all familiar with the David
and Goliath incident so I’m not about to repeat the obvious. Instead, hereunder
are two “character sketches. One of David; the other of Goliath. Taken from “Nelson’s
Book of Bible References and Charts”, they are well worth reading.
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Information from Nelson’s Book of Bible References and
Charts
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When
we think of David, we think:
shepherd, poet, giant-killer, king, and ancestor of Jesus - in short, one of
the greatest men in the Old Testament. But alongside that list stands
another: betrayer, liar, adulterer, and murderer. The first list gives
qualities we all might like to have; the second, qualities that might be true
of anyone. The Bible makes no effort to hide David's failures. Yet he is
remembered and respected for his heart for God. Knowing how much more we
share in David's failures than his greatness; we should be curious to find
out what made God call David "a man after my own heart" Act 13:22.
David,
more than anything else, had an unchangeable belief in the faithful and
forgiving nature of God. He was a man who lived with great zest. He sinned,
but he was quick to confess his sins. His confessions were from the heart,
and his repentance was genuine. David never took God's forgiveness lightly or
his blessing for granted. In return, God never held back from David either
his forgiveness or the consequences of his actions. David experienced the joy
of forgiveness even when he had to suffer the consequences of his sins.
We
tend to get these two reversed. Too often we would rather avoid the
consequences than experience forgiveness. Another big difference between us
and David is that while he sinned greatly, he did not sin repeatedly. He
learned from his mistakes because he accepted the suffering they brought.
Often we don't seem to learn from our mistakes or the consequences that
result from those mistakes. What changes would it take for God to find this
kind of obedience in you?
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Goliath was a giant with an attitude. As
champion of the Philistines, he immobilized an entire army of Israelites by
challenging one of them to duel with him. He made them forget they had an
absolute champion in the Lord their God. It took a bold shepherd boy named
David to remind them all, they were the armies of the living God.
Goliath
was a problem to be faced on his terms but not with his weapons. Goliath's
strengths were so obvious (size, armour, arrogance) that others missed his
vulnerability. For Goliath had a glaring weakness that never occurred to him
until David's stone struck him down. When David was given Goliath's kind of
weapons, David quickly concluded he couldn't even function—much less
fight—with those tools. Goliath's strengths would have been David's handicaps.
Armour plating and heavy weapons were of little use to the shepherd boy.
David went with the two weapons he knew he could rely on: his trust in God
and his shepherd's sling. When others looked at Goliath, they saw an opponent
too powerful to defeat; when David looked at Goliath, he saw a target too big
to miss!
David
had armour to match Goliath's, but it was invisible. He was spiritually
equipped. Eph. 6:10-18 describes in detail
the resources that God places at our disposal. How unfortunate that we face
our world each day on its terms and too often try to wield its weapons. God's
weapons are not as obvious, but they never fail us! How much of your
spiritual armour are you wearing today?
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| King Saul |
What is particularly exciting about
this is its practical application. You and I should concentrate on our love
relationship with Jesus Christ. He is quite capable of changing you into Mr
Delivery. You can deliver others from Satan’s clutches. Focus on Jesus. Nothing
else is needed.
Shalom
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Saturday, 23 November 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT
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CIRCUMSTANCES
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It’s
amazing how things line up so that some predetermined purpose can come about!
At school there was a little story that illustrates this. “For lack of a
nail, a shoe was lost; for lack of a shoe, a horse was lost; for lack of a
horse, a rider was lost; for lack of a rider, a battle was lost, For lack of
a battle, a war was lost.” Based on this we could say that a war was lost
because of a missing nail. It may sound like a fishy story. Nevertheless it shows
how small things can have terrible consequences. A good example is the
Concorde disaster in Paris. A smallish piece of metal on the runway damaged a
tyre at take-off. Minutes later the huge aeroplane crashed into a hotel. One
thing had led to another culminating in disaster.
Life
is like that for all of us. Very often we happen to be in the right place at
the right time. Very often, God orchestrates events to bring about a
pre-determined outcome. I’ve heard it said that if our planet was fractionally
closer or further away from the sun, life as we know it on this planet could
never be. We understand that God arranged things the way they are. So this
was not a purely random happening. It could not have been otherwise. Too many
random events would have been necessary for life to exist on this planet.
The
father of a friend of mine was decapitated in a motorcar accident. His car
smashed into an oncoming truck. One second either way and the accident may
not have happened. The time it takes to drink a cup of tea was the difference
between life and death.
On
the Christian front, for the Gospel to be spread around the then known world,
many factors were necessary. The Roman roads and “pax-Romana” made it
possible for the Gospel to go international. The fact that Greek was the
international language made it possible for just about everyone to hear. We
need to realise that God had so engineered circumstances that the coming of
Jesus Christ and the spreading of the gospel could take place.
Equally,
certain things had to be in place for Jesus to be born, live, minister and
die upon a Roman cross at exactly the right place, date and time in history.
He had to die at exactly the same instant the priests were offering up the
sacrificial rams for the Passover. An innocent man had to be sentenced to
death by His own people and executed by the civil authorities. He had to be
whipped, mocked and spat on. He had to be sinless. He had to die a brutal and
agonizing death. But not for Himself. He had to die and go through all that
He suffered so that you and I don’t have to go through it. Lord, Thanks for perfect
circumstances!
Jim &
Phyllida
Strickland
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36
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this
world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been
fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is
not from the world."
John 18:36 ESV
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Many dreadful things took place when He’d been led away.
Things that are so terrible they frighten us today.
They’d asked if He was Jesus. He answered them “I AM!”
At which they all fell over. God’s Holy Name went “bam!”
It hit them like a poleaxe and swept them off their feet.
He could have simply walked away; each one of them was beat.
But Jesus didn’t exit. He had to follow through;
And do the very thing the Father said that He must do.
And so He let them take Him, to do their very worst.
To smash the power of Satan and have the fall reversed.
They took Him first to Annas. He used to be High Priest.
The man who couldn’t wait to see the Son of God deceased.
The witnesses came forward, but they could not agree.
And so they went to Caiaphas. They thought perhaps that he,
Could bring a guilty verdict and have Him executed.
But every charge against Him was totally refuted.
Caiaphas then asked Him in a very special way.
In the Name of God Most High I charge You now to
say,
If You are the Son of God; tell me yes or no?
There wasn’t any other way for Jesus Christ to go.
“It is as you have said it; your
statement’s is quite true.
Now that I’ve declared it, what are you going to
do?”
“Blasphemy!” screamed Caiaphas. “You’ve heard what He has said.
We don’t need further evidence. For that, He must be
dead!”
They mocked Him, beat and spat on Him and He was led away.
“We must have Him crucified. He has to die today!”
They weren’t allowed to do it. Not under Roman law.
They took Him before Pilate, who examined Him once more.
But Pilate said, “Not guilty! I will not crucify,
A man who has done nothing wrong does not deserve to
die!”
Pilate once more tested Him. “Are You the Jewish King?”
“My Kingdom isn’t of this world”. If it was I’d
bring
All my many soldiers and sit upon My throne.
You would know for certain, I am not on My own”
Pilate became frightened. He had the Master flogged.
But Pilate’s thinking processes were very quickly fogged.
And even though he washed his hands, he finally complied.
He didn’t want to do it, but had Christ crucified!
Jim Strickland
Written
23rd
November 2012
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12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made
a footstool for his feet.
Hebrews 10:12-13 ESV
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64
Jesus replied, "You have said it. And in the
future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's
right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Matthew 26:64 NLT
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25 For Christ must reign until He humbles all His enemies
beneath His feet.
1 Corinthians 15:25 NLT
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57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT
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20 that
raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the
place of honour at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21
Now He is far above any ruler or authority or
power or leader or anything else--not only in this world but also in the
world to come. 22 God has put
all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all
things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is His body; it is made full and
complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.
Ephesians 1:20-23 NLT
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15 God will bring Jesus back at a time that pleases him.
God is the blessed and only Ruler. He is the greatest King of all. He is the
most powerful Lord of all.
1 Timothy 6:15 NIrV
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