1 Samuel – Chapter 13

When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 2 Samuel 13:21 – What a series of unfortunate and sinful events that unfold in this chapter. Unfettered lust, incestuous violations, harboring hatred, deception, and murder. These things are just the highlighted sins within this chapter, but woven in this chapter we see the catalyst to such evil…David’s example and behavior. David had not set for his children the example of holiness when it came to relationships and sex. In fact he demonstrated well for them that disregarding God’s commands were fine in the moment if your lust was too much. Yet after his son witnessed the example of David his father and steps even deeper into sin by violating his own sister, how does David respond? By being angry. No conversation, no consequences, no pointing to the need to confess. David refuses to address the issue which leads to the resulting evil between the brothers in the story. So what can we learn from a chapter like this? See how your sin can open the doors for others to sin. David’s sin with lust opened the doors for his sons to handle their lust inappropriately. David’s sin of not disciplining his son opened the door for Absalom’s hate to grow to the point where he took justice into his own hands. When we sin, be aware of the lesson it is teaching those around you and the doors to their own sinful behavior we are opening. When we speak in unholy ways, when we consume things God directs us away from, when we entertain sinfulness instead of fleeing from it, know such a life is seen by others and will impact their relationship with sin. Live then holy as God is holy. Not only because He says to, but because you desire those around you who see you to be led towards intimacy with God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3032

1 Samuel 13 Daily DEVO He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 1 Samuel 13:8-9 – It still stuns me when I’m leading a group in an area they’ve never been before how often one or two kids run up ahead rather than following behind me. They have no clue where they are going or when to take the next turn. Most of the time they have to backtrack a good distance because they got so far ahead of me and didn’t wait for my instruction. That’s our problem in our passage. Saul got ahead of God. While Saul may have had the right intentions, his timing was off. He let the pressures around him make a decision on his time table rather than God’s. Make sure in your story that you are being patient wait God. The pressures sometimes to move on ahead can be staggering high, but don’t let the pressures push you ahead of God. Trust that even when you aren’t seeing things moving God is still moving. His layout for your story, and the timetable that tags along with it, is the best one for you. It’s when we begin to look at the movement of everything around us that we can begin to get impatient with the speed of our movement. Like with Saul though, don’t miss out on the story God is planning for you because you choose to run off ahead of Him. Wait on the Lord because while you don’t know what’s ahead, He does. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 413

But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle…1 Samuel 13:20 – If all you knew about this story was this verse what would you think is happening here? Most likely that the Israelites went to their buddies the Philistines to sharpen their garden tools. Sounds fine, but that’s not at all the story. The Israelites had few actual fighting tools like swords and spears so they went to sharpen their garden tools into weapons to fight their enemy the Philistines. So…they went to their enemy to make weapons for them to fight their enemy. How humiliating and how sad. Let us not turn to our enemy for help when his attacks come our way. We have Jesus here ready to “sharpen our tools” for us so we no longer have to turn to the enemy for anything. How then have you been turning to the enemy for help? Maybe the better question is what have you not been turning to Jesus for help with? Seek your sharpening from one who wants to help you win. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1638

So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son had them. 1 Samuel 13:22 – Newly made King Saul gathers up Israel and creates its first real army in the new kingdom. They attack the oppressing nation of the Philistines seeking to free themselves from subjugation, but what that stirs ups is a mess. The enemy musters its troops and the result is thousands of chariots, thousands of horsemen, and thousands of troops that are now coming against Israel. They were fearful of such a massive enemy, and to make things even worse, the Philistines didn’t allow Israel to have weapons, so Israel was coming to battle with farm tools. Having far less troops than the enemy and having far less useful of weapons than the enemy can certainly cause us to fear the enemy like we see the people of Israel fear the Philistines. What Israel needed to remember was that if God was fighting with them, they would win with no army and no weapons. The lesson we see taught in this passage is to continue being faithful to the Lord even when the situation we may find ourselves in is pushing us to take matters into our own hands. There is no situation in life that we may encounter that justifies sinning as our only resort. The enemy will seek to corner you and convince you that sinning is the only choice you have to get out of his hand but know that coercion is a lie. God is with you, God is stronger than the enemy, and what He is seeking from us is a faithful life even amid enemy pressure. Trust in the Lord, turn to the Lord, and wait upon the Lord. He will take of those who wait upon Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2890