1 Samuel – Chapter 18

And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. 2 Samuel 18:9 – We learn in Proverbs 16:18 that pride goes for destruction, and this certainly was the case for Absalom. In this chapter we see Absalom charging into battle after taking the advice from one of his counselors. He thought this would gain him glory and set him apart as a warrior like his father David was in the kingdom. We also learn from a couple chapters ago that Absalom was consumed with his looks and had long hair that weighed over 5 pounds. Why that’s important to note is we now have the prideful wannabe king rushing into battle to gain glory, and the looks he elevated so much in his life became his downfall. His head got stuck in a tree, likely by all his amazing hair getting caught up in the branches. Now instead of a majestic warrior king, we have a man hanging by his hair from a tree with no one to help him, soon to be killed by his enemies. While a lesson we may take from this is not to have long hair, I believe that wouldn’t be God’s message for us. Instead we are to see where pride leads us. When we are consumed with our vanity our glory, often what is lost is those very things. Let us choose to be consumed with God’s glory and God looking good to the world around us. Absalom made the choice to be consumed with himself, and his life ended as far from glory as one could get. Let your life be about the God who deserves all glory. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3037

1 Samuel 18 Daily DEVO And Saul eyed David from that day on. 1 Samuel 18:9 – We choose to stay stuck in our sin. If you have a relationship with Jesus, all the chains that would be a hinderance to you breaking away from the sin in your life are long gone. Like in a beautiful song a friend of mine wrote, sin had you in prison, but Jesus opened the door and made a way out for you. So if you’re still in the prison cell, it’s not Jesus’ fault, it’s your choice. Saul chose to be filled with distain and hate towards David. Like Saul, if we find ourselves still in the worry, or still in the addiction, or still in the hate, that’s our choice. Am I saying the journey out of the prison cell will be quick and easy, absolutely not. What I am saying though is that journey is an option open for you to take. Start with praying and telling God you want to begin this journey away from this sin. It’s going to be hard and scary at times, but know this journey is one that Jesus died for you to be free to take. Jesus doesn’t want you held back by sin any longer, choose today to begin walking out of the prison cell to experience the true freedom Jesus bought for you to have. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 418

Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually. 1 Samuel 18:29 – Just because they see you as an enemy this doesn’t mean you have to see them as one. Saul was intimated by how God’s hand was on David and not himself. David had the admiration of the nation, had the love of Saul’s own family, and had success in everything. This caused such envy and anger in Saul towards David, yet what we see from David is honor towards Saul. For us, someone in your story may truly just despise you. The temptation then is to reciprocate the feelings back, but know we can choose not to. Just because they hate you doesn’t mean you have to hate them. Jesus set that example perfectly when He prayed for forgiveness for the very ones nailing Him to a cross. Choose to respond to their hate, envy, and distain with love, just like Jesus would. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1643

And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice. 1 Samuel 18:11 – Envy is the theme of this chapter. King Saul grows envious of David’s fame in the kingdom and the enemy fanned that sinful flame. As Saul was raving due to a harmful spirit, the general and war hero David humbly came back to his original job in the kingdom to play music for the king to calm him down. Yet Saul in his sin thought he could find victory over David and regain his glory by killing David with his spear. We see the king missed, but what’s even crazier is apparently David was willing to remain serving even after a murder attempt, for Saul tried a second time to kill David! In this passage we see the stark contrast between someone confident in the Lord compared to someone seeking the approval of people. Saul was led to a maddening envy that ruined his family and reign, while David was able to remain faithful to the Lord and see wonderous success. When our desire is to please the Lord and we find our approval in Him alone, it opens the doors for us to serve humbly and be a blessing to all people like we see with David in this chapter. Yet when we are caught up with the gaining of fame and glory and approval from the people around us, humble service is impossible to do. As when Jesus humbled Himself to wash His disciples’ feet, as when David sat down after an attempted murder to continue serving as he did as a child before the king, so should we be willing to humbly serve. Find your value in the Lord and allow Him to be the giver of your worth. When He is the One we find our worth in, it opens the doors to begin washing the feet of others like Jesus did. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2895