When God has a plan, He makes even His enemies join in accomplishing the plan. This is the second time that the Spirit of the Lord has come upon Saul and caused Him to prophesy. However, the first time found in chapter 10, Saul had just been privately anointed as king by Samuel, and he willingly joined in the prophets. This time Saul is seeking to kill David, the Lord’s replacement for him as king. This time Saul is forced to prophesy. This time God makes him strip in order to prophesy. This does not mean that he was completely naked. It means that the Lord made him take off his royal robes, the sign of his kingly office. The Lord forced him to publicly recognize that he was no longer to be king. When he prophesied, I wonder what he said. Do you suppose it was related to the extent of the kingdom that David’s descendant, the Lord Jesus, would have? It must have been awfully hard for Saul to swallow. Can you make your enemies praise you? Jesus can, does and will. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 57
Can you imagine sitting in the cave of Adullam? 1 Samuel 22:1-2 says:
David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.So here he is unjustly hunted as a criminal by Saul, living in a cave, surrounded by 400 discontented people. What a wonderful environment to practice the power of positive thinking! While I wrote that sarcastically, I also meant it literally. Keep in mind though that not all positive thinking is godly, but all godly thinking is positive. Ever been around people who are discontent? Can you imagine 400 hundred of them? So here is David living in a cave with 400 discontents. What do you suppose the conversation was all about? “Saul is really doing a great job at subduing the Philistines,” or “The economy is really booming right now. We are doing so well. I think will have to expand my barns for all the grain and livestock. Maybe the wife and I will expand our house for the children we are having.”
I don’t thinks so. The conversation could probably be better described as, “My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” On the one hand, David feels it is good to have the support of 400 men. On the other hand, it is negative support. These men want change. They are discontent. They want change that spears, arrows and swords can bring. They see in David their champion. They see in David the one who can vulcanize their corporate desire for change and produce a new regime. Well, David is headed there, but not in the direction they had expected.
So if you were being pursued by Saul, if it were as though your pursuer had laid a net to trap you, if it were as though a pit had been dug for you, if you were among 400 discontents, how would you speak to vulcanize your followers in such a way that they would follow you to establish justice? Most of us would lay plans to bring down the evil regime and establish ourselves as the rulers. It is not so with David. He speaks of the glory of God! He cries for God’s mercy! He establishes his trust in God! He remembers that calamities, as evil as they are, are temporary! He calls out to the One who is almighty! He petitions Him to let mercy and truth be seen in their midst! He pleads for God’s Glory to be revealed to them! He makes his heart steadfast to sing the glory and praise of God!
Oh Lord help me to trade my discontent for Your glory! Help me to lift up the praise of your mercy and power! Help me to be content only in Your empowerment! May Your mercy and truth ever be upon my lips! It is Your glory to work that work in me and in us! Establish it O Lord! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
EZEKIEL 26
Tyre had it coming. She had produced such a notable as Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who led the nation into Baal worship. Archaeologists have found thousands of JPFs, Judean Pillar Figurines (or perhaps better labeled Judahite Pillar Figurines). The figurines are generally about 6 inches tall and are figures of a woman standing like a pillar with her hands under her breasts. Some have suggested that they were just toys. Others have suggested that they are household gods much like those which Rachel stole from Laban. Still others think that they are a household version of the Asherah pole, the female consort of Baal, considered to be a fertility goddess. Most of the JPFs were found in strata dating from about 800—586 B.C. Since Jezebel lived & ruled from 874-853 B.C. She certainly could have influenced their production and spread for all those generations. It was Jezebel’s daughter, Athaliah, who married a King of Judah, Jehoram. The appearance of the JPFs occurs about a generation after Athaliah and remains until the destruction of the first temple. Tyre indeed had long fingers of influence into the cultural life of Israel and Judah. Her lust for wealth and sexual freedom were a corrupting influence upon the nations of Israel and Judah.
This chapter yields seven interesting predictions about the fate of Tyre:
1. Many nation would come against her.Many have written demonstrating the accuracy of the fulfillment of these prophecies. I will leave it to you to read what Josh McDowell has written in Evidence that Demands a Verdict in order to understand how each of these were fulfilled in history. Peter Stoner has calculated the odds of those 7 prophecies being fulfilled as one chance in 75,000,000. Yet every one of them has been fulfilled! Now that demonstrates the Glory of our God! He proclaims what will happen years before it happens, and it comes true! Jezebel thought that she could get away with her idolatry. Athaliah thought she could get away with her idolatry. Their poison spread to Judah and Israel. The kings of Tyre thought that they could get away with their idolatry, but God brings them to an end. Do I think I can get away with my idolatry? In the end we will all stand naked before Him. He will judge us according to the intentions of our hearts and our deeds. I need this Jesus to be my advocate at that time, for His blood pleads a better case. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
3 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.
2. She would be scraped bare
4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
3. Fishermen would spread their nets upon her for drying.
5 It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations.
4. Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the mainland city
7–8 “For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. 8 He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you.
5. Her debris would be thrown into the water.
12 They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.
6. She would never be rebuilt.
14 I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD.
7. She would never be found again
21 I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought for, you will never be found again,’ says the Lord GOD.”
--Pastor john
1 CORINTHIANS 9
It seems that every minister has a group of people that examine his ministry and find it deficient in some manner. The clear implication here is that there was such a group in the church at Corinth. Apparently, there were some who did not think Paul qualified as an Apostle. After all, he did not take a salary from anyone but rather worked to meet his own needs. An Apostle wouldn't do that. He did not bring a wife with him. He didn't even have a wife. Surely an Apostle would have a wife and take her with him wherever he went. If he were such a great Apostle, where were all the rewards that should accompany the office? His reward? His reward was the people who followed Christ as a result of his preaching the Gospel. For that reason he did whatever it took to make himself more effective at bringing people to Jesus. How does this speak the glory of Jesus?
Would you or I give up the right to receive a salary just so that you or I might be more effective at preaching the Gospel? Would you or I give up the right to a spouse just so that you or I might be more effective at preaching the Gospel? Paul would and did because he had seen the glory of Christ. You and I may not see the glory of Christ visibly as did Paul, this side of death. But we can see His glory in the Scripture. We can see His glory as He works around us. As we focus on His glory, it gradually changes us so that we become willing to become all things for all people that we might save some. Because we understand that it is about His glory not our rights, and His glory is more precious than our rights. That is why we must focus on His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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