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May 2

 

Psalm 38-41

We are in the Wisdom Stream reading from the The Living Bible today.

 

Lord God, we can learn from David today. May we, like David, when in anguish and pain turn to you and not turn on you.  Amen.

Things are not looking too good for David and that is the tone for most of what we find in the Psalms today.

 
38 – David is pleading to God for the punishment he is feeling to relent.  David has sinned and God is angry.  David is near complete despair with pain and inflammation, disease and exhaustion. Loved ones and friends have departed. His enemies are still coming at him. David calls out to God in this state – it’s quite a lesson for all of us.
 
39 – David’s sin and punishment because of it is dragging on and it has him longing for happier days. It has him musing about the frailty and emptiness of life.  His final verse here sums things up: “spare me Lord, let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death.” He simply longs to fellowship sweetly again like he did with his God when he was tending sheep and playing harp and singing to Him in better days.
 
40 – is one of the most popular Psalms of deliverance, recovery and relief. It’s been a favorite for 3,000 years.  The presence and loving hand of the Lord is what the heart really longs for. And God longs to be with us – ‘ever think about that? Sacrifices are … well yeah, … they are good but God wants us and we want God.  The fellowship is what is most sought for. God delivers, just keep calling for him until the relationship is restored.   It’s very interesting about how U2; the band from Ireland made a song out of Psalm 40 and it has been among the most popular songs ever performed.  All opinions and personal impressions aside, the world longs to be with it’s Savior – even though we seem to forget this more than we seem to remember it.
 
41 – David has a lovely piece about God’s ability to nurse us back to health. He then quickly launches into his word against those who have turned on him.  This Psalm best coordinates with what is found in II Samuel 15 when Absalom has turned and is now trying to wrestle the kingdom from David; his own dad. Absalom has recruited Ahithophel to join in the rebellion. Athithophel was once very close to David (they were the best of friends) but has now become the “Judas” of the Old Testament if y’know what is being said here.  Still David remains in prayer and is turning to God in his distress, isolation, and pain. Amid this anguish he ends the Psalm exclaiming about his eternal God who is from everlasting to everlasting.  What a heart for God David had!
Posted on

May 1



II Samuel 6-11

We are in the Nation Stream continuing the story of King David. We are reading from The Living Bible this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

6 – the stunning drama continues:  30,000 troops are in procession to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem where it belongs.  The man standing right by the Ark catches the Ark so to keep it from falling. The young man, Uzzah who touched the Ark falls dead instantly. Quick reminder: the Ark is nothing to be trifle with or light-hearted about. It is the most sacred item ever constructed on earth. No one was to touch it … so why was Uzzah less than an arm’s length away from it?  The Ark is then kept at a home nearby and that home is truly and deeply blessed. David, realizing this anew realizes it must be taken to Jerusalem so the whole city and nation can be blessed! David enters the city and the worship he triggers is most vigorous. His first wife, Saul’s daughter, resents all this excitement centering around God. So she is struck for her attitude and never has children.  Memo: when worship commences, it is better to join in than to sit on the sidelines and analyze it.

 
7 – David pauses to exclaim that a Temple be built to honor God. David had a good heart in stating this, but God has a better idea and tells him of it via Nathan the prophet. God is going to establish a throne for David that will make him among the most prominent men in history. David is going to shine above the rest for all time and indeed the Savior comes to the world by way of David’s line of descendants.  His response to God is most gracious and grateful and humble.  It reminds us of why God’s heart is after and upon David.
 
8 -10 – This starts David’s campaign of expanding the borders to the largest they had ever been. He is king, and operating 400 years after Moses he is taking the property lines to places no one ever thought they would be. God gave David success at every turn. He subdued the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, Ammonites, Amalekites, and all neighboring nations. He brought home great wealth and his sons assisted him. The whole family has covering.
 
[ 9 ]- This is a touching chapter in that David pauses amid ‘endless’ battels to inquire of Saul’s relatives. David seeks out Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son, who was dropped as a child.  And he takes him in and takes care of him for life.  Mephibosheth dines with the king from then on.  The marvel of this is that it tells of David’s kind heart amid the conquests. The common practice of many in this region was to find any possible dissenters of a prior ruler who might in any way be disloyal to [you] the current king, and to wipe them all out. David does the opposite and honors this grandson of Saul [who hated him] and son of Jonathan [whom he was close to].
 
11 – This is the chapter that creates a great turn in David’s life. He had trouble all his earlier day but there was blessing and protection and provision for him.  This is where David procures wife #8 and he does so in an illicit manner. He already has 7 wives! The problem is that a set up like this trains a man deep in his soul [albeit even doing so unconsciously] that he can have whomever and whatever he wants whenever he wants it.  This is not good.  It also (multiple wives) merely proves to the heart of any man that “enough” is never enough. He sees BATHsheba taking a bath and wants her…now! It was all over, babe. He takes her, gets her pregnant, and in an effort to cover himself, arranges for her husband to be killed. Her husband, [you remember in the story] Uriah shows more ethics when he is inebriated than David shows when he is sober, btw! David did what he did and seemed to get away with it, legally.  But God was not pleased with him. He thought he had troubles before! … They worsen now and never let up the rest of the days of his life.  David ruined his own plight here. His penchant for women [polygamy] is what weakened him and brought this on however.  It reminds of the warning in Proverbs 31:2-3, “my son, listen…do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.”  And remember this is not chauvanism – the warning comes to all men for all time – from a woman!
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April 30

 

Exodus 15-18

We are in the World Stream trudging through the desert with the Israelites. We are using The Living Bible this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Lord God of Heaven, you rescue in the mightiest of ways. Each salvation you grant is a rescue. The drama of this rescue is marvelous. May we too remain enamored with your power to save and let that spur us [also] to not be a complainer. Let us keep our eye and mind on your wonderful deeds and provision for us.  Amen.

15 – the song had to be overwhelming.  2Million singing immediately after being saved in the most fantastic way imaginable was over the top.  We’ve seen a congregation burst into cheering after a baptism or salvation announcement or a miraculous breakthrough. But here is 2Million singing, exultant after 600,000 soldiers in pursuit are stopped right behind them. God is marvelous indeed. The next three days was spent walking in the wilderness and water was not to be found. It’s easy to ridicule them as forgetful whiners, but take it easy on’em. A few hours without water in the wilderness will make one frantic. A full day or two will make one delirious. There is a nation of them and it’s been three days now! The water is bitter and God needed them to drink it for there was a remedial element in the water that God needed them to ingest to heal the intestinal problem that over 80% of all Egyptiank residences had. If they were not in a panic of thirst they would have not drunk it at all.  This set of incidences had them follow through with “taking their medicine”.

 
16 – The journey is in full and the Red Sea behind them is well out of sight. The manna begins and everyone has all that they need and the supply is going to last for 40 years. No one starved in the desert – not one. The food they had was good, nutritious, and sweet to eat. The Lord used this food issue to keep the Sabbath matter before them. On the sixth day each week, God sent double supply so they would not be sent out to gather on the seventh. They were to keep and remember the Sabbath. Those who hoarded, thinking God might stop feeding them, had rot and odor in their places. They wanted more food; meat, so God sent quail.  He sent quail here and again about a year later.  We’ll read that in the coming chapter later in Exodus.  God did not send manna on the seventh day. The people finally caught on to this pattern.
 
17 – The two great events of this chapter are water coming from the rock and the initial battle against Amalek.  The water situation is not a perplexing matter to the locals even today. The porous rocks of this area become infused with water during the infrequent flashfloods. Shepherds then tap on rocks and are able to determine whether there is water inside it. Moses had done this during his shepherding years here [Exodus 2]. It must have been simpler for Moses to do this for bleating sheep than for quizzical and cantankerous people. The army of Amalek shows up and this calls the nation of Israel to battle. The progress toward victory happens when Moses held up his staff and Aaron and Hur supported him.  And the opposite happened when Moses did not uphold his staff. This is symbolic for us today that we need to be upholding our leaders in His Kingdom that God has brought forth. Prayer and support is needed in this area. Complaining is not!
 
18 – It was a rich and warm reunion when Moses met up with Jethro his father-in-law. They brought his wife and two sons to him as well. Word of the Exodus and the miracles in Egypt had reached Jethro (as it did everyone else for hundreds of miles).  Soon Jethro noticed Moses expending entires days – day after day – settling disputes like a judge before the people. Moses felt it was his duty to do so. Jethro knew better and could see that it was taking Moses to exhaustion. Jethro advised him to set up a delegation of assistants to handle these judgments and disputes. This spread the work to thousands of others who were honest, willing and able.  This landmark chapter has affected the discipline of administration and management the world over.