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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 187 & 188

Jul7

Day 187 – Reading – 2 Kings 14, and 2 Chronicles 25

Day 188 – Reading Jonah 1 – 4

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

2 Kings 14 & 2 Chronicles 25.

These two chapters essentially tell the same story, but with a few different details.  It’s a bit confusing because BOTH the King of Israel and the King of Judah are named Joash! It would be like the President of the United States and the President of Russia BOTH named Trump.  Can you imagine the confusion in the press!!

Then, the southern kingdom of Judah’s King Joash was assassinated by his own servants, and his son, Amaziah, succeeded him as king.  Amaziah was a semi-good king, at least at first, doing what was “mostly right in the sight of the LORD,” but not quite as well as David.  The first thing Amaziah did was to kill the servants who had killed his father, Joash. (Remember, Joash killed Zechariah, the priest, the son of the priest who’d raised him. Two servants then conspired to kill  him.) Now the new king killed those servants. What a chain of cruelty and death! Will it stop there?

Amaziah mustered an army in Judah (along with 100K paid mercenaries from Israel) to fight against the men of Mt. Seir (Edom).  But God told him NOT to use soldiers from Israel.  God was NOT with them, but God WOULD help Judah alone to defeat Edom.  Amaziah sent the Israeli soldiers home (which made them mad), and went on to defeat Edom.

But, those 100K mercenaries, angry at not being able to go to war (and get loot), attacked and looted cities in Judah and Jerusalem!!

And then, Amaziah came back with – get this – some idols of the Edomites. And he started worshiping THEM!!  Can you believe it??  God sent a prophet to reprimand the king, but Amaziah made him stop.

Feeling emboldened, Amaziah sent to Israel and challenged King Joash of Israel to fight him. WHAT??  King Joash told King Amaziah to “Stay home, you little weed (thistle)!”  But Amaziah would not listen.  Why?  GOD HAD ORDAINED HIS DOWNFALL because of the idols from Edom.

The two kings, with their armies, fought at Beth-Shemesh in Judah’s territory, and Judah was defeated.  The southern army ran away, and King Amaziah was captured. The northern king then went to Jerusalem and seized all the gold, silver, and all the vessels that were in the Temple and the king’s own house, and even broke down part of Jerusalem’s wall!  He took hostages (but left King Amaziah there) and returned to Samaria, with a smug smirk on his lips. Thistle indeed!

Amaziah lived 15 more years, but a conspiracy against him made him flee to Lachish (a fortified city about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem). But the angry people went after him and killed him there.  The people then put his son, the sixteen-year-old Azariah, in his place as king.  (Azariah did right in God’s sight and reigned 52 years!)

Meanwhile, back in Israel, King Joash also died and was buried in Samaria.  His son Jeroboam II succeeded him.  Unsurprisingly, he did what was “EVIL in the sight of the LORD.”

Now, here is an interesting fact.  The LORD used Jeroboam to “restore some of the borders of Israel, east of the Jordan River.  Why?  “The LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, none to help Israel. The LORD had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam.”  WHAT MERCY!

And, according to (2 Kings 14:25), who told Jeroboam to go and do that? 

NONE OTHER THAN THE PROPHET OF GOD — JONAH!!   

But we are much more familiar with the prophet’s other story.

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Jonah 1 – 4.

We’ve all heard about “Jonah and the whale” from Sunday School stories and children’s books. Those stories usually tell how Jonah was thrown overboard in a storm and was swallowed by a whale. Then God made the critter spit him out on the shore three days later, after he prayed.

All true.

But much more.

First, his name means “Dove.”  Today, we would think of “peace,” or someone who is anti-war.  Well, Jonah WAS a rebel, for sure, but not anti-war.  Earlier, God had used Jonah to encourage Jeroboam II to push back against the Syrians, which he did, and gained back almost as much land for Israel as in the days of David and Solomon. 

But the Syrians had grown weak.  Soon, a greater, fiercer, and crueler nation would swallow them up, and then look toward Israel.  Who? The Assyrians. Whereas Syria’s capital was Damascus, the capital of Assyria was Nineveh, WAY to the North-East, over 500 miles away.

“Go to that wicked city, Nineveh, and tell them to repent,” God told Jonah.

“No way!” said the prophet of God, who was all for defeating Israel’s enemies.  Jonah promptly went down to Joppa and bought a ticket on a boat to Tarshish. (Modern Spain, which is WAY to the West.) 

  • Verse 3 states twice that Jonah was “fleeing the presence of the LORD.”  Is that possible?  We may think so, but remember God is “omnipresent,” which means everywhere at once. 
  • Check out Psalm 139:7-10, where David asks the question, “Where shall I flee from Your presence?  Heaven? You are there. The grave? You are there. The uttermost parts of the sea?  Even there, Your hand shall hold me.”  I guess Jonah never read that psalm.

The boat sailed. Jonah went below deck for a nap. God “HURLED” a great wind on the sea, which whipped up into a horrible tempest!  The ship started to break up!  The sailors were terrified and began to pray to their god (Poseidon?).  They hurled the cargo into the sea (There goes their profit!)  Then, at his request, they hurled the prophet into the sea as well.

(Jonah had told them the true God of Heaven was angry with him. They got REALLY afraid – that’s why they obeyed and tossed him overboard.)

Immediately, no wind and placid seas.

That terrified the sailors even more, and they WORSHIPPED the LORD.  (A foretaste of Nineveh?)

Down, down, down went Jonah. Right into the mouth of a great fish that God had prepared. (Like Moby Dick??)

AND JONAH PRAYED TO THE LORD FROM THE BELLY OF THE FISH!

Not exactly repentance, but an acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty.  The “vow” in verse 9 could have been a vow to carry out God’s call to preach in Nineveh.

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited (Yuck!) Jonah on dry land.  “Terra firma, Hooray!”  Good to be there.  Then…

Again came God’s message, “Go to Nineveh. Call out against it with the message I will give you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I KNOW, God.”

So, after a “swish-off” in the Mediterranean, Jonah set off, Eastward.

How long it took him, we don’t know.  Did he catch a ride with a caravan, or hot-foot it all the way?  Regardless, Jonah finally arrived at that great city (in modern-day Iraq).  The city was HUGE!  It would take a person THREE DAYS to walk across it. (Like Los Angeles??)

Jonah went halfway in and cried, “IN 40 DAYS, NINEVEH WILL BE OVERTHROWN!” And then he left, went outside the city to a hill, and sat down to watch the “holy fireworks.”

They didn’t come.

Instead, the whole city repented. (FROM ONE 7-WORD SERMON!!)  The people believed God. They put on sackcloth in mourning for their sin, the king too, and all his court.

He proclaimed a fast from all food and water (for the animals as well!) and told the people to “Call out mightily to God. Turn everyone from his evil ways and the violence he’s done. For who knows?  God may turn and relent from His fierce anger, and we may not perish.”

And when God saw their hearts, He relented of the disaster that He said he would do to them.  (At least for a while.)

Not what Jonah imagined, or wanted. He was furious! 

  • “SEE!!!  This is what I said would happen when I was back home!
  • This is why I fled to Tarshish! 
  • I KNEW You were a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy, and relenting from disaster!    (He was quoting Psalm 103, now, so I guess he did read God’s word.)

JONAH SHOULD HAVE BEEN THANKFUL that God was merciful… a God of second chances. Or else, he might have still been in that fish’s belly, rotting away!

  • Oh, please just kill me, for that is better than living (and seeing this!)

It got very hot.  Jonah put up a lean-to to shade himself while he watched. And the good and kind LORD caused a vine to grow up over the lean-to, which added more shade and a sweet fragrance.

Nice. 

Jonah settled back.

Then the good and kind LORD caused a worm to kill the plant.  And the next day, a scorching east wind blew, and the sun beat down. 

Jonah was angry that the plant died.  “It’s better for me to die than to live,” he moaned.

“You are angry and pity a vine that you did not plant or cause to grow, that came into being in a night and  perished in a night?”

“YES!“

And the good and kind LORD said, “And should I not pity Nineveh, a great city, in which there are more than 120K small children?”

No answer.

Silence.

About 40 years later, the NEXT generation of Assyrians reverted to their evil, violent ways. They came down on Israel, destroyed the kings, and carried the people away into captivity, never to return. 

End of the northern kingdom. 

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(**** Ah, LORD, You are faithful to save, when people turn their hearts from sin and trust in You…. at the preaching of Your Word.  

"For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. 
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. 
For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on ALL who call on Him. 
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?"
Romans 10:11-15.






			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 164


					
Jun13
			


	

		
Day 164.  Reading 1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5








Read Today’s Scriptures.


What truth about God stays in your mind?


1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5.


The Temple that King David had imagined, planned, and provided for, and that King Solomon had built … was finished.  A fantastic monument for the LORD GOD of Heaven, glorious and magnificent, only awaiting the breath of God Himself!


Solomon gathered all of Israel for the dedication. The priests were consecrated and sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted. Then, they brought up the Ark of the Covenant from Zion, the City of David. They placed it in the Most Holy Place in the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim.


And when they came out … a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not minister, for the GLORY of the LORD filled the house of the LORD!


King Solomon then blesses the LORD God of Heaven.


    

  • Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with His hand has fulfilled what He promised with His mouth to David, my father, saying… ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that My Name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people, Israel.’  Now it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. (But the LORD said, you shall not build the house, but your son shall build the house for my name.)  NOW, THE LORD HAS FULFILLED HIS PROMISE.”
    • 



Then Solomon spread out his hands toward heaven and prayed a lengthy prayer to the LORD, filled with praise, humility, contrition, and confidence in God.


    

  • “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”  “Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David, my father (that he would not lack a man to sit before you on the throne of Israel). 
    • 



Solomon pleads that God when He hears prayer offered from that place, would hear it and forgive.


    

  • If a person sins against his neighbor and comes before the altar…
    • 

  • When the people of Israel are defeated because they have sinned…
    • 

  • When there is no rain because the people have sinned…
    • 

  • If there is a famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locus, or enemy at the gates because they have sinned and they come before this place with repentance…
    • 

  • When a foreigner comes to pray before this place…
    • 

  • If your people go to battle and pray for help…
    • 

  • If they sin against You, and you send enemies to take them captive, and they turn to you….
    • 

  • If your people repent with all their mind and hearts…
    • 



“Then, O God, hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and for all their transgressions that they have committed against You, grant them compassion.”


Then Solomon got up from his prayer and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice:


    

  • “The LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers, may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Him to walk in all his ways and to keep His commandments, statutes, and rules he commanded our fathers.  Let your heart, therefore, be wholly true to the LORD our God.”
    • 



After that, there were tons more sacrifices and offerings.  After eight days, the people went home to their houses, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, his servant, and to Israel, his people.


(More tomorrow on Solomon’s prayer and dedication and God’s well-known promise of forgiveness and healing. (2 Chronicles 7:14)


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(Oh, the mountain-top experiences! How we all wish we could stay there. Filled with the joy of the LORD, praises, goodwill, and full tummies.  


There will be more good things about Solomon, but eventually, as he goes against the laws for a king, we will see him falter. God is faithful, but sin will show its ugly head in his own son’s reign. 


Message to me?  Stay alert, be on guard, for my heart tends to sin, pride, greed, and wishes for glory.)

























			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 143


					
May23
			


	

		


Day 143.  Reading 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm30








Read Today’s Scriptures.




2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21


Okay, David… sigh.


You “blew it” before, you had to run for your life, and you lost two, no three sons, why would you now do something else foolish?


1 Chron 21:1 says, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” 


God sovereignly used Satan in this matter. And for some reason — perhaps a fear of an attack by enemies, perhaps pride, or maybe ambition, or some other unknown sin of Israel — David yielded to the temptation of Satan, and CHOSE to go against God’s will and NUMBER ISRAEL to see how many men were fit for the army.


DAVID:  “Joab, Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba (top to bottom), and number the people that I may KNOW the number of people…and bring me a report.”


Well, old Joab surprised me here. He actually cautions the king.


JOAB:  “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord delight in this thing? Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants?  Why then should my lord require this?  Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?”


But David insisted. So Joab and his men went throughout Israel and came back to Jerusalem nine and a half months later with the numbers.


NOTE:  There is a seeming discrepancy between the totals between the 2 Samuel and the 1 Chronicles accounts. Never fear. You can trust the word.  2 Samuel reports a different way of numbering: all the men, plus from Judah, including the ones already in his army. 1 Chronicles says Joab stopped the counting before he included Benjamin (or Levi) because it abhorred him.  David also stopped the counting at some point because of God’s conviction.


David’s heart struck him. “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”


(NOTE: A census is not wrong in itself. God called for them in Numbers 1 and 28.  But they were for reasons the LORD mentioned, and not to puff up a sinful king.)


And so God sent the prophet Gad to David (as he had done with Nathan).  Gad was to give David THREE OPTIONS of judgment, as the result of his sin. And ALL the options meant pain and suffering for ISRAEL


    

  1. three years of famine on the land
    2. 

  2. three months of fleeing from a pursuing enemy
    3. 

  3. three days of plague on the land.
    4. 



David was in great distress.  “Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercy is great, but let us not fall into the hand of man.”


And so, the LORD sent a plague on Israel.  From Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men died. But when the Angel of Death put out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, THE LORD RELENTED FROM THE CALAMITY and said to the angel, “It is enough.”


David was distraught. “I have sinned and done wickedly.  But these sheep (the people of Israel), what have they done. Please let your hand be against me and my father’s house.”


The LORD told him to raise an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah/Ornan, the Jebusite. When David went there, the man said he would give the place (and the oxen to sacrifice) to the king FOR FREE. But David said he would not offer to the LORD that which had not cost him anything.  He paid the price asked, built an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.


And the LORD stopped the plague on the people of Israel (“The Angel of the LORD put his sword back into its sheath”}.


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Psalm 30.


Joy comes in the morning…


    

  • O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and you have healed me.
    • 

  • O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
    • 

  • Sing praises to the LORD, O you His saints, and give thanks to His holy Name.
    • 

  • For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime.
    • 

  • Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
    • 

  • You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God I will give thanks to you forever.
    • 



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And David said, “HERE shall be the house of the LORD God and HERE the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”  This is where the Jerusalem temple was to be built by Solomon.


1 Chronicles 22.


And so, David prepares for the Temple building.


David set stonecutters to prepare the great stones for building the House of God.  He provided great quantities of iron for nails and clamps, as well as bronze in quantities BEYOND WEIGHING, and cedar timbers without number from the kings of Tyre and Sidon. (Lebanon)


DAVID:  “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout the lands.” 


So David said to Solomon….


    

  • “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the Name of the LORD my God. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying….
    • 

  • “You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my Name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies.  For his name shall be Solomon (peace), and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.  HE shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.”
    • 

  • Now, my son, the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as He has spoken concerning you. Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel.  Be strong and courageous. Fear not do not be dismayed.  Arise and work!  The LORD be with you!”
    • 



David also commended all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon.  “Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the Name of the LORD.











			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 140


					
May20
			


	

		


Day 135.  Reading Psalm 5, 38, 41, 42.


 






 


Read Today’s Scriptures.


 


Psalm 5.


King David is back home, but he’s been through a lot. His sin, his being found out, and the drastic consequences of that sin, including losing another beloved son still weigh him down.  His kingship was threatened, and people forsook him and showed their displeasure with him. He felt cast off; set adrift. 


    

  • “Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray. O LORD, in the morning, hear my voice…  Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before me. 
    • 



Psalm 38.


David is still reeling under the dire results of his sin.  He talks about his sin, his iniquities, and his foolishness. He writes about God’s indignation like a heavy burden, like wounds festering, like a tumult in his heart.


Then David turns to the horrible treatment he’s received from his friends and companions. They seek his harm and his very life. 


    

  • I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.  Do not forsake me, O LORD!  O, my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord of my salvation.
    • 



Psalm 41.


    

  • As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”  My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?”
    • 

  • But YOU, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up….  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
    • 



Psalm 42.


David here writes from a place of sadness because he feels far from God. He remembers the sweet times of joy and praise and longs for them to return.  He feels God has abandoned him.  Then, it’s like he sits up straight, straightens his clothes and asks himself, his soul a question….. Then reprimands his soul…


    

  • As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?  My tears have been my food day and night….
    • 

  • These things I remember, as I pour out my soul…..  how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival…..  My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan… and of Hermon… from Mount Mizar….
    • 

  • I say to God, my rock; “Why have you forgotten me?  Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
    • 

  • Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  HOPE IN GOD; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.
    • 



 


 


 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 133


					
May13
			


	

		


Day 133. Reading 2 Samuel 11-12, and 1 Chronicles 20






Read Today’s Scriptures. A sad day for King David


2 Samuel 11.


(Well, I’ve dallied long enough. I need to read this disheartening story of my favorite character in the Bible, after Jesus.  He sinned – grossly – as I have.  Oh, why do we take our eyes off God and His Word and indulge our sinful flesh?  God is so merciful and forgiving, but, the consequences of sin must come!)


David’s steps down:


In the springtime of the year…


When KINGS go out to battle…


David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel.


(1.) But David remained in Jerusalem.


Bored and restless, the king got up from his couch (while all Israel was fighting!), and went up to the rooftop to look at his “golden” city in the late afternoon light. His eyes fell upon a woman bathing on  HER rooftop. (This was her ritual cleansing after her monthly period, so she was very fertile.)


(2.) As David’s eyes lingered, he saw that she was very beautiful. 


(3.) Continuing to watch her, David called one of his servants. “Who is that woman?”


“She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the WIFE of Uriah, the Hittite (one of YOUR mighty men).”


(4.) He decides. “Bring her here.”


(5.) Regardless of David’s many wives, he committed adultery and lay with Bathsheba, knowing she was the wife of another man. Then he sent her home.


A couple months later David gets a message from the lovely lady. “I’m pregnant.” (All her neighbors and family knew that Uriah was away in the army. If they saw she was pregnant, they would accuse her (rightly) of adultery.  She could be stoned.) It was now David’s problem.


(6.) David racked his brain for a solution and came up with a devious one. He sent a message to Commander Joab to send Uriah home. (Surely he will sleep with his wife, and everyone will think the baby is his.)


But David’s mighty (and loyal) man was more virtuous than the king.  While all his fellow soldiers were out fighting, he would NOT go and enjoy the pleasures of “hearth and home.” He slept down with David’s servants.  Even when David “wined and dined” him, getting him drunk, Uriah refused to go home.


(7.) So David devised murder in his heart.  He sent Uriah back to the front with a message to Joab. “Put Uriah in the forefront of the fighting, then draw back, so that he is killed.”


Joab, with barely a raised eyebrow, obeyed.  And so it happened that Uriah was murdered. Then Joab sent a message to the king about the war and added a PS, that Uriah was dead.


The messenger returned to Joab with David’s, “Sorry to hear that but don’t let it bother you. Soldier on!”


Ah, problem handled! 


After a short but “decent” time of mourning, David sent for the widow, Bathsheba and made her HIS wife. In time, she gave birth to a son.


“But the thing that David had done DISPLEASED the LORD.”


 


2 Samuel 12.


Sin has a way of finding you out.


God sent the prophet Nathan to David (the former shepherd boy) with a story about two men and a lamb.


    

  • “There was a rich man who had many flocks of sheep. And there was a poor man with but ONE little ewe lamb, which he’d raised much like a member of his family. The little lamb would drink from his cup, and lie in his arms, like a little daughter.
    • 

  • “Then someone came to visit the rich man. He wanted to be a good host, but he did NOT want to serve him a lamb from his own flock. So, he took the poor man’s only little pet, killed it, carved it up, and roasted and served the tender meat to his guest.”
    • 



DAVID:  “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!! And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”


Silence for a moment… then,


NATHAN:  “YOU are the man!


And David listened on in horror to what God said in accusation of HIM.


NATHAN:  Thus says the LORD, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.  Why have you despised the WORD of the LORD to do what is evil in his sight?  


Then the indictment…


“You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have KILLED HIM with the sword of the Ammonites. 


And the consequences…


Now, therefore, the sword SHALL NEVER DEPART FROM YOUR HOUSE, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Behold, I will raise up evil against you OUT OF YOUR OWN HOUSE. I will take YOUR WIVES before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. For YOU did it secretly, but I WILL do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”


(I can so picture David’s shocked face at his sin being discovered, and his body crumbling to the floor as the LORD his God questioned him and reminded him of all the LORD had done for him, and then, told him the horrible dark consequences of his sinful actions.)


DAVID;  I have sinned against the LORD!


(Can you imagine how David’s heart was breaking in anguish, sorrow, and repentance?  How could he have so sinned against the LORD his God, whom he loved with all his heart?)


I am totally amazed and blown away, at God’s GRACE, and the immediacy of His response to David’s admission of sin.


NATHAN:  “The LORD also has put away your sin; YOU shall not die.” (WHAT MERCY!!)  “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you SHALL die.”


And Nathan left.


Bathsheba’s baby got sick. Very sick.  David fasted and prayed for the boy, and laid on his face all night. For a week he did not rise nor eat.


On the seventh day, the baby died.


When he was told, David got up, washed himself, and changed his clothes. He went to the House of the LORD and worshipped God.  Then he went home and ate the food put before him.


The servants:  You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when he died, you arose and ate. What is this?


DAVID:  “While the child still lived, I fasted and wept, for I thought “Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child will live?”  But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”


In time, Bathsheba had another son and they named him, Solomon.  “And the LORD loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet to call him “Jedidiah,” or “beloved of the LORD.


(I think this was a comfort to David, who “could have” thought that any child of this union might have been cursed by God.)


###


The rest of 2 Samuel 12, tells about Joab fighting and coming near to defeating Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammonites.  He sent a message to David to gather some men and camp against the city to take it, so that KING DAVID and not JOAB would get the credit.


David does this, and when the huge golden crown (with a precious stone in it) was brought from the Ammonite king, it was placed on David’s head.  David also brought out the spoils and made the people slaves to work at the brick kilns. Then the king returned to Jerusalem.


Joab did a good job “covering” for David (who should have been fighting all along), and making him “look good for the people”.  But Joab KNEW about Uriah and surmised about Bathsheba. 


(Just another reason why David hated Joab, his nephew and commander of his army.)


 


1 Chronicles 20.


This chapter only briefly mentions “David staying in Jerusalem in the Spring, when kings went out to battle, and Joab defeating the Ammonites, then David getting the crown.“


But it tells also of successful wars with the Philistines where a bunch of giants (one with 6 fingers on his hands and 6 toes on his feet) were struck down by the hand of David’s men.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 128


					
May8
			


	

		


Day 128.  Reading Psalms 25, 29, 33, 36, and 39.


 






 


Read Today’s Psalms.  PRAY them, SING them, PRAISE GOD with them.


Psalm 25.


A glorious PRAYER-psalm.  


    

  • To YOU, O LORD I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust.
    • 

  • Make me to know Your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
    • 

  • Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.
    • 

  • Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, 
    • 

  • Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O LORD.
    • 

  • Good and upright is the LORD; He instructs sinners in the way.
    • 

  • He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble His way.
    • 

  • For Your Name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
    • 

  • Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
    • 

  • Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!  Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You.
    • 

  • May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.
    • 



Psalm 29.


A wonderful psalm of God’s MAJESTY!


    

  • Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength
    • 

  • Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
    • 



(To “ascribe” means to “give the credit due.”)


Read through this hymn and see all it says about the “voice of the LORD.”


Psalm 33.


Another psalm of many ways and reasons to praise the LORD.


    

  • Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
    • 

  • Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!
    • 

  • Our soul waits for the LORD;  He is our help and our shield. 
    • 

  • For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy Name … we hope in You.
    • 



Psalm 36.


A psalm in praise of God’s Steadfast Love (mercy).


David first describes the wicked person in verses 1-4


    

  • Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
    • 

  • He flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out …
    • 

  • The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit …
    • 

  • He plots trouble while in his bed …
    • 



Then his thoughts and eyes turn to the loving, faithful, and righteous God.


    

  • How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    • 

  • Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who who know you, and your righteousness, to the upright of heart.
    • 



Psalm 39.


A personal psalm, a lament looking at David’s heart, and to his “end.”


    

  • I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; 
    • 

  • O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am.
    • 

  • Behold you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
    • 

  • And now, O LORD, for what do I wait?  My hope is in you.
    • 



Then comes a time when he turns, confesses sin, and hopes in God.


    

  • Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    • 

  • Remove Your “stroke” from me; I am spent by the hostility of Your hand.
    • 

  • When You discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath!
    • 

  • Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears! 
    • 

  • Look away from me, that I may smile again before I depart and am no more!
    • 



.


    

  • LORD, if You remembered the sins of my youth (and old age), if You marked down and kept track of all my iniquity, I could not stand! I would be consumed like that moth in a fire.  But there is forgiveness with You. I may endure a time of discipline, but I can smile again.  My HOPE is in You. 
    • 



 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 123


					
May3
			


	

		


Day 123.  Reading Psalm 106, 107.


 






 


 


Read Today’s Scriptures.


 


Psalm 106.


(This Psalm reviews God’s mercy on Israel despite their sinfulness. This history of Israel was most likely sung when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. See 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chron. 16.)


“Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love (mercy) endures forever!”


ONE


    

  • Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.”  
    • 

  • “Yet He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make known His mighty power.”  “He saved them from the land of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.”  
    • 

  • “Then they believed His words; they sang his praise.”
    • 



TWO


    

  • “But they soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test.”  “They exchanged the GLORY OF GOD for the image of an ox that eats grass!”   “They forgot God their savior.
    • 

  • “He said He would destroy them — had not Moses stood in the breach before Him to turn Him away from His wrath.”
    • 



THREE


    

  • “They despised the pleasant land, had no faith in His promise. They murmured…. they did not obey…. Therefore He swore to them that He would make them fall in the wilderness.”
    • 

  • They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. They provoked the LORD to anger, and a plague broke out among them.
    • 

  • Then Phinehas stood up and intervened and the plague was stayed.  That was counted to him for righteousness.
    • 



FOUR


    

  • They angered Him at the waters of Meribah, and it WENT ILL WITH MOSES on their account, for they made His spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.
    • 

  • They disobeyed and did not destroy the people as the LORD commanded. They mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.  They served idols. They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.”  “Thus they became unclean by their acts and played the whore.
    • 

  • Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people and He abhorred His heritage. He gave them into the hands of the nations.  Their enemies oppressed them.
    • 

  • Nevertheless … He looked upon their distress, He heard their cry, He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the abundance of His steadfast love.
    • 



“BLESSED BE THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, from everlasting to everlasting. “Amen. Praise the LORD.”


    

  • What mercy and forgiveness we see in our God. These verses remind me of 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” How I thank and praise Him. 
    • 



.


Psalm 107.


“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for his steadfast love (mercy) endures forever.”  “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north and from the west.


SOME wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty.


    

  • “But they cried to the LORD in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress.  He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.
    • 

  • “He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.
    • 



SOME sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons. 


    

  • “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
    • 

  • He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
    • 



SOME were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities, suffered affliction. They loathed food and drew near to the gates of death.


    

  • “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
    • 

  • He sent out His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
    • 



SOME went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep.


    

  • “He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
    • 

  • They mounted up to heaven; then went down to the depts; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.
    • 

  • Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
    • 

  • He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. He brought them to their desired haven.
    • 



Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.


 


This is a great thing to consider and think on today!





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 116


					
Apr26
			


	

		


Day 116.  Reading Psalms 73, 77, 78.


 








Read today’s scripture.


How do these Psalms about trouble, heartache, and persecution speak to you?


Psalm 73.


Have you ever felt like this?


    

  • Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 
    • 



Then the Psalmist continues to describe the “arrogant and wicked” in verses 4-12. (See if you recognize them as you read those verses.)


    

  • All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
    • 

  • But when I thought HOW to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, UNTIL I WENT INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD; then I discerned their end.
    • 



And his glorious ending thoughts!


    

  • YOU hold my right hand. YOU guide me with your counsel, and afterward, YOU will receive me to glory.
    • 

  • Whom have I in heaven but YOU?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides YOU.
    • 

  • My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. 
    • 



.


Psalm 77.


Have you done or felt these things when you are suffering in some way?


    

  • I cry aloud to God, and he will hear me.
    • 



This is the Psalmist’s hope, but he admits to the opposite. 


    

  • In the day of my trouble I seek the LORD. 
    • 

  • In the night my hand is stretched out without wearing, and my soul refuses to be comforted.  
    • 

  • When I remember God, I moan: when I meditate, my spirit faints. 
    • 

  • You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
    • 

  • I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” 
    • 

  • Then my spirit made a diligent search…..
    • 



Here, the Psalmist turns to his knowledge of His Lord and asks questions that have a resounding “NO!” answer.


    

  1. Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable?
    2. 

  2. Has His steadfast love forever ceased?
    3. 

  3. Are His promises at an end for all time?
    4. 

  4. Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    5. 

  5. Has He in anger shut up his compassion?
    6. 



And those “No” questions gave him hope and comfort.  Hear him “preach to himself!”  USE THESE TO PREACH TO YOURSELF TOO!!


    

  • I WILL REMEMBER the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.
    • 

  • I WILL ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
    • 

  • YOUR WAY, O God, is holy.
    • 

  • WHAT GOD is great like our God? 
    • 

  • YOU are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 
    • 

  • YOU with Your arm redeemed your people…
    • 





.


Psalm 78.


(A good LONG psalm, looking forward to the next generation.)


    

  • Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
    • 



The hope of this Psalm.


    

  • I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, things that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from our children but tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and His might, and the wonders that he has done……..which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, who will rise and tell them to THEIR children, so that they should SET THEIR HOPE IN GOD, and not forget His works, but keep His commandments.
    • 



The Psalm goes on to tell how the Israelites of old, SINNED against God, REBELLED, TESTED, and SPOKE AGAINST God until He was full of wrath against them. 


    

  • And their main sin:  “They did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.“
    • 



This is a huge “beware” to us today!!!


    

  • AND YET HE FED them grain from Heaven and water from the Rock (both pictures of Jesus Christ).  YET, HE, BEING COMPASSIONATE, ATONED for their iniquity and did not destroy them; 
    • 

  • He restrained His anger often and did not stir up ALL his wrath. 
    • 

  • He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes…
    • 



The psalm goes on to tell how Israel tested God again and again, provoked Him, and did not remember His power, They turned away, acted treacherously, twisted like a bow strong, and rebelled against the Most High God…..  And He rejected Israel, the tent of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim.


So sad, but so like us sometimes.   But then…..


    

  • He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens…
    • 

  • He chose David, His servant. He took him from the sheepfolds and brought him to shepherd Jacob, His people, and Israel, His inheritance.  
    • 

  • With an upright heart he (David) shepherded them and guided them with a skillful hand.
    • 



 


.


In a few days, we will get back to the story of King David. 


 




 







			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 108


					
Apr18
			


	

		


Day 108.  Reading Psalms 17, 35, 54, 63


 








Read today’s scripture. You might even pray a couple of the Psalms.


Psalm 17.




This is a wonderful psalm of trust and dependence on God; of a face-to-face closeness that most of us don’t experience. Remember David’s situation as you read, constantly pursued by Saul who wants to kill him.


    

  • Hear a just cause, O LORD, attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free from deceit.
    • 

  • You have tried my heart, You have visited me by night, You have tested me, and You will find nothing.  I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
    • 

  • I will call upon You, for You will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words.
    • 

  • Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge.
    • 

  • Keep me as the apple of your eye; hind me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. 
    • 

  • He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush. Arise O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from me by your hand, O LORD.
    • 

  • As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”
    • 



Psalm 34.


David wrote this psalm after he escaped when he acted crazy before the Abimelech (King Achish of Gath). (Don’t confuse him with the high priest Ahimelech from whom David got the bread and Goliath’s sword just before going to this Philistine king.) (1 Samuel 21:8-15)


The psalm is full of praise, with many verses that would be great to memorize.


    

  • I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
    • 

  • My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
    • 

  • Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His Name together!
    • 

  • I sought the LORD and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
    • 

  • The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. 
    • 

  • Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
    • 

  • What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
    • 

  • The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.  When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
    • 



Wow!  Praise God!


Psalm 54.


This psalm was written by David when those “tattle-tellers” went to Saul and told him David was hiding in their city. (Remember how David asked God if the Ziphites would turn him over to Saul – even though David had rescued them from the Philistines.  God had said, “Yes,” and David and his men fled into the wilderness.)


    

  • O God, save me by your Name, and vindicate me by your might!
    • 

  • O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves.
    • 

  • Behold, God is my helper, the Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies.
    • 

  • I will give thanks to Your Name, O LORD, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
    • 



Psalm 63.


Again David is faced with a familiar and persistent enemy.  He’s learned to put his trust WHOLLY upon the LORD.  Hear him preaching to himself. (Lord, help me to do this too!)


    

  • For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation
    • 

  • He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall NOT be greatly shaken.
    • 

  • How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.
    • 

  • For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. 
    • 

  • He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken; On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
    • 

  • Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. 
    • 



 Are you like me?  Do you want to memorize some of these great words of trust and praise?  Thank you David.  Thank You, God.


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 107


					
Apr17
			


	

		


Day 107.  Reading 1 Samuel 25-27


 








Read today’s scripture.  See how God “keeps” David’s heart righteous.


Who has God used to help YOU in your Christian walk?


1 Samuel 25.


Now Samuel died. All Israel mourned him. (The prayed-for baby, the hearer of God’s voice, the anointer of kings, a prophet, judge, and prayer-warrior for Israel…dead.)


And life goes on.  David and his 600 men had been living in the wilderness of Paran. They had been passively protecting the many flocks of sheep (3K) and the shepherds of a wealthy man named Folly (Nabal), from marauders and wild animals.  At the end of the winter, when the flocks were being sheared, David sent men to Folly asking for a show of appreciation.


“Peace to you! We hear you are shearing now. Your shepherds have been with us. We protected them and allowed none of your sheep to go missing. (Ask them, they’ll tell you.)  And so, let us find favor in your eyes. It’s a celebration day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your servants and to your “son” David.”


But Folly showed his true selfish colors. “Who is David?  Many servants have run away from their masters and are begging for bread. Shall I take MINE and give it to men who come from I don’t know where???


Wrong response, dear Nabal.  David responds in anger, arming his men to take revenge.


BUT… the wise, caring, and beautiful wife of Folly hears what he’s done and hurries to remedy his grave mistake.  She packs up a remarkable amount of food and supplies on donkeys and goes to meet (and perhaps calm down) David.  She does so, humbly, presenting the food, and basically tells David that she KNOWS he will be king one day, and that the LORD is leading him. Does he want this foolish act of vengeance on Folly to be a black spot on his record (and conscience)?


David is wowed.  And calmed down.  He graciously accepts the food and blesses the lady.


Abigail returns to her husband in a fury.  He’s feasting and jolly (Jolly Folly), and drunk.  But, in the morning she lays it on heavy about how foolish a fool he was.


He had a stroke? Heart attack?  And ten days later he is struck dead by the LORD. So much for all that wealth he was so greedy and foolish to keep for himself.  (Doesn’t this remind you of Jesus’ parable of The Rich Fool in Luke 12:16-21? Perhaps Jesus had Nabal in mind…)


David was happy that the LORD had “taken care of” Nabal and kept him back from taking revenge.  Then he sent for his widow, Abigail, and made her his wife. She was more than pleased and hurried to him, with her five “ladies in waiting.”  WOW. What a contrast in the way she’d been living.  Wealthy but despising her foolish husband then. And now, she lived meagerly, dangerously, with a man pursued by the king and the armies of Israel, but whom she believed would one day be the king of Israel, by God’s hand.


1 Samuel 26.


Abagail soon gets a taste of that dangerous living with an exile. 


Word comes to King Saul that David is hiding in a certain spot near the Dead Sea. He takes 3K choice soldiers with him to find and kill David. They camp in a plain nearby. 


Stealthily David spies on the camp, and sure enough, Saul is right in the middle, surrounded by soldiers.  At night when all are asleep (actually a VERY deep sleep caused by the LORD), David and a volunteer creep down into the camp … carefully walk through the sleeping soldiers … and come to the king and his commander, Abner.  They are deeply asleep and “sawing logs.” 


“God has given your enemy into your hand this day,” said the volunteer, Abishai. “Please let me pin him to the earth. I can do it with one spear thrust.” 


But David held him back. “Do not destroy him, for who can kill the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?  As the LORD lives, 1) the LORD will strike him, or 2) his day will come to die, or 3) he will go into battle and perish.”


But like before with the corner cut from the king’s robe, David takes Saul’s spear and water bottle to prove HIS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE KILLED THE KING was not taken.


Back up on the hill, David calls to and berates Abner for not protecting the king.  They are astonished. How could this have happened?


And again, Saul acknowledges David’s righteousness. “I have sinned. I have acted foolishly. I have made a great mistake.  I will no more do you harm because MY life was precious in YOUR eyes today.”


David gives the spear back to Saul’s servant who comes to collect it. 


“Blessed be you, my son, David,” Saul says. “You will do many things and will succeed in them.”  And they both return to their places.


1 Samuel 27.


But David did not trust the words of King Saul. (And the king did keep pursuing him.)


And so, David, his men, and their families went to Gath and talked to the Philistine king, Achish.  When Saul heard he was living with the enemy, he no longer pursued David.  David asked Achish for a town for himself and his men, “For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”  King Achish gave him Ziklag, which would belong to the kings of Judah ever afterward.  David stayed there for 16 months.


He and his men would make raids on Israel’s enemies, like the Amalekites, kill all the people, and take the animals. He told King Achish that he was raiding places in southern Judah (true, but…).  Since there was no one alive to say differently, the king was satisfied.


“Ha! David has made himself a stench to his people Israel,” thought Achish. “So, he shall always be MY servant.”


Think again, O king of the Philistines at Gath!.


.


    

  • LORD, thank you for the people you put in my life to keep me accountable and help me not to be foolish or brash.  I think of the people in our Care Group, my family, and the women at our church. 
    •