FBC Daily Devotional – October 11, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, good morning Welcome to a new week Monday morning, and I hope your day is getting off to a good start and here

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I am back in my study and back home after a couple of weeks of Conference time and a little vacation time will are in our time.

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It's a good time away very Refreshing conferences very challenging and And Appreciate the

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Lord speaking and working in my own heart my own life during those during those sessions and the kind of conferences

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Heard a bunch of good preaching and challenging Time from God's Word and also enjoyed some fellowship with God's people and that's always a blessing as well

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But so here we are back at it and in today's reading we're reading the first couple of chapters of 2nd

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Samuel and The first chapter especially it's just really heart -wrenching It follows right on the heels of 1st

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Samuel obviously and the last thing that happens in 1st Samuel is that Saul and Jonathan are killed and you remember how

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Saul took his basically took his own life after being Severely wounded and it was certainly going to be a mortal wound

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But and then in chapter 1 of 2nd Samuel a Messenger comes to David and tells him that Saul's dead and he lies about it thinking he's gonna get glory for himself if he tells

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David that he actually killed Saul and you know

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So forth but it didn't work out that way and and that's not what I wanted to focus on what

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I wanted to focus on is how David responded to the news that Saul and Jonathan had died and Keep in mind that for the last

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For the previous few years. We don't exactly know how many years transpired here from the time that Saul first started to what to Try to attack

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David and take him out of the way Until David became the king and Saul died we don't know exactly how long that was but it was it was more than it was more than a year or two and So during all that time

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Saul was really an enemy of David and it's not that it's not that he was David's enemy except for the fact that Saul made

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David his enemy and Saul was kept trying to kill David and David kept trying to flee and to save his protect his life and members several times

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More than one occasion David had the opportunity to execute Saul, but he didn't do it. He refused to do it

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Well now Saul is dead and That opens up the door for David to take the throne and to be the king as God promised him that would that would help what?

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That would happen So when this messenger came with the news that Saul was dead

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One might think that David would say yeah, finally. All right about time

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That's not how he responded Instead he composed a song of lament and it was a lamentation for Jonathan his good friend but also for Saul and I'm particularly struck by these couple of verses in in that song that David wrote

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He said Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives and in their death.

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They were not divided They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions.

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Oh Daughters of Israel he says weep over Saul Who clothed you in scarlet with luxury who put ornaments of gold on your pair apparel?

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how the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle he says and this

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Response to the death of Saul is really it really challenging when you think about it, isn't it?

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How would you respond? How would I respond? I'm afraid too many times.

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I haven't had really good attitudes and Situations like this one one who made it clear that he was some kind of some level of an enemy got his

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Just desserts if you will And that is to my shame But I do remember one occasion where God Graciously gave me this kind of a spirit and I don't say that to say wow

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Look, this is the way I always handle it because that's not the case I tried to think back on a case when

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I did handle it this way and It at the end of one of my pastoral ministries several years ago

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There was a an older man who was a deacon and he was very cruel very mean to me and He I just leave it at that he was just really really mean to me

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I Made it clear. He didn't like me and made it clear. He wanted me gone and It wasn't long before I was gone from that church

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But a few years later and it was probably about six or five or six seven years later perhaps the church was having some kind of an anniversary celebration and I was invited to be there and We were going on vacation anyway

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So we were heading in that direction so we stopped at that at that church for that weekend and that weekend celebration and At that on that occasion that man who was just really mean to me really mean

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He came up to me and he said so if I came and visited your church, would you welcome me?

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and I Was kind of startled. So what he said if I if I came and visited your church would you welcome me or would you want me to stay away and I said

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No, brother Bob I'd welcome you. I'd be glad for you to come and visit my church and That was about all that was said about it more

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I thought about it later the more I realized that the reason he asked that question It was his way of saying, you know,

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I did you dirty I wasn't good to you Would you forgive me? I didn't say it that way would have been nice You know, but but that's what he was basically saying, isn't it?

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And I'm I'm grateful that I responded the way I did because he really hurt me badly and at the time and It's only by the grace of God that I could respond in a way like David responded after Saul's death

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This gives us a reason to pause and to think about the people who have really hurt us

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Hurt our feelings, you know really expressed animosity toward us in the past How would we how would we handle that how would we respond to them?

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What would our attitude be? Could we? Could we have this kind of a heart of?

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Grace a heart of forgiveness that's willing to forgive a Repentant one who would come back and tell us.

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Sorry Saul never really had the chance to tell David he was sorry but nevertheless

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David had that grace to Applaud Saul for the good things that Saul did and he didn't make a big deal.

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He didn't make a deal at all About the cruelty that Saul extended toward him So, I think we can learn from this

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I think we can learn challenge ourselves to learn how to be gracious Toward those who have hurt us well, let's

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Let's just take that to the Lord in a prayer and ask him to give us a gracious heart

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Father, this is a difficult thing for us. So many times we get hurt and we want revenge

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We want to lash out at those who have hurt us. I pray that we wouldn't do that And I pray that we would have the kind of gracious heart that David exhibited here today

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And this we pray in Jesus name. Amen All right. Well, you have a good