One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing — a very beautiful woman.
Bethsabée (Bathsheba) by French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904)
Oil on canvas, 1889
60.5 cm (23.8 in) x 100 cm (39.3 in)
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.
King David on His Throne (2022, United States)
by Virginia S. Benedicte
Public Domain Catholic Painting.
I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.
That day David feared the Lord and asked, "How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?"
So he was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and all his household.
Image upscaled using Hotpot.ai
David mourns for Saul.
O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Suicide of Saul, 1562
Oil on panel
34cm (13.3in) x 55cm (21.6in)
Saul and the Witch of Endor.
Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
Saul and the Witch of Endor.
Watercolor with Bodycolor.
Edward Henry Corbould, 1815-1905
"Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, 'I will not lift my hand against my Lord, since he is the Lord's anointed.'"
Pietro Antonio Magatti (1687 - 1768)
David Spares Saul's Life
Oil painting on unlined canvas
334 x 236 cm
On 1 Peter 5:7 After a question asked of @CSLCHSnMore
The New International Version (NIV) translates 1 Peter 5:7 as 'Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you'.
J.B Philips' New Testament paraphrase rather beautifully expresses it like this:
So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.
But what does this mean practically?
I came to Christ in my late forties having spent a lifetime looking for meaning everywhere but in God. Initially my interest in the Bible was one of intellectual curiosity. But as I read that started to change, to a point where things flipped from curiosity to conviction and unequivocal faith.
It took a while for me to let down my defences and pray properly. But when I did it really felt like throwing myself at Christ’s feet and saying ‘here I am; I believe; you are real and I know you are there for me’.
To the question asked: when I share my burdens in prayer, or even just get on my knees, address God and mumble jumbled thoughts in my head (which happens when it’s all too much or I’m too tired to think straight) I feel lighter afterwards. Physiologically less stressed. Years ago I was once prescribed diazepam for anxiety and the result is the same (though without the disinhibition associated with medication). When I think about the effect that prayer has on my stress response, given how foreign the concept of prayer was and my initial skepticism about it's power, I still find it remarkable.
There is a reason why people over the centuries have got on their knees to pray, head bowed, hands clasped. It is a posture of submission. In some respects a posture of defeat; an acknowledgement that my works have failed; that I give myself to you, God. That you have authority and control over me and my circumstances and this world.
Prayer can be a balm, a salve.
Throwing your anxieties on God is something very real when you have true belief that He is listening and that in Him you will not be tested beyond your limit. We believers must remember that we have the Holy Spirit within us who strengthens us beyond anything we could have imagined before we were first saved.
But that is something for another day. You will know it when you see it.
David hides from Saul in Engedi.
David's Camp at Engedi by William Brassey Hole.
undated colour lithograph.
David is reunited with the sword which had slain Goliath.
"There is none like it; give it to me."
Arent de Gelder (1645–1727)
Ahimelech Giving the Sword of Goliath to David
Oil on canvas, 91.8 cm x 132.4 cm
The bread of God sustains David.
So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante
The Priest Ahimelech Gives the Bread and the Sword to David, 1667-8.
David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistines sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him; and he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
So don't you be afraid
Of giants in your way
With God, you know that anything's possible
So step into the fight
He's right there by your side
The stones inside your hand might be small
But watch the giants fall
Illustration 'David and Goliath' by Robert Leinweber (1845–1921).
Lyrics are from 'Giants Fall' by Francesca Battistelli.
Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel,
but Samuel said to him, "The Lord has not chosen these."
So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered. "He is tending the sheep."
One of the most painful things about coming to Jesus later in life are the nagging regrets about the lost years and the consequences of poor choices made before your eyes were opened to the truth and the light.
Habakkuk 2:3 describes how ‘revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.’
There was purpose and intent to the timing of God’s unveiling for me. Perhaps part of that purpose was that I would write these thoughts down and that they might touch someone. I know that the sadness I have about my lost years pales into nothing compared with the pain Job and Hosea endured in God’s plan.
Joel 2:25 tells us that God will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
There is life after death. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.
But still, as a husband and a father, there are things that cannot be changed, the consequence of decisions made by a version of me that was impetuous, immature and thought he had it all figured out.
When I was a child I remember being taught at school the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20). The underlying message that God's grace is not earnt but is a gift was not the one I recall being highlighted at the time. It always confused me. Looking back though, there's another element relevant to those of us called Christ late in the day. That we are as valuable to The Lord as those called early.
If I could go back and do things differently I would. So many things would be easier now if I had realised where the truth lay twenty or thirty years ago. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But would I have the character I have now, if it weren't for the journey I've been on? When it comes down to it my life is not my own. Christ and the Holy Spirit chose when to bring me to Him. There must have been a reason for that, after all Matthew 7:14 tells us that the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life (Matthew 7:14).
Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.
Psalm 39:4-5
Our life in this world is but a breath. Our inheritance is eternal, pure and undefiled.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
1 Peter 1:3-4
And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not continue.
The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. "Look," they said, "you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations." But when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord.
And when they realised that the ark of the Lord had entered the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before."
Illustration by James Tissot, 'The Ark Sent Away'.
"What was the message He gave you?" Eli asked.
"Do not hide it from me.
May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you."
So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him.
"He is the Lord," replied Eli.
"Let Him do what is good in His eyes."
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord:
The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
Psalm 83:1-8
For Israel.
O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
"Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel's name is remembered no more."
With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you --
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
Even Assyria has joined them
to reinforce Lot's descendants.
For Israel.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For Israel.
I 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 from their adversaries at your right hand.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel (2017)
Two original oil paintings by Anastasiia Valiulina
1 Samuel 2:7-8
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
Photographer: Niki Feijen
