Category Archives: Bible Characters

Whose armor are you wearing?

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38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:38-40)

You know the story — David’s minding his own business, tending his sheep, and next thing you know Jesse asks him to take some cheese and crackers to his brothers who are fighting the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:17-19). Israelites on one side of the Valley of Elah; Philistines on the other. Every day for 40 days, a 9-foot tall guy stepped out from the Philistine camp and dared an Israelite to come fight him. Any Israelite; didn’t much matter to Goliath which one.

Verses 20 and 21 just kill me: “[David] reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.”

Who are we kidding here? I can just see them — Israelites shaking their fists, yelling “Our army is better”; Philistines responding “No, we’re better, I promise!” After a few rounds of this, Goliath shakes his head and steps into the valley to shout out his challenge, just as he had done every day for the past 6 weeks.

24When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear… 26David asked the men standing near him, “…Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:24, 26)

Finally the voice of faith rather than the voice of fear. Evidently Eliab and the others didn’t know in Whose army they served.

Let’s cut to the chase — Saul got wind of David being there and what he was saying, and he sent for him. David told the king he’d go fight the giant, Saul offered his armor, David tried it on and couldn’t wear it, so chose 5 stones & a sling instead.

We know the rest. David’s stone found its mark. (Ever wonder why he took 5?) The giant was dead. Philistines ran; Israelites plundered their camp. (Just as an aside, I want you to notice verse 54: “David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem…”. Um, why? Seems a little weird to me, but I stray from the points of the lesson.)

Point number 1: God didn’t refuse to provide victory to Saul and his army — they never asked for His help! He has promised never to leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), but you are free to leave at any time. To receive His strength and care, all you need to do is ask (Matthew 7:7-8).

Point number 2: David didn’t defeat the giant; God did. He’ll defeat your giants too. He has promised to not let satan tempt you beyond what you can bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Point number 3: We have armor just as strong as (and I’d argue even stronger than) the armor Saul offered David. We have the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). It is ours to use if we will just wear it.

So, whose armor are you wearing? Your own armor of pride, self-importance, and imperfection? Or the full armor of God?

Will God always honor man’s repentance?

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30Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30-33)

20Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free. 22I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ 23“And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ 24“Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”…27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 28Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” (1 Kings 21:20-29)

Have you ever felt like such a sinner, like you’ve made so many fall-on-your-face blunders that you’re beyond hope and God will never forgive you?

Ok, let me ask you this — is your life so bad that you could compete with someone who “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of [the kings] before him”? Unless your name is Jeffrey Dahmer, I’d be willing to bet your life can’t even come close to that of Ahab’s on the scale of “badness”. (Oh, and Jeffrey Dahmer? I fully expect to see him in heaven. If you want to learn about his conversion story, write me and I’ll tell you about it.)

Ahab doesn’t even come close to comparing with King David, but the way he reacted after hearing Elijah’s curse was reminiscent of David’s reaction after Nathan’s confrontation (2 Samuel 12:1-9). Make no mistake; this was real repentance. Ahab was not simply putting on a show to get Elijah to change his curse to a blessing.

So does this mean we can expect to see King Ahab in heaven? Sorry, not my call — nor yours.

Nor is it the point of this post.

The point is God noticed and God honored Ahab’s repentance. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He waited patiently for Ahab to repent. He waits patiently for you too, but He will not wait forever. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), when neither you nor I expect it.

God is waiting; what are you waiting for?

Maranatha.

The obedience of Jesus

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Jesus went to the cross, was crucified, buried and resurrected. He died that we might live (1 Cor 15:3-5). Christians understand the magnitude of the sacrifice of Jesus and what a great gift we have received as a result of his death! We are humbled and thankful that God established so wonderful a plan of salvation that allows us to be saved. Through God’s grace, we have His promises of eternal salvation.

However, we may not give enough attention to Jesus’ anguish in the hours preceding the crucifixion. Let’s examine this in more detail.

Jesus is God who came in earthly form. Note Philippians 2:6:

who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

Jesus was in human form and experienced all of the human feelings that we experience. He was certainly special but he was not shielded from hunger, thirst, anger and grief. He experienced pain, rejection, disappointment just as we do. How can we forget “Jesus wept” (John 11:35)? We must comprehend this aspect of Jesus to better understand the greatness of His gift to us and the magnitude of His obedience.

Please review these excerpts from Matthew’s account of His impending crucifixion in Matthew 26:36-46:

“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” (v. 37)

“O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (v. 39)

42Again, a second time, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 44So He prayed the third time, saying the same words.

In the recording of this event in Mark 4:36, we find:

And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”

And the depth of His anguish was revealed in Luke 22:44:

And being in agony, His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus soul was sorrowful even to death. Stop and think what that means. Have you borne sorrow to the point of death? Not many have but if you have you know the depth of hurt and anguish that tears and rends you. You can begin to understand the feelings of Jesus at that time. He went aside to pray three times that “this cup” pass away. He asked the Father three times to spare him from the coming ordeal but was refused by God the Father. Knowing that God could relieve Him but recognizing that He would not was surely heartrending. Have you ever felt disappointment? How did it feel? How do you think Jesus felt? He felt the same human responses you or I would have felt. Just think of the burden He bore, knowing what was just before Him.

We do not understand the mind of God and it is a mistake for us to attempt so. But we can tell from Mark 4:36 that God could have spared Jesus from the ordeal to come. But He did not. “Why” is not ours to ask. We can only know that God the Father allowed His Son to die so we may be saved. We better appreciate John 3:15 when we consider what transpired as the crucifixion of Jesus approached.

Imagine His agony, so deeply felt that his sweat became like drops of blood. There have been attempts to explain this medically, but all we need to understand is that His anguish and agony reached an intensity that we have never experienced.

Are we beginning to grasp of the feelings Jesus experienced as the cross approached? His sorrow and agony, knowing what was to come? His earnest request of the Father, repeated three times to relieve Him of the cross but being refused? To know what was to come and was fast approaching? And yet He continued along this path ending in the cross in obedience to the Father. There could be no greater example of obedience than this. Note these scriptures:

who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)

but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:7-8)

You see, even though the Father could have spared Him the cross, Jesus in the human likeness of man was fully obedient to the will of God to the point of death on the cross. We cannot begin to comprehend the enormity of this level of obedience until we meditate upon it and give sober thought to what took place with Jesus from the garden to the cross. We are overwhelmed when this begins to sink into our understanding. What a great and wonderful Savior we have!

And how does this affect us? What are we to do? Jesus said: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Can we do less than to earnestly strive to keep His commandments? To have received the gift of the cross and to do less is unthinkable.