Sometimes God says, “No,” as when God told David he could not build the Temple. But God’s “No” is always in the service of God’s “Yes!”, namely, God’s fierce determination to grow us into people more like Jesus.

200 of David’s army of 600 are left behind at the Brook Besor. The returning 400 do not want to share the spoils of their victory. David will have none of this. In God’s Kingdom, everybody counts. Nobody’s gets “left behind.”

David dances before the Lord when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to its new home in Jerusalem. Moderates need his kind of passion in celebrating and sharing what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, many of us have built bigger and bigger barns in search of economic security. Now a recession has stolen much of the security we thought was ours. Maybe this is an opportunity to rethink where our real security lies and to reallocate our spiritual and material portfolios.

As David learns when he finds bread and a sword in the sanctuary at Nob, a sanctuary can be a dangerous place: it’s where God’s people take refuge to plot a revolution. The bread of Communion is not meant just to give us peace, but power.

David’s heart-rendering lament over the death of Saul and especially his beloved friend, Jonathan, is a model of grief deeply felt and powerfully expressed. Such “good grief” is a sign of faith and opens the way to God’s future.

For 16 months, David sought refuge with the Philistines while fleeing Saul. Some measure of accommodation with one’s culture is a part of every Christian’s life. But in the midst of his life in an “alien world,” David and his troops found refuge in Ziklag, a metaphor for the church.

(by Julie Long) How do we live with hope in a world littered with disappointment? Like the disciples who cast their nets on the other side, we can move forward with hope when we are willing to take a step of faith and acknowledge that the worst things are never the last things.

The sad state of Saul’s spiritual decline is evidenced by his consulting a medium. In seeking to know the word and way of God, Christians don’t look to ghosts; Christians look to Jesus.

After showing remarkable restraint in twice sparing Saul (I Sam. 24 & 28), David loses his temper with a “fool” named Nabal and very nearly exacts a bloody revenge. He is spared from his hot-headed error by a wise and beautiful woman named Abigail who reminds David that vengeance is God’s business, not his.

“Godfather” and “Godmother” are familiar terms, but what about a “God Friend”? In some very special friendships, God’s love and guidance are made known in a very powerful way. The friendship of David and Jonathan was no ordinary friendship: this was a friendship from God.

In calling David to be king, Samuel learns “the Lord does not see as mortals do for… the Lord looks on the heart” (v. 7). What about David’s heart qualifies him as God’s anointed? Not moral purity, as we might expect, but David’s unrelenting passion for God.

The Old Testament practice of “Holy War” is deeply troubling. Still, there is an enduring truth in Samuel’s rebuke to Saul (for failing to kill everybody!): “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Jesus chose to emphasize another Old Testament truth: “To show mercy is better than sacrifice.” Who you gonna believe?

Guest Preacher Nikki Hardeman

In demanding a king that she be a “like the nations,” Israel imperiled her faithfulness to the Kingship of Yahweh alone. In America, we are blessed with the freedom to live as we choose. Christians have a special responsibility to remember who their King is.

God’s judgment is not a punishment imposed from without. God’s judgment is the theological name for a life that isn’t working anymore because that life is lived in defiance of God’s presence and purpose. Such judgment is not the end, but the opportunity to learn from past mistakes and start anew with God’s help.

The old priest Eli probably wanted to be a good father but he wasn’t one. Among his many failings: he loved his children more than he loved God. Fortunately, when fathers fail, God has a Plan B.

The Spirit of God searches the heart to give voice to the hardest prayers of all: the one we don’t know how to pray or don’t realize we need to pray.

The Spirit of God searches the heart to give voice to the hardest prayers of all: the one we don’t know how to pray or don’t realize we need to pray.