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1 Samuel 18:17 – 30 | Loving The One True King

Our passage today continues to describe the hatred that Saul had for David which we examined in our study last week. Even though Jonathan and all Israel loved David deeply, Saul could not stand him. Saul hated David so much, because the demonic presence that had overtaken Saul was violently opposed to the Spirit of God that was on David, that Saul tried to murder David twice with a spear (1 Sam. 18:10 – 11).

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1 Samuel 17:41 – 58 | Victory

As we come to our final message in this four – part series on the story of David and Goliath, I am struck by the fact that many professing believers today do not experience victory over Satan, Sin, and Death on a progressive basis. I think this happens simply because we do not fully experience or as one commentator says fully appreciate the victorious work of Jesus at the bloody cross, and the empty tomb, in light of the promise of eternity.2

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1 Samuel 17:12 – 30 | Courage

As I studied this passage, this week, I became aware of some high levels of anxiety and fear deep within my soul. When I say that the levels of fear and anxiety in my soul are high, I mean that they are maybe the highest they have ever been in my twenty-plus years of ministry. This is mainly due to things happening in the world around us, in our ministry, and in my personal life.

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1 Samuel 17:1 – 11 | The Bully

In my twenty-plus years of preaching the Bible, I am constantly surprised at how God orchestrates the preaching of specific passages of His Word in the midst of specific circumstances at the personal level, church family level, and cultural level. It was over a year ago when I first laid out this series in 1 Samuel. From that point forward, we have studied through this book, chunk by chunk, according to the outline I created, and we have not deviated from it. And here we are today, studying a passage about the biggest bully in all of Scripture.

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1 Samuel 16:1 – 13 | David Anointed King

John Woodhouse, in his commentary on this passage says, “it is hardly surprising that we all see lots of things differently. But God is not limited as we are limited. Therefore, if God has a point of view, that point of view will have an absolute validity.”2 Woodhouse goes on to explain that the only view worth pursuing is God’s view; to literally seek to see what God sees, even though we will never fully see what he sees, this side of Heaven, because we are limited by sin.3

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Psalm 70 | Learning to Pray Like David

How would you describe your prayer life? Would you describe it as vibrant and full of wonder or dull and lacking? Sometimes my prayer life is a continual conversation with God where I am laying everything at his feet throughout the day. Other times, my prayer life feels like a series of Hail Mary’s in the final moments of a game where my opponent is kicking my butt. That is kind of how David’s prayer in Psalm 70 feels; it feels like David is throwing up a Hail Mary in a desperate situation.

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