Archive for month: November, 2024

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 30:21-31.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 30:21-25 (NIV)
21  Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached, he greeted them.
22  But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”

On verses 21-25: The 400 who helped David with the rescue operation didn’t understand why David would allow the 200 who didn’t go with them to share in the plunder. What was going on in David’s mind? David was thinking about grace. Grace is showing people goodness that they don’t deserve. Before when Saul was chasing after David, David would say, “What have I done to deserve this?” He didn’t get why he was treated so badly. But at this moment David is especially aware of his own sinfulness and failures.  David was learning to look at the good things God had done in his life and say, “What have I done to deserve this?”

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 29:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 29:1-11 (NIV)
1  The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.
2  As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish.
3  The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish replied, “Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”

On verses 1-11:  The Philistines and the Israelites are preparing to go to war against one another.  David is still hiding among the Philistines and pretending that he is on the Philistines’ side.   But now he is in the incredibly difficult position of having to actually fight his own people Israel.  While King Achish of the Philistines is happy to have David fighting for them, the Philistine commanders urge Achish to prohibit David from fighting for the Philistines because they do not trust David.  So David and his men are saved from having to fight their own people.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 29:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 29:1-11 (NIV)
1  The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.
2  As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish.
3  The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish replied, “Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”

On verses 1-11:  The Philistines and the Israelites are preparing to go to war against one another.  David is still hiding among the Philistines and pretending that he is on the Philistines’ side.   But now he is in the incredibly difficult position of having to actually fight his own people Israel.  While King Achish of the Philistines is happy to have David fighting for them, the Philistine commanders urge Achish to prohibit David from fighting for the Philistines because they do not trust David.  So David and his men are saved from having to fight their own people.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 28:3-25.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 28:3-5 (NIV)
3  Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
4  The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa.
5  When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart.

On verses 3-5:  Saul had been so preoccupied fighting a member of his own household (David) that when his real enemy, the Philistines, showed up, he was completely caught off guard, afraid and ill prepared to fight. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 27:1-28:2.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 27:1-12 (NIV)
1  But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
2  So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maoch king of Gath.

On 27:1 to 28:2:  In this passage we see David giving into his fear.  Verse 1 says, “David thought to himself, ‘One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul.'” (v1) Notice those first few words:  “David thought to himself.”  The King James translation puts it this way: “David said in his heart”.  Whenever you read the Old Testament and it says a person “said in his heart”, it often means that the person has allowed a lie or a fear to poison their thinking.  That’s what happened with David.  David gave into his fear and lived as if his biggest worry was certain to come true.