{"id":33204,"date":"2024-11-01T22:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-18_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T20:00:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T03:00:20","slug":"1-samuel-18_17-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-18_17-30\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Grace Makes Us Work Harder"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel\u00a0 18:17-30 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 18:17-30.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 18:17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the\u00a0LORD.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 Because Saul envied David, Saul wanted to David dead.\u00a0 So he devised a plan that would hopefully get David killed without getting Saul himself in trouble.\u00a0 Saul would try to offer David one of his daughters \u2013 first his oldest daughter Merab and, then later, his younger daughter Michal \u2013 in marriage on the condition that David fights against the Philistines, hoping that David would be killed in battle.\u00a0 Yet David would not be killed and would take Michal as his wife.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Satan wanted to see Jesus destroyed.\u00a0 So he devised a plan to have Jesus killed on a cross.\u00a0 Yet in the end that cross could not keep Jesus down.\u00a0 Rather through the cross Jesus got His bride, i.e. us His church.<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 18:18-30 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.'”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Saul’s servants told him what David had said,
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.'” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed,
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Saul realized that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a017-30: \u00a0There are 3 questions that come to mind when I read these verses:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Why did David refuse to take Merab, Saul’s older daughter, as his wife even after Saul had offered, letting Merab be given to another man instead (v17-19)?<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Why did David initially refuse to marry Michal, Saul’s younger daughter, after the first time Saul had offered (v20-22)?<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Why was David finally pleased to marry Michal only after Saul had issued a price (100 Philistine foreskins) for her?<\/p>\n

The answer to all 3 questions is the same: \u00a0It’s because David thought that he should only marry a princess if he had\u00a0earned\u00a0<\/em>that opportunity.<\/p>\n

It’s because David had a noble, humble heart.\u00a0 He did not have a false sense of entitlement, as if the world should serve at his beck and call.\u00a0 Rather, David was committed to \u00a0working hard for what he wanted. He wanted to earn the right to marry a princess.<\/p>\n

So, for example, twice in this passage David refers to his less than royal background as the reason he should not marry the king’s daughters (v18, 23).\u00a0 Yet when the opportunity was given for him to earn that right by defeating 100 Philistines (v25), David jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Given his humble, down-to-earth spirit as well as his can do attitude, it’s not surprising that David excelled and became increasingly well known (v30).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Like David,\u00a0we must have a healthy attitude toward grace and hard work<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is true that through Jesus Christ we receive God’s grace in countless ways that we do not deserve. But that’s not an excuse for us to become spoiled children who live with a false sense of entitlement, who are lazy, who don’t work hard, and who act as if the world revolved around us.\u00a0 That would be taking God’s grace for granted.<\/p>\n

As we see in David’s life,\u00a0becoming aware of God’s grace in our lives should cause us to work that much harder in the areas that matter. \u00a0<\/strong>As Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I\u00a0worked harder\u00a0<\/em>than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1\u00a0Corinthians 15:10).<\/p>\n

So\u00a0since God has given us His grace, work hard at what He has given you\u00a0<\/strong>(whether it’s at home, at church, at work, at school or your relationships).\u00a0 Like David,\u00a0don’t take anything for granted<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don’t claim the most exalted position when you haven’t earned it.\u00a0 Have a healthy attitude toward the need for God’s grace and the need to work hard.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, because You have given me the most amazing grace I could ever ask for, I pray that I would be the hardest worker in the room. \u00a0 Wherever I go, may I never take anything for granted.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 18:17-30.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n1 Samuel 18:17 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the\u00a0LORD.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”<\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 Because Saul envied David, Saul wanted to David dead.\u00a0 So he devised a plan that would hopefully get David killed without getting Saul himself in trouble.\u00a0 Saul would try to offer David one of his daughters \u2013 first his oldest daughter Merab and, then later, his younger daughter Michal \u2013 in marriage on the condition that David fights against the Philistines, hoping that David would be killed in battle.\u00a0 Yet David would not be killed and would take Michal as his wife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33207,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33204\/revisions\/33207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}