{"id":33279,"date":"2024-11-07T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T05:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-20_24-42-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T17:20:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T00:20:15","slug":"1-samuel-21_1-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-21_1-15\/","title":{"rendered":"When Fear Makes You Fake"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel 21:1-15 \u00a0 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 21:1-15.\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 21:1-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here–provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the\u00a0LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David asked Ahimelech, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s business was urgent.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-9: \u00a0When David runs away from Saul, the first place David flees to is Nob, “the town of the priests” (see\u00a01\u00a0Samuel\u00a022:19).\u00a0 There David meets Ahimelek the priest, who gives David bread and a sword:<\/p>\n

– The bread which Ahimelek gave David was known as “the bread of the presence” (or the “showbread”) and was supposed to be eaten by the priests (Leviticus 24:9).\u00a0 Ahimelek saw that David needed the bread more than he did, so out of compassion for David, Ahimelek gave his bread to David.\u00a0 In a way, this points to Jesus our high priest who saw our need and in compassion gave us what He had.<\/p>\n

– Ahimelek also gave David the sword of Goliath, the very weapon which David used to kill Goliath and which David had apparently donated to the worship centre at Nob, possibly for display.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? \u00a0When we go to the house of God, we receive two things: \u00a0bread to feed our souls and a sword to fight our battles. \u00a0<\/strong>The bread that feeds our souls is Jesus Himself, who is the bread of life (John 6:35).\u00a0 The sword we get is the word of God (Ephesians 6:18),\u00a0which speaks into our lives and empowers us.\u00a0 So that you can complete the mission God has given you, feed on the presence of God and the Word of God every day.<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 21:10-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me?
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-15: \u00a0David, a God-fearing Israelite, flees to the Philistine city of Gath, all the while carrying the sword of Gath’s fallen hero Goliath!\u00a0 But David wasn’t looking for a fight; he was looking for a place to hide.\u00a0 Afraid that he would be seen as a threat in Gath (v12), David pretends to be insane in front of Achish King\u00a0of Gath (v13), who drives him out of their town.<\/p>\n

David didn’t find any refuge or peace in Gath.\u00a0 His attempt to blend in with people who did not worship his God was ultimately unsuccessful.\u00a0 In Psalm 34, a psalm which David wrote based on these experiences, David was just happy to get out of Gath and praises God for mercifully delivering him out of there.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0When you try to blend in with people who don’t worship God, you won’t find much refuge, deep friendship or lasting peace.\u00a0 Instead, like David, you’ll just end up worried, fearful and pretending to be someone you’re not.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Eventually you’ll be crying out to God to deliver you.\u00a0 Fortunately, God is merciful and is able to deliver us from the messes we get ourselves into.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Because David was afraid, he pretended to be someone he was not (v12-13). \u00a0Don’t let fear turn you into someone that you are not.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Live authentically before God and people.<\/p>\n

Thank You, Lord, for Your Word, which is bread to feed my soul and a sword to fight my battles.\u00a0 I feed myself and arm myself with Your Word today and proclaim that You are everything I need.\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 21:1-15.\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 21:1-9 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-9: \u00a0When David runs away from Saul, the first place David flees to is Nob, “the town of the priests” (see\u00a01\u00a0Samuel\u00a022:19).\u00a0 There David meets Ahimelek the priest, who gives David bread and a sword:<\/p>\n

– The bread which Ahimelek gave David was known as “the bread of the presence” (or the “showbread”) and was supposed to be eaten by the priests (Leviticus 24:9).\u00a0 Ahimelek saw that David needed the bread more than he did, so out of compassion for David, Ahimelek gave his bread to David.\u00a0 In a way, this points to Jesus our high priest who saw our need and in compassion gave us what He had.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33279","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\/33279","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=33279"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33282,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33279\/revisions\/33282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}