{"id":33361,"date":"2024-11-12T22:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-23_1-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-10-29T15:12:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T22:12:47","slug":"1-samuel-23_15-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-23_15-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Is the Rock Between You and the Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel 23:15-29 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 23:15-29.\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 23:15-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The two of them made a covenant before the\u00a0LORD. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a015-18: \u00a0When David was hiding from Saul in the desert, Jonathan went to David and helped him find strength in God.\u00a0 He spoke encouraging words to David and reminded David of God’s calling on his life (v17).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? \u00a0Praise God for friends like Jonathan, especially when we’re in the desert\u00a0<\/strong>— someone who helps us find strength in God, who prays with us, who reminds us of God’s faithfulness and our calling, who helps us to look beyond the mountain in front of us to see that God is bigger than the mountain.\u00a0Thank God for the Jonathans in your life.\u00a0 Also, I pray you would be like Jonathan to others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Samuel 23:19-29 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon?
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now, O king, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul replied, “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0bless you for your concern for me.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them,
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.”
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth [which means \u201crock of parting\u201d].
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-29: \u00a0The Ziphites side with Saul and assume the responsibility of handing David over to him (v19-20).\u00a0 Saul blesses them for it (v21), using the language of spiritual blessing to encourage an evil agenda.\u00a0 Together Saul and the Ziphites pursue David (v22-25).\u00a0 Yet God continues to protect David.\u00a0 Verse 26 paints the vivid image of David running down one side of the mountain while Saul and his men are chasing on the other side of the mountain.\u00a0 Just when Saul is closing in on David, Saul is informed that the Philistines are attacking Israel (v27). So Saul breaks off his pursuit to go fight the Philistines (v28) while David escapes to the strongholds of En Gedi (v29).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 God is our protector and deliverer.\u00a0\u00a0So<\/strong>\u00a0it doesn’t matter how many people are against you.\u00a0 If you have God, you have the advantage.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Just like God put a pillar of cloud between Moses’ Israelites and their Egyptian pursuers (Exodus 14:19-20), God was the rock standing protecting David from Saul.\u00a0 David was experiencing the truth of Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”<\/p>\n

Likewise, you will sometimes feel the pressure and hear the noise of the enemy behind you closing in, but Jesus will be the rock between you and the enemy.\u00a0 He will protect you from being truly harmed.<\/p>\n

As David himself would write in Psalm 27:1-3:\u00a0\u00a0“The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear?\u00a0 The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid?\u00a0 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are my light and my salvation, the stronghold of my life.\u00a0 Therefore I do not need to live in fear of anyone, even when they are trying to attack me. Because You are the rock between me and the enemy, I can be confident and live with courage today.\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 23:15-29.\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<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 23:15-18 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”
\n18\u00a0\u00a0The two of them made a covenant before the\u00a0LORD. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a015-18: \u00a0When David was hiding from Saul in the desert, Jonathan went to David and helped him find strength in God.\u00a0 He spoke encouraging words to David and reminded David of God’s calling on his life (v17). \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33361","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\/33361","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=33361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33364,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33361\/revisions\/33364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}