December 17th, 2020
Family Tree Devotional Series - Week 3 – Joy – Pastor Mark White
Scary Situation
1 Samuel 21:12-13 (ESV)
And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place? Of course! We all have been through hard, stressful, or down-right scary times. The question is, how do we react in these seasons? If we are like most people, praising God was not the first thing on our minds. But David had a different idea. In the middle of his troubles, his focus was on the Lord.
David was running from King Saul without any food or weapons. He decides to defect to Achish, king of Gath, and this raises suspicions. David was very much afraid. David chose to carve the walls and drool to convince the king that he was insane. And God provided for him every step of the way, even giving David and his men the consecrated bread, and sparing his life from this suspicious king.
Out of this scary season in David’s life, he wrote Psalm 34, a beautiful song of praise that glorifies God and focuses on God’s promises, in the middle of David’s troubles. The opening verse says it all: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
We all face trouble, but if we are a follower of Jesus, we can know that God will carry us through them. In Psalm 34:8, David declares, “Oh, Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him!”
Focusing on God and His promises will help us have joy in the middle of scary situations.
Scary Situation
1 Samuel 21:12-13 (ESV)
And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place? Of course! We all have been through hard, stressful, or down-right scary times. The question is, how do we react in these seasons? If we are like most people, praising God was not the first thing on our minds. But David had a different idea. In the middle of his troubles, his focus was on the Lord.
David was running from King Saul without any food or weapons. He decides to defect to Achish, king of Gath, and this raises suspicions. David was very much afraid. David chose to carve the walls and drool to convince the king that he was insane. And God provided for him every step of the way, even giving David and his men the consecrated bread, and sparing his life from this suspicious king.
Out of this scary season in David’s life, he wrote Psalm 34, a beautiful song of praise that glorifies God and focuses on God’s promises, in the middle of David’s troubles. The opening verse says it all: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
We all face trouble, but if we are a follower of Jesus, we can know that God will carry us through them. In Psalm 34:8, David declares, “Oh, Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him!”
Focusing on God and His promises will help us have joy in the middle of scary situations.
Posted in Family Tree Devos
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