Tag Archives: David

Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Building Life on a Foundation You can Trust

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Every builder knows the foundation matters. A beautiful house may look impressive from the outside, but if its foundation is weak, cracks will eventually appear. The same is true of our lives. The decisions we make, the values we hold, and the direction we choose all need a foundation strong enough to withstand life’s challenges. Scripture tells us that foundation is found in true wisdom.

As David neared the end of his life, he placed Solomon on the throne as Israel’s next king. David’s final charge to his son was simple yet profound: observe all of the Lord’s commands. According to David, this is where success is found. In following the Lord, Solomon would discover true wisdom and the stability that comes with it.

Psalm 111:10 says, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.” This wisdom is not merely knowledge or intelligence. It is a way of living that is rooted in a relationship with God and expressed through obedience to Him.

Psalm 111 reflects on the many ways God has proven Himself faithful:

  • Verse 4 reminds us that the Lord is gracious and merciful.
  • Verse 5 tells us He provides for our needs.
  • Verse 6 recalls His power at work on behalf of His people.
  • Verse 9 points us to the ransom He has paid for us. Jesus echoed this truth in Mark 10 when He said, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • Verse 9 also reminds us that God has guaranteed His covenant with us.

The psalmist then declares, “All he has done is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity” (Psalm 111:7-8).

Justice, goodness, and trustworthiness are found in true wisdom because they are found in God Himself. When we build our lives on His wisdom, we are building on a foundation that will never fail.

So how can we live this out today?

Start by spending a few moments each morning acknowledging God and seeking His guidance. True wisdom begins with a reverent awareness of who He is. Before making decisions, ask yourself whether your choice aligns with what God has already revealed in His Word. Wisdom grows through obedience, not simply through gaining more information.

Take time to reflect on God’s faithfulness in your life. Consider keeping a journal of answered prayers, unexpected provisions, and moments when God carried you through difficult circumstances. Looking back often strengthens our trust moving forward.

Practice integrity in your daily interactions. Be honest in your conversations, fair in your dealings, and willing to do what is right even when it is inconvenient. If God’s works are just and good, those qualities should become evident in our lives as well.

When worries arise, choose trust over control. Bring your concerns to the Lord in prayer and place them in His hands. The God who has faithfully guided His people throughout history is still guiding His people today.

Finally, make it a habit to notice God’s goodness. At the end of the day, reflect on a few ways you saw His provision, mercy, or faithfulness. The more we recognize His hand at work, the more confident we become in His wisdom.

Take a moment today to reflect on how the Lord has proven Himself. Not only throughout history, but also in your own life. How has His justice, goodness, and trustworthiness shown up in your story? As you remember His faithfulness, your trust in Him will grow. And as your trust grows, you’ll find yourself building more and more of your life on the solid foundation of true wisdom.

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Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

She Looks Drunk

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As he watched, the priest wondered if she was drunk. She was at the temple, and it appeared as if she was praying. But the priest thought there was something odd about her appearance. Her mouth was moving but no words were coming out, and was she weeping? He approached her and boldly asked, “Are you drunk?”

She explained that she was sober. She was just so involved in her prayer that he thought she was under the influence. Her name is Hannah, and we read her story in 1 Samuel 1. We find out she is going through a really hard time, and she has come to the temple to pour her heart out to the Lord.

The Bible encourages us to pray without stopping; we should always be communicating with the Lord. In the best of times and in the worst of times, the Lord wants to help us, and we can talk with him through prayer just like Hannah, and just like David.

David exhorts in Psalm 62:8, “O my people trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.”

When David and Hannah were going through rough times, they poured their hearts out to the Lord. When they were in the best of times, they thanked God in prayer. They always prayed and left a mark in history challenging us to do the same.

Our prayers are just conversations with the Lord. They don’t have to be fancy, and we don’t have to be overwhelmed by the idea we may say the wrong thing. You see, we’re having a conversation with a great friend who doesn’t judge us by the words we use, but by what is in our heart. The Lord is always listening and always desiring to hear from us.

Spend some time talking with the Lord today. Share your thoughts with him. Ask for guidance as you plan tomorrow. Ask for help with your struggles. Don’t be afraid. He is your friend who wants to hear from you.

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Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

“Are we there yet?”

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“Are we there yet?” Anyone who’s traveled with kids has heard this question. The excitement of arriving at a destination and the boredom of sitting in a car, train, or plane causes this question to be asked. Truthfully, no one likes to wait. None of us are giddy at the thought of long checkout lines or waiting at the doctor’s office. Patience is a hard virtue.

This is especially true when we are going through a difficult time. We just want it to end! But it seems no matter how hard we work or how hard we pray, the difficulty persists. The doctor’s phone call with test results doesn’t come soon enough. We can’t shake the agony caused by this lonely feeling quick enough. It doesn’t seem like this rough patch in life will ever end.

David could relate. He had several rough patches in life lasting an extended period of time. As he was searching and praying for an end, he came to this conclusion.

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from the Lord alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me” (Psalm 62:5-7).

We can echo David’s conclusion. The Lord is:

  • Our rock.
  • Our salvation.
  • Our fortress.
  • Our refuge.

Therefore, the rough times in life can’t swallow us. The rough times will most definitely come and try to consume us, but they will not be victorious. As David says, our victory is in the Lord. We need only to wait before him in prayer.

Know a friend who is struggling right now? Share this as a source of encouragement.

Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Fixing the Mess

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“I’m pregnant!”

This was the message that came to David. Ordinarily, these are exciting words, but for David, they are frightening words. It is going to be clear he committed adultery. It is going to be clear he slept with another man’s wife. It is going to be clear he sinned.

So, David tries to fix it himself.

2 Samuel 11 records David sending for Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and having Uriah come home from the battlefield. If Uriah sleeps with Bathsheba, then everyone will assume Uriah is the father of the child. This doesn’t work though; Uriah is so loyal to his comrades that he refused to go home.

David tried getting Uriah drunk. If a sober Uriah wouldn’t go home, maybe a drunken Uriah would desire his wife’s company over loyalty, but Uriah still did not go home.

Another failure didn’t stop David. 2 Samuel 11 records his next move:

14 So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. 15 The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” 16 So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. 17 And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.

The Lord was displeased.

2 Samuel 11 tells us the Lord was displeased with David’s actions, and he summoned Nathan, a prophet, to pay David a visit. This was an unwelcomed visit filled with bad news. It thrust David’s sin with Bathsheba right in front of his face; he could not ignore it. It also served as a reminder of the Lord’s grace.

Not our actions, but God’s grace.

After chatting with Nathan, David wrote the words of Psalm 51. This is a great reminder of the Lord’s gracious response to us. Notice verse 1:

Have mercy on me, O God,
    because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
    blot out the stain of my sins.

David wasn’t appealing for mercy and forgiveness based on his own actions. His request had nothing to do with what he had done; it had everything to do with the Lord’s character. David’s hope was in God’s unfailing love and great compassion. Left alone David made a bigger mess, but with the Lord, David found true forgiveness.

The same unfailing love and great compassion David saw in the Lord is there for us. Perhaps we’ve tried fixing our mistakes only to make a bigger mess, but the Lord can wash away our guilt just like he did David’s.

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Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Portrait of Grace

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He gave to his enemies.

Saul was after David. He felt threatened by David, but Saul is eventually mortally wounded. David becomes king. He establishes his kingdom, and gives us a striking picture of salvation by grace and true friendship.

Meet Mephibosheth. We do not know much about him. He was the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul. This would have put him in line for the throne, so when Saul was killed, Mephibosheth’s family feared for his safety.

In those days, one of the first acts of a new king was to eliminate any threat from the previous king’s family, so Saul’s family was obviously in a hurry to hide.

2 Samuel 4:4 records, “Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled as a child. He was 5-years-old when the report came from Jezrell that Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard the news, she picked him up and fled, but as she hurried away, she dropped him and he became crippled.”

David did not have any plans to follow tradition of killing the previous king’s family; however, Saul’s family had no way of knowing David’s plans. They hurried, dropping the boy and causing permanent damage to his feet.

For nearly two decades, Mephibosheth lived in a distant land. He was afraid of David, and he was unable to help himself. That is, until grace entered the picture.

David remembered his promise to Jonathan, and fulfilled it through Mephibosheth. David invited Mephibosheth to eat at the king’s table; this was a great honor. David gave Mephibosheth servants and land. In short, David took care of Mephibosheth’s needs.

Sound familiar?

Like Mephibosheth

There are some paralleles between Mephibosheth’s story and our story. We too had needs which were unmet, and we were unable to help ourselves. God, in his grace through Christ, invited us to his table. He offered us salvation to meet our needs.

Romans 5:6 says, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

Like David

In many ways, we are also like David. During the course of our lives, we will come into contact with people who have needs. The Lord may use us to meet those needs. When we are tasked with meeting those needs, may we respond with the same grace we have been shown.

 

Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Remaining Confident

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A shaken life of a confident person.

David spent much of his life running and hiding. As a young man, David had to hide from Saul. Saul was jealous of David’s popularity, so he wanted to kill David. As an older gentleman, David had to run from a rebellion started by his own son. David’s Scriptural biography is filled with turmoil and heartbreak.

On one occasion, David writes in the Psalms, everything is shaken. Nothing is stable. He writes in Psalm 11:3, “The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”

Perhaps you can relate to this feeling.

Everything is up in the air. Life is shaken. Your life has endured an earthquake leaving everything trembling in its path.

The career you worked hard to establish has vanished. The good health you once enjoyed is fading. Your journey is not what it once was.

David’s wasn’t either, and his Scriptural biography is filled with confidence in the Lord.

Amid everything, David had great confidence in the Lord.

It may have seemed like everything was falling apart, but David remained confident in the Lord.

He continues in Psalm 11, “But the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord still rules from Heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth.”

In Psalm 12, David writes, “The Lord replies, ‘I have seen violence done to the helpless and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them as they have longed for me to do.’ The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed….”

Can we remain confident in the Lord?

As it seems everything is falling apart around us, we too can remain confident in the Lord’s promises. The promises are as pure for us as they were for David.

 

Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

Enabling Grace

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David was reminded of God’s grace.

David was in a season of turmoil. His family was a mess; there were many reasons for the messiness, and one of David’s advisors wanted to help him clean it up. He drafted a woman to tell David a parable.

The parable consisted of a widow with two sons. One son murdered the other, and the community shouted for the murderer’s head. If he was convicted, the widow would have no hope of continuing her family line. She pleads for mercy from the king.

David compassionately says she should receive mercy. Then, the woman applies the parable to David’s situation.

She points out David has a banished son needing reconciliation, and reminds David God himself makes plans to enable a banished person to be reconciled to the Lord. 2 Samuel 14:14 says, “All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, but God does not just sweep life away. Instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.”

Mistakes; they have been made. Regrets exist. The list of things we would not do or redo can be extensive, but God knows how to handle all of it.

God has devised a plan to restore us to the family.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only son, so everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world but to save the world through him,” Jesus explains in John 3:16-17.

Jesus also says in John 10:10, “The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

Jesus is the plan which enables man and God to reconcile.

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Bible Study, Christian Life, Devotional, Encouragement, Inspiration, Uncategorized

The Power of Encouragement

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“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you,” said William Arthur Ward.

Offering encouragement is one of the most powerful ways we can help our friends and neighbors. Everyone needs to be encouraged from time to time, and good friends will encourage one another.

David needed encouragement, and Jonathan encouraged him. Saul was jealous of David and wanted to kill him. Saul would learn of David’s location and chase him, so David was forced to run from one stronghold to the next. Day after day he had to hide in the wilderness. This would have been a discouraging season in David’s life.

1 Samuel 23:16 says, “Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God.” Jonathan recognized a difficult season in David’s life and went to encourage him.

Our friends and neighbors may be going through a difficult season, so they need encouragement. We do not know how heavy of a load our neighbor may be carrying. Encouraging him or her may be one of the most powerful ways we can help.

The Bible suggests we encourage one another daily. We can encourage each other by celebrating victories, offering comfort in disappointment and heartache, and helping one another keep a strong faith.

Here are more ways to encourage one another.

Jonathan and David had a strong friendship in part because they encouraged one another.

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What is true friendship?

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3 Characteristics of Genuine Friendship.

A man dialed the wrong number and heard an alarming answering machine message. “I am not available right now. After the beep, leave a message, and I will call you back. I’m making some changes in my life now, so if I don’t call you back, you are one of those changes.”

True friendship is a treasure. We associate with many people, but how many of those people are genuine friends? The Bible gives us a glimpse of real friendship in David and Jonathan’s relationship.

Jonathan was a true friend to David. He possessed the characteristics of a true friend.

1. Jonathan was devoted to David.

Some time after David battled Goliath, Jonathan and David developed an intimate friendship which lasted the test of time. The friends were devoted to one another.

Jonathan did not run away from David when Saul started chasing him. As Saul was chasing him, David’s life experienced an adverse season, and Jonathan remained his friend. Jonathan’s devotion compelled him to remain a friend to David.

Proverbs 17:17 states, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” Genuine friendship is built on devotion, hanging in there during good and bad times.

2. Jonathan was willing to sacrifice to help David.

The tension between Saul and David lasted until Saul’s death. Jonathan was willing to make some sacrifices during this time. He risked creating tension between himself and his father, and he stepped aside so David could take the throne of Israel.

In 1 Samuel 23:17, Jonathan tells David, “Do not be afraid, 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.” Jonathan willingly gave up his right to the throne for David.

Jonathan was able to see the big picture. He realized David’s potential and sacrificed to help him. True friends sacrifice for one another. This may be helping carry a burden, offering financial assistance in a rough time, or helping navigate through difficult circumstances. Sacrifice is a mark of true friendship.

3. Jonathan encouraged David.

1 Samuel 23:16 says Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in God. Friends encourage one another.

Friends encourage one another to achieve goals and fulfill dreams. Christian friends also encourage each other to stay strong in their faith. They help in times of trouble and celebrate in times of victory.

Acting

Think of your friendships. Are there areas where you could be a better friend?

 

 

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3 Keys from Psalm 16 for OverpoweringCircumstances

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Here are 3 keys from Psalm 16 to help in the storms of life.

1. The Lord is a place of refuge during overwhelming times.

David’s life had its share of overwhelming situations. He faced down Goliath. He found himself being surrounded by his enemies and being chased through the wilderness. During these times, David found his refuge in the Lord.

David says in verse 1, “Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.”

Life creates moments when we need the shelter of the Lord, and we can seek refuge from him. He will rescue us.

Psalm 17:7 says, “By your mighty power you rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies.”

When the pink slip arrives, the bank account hits negative numbers, and we’re not sure what tomorrow holds, the Lord shelters us. When the loved one leaves and we are heartbroken, we can enter the sanctuary of the Lord. Life’s storms will hit, but the Lord will keep us safe and give us refuge.

2. The Lord will guide us in overwhelming times.

David says in verses 7-8, “I will bless the Lord who guides me. Even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken for he is right beside me.”

The Lord will prompt our steps and guide our direction. He will help us navigate overwhelming situations. We need only to trust him.

Proverbs 3:5-7 advises, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil.”

The direction we go may seem strange, but we must remember the Lord will not lead us astray nor will he leave us. He will pilot us through the darkest of times.

3. Victory comes in the Lord.

At the end of all the struggles, David knew victory comes in the Lord.

He says in verses 10-11, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”

Acting

The next time a storm comes in your life, apply these points and allow the Lord to go with you through the storm.

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