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"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."
(Romans 15:4)
God has been really speaking to me through His Word in the book of 1 Samuel. I am preaching through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings, but for my soul, I am reading a chapter in Proverbs every day and reading through the book of 1 Samuel. The story of David on the run from King Saul is fascinating... and, well, it is more than that; it is very instructive as well. You may ask, "Why are these particular stories forever recorded in Scripture?" Romans 15:4 gives us the answer. God has preserved in His Word these stories so that we would learn from them. Also, as we read these true biographies, God instills in us both patience and comfort, and as a result, we have hope.
Here is an example of how God's Word is speaking to me directly from the incident in David's life recorded in 1 Samuel 27:1: "And David said in his heart, 'Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.'" David said in his heart; God did not tell him this. He went on a destructive path because he did not believe what God had already told him through Samuel, that he would be the next king. No way could Saul kill him, for he was promised by God to be the next king. But he forgot in the dark what God showed him clearly in the light.
Have you ever done that? God makes you a promise, and you replace God's promise to you with lies from the devil or lies you tell yourself. David developed spiritual amnesia and proceeded to make some very poor and sinful choices because he believed a lie. It is the same as it was for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God made a clear statement of command to the first couple, but Satan cast doubts in Eve's mind when, in Genesis 3:1, the serpent said, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Of course, God said that! But that is the tactic of the devil. His two primary weapons against us are deception and accusation. He clearly deceived Eve in Genesis and David in 1 Samuel.
God has preserved all this truth in His Word. We are so much better off if we will take the time to read and ask the Holy Spirit to apply the truths from the Scriptures. The enemy does all he can to keep us from God's Word. He knows that we will be victorious when we know and apply in our lives the truth from God's Holy Word.
Are you reading and learning daily from the Scriptures? If not, then today is a great day to start! God will speak to you, and He will empower you to be victorious over every temptation.
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