Then David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly: “O LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. O LORD our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously. O LORD, the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes. Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations.” Then David said to the whole assembly, “Give praise to the LORD your God!” And the entire assembly praised the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and they bowed low and knelt before the LORD and the king.
1 Chronicles 29:10–20 NLT
King David authored 73 psalms, almost half of the Psalms in the bible. Below is a draft of his Psalm 103:
A Song of the Soul to the Almighty
In the quiet chambers of my heart, let a song arise, a melody to the Lord, a hymn from the depths of my being. Let every fiber within me join in this chorus of praise, singing to His holy name. For in the remembering, in the recounting of His goodness, my soul finds its joy.
O my soul, in the fleeting moments of life, do not forget His gifts, the countless mercies that have graced your days. He, the Forgiver of your failings, the Healer of your wounds, wrapping you in His compassion, crowning you with love that endures, with tender mercies that never fade.
He fills your days with good things, so your youth is renewed, soaring high like the eagle, majestic and free. Remember, O my soul, how He works righteousness, how He enacts justice for all who are oppressed. He has revealed His ways to us, His deeds to the children of Israel.
The Lord is compassion and graciousness personified, slow to anger, brimming with steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities.
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love towards those who fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments.
Let the Lord be praised, His majesty reigning over all. Praise Him, all His angels, mighty in strength, performing His word. Praise Him, all His hosts, His servants, who do His will. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Amen.
Two more devotionals for the finish! If you are remaining competitive, answer both questions. Share with your friends: “Looking back at the first half of this series, which lesson was most helpful to you (use https://bit.ly/rp-lod to refresh your memory)? Which piece of early advice from Samuel proved to be prophetic in David’s life later on?”
Get ready for my essay [I had 5 windows open plus my phone to research 🙂 ]
1) Looking back at the first half of the series, the most helpful lesson to me was the lesson on how to navigate uncertainty. This was the reading that had to do with Saul hurling his sword at David and David being able to escape death. David feared Saul not because of Saul’s attempts at his life but what Saul represented. Saul represented the corruption that is influenced by power and how a “man after God’s own heart can lose his way”. David feared being the greatest king in history just to end up mad like Saul. For me, this resonated and is the most helpful lesson because I often think about my conflict with my mom. She is a very devout Catholic (at least in her eyes and the eyes of the public) but I often find her contradicting a lot of the teachings from the Bible. She often lectures people about their behaviors but when it came down to hers, she cannot see her wrongdoings. I often find myself contemplating, what if I am like her or what if I end up like her without realizing it? This is one of my biggest fears. I see my mom’s mistakes as her role in the church as well as her role as a mom and I try really hard to go the other direction; however, I sometimes find myself behaving like her and it takes someone close to me to point it out. Usually, this person is Calvin or my sister. Like David and Saul, I do not want to repeat the same mistakes as my mom. But also like David, who falters later on due to what he feared the most- power that can bring about corruption- I have also find myself making mistakes like my mom. However, also like David, he repents and changes and I learn from my mistakes and change.
2) In the second devotional when we read about “What Lies Beneath Disobedience”, Samuel writes about 3 lessons to be learned from Saul’s mistakes as to prophesize and warn David as to what will happen to him if he follows the same path. The first lesson is “When we point fingers at others, we are often pointing away from our own hearts”. Samuel talks about how doing this is like a diversion of our sins and we end up absolving our own responsibilities. The second lesion is “to obey god is better than sacrifice and to listen to the Lord is better than any good deed” because God isn’t looking to be appeased with sacrifices, he is looking for a humble heart of obedience. The third lesson or warning is to not “minimize your own wrongdoings”, which is a form of self-deception and you’re fooling no one but yourself. To me, the third advice from Samuel proved to be prophetic in David’s life later on because David did not heed this warning. After David had an affair with Bathsheba, instead of atoning for his sins with Uriah, he schemed to kill him instead and took his wife as his. Because of this, David’s son with Bathsheba died. Later on, when his son Amnon raped his daughter Tamar, he also didn’t discipline him and just ignored it as to minimize Amnon’s wrongdoings just as David did himself. This was when his son Absalom rebelled against him and killed Amnon, who was David’s first born. We learn that when we cover up or minimize our wrongdoings, it doesn’t go away. We deceive only ourselves for God knows all and we will have to face the consequences of our wrongdoings later on.
#1 Looking back at the first half of the series, the lesson that was most helpful for me was the one about David’s and Jonathan’s divine friendships and its qualities of sympathy, transparency, and sacrifice. This reminds me of God’s steadfast love. It reminds me how to be a good friend to people at work, my family, and especially people in our RP community. We live in such an ever so changing and fleeting world, where our days are truly like the grass and flowers, one day here and the next gone. God’s unfailing love remains constant. It truly comforts us through the rough times, it is honest and transparent with us when we need to see the truth, and it definitely is filled with sacrifice. Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross made it possible for us to experience His compassion and grace. And therefore, we can love others in the same ways. And we can cultivate divine friendships, such as David and Jonathan to sympathize with one another, to be transparent, and to sacrifice for one another.
#2 One piece of early advice from Samuel that proved to be prophetic in David’s life later on was about self deception. Specifically, Samuel talked about checks and balances in the power structure of leadership. He talked about “accountability being a safeguard against isolation and self deception that can plague those who stand alone at the top.” This proved to be figuratively and literally prophetic in David’s life when he was roaming around alone on his rooftop and noticed Bathsheba bathing, while his men were away fighting. As David went deeper down this path of adultery, he lacked the checks and balances and accountability necessary to keep him from sinning against God, Bathsheba, and Uriah.
(from Steve)
My honest favorite I found most helpful in my walk with God and these devotions was self-descriptions because it helped me truly reflect and see the difference in my will and God’s will. I can honestly say true reflections comes from this passage, I’m also more aware of what I think and do more often than before.
From Rose
The lesson that I found to stand out most to me and that I learned from is how to approach a Holy God. It was the story about uzzah and David and their handling of the ark. This one taught me as I had shared “To worship God in both spirit and truth takes knowing Him, time with Him and understanding why we worship Him. Like Uzzah and David, if we worship without carefully knowing Gods love, his wrath and His holiness we too could die; although not struck to death but death in our faith, in our disobedience. Just like Uzzah and David who carried the ark in the cart in which was not the way in which the ark was to be handled, we can sometimes forget who God is and His expectation of us. We can become complacent, make our own interpretation of His rules upon our life or even follow Only the commandments that are convenient to us.
And so to worship God in both spirit and truth to me would be have a relationship with Him, obedient to Him, understand His love and knowing that love also means discipline and in all of that we would love Him and be in reverence to Him.”
I look back to this passage since we learned about it, and it’s a reminder of what God expects and demands of our obedience to him.
The advice from Samuel proven to be prophetic in David’s life is in the fictional
“Third, Saul minimized his own wrongdoings [3], as if they were mere pebbles on the road. But even pebbles can cause one to stumble, and a stumble can lead to a fall. Minimizing your wrongs is a sign that self-deception has taken root. When you find yourself doing the same, beware. You’re not just fooling others; you’re fooling yourself.
David, as you navigate the complexities of the royal court, how will you keep your soul attuned to the Spirit within you? How will you guard against the subtle snares of self-deception?”
We see that later this becomes true when David takes Bathsheba and just falls deeper into sin.
The most helpful lesson to me was the divine harmony in Our friendship. Seeing the story of Jonathan, how he stepped up against Saul to protect David, and all the sacrifices he made for David is incredible. As I see the world more, I can see the value of having a real, deep, and authentic friendship that helps one another to grow in Christ and each other relationship with God. Not only so, I like how Jonathan does not become envious of David because of what he can/will do, but is always there to help him. In a way, we can model our friendship to be like David and Jonathan, to have someone willing to sacrifice for you and understand what you’re going through on a deeper level than normal.
Looking back at the series, I would say the “Self-Deception Devotions” were the most helpful to me because they served as reminders that if I don’t guard myself and remain dependent on God, I could be easily deceived by my own abilities.
Bumble for the second question I looked for hours through chapters of Samuel to find the answer. But there’s none except your fictional advice from Samuel on accountability, which proved to be prophetic when David failed to safeguard against isolation.
“What does it mean to truly repent?” In this devotion, David approached God in a state of profound vulnerability, recognizing his own sin and acknowledging that he couldn’t hide from God. He cried out to the Lord and sought His unfailing love to cleanse him. I aspire to share the same earnest desire as David when I make mistakes, knowing that I can turn to God, and He will restore and renew me. The lyrics “One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” resonate in my heart as I revisit this devotion.
Here are some of the things i found Samuel advice as prophetic to David –
September 19 devotion, Samuel wrote to David warning signs of self deception – blame on other, compensate disobedience through religious rituals, minimize your wrong doings. We see those later in David’s life in 11/8 devotion -“The subsequent events have laid bare the extent of David’s deception. He cloaked his sin in the garb of kingly authority. His orders to bring Uriah home, his feigned concern for the soldier’s well-being, and the orchestrated attempt to conceal his misdeed under the guise of normalcy were all masterstrokes of manipulation. In contrast, Uriah’s honor stood firm. Twice he refused to lay in his own bed, while his comrades lay in the open fields. His integrity casts a long shadow over the dark steps of the king”
September 15 Devotion
Samuel wrote “First, the Holy Spirit will be your comforter and your instructor in the laws and ways of God. He is like a person residing in your soul. The time will come when you will feel isolated, even endangered. In those moments, the Spirit will draw near, providing the comfort and moral compass you’ll need.”
Devotion 9/22/2023 – David said And so, in the tranquility of the fields, surrounded only by the bleating of sheep and the rustling of the wind, I find myself alone, yet not lonely. For in this solitude, I am met by a Presence far more comforting than any human embrace. It’s as if the very atmosphere around me becomes a sanctuary, filled with a divine intimacy that no earthly setting can offer. My soul is parched, like the arid lands I tread upon, yearning for a love that neither friend nor family can fully provide.
Samuel wrote 9/15 Second, the Holy Spirit will endow you with wisdom far beyond your years or experience. In the royal court, you will be surrounded by power, intrigue, and temptations of many kinds. You will need more than human cunning. The Spirit will give you discernment, helping you to judge situations and people rightly. So follow the leading of the Spirit. For when you do, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh, which will lead to death.
November 6 devotion – “the prophetic came true how Joab wrote to Uncle Jonathan that “Absolute power, as you have often taught, must be tempered with accountability. Without it, even the most virtuous man may find himself straying from the path of righteousness. Since David has been blessed with his extraordinary success, most subordinates, servants, and attendants would dare not question his actions. I fear this lack of accountability may lead to decisions that could harm his reign and the people of Israel.”
9/15 Samuel wrote – “Third, your gifting in music is not incidental. The Spirit will give you gifts for the service of God’s people. The Spirit will use your harp to deliver solace and perhaps even healing. Your music, when inspired by the Spirit, will be a balm to the tormented souls. Your artistry will be a ministry. The Spirit will equip you with more gifts and talents. If you are faithful in the small things, God will entrust you with greater things.”
Devotion 10/19 – David composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan
Looking back on the series, I think about the friendship between David & Jonathan and the sacrifices that were made because of their love for one another. It makes me reflect on my own life & the people that have helped shaped and mold me into the follower I am today. It makes me think of how I can use my time and resources to sacrifice to help lead others to Christ.
For the second question, I also think of the self-deception that happened when David pursued Bathsheba when she was married & his son ended up dying.
Hey pastor I hope you read this when you wake up in the morning. I think you punish us more than encouraging us to do the devotions. I don’t think these questions are necessary. It took me 3 hrs because I didn’t want it let my group down. You forgot most of us have a full time job, cooking, cleaning, etc. You of course went to bed at 8:30. Now it’s 10:42 and I just start cleaning up the kitchen wash the dishes, pack lunches for the kids next day. Prepare meat or cook for high school group tomorrow. I have to wake up at 4:20 to head to gym early so that I can have my full day to finish other chores in the house and prep for Sunday. Please consider others peoples time. We are not retired yet and women like us have a million things to do compared to men.
Ok I love this response the most. I took over an hour researching too. Lol… and our group was so scared we answered incorrectly. 😆