Bent Oak Church

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John. It was more than strange predictions about future things.In the first chapter, John promises that whoever hears this book and lives it will be blessed. This book makes a difference in the world we live in now, just as much as in the things to come.

In the final stories of 1 Samuel David and Saul are again contrasted. David's life begins to flourish in generosity. Saul is desperate for control even in death.David gives us a new way of thinking about being generous. It is a byproduct of a life that pays careful attention to God in all of the complicated details.

David is finally on his way out of the wilderness, but his destination is not where we imagined. David and his team will take up residence in Philistia under Achish his former enemy. David will soon be caught in a complicated game of deception that will force him onto the battlefield to face Saul and his own people. David's faith is put to the test.

We are shocked at how quickly the life is drained out of David. With one insult from the nobody Nabal, David finds himself craving vengeance. Death and ugliness take over the story. Worse, he assumes God is by his side. But David is stopped. He is brought to a stop by beauty. Not just a beautiful face, but words that pour the light of God into the barren wilderness landscape. David's hunger is refined.

David is still in the wilderness. There is more to learn. Asleep in the back of a cave, David and his men are shocked to see Saul step into the entrance. They all come to the same conclusion; Saul is a dead man. David is about to become king. But David soon sees something else—annointing. David teaches us to look closer. When we do, we discover far more going on around us than our eyes first recognized. The wilderness teaches us to watch—to see that the Lord is good and soaked into every detail of this wilderness life.

In chapter 23, David begins his first lesson in becoming king. David will learn to listen.It is a certain kind of listening, listening through prayer. It's a skill that doesn't come naturally for us. David teaches us to settle down, quit ourselves and hear things we hadn't before.

David seemed to be on a fast-track to the throne. All of Israel was singing his praises. Saul was still mad, but even that might prove a political opportunity for David. We are surprised to see how quickly things begin to unravel. By chapter 22, David will find himself alone, hiding in a wilderness cave. But he doesn't go into the wilderness empty handed.

David's defeat of Goliath produced a friendship with Jonathan, but will only serve to further enrage Saul.As the end of chapter 18 puts it, Saul would now continually be David's enemy.Saul and David's lives teach us a lot about enemies, even ones we might not have fully acknowledged.

David and Jonathan are one of the great pictures of friendship in the Bible. We need their story. We live in a world that's that's hard on friendship.Jonathan and David give us another way.

David and Goliath might be the most well-known story in the Bible. It has become a part of our cultural imagination. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."But there is more to this story than just a giant. The chapter is shocked full of characters with advice and opinions. David finds himself at the center of it all. An unlikely place for a shepherd running errands for his dad.