Fr. Mike uses King Saul as an example that God does not unchoose those he has chosen, and never loses faith in us. Even if we feel someone is in power unjustly, it's God who decides who holds power, not us. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 24 and Psalm 57. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of today's readings?
Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 115. And we are reading from 1 Samuel chapter 24. We're also praying Psalm 57 as always. The translation of the Bible that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
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as we're reading from 1 Samuel chapter 24 and Psalm 57. 1 Samuel chapter 24, David spares Saul's life. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, behold, David is in the wilderness of Ein Gedi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goat's rocks.
Chapter 2: How did David spare Saul's life?
And he came to the sheepfolds, by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, here is the day of which the Lord said to you, behold, I will give your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.
Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. And afterward, David's heart struck him because he had cut off Saul's skirt. He said this to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed. So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul.
And Saul rose up and left the cave and went upon his way. Afterward, David also arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, my lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and did obeisance. And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men who say, Behold, David seeks your hurt?
Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave, and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, I will not put forth my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.
See, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand, for by the fact that I cut off the skirt of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you. May the Lord avenge me upon you, but my hand shall not be against you.
As the proverb of the ancients says, out of the wicked comes forth wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea? May the Lord therefore be the judge and give sentence between me and you and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.
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Chapter 3: What lesson can we learn from David's actions?
When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands.
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now behold, I know that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David swore this to Saul.
Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. Psalm 57. Praise and assurance under persecution.
To the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy, a mictum of David when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me.
He will put to shame those who trample upon me. God will send forth his mercy and his faithfulness. I lie in the midst of lions that greedily devour the sons of men. Their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. They set a net for my steps. My soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody, awake my soul, awake harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give you thanks, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your mercy is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we lift your name up.
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Chapter 4: What does Psalm 57 convey about faith under persecution?
He's still charged with the duty and the responsibility to continue to fight for the people of Israel, especially against the Philistines, against the enemies of the people of Israel. He still has that job. Now, At some point, God can un-king the king. Absolutely. But David realizes, I am not God. And what God has anointed, I'm not going to violate.
I'm not going to take it upon myself to exterminate the person that God has anointed. Even if God has made it very clear that he's going to take the kingship from King Saul, David has the wisdom to know that
that yes that is god's prerogative god gets to do that but he has never ever told me that that's my prerogative that i get to do that and there's something really powerful about this because what it reveals is reveals that david himself recognizes the power of the lord and his anointed his anointing and the power of the lord's choosing him and the power of the lord's faithfulness that god gets to be the one who decides
who is king and who's not. God gets to be the Lord over the living and the dead. God gets to be the God of life and death. He gets to be sovereign, right? God gets to be sovereign. And David, even though he's going to be the next king, he recognizes his limits. And this is maybe the key.
For a lot of us, maybe not for all of us, but I know for myself, I might be tempted at times or even might be told by others, hey, you should overextend your reach. I might want to overextend my reach and wade into areas that God hasn't given me permission to wade into. That there are battles around this world. There are battles in life that God hasn't necessarily commissioned me to step into.
If he does, great. I will try to do my best to say yes to this. And there are battles in our lives, in your life, that God hasn't necessarily called you into. And if he does, great. Hopefully you'll respond. Hopefully all of us will respond whenever the Lord calls us to move forward. but there are also limits that we all have. And these limitations, they can be self-imposed limitations, right?
They can be limitations imposed by others around us. They also can be the limitation of, I don't know that God has called me to this. I don't know that God has called me to this particular fight, this particular battle, this particular struggle. And to be aware of one's own limitations is not the same thing as limiting oneself.
It's not the same thing as shrinking back from the challenge or shrinking back from the battle. Remember, David is not a man who's gonna shrink back from the challenge of Goliath, just like Jonathan wasn't a man who'd shrink back from the challenge of the Philistines. but here's what we have to do. Sorry, I don't know if you do. I know that I do.
What I have to do is someone says, Father, why don't you do X, Y, or Z? Or maybe I look at it and say, man, I want to say something about this, that, or the other thing. What I get to do and I have to do is what David did yesterday. I have to consult the Lord. God, this is, remember with the residents of Keilah, the Kelites, sorry, yeah, Kelites, how do they say it?
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Chapter 5: How can we relate David's struggle to our own lives?
This is so important for every single one of us, especially when we can be keyboard jockeys, when we can just weigh in on everything that's even important stuff that maybe isn't our fight, maybe isn't our battle. Now, at the same time, I can look at someone else and say, we should be fighting here. I should look at someone else and say, maybe you should step down.
But, you know, that's not my job either. That my job is to listen to the Lord's voice and to ask him, God, do you want me to say something about this? Do you want me to do something about this? And not just to say, okay, I'm going to go fight because someone tells me I need to go fight. Unless that person is my bishop, in which case I will do that. How this makes sense.
One of the things we realize that David reveals to us is he is aware of his limitations. And he also is aware that he will only fight when the Lord tells him, hey, now it's time to go fight. I think that might be something we can take away with and walk away with as well. that I become more and more aware of my limitations.
And I'm only going to fight when God says, okay, this is the fight that you need to throw your hat into. No matter what it costs, you need to get into this battle, into this fight. But until the Lord does that, maybe it's wiser, wisest thing to do is to continue to pray, continue to listen to his voice, continue to listen to wise people. and always be ready to do his will.
Because there's nothing greater. There's nothing other than that. We all want to be ready to do God's will at every moment. Anyways, I am praying for you because I know that the Lord will call you into certain fights that maybe you don't want to go into. And please pray for me because the Lord might call me into certain fights that I am not equipped for.
And so we need to keep praying for each other because there are. Our battles are not with flesh and blood, right? Our battles are with principalities and powers. And so the Lord is going to call us to some kind of battle.
Typically, that battle for every one of us is going to be against principalities and powers, not against flesh and blood, as much as it always is going to be against the kingdom of darkness so that the kingdom of Jesus Christ can always reign. That's why we need to pray for each other. That's why I need you, please, to pray for me. That's why I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike.
I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.
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