Ish-bosheth accuses Abner of having relations with Saul’s
concubine and it doesn’t go well. Abner
has set up Ish-bosheth as essentially a puppet regime while he retains the
power behind the throne. We don’t know
whether Ish-bosheth’s charge was true or false, it ultimately doesn’t matter
because he lacks the real authority to do anything about it one way or another. Abner’s threats to give the kingdom to David
and Ish-bosheth’s subsequent actions prove who the true power is in the
land. David is willing to receive the
kingdom from Abner but not without receiving all that is rightfully his,
including Michal, the daughter of Saul who is his according to her father’s
promise. David is consolidating power
however he may do so, as was also the promise at his anointing, that he would
rule over the entire land. Does the end
always justify the means if we know something to be God’s will? The answer is clearly no and this won’t
happen without bloodshed.
Twice we are told that the destination was “a desolate
place.” Jesus intentionally chose such a
place to get away from the crowds and yet when the people saw where they were
going, Mark says they ran from the towns to get there ahead of the little band
of the teacher and his disciples. Their
hunger for Jesus, what He had to offer, was so great they neglected everything
else in order to be around Him. The
Samaritan woman in John 4 was drawing water when she met Jesus and yet when she
left to go tell her friends she left her water jar behind. These people react in the same way and so
Jesus has compassion on them and provides bounteously for their needs because
their real hunger drove them to Him. They obeyed the command to seek first the
kingdom of God and all else was given them.
What does your life say about the hunger that drives you?
Who is the “man of Macedonia” whom Paul saw in his
dream? The mission team had plans for
where they would go but were prevented by the Spirit of Jesus from carrying out
their plans. (I wish the Spirit of Jesus always prevented my missteps, perhaps
I am not always open to having my plans changed and less intent on following
than going my own way.) When they
(including Luke you’ll notice) arrive in Philippi they hang around a few days
and on the Sabbath go to the river where they suppose there to be a place of
prayer. There were apparently not ten
Jewish men in the city as that is the number required for a synagogue. When they get to the place of prayer, a place
where ablutions, ritual washings, could be performed easily, they find no man,
only a group of women, chief of whom is Lydia, who was a worshiper of God,
likely a Gentile, who was urged by the Spirit to hear Paul’s message and accept
baptism. She was looking for the kingdom
and became a person of peace to the group.
So long as our goal is the kingdom and we are sensitive and obedient to
the Spirit, we will should find ourselves either with our needs met or meeting
the needs of others as Lydia does here.
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