Today’s Devotion
Topic: You Shall Not Die Before Your Time!
Text: Psalm 40: 14, 16
14 May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!” Amen
Sometimes, out of jealousy or sheer wickedness, some people desire to take your life. They detest every day you remain on this land of the living and hasten their diabolic activities aimed at escorting your exit from earth into the land of the dead. It happened to the man (David) who wrote the Psalm above. Out of jealousy, the king under whom he served saw him as a threat to his kingship and its succession so he wanted him dead.
One day, Saul (the king David served under) told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.” So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him. But an evil spirit came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall.
That night David made good his escape. Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. Then Michal took a dummy and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.” Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” But when the men entered, there was the dummy in the bed.
When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied.
Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said. So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” Halleluyah!
(1 Samuel 19)
Begin to pray, therefore. Thank God for your life and declare that you shall not die, but live to declare the wonders of our Lord. Also, come against the evil spirit such as entered Saul to make him want to kill David. Stand in the authority of Christ and destroy the activities of all such demons manipulating others against your life.
(www.yonghana.org; Like our Facebook page: Y OUTREACH NETWORK)
