THE LORD'S DELIGHTS

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his armor and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh and they fasted seven days.

1 Samuel 31:8-13

__________________________________________________________

When David was told that it was the men of Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul, he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead to say to them, "The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."

2 Samuel 2:4b-7

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the end of 1st Samuel, we read of Saul’s death…how he fell on his own sword after being critically injured by the Philistines. He did this to avoid being killed by them but as we read in chapter 31, the Philistines didn’t stop from abusing Saul even when dead.

For the scriptures tell us that they beheaded him, stripped him of his armor, placed his armor in the idol worshipping temple of the Ashtoreths, and then fastened him and his sons to the wall of Beth Shan. One could have seen this as a fitting end to Saul’s story given his disobedient sinfulness during his rule but as we see, not everyone viewed Saul that way.

In support of this, we should recall that David certainly didn’t hold Saul’s murderous attitude against him but instead refused to kill Saul when the opportunity presented itself…not just once, but twice…because Saul, despite his faults, was still an anointed one of God…the king of Israel.

Further, we see where the people of Jabesh Gilead had similar feelings for the fallen king for after hearing about what the Philistines had done to their king, they “journeyed through the night to Beth Shan” and “took down the bodies of Saul and his sons”. They then took the bodies to Jabesh where they cremated them and gave them a proper burial, placing their bones “under a tamarisk tree” before fasting seven days in mourning over what had happened.

As we turn to the second chapter of 2nd Samuel, we read where David, the newly anointed king of Judah, gets word about what the people of Jabesh Gilead did for Saul and so he “sent messengers” to deliver the following word:

"The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."

Through this, we find Israel’s new king acknowledging the noble actions of the people in Jabesh Gilead, proclaiming them not only as acts of reverence but kindness as well. For there was definitely a degree of risk involved as they went into Philistine territory to retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons but they shirked any possible danger in order to do the right thing…the honorable thing by properly honoring Saul and his sons.

To recognize their bravery, we read where David wishes that the Lord’s blessings be upon the people of Jabesh Gilead…blessings of faithfulness and kindness and favor…blessings that David himself promised them as well. And then he (David) did something else that would be important regarding his future ascent into leadership over all of Israel. For we see where he made it clear that although the people of Jabesh Gilead had lost their king, they were going to be fine because he had been anointed as their new king. This would allow them to remain strong and brave.

At the heart of this passage, we see the theme of kindness. Kindness showed to a deceased Saul and his sons by the people of Jabesh Gilead…a kindness hoped for from the Lord in response to the kindness they displayed…and a kindness and favor granted to them by David.

This matter of kindness should be important to us as well because God expects it. Consider this from the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah:

This is what the Lord says:

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24

If we’re in the Lord…and we should be because He created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27)…then we should exercise all the things that He exercises and that includes righteousness, justice, and kindness on earth.

Why?

Because the Lord delights in these things. He favors and blesses those who live for Him and submit to His leading and guiding in life. For those He leads and guides will exercise all the things He delights in because what they do is in accordance with His will and way. He is embedded in their very souls through the person of the Holy Spirit and when the Spirit is actively working within a believer then they will produce the following fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

In today’s scripture passages, we can see where the Lord’s Spirit was within the hearts of the people of Jabesh Gilead, leading them to bless their fallen King Saul and his sons with a suitable burial.

He’s willing to do a multitude of kind acts through you as well if you will only allow Him to. My prayer is that you’ll fully surrender to the Holy Spirit within, allowing him to control your heart and mind so to bear the fruit He desires to harvest from you. And when you adopt this life approach, the Lord will take care of the rest, leading you to more opportunities to be kind and loving to others that you could ever ask for. Largely because He delights in these things…and wants to delight in you as well.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.