Twice in this chapter the Philistines came against David, and both times he asked the Lord if he should go up against them. The first time God said yes, and the second time, no; but both times the Philistines were defeated. It was wise that David asked the Lord the second time and didn’t just assume he should do the same thing again, because the second time, God directed him to do the exact opposite of what He had told him the first time. Instead of a direct frontal attack on the enemy, God had them go behind the enemy and simply wait. The lesson here for us today is that the battle belongs to the Lord, and He wants to do things His own way. God seems to delight in doing things slightly differently each time He moves in our lives.<\/p>\n
The enemy is always the same as he tries to destroy our lives. But God uses different approaches to defeat the enemy. It seems that God doesn’t want to be confined to a particular method. No doubt part of the reason is that He wants us to seek Him, the Giver, and not a dry, sterile method. In spite of this truth we find many still claim they have found the secret method<\/em> to get what they want from God. This temptation to reduce God to a formula or a teachable program has resulted in many books, like “Ten Steps to God” or “Seven Laws of a Godly Relationship.” In the New Testament we see Jesus healing people in many different ways. Jesus put mud in one blind man’s eyes, His fingers in the eyes of another, and with yet another, He didn’t touch the eyes at all. God wants us to seek Him, not a method.<\/p>\n “LORD, forgive us for trying to reduce our relationship with You down to a formula, a method. We seek Your face and pleasure today, by surrendering to Your will now, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Samuel 5 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>thy bone and thy flesh.\u00a02<\/sup> Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the\u00a0LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. 4<\/sup>\u00a0David\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>thirty years old when he began to reign,\u00a0and<\/em> he reigned forty years.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 6<\/sup>\u00a0And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the city of David.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind,\u00a0that are\u00a0<\/em>hated of David\u2019s soul,\u00a0he shall be chief and captain\u00a0<\/em>. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And David went on, and grew great, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of hosts\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>with him.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And David perceived that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel\u2019s sake. 13<\/sup> And David took\u00a0him\u00a0<\/em>more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And these\u00a0be<\/em>the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Ibhar also, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet. 17<\/sup> But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard\u00a0of it\u00a0<\/em>, and went down to the hold.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And David enquired of the\u00a0LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.\u00a020<\/sup>And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.\u00a0\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them. 22<\/sup> And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And when David enquired of the\u00a0LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up;\u00a0but<\/em>fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the\u00a0LORD\u00a0go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And David did so, as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twice in this chapter the Philistines came against David, and both times he asked the Lord if he should go up against them. The first time God said yes, and the second time, no; but both times the Philistines were defeated. It was wise that David asked the Lord the second time and didn’t just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6588"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16195,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588\/revisions\/16195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}