1 Samuel 21-22; Psalm 104; Romans 8

 May 31: In today’s readings, I am seeing the vital importance of the Spirit’s direction for our life. Romans 8 lists many aspects of this, the Psalmist accurately sees an orderly, predictable world established by an all-wise Creator, and David behaves himself wisely even in horrible circumstances, while Saul, bereft of the Spirit at this time, plays the fool, compounding his enmity against God in rebelling against God’s choice of David. Eli’s passivity at the news of God’s judgment on him and his house was a fault, but it was far better than Saul’s fury.


1 Samuel 21-22: Today, we read how David’s life on the run began. Although David never sought Saul’s death, all of this shows how decisively the break was made from the beginning. David chides himself before Abiathar for not doing something about Doeg the Edomite. But how could he have known that Saul would command that the priests be slaughtered? God used it to build the relationship between David, the future king and Abiathar, the new priest. Conversely, in commanding the extermination of the priests, Saul had obviously set himself against God. He’d been warned not to intrude into he priest’s office before. What was he thinking?

Psalm 104:1-18: There is poetry in this Psalm, but also genuine science: the heavens really are stretched out over the earth like a curtain. The waters really did rise above the mountains, then recede to never cover the earth again. Springs really do feed the streams that run among the hills and end up in the valleys, giving drink to the animals and growth and sap to the trees. The Psalmist attributes it all to God, and we take that for granted. Was it so in the pagan understanding of their gods? Not at all—their deities were the product of the earth or the water or the skies, not the creators of it all.

Romans 8:1-30:  Why was there so little mention of the Holy Spirit in Romans 6, and so much in Romans 8? It has to be by design: this is a high point in all of Scripture, if not the highest. In so clearly and gloriously declaring all the we have in Christ and just how central the indwelling Holy Spirit is in this new life, we’re told:
  1. There’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus [because they] walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
  2. The Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the Law of sin and death. (Romans 7:2-6)
  3. The righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
  4. The mind of those who walk after the Spirit is set on the things of the Spirit, which is life and peace.
  5. The Spirit makes our mortal bodies alive, with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans 6)
  6. The Spirit makes it possible for us to mortify the deeds of the body, our carnal nature.
  7. The Spirit assures us and causes us to exult in our sonship toward the Father: “Abba, Father."
  8. The Spirit inspires our prayers and intercedes with us those things we can’t express.
  9. By the Spirit, we have access to the mind of God and the will of God.
  10. Through His good work in our lives in all experiences, we are conformed to the image of Christ that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Why do we so often downplay the Holy Spirit in our exhortation and worship? The “good” reason is that last one: His work is to exalt Christ, and not Himself per se. (John 16:13) The “bad” reason is that instinct to veer too far to the other side of the road from the “ditch” that is over-emphasis on Him as seen in many “Corinthian”-style denominations.

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