1 Samuel 23-24; Psalm 104; Romans 8
June 1: Perfect love casts out fear, and he who fears has not yet been made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18) God has gone to great lengths to eliminate fear from our walk with Him, and yet we still frequently have anxiety. Where does it come from? Fear that we won’t have everything we need. Fear that God will abandon us. Fear that enemies will prevail and we will be shamed. God has the very breath of the enemies in His hands. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, (2 Peter 1:3), and will never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) We need to review and claim His promises more.
1 Samuel 23-24: Did David feel great anxiety and fear while he was being pursued by Saul? Some of the Psalms seem to indicate that he did; however, his faith never failed. He had an attitude of abundance in that he trusted that he could let Saul go and still be safe. If it had come to a pitched battle with Saul’s forces, would David have been slain? No: by God’s power, David would’ve been preserved. He just chose to do it a different way: by providing Abiathar as one who could reveal God’s answers to David.
Psalm 104:19-35: How can the Psalmist without the full revelation of God, be so comforted? He knows that everything, even the wicked, is dependent upon God; if He withdraws their breath, they die. Therefore, a day is coming when wickedness will be no more, and yet the glory and praise of the Lord shall endure forever.
Romans 8:12-39: In this series of statements meant to assure us that we are inseparable from God, what is the basis for each promise?
- If God be for us, who can be against us? God is all-powerful. Man’s ancient enemy is powerless against Him. (Colossians 2:15)
- He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Far from being “spent” in His extravagant gift for us, God, having purchased us at such great cost, will do everything to ensure that we have everything we need.
- Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. The judge that must be satisfied is God Himself, who is the One Who gave Christ in the first place to justify us.
- Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died… who also maketh intercession for us. The judge of the quick and the dead is Jesus Himself. Final sentence over the condemned will be passed by Him—and He’s the One making intercession for us.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No matter what trouble we go through, it is for His sake, and He causes us to conquer through it all, that we become evidence substantiating that which is not yet seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
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