Wait for it, wait for it...

Our Daily Bread
I love a good comedy routine.  My favorites were on the Carol Burnett Show.  The ensemble cast worked so well together.  There were sooooo many times that they knew the exact timing to make a situation the funniest!  You could see it in their eyes -- "wait for it, wait for it" to get the maximum impact!

Life with God is very similar to that.  God knows what is best for us.  He knows when things are best for us, too!  I usually have the attitude of "OK, I know this is supposed to happen, so why not today?"  I have learned in my life that I am not always ready for the things that I know God has for me even though I think I am.  I give the analogy of running a race.  I know I am not ready to run a 10k race.  With patience and training, I know I could eventually run one.  If I try now, I would fail.  When we try to make things happen on our own in our lives, we usually fail or get less than desirable results.  Train.  Be patient.  Run the race successfully!

I also thought it was cool that the devotional uses the story of Saul.  I talk about Saul in the Teaching Tuesday section below!

Lord, you know what is best for us, when it is best for us!  We thank you and praise you!

Teaching Tuesday
David and Saul
The Old Testament lesson this week was on David and Saul from I Samuel 16-31.  There were some very interesting relationship dynamics with these two!  There was also the subplot of the extremely close friendship between Saul's son, Jonathan, and David.  Some call it the closest friendship in the Bible!

Here is a quick summary of the story of David and Saul.  Saul's kingship eventually lost the blessing of YAWH because of his sin.  He did not follow the directions that YAWH gave him.  Some scholars think that this sin haunted him into his seemingly mad behavior later in his kingship.  He was paranoid, especially about David.  David was similar to Saul in many ways.  He was a young, handsome, charismatic man that people had a hard time not liking.  Yes, I can relate... Just kidding!  ha!  David showed his leadership skills AND his total reliance on YAWH time after time.  Samuel also secretly blessed him as king.  After David received the blessing from Samuel, Saul lost his blessing!  Not good!  There is a lot more to this story, so take a look at it sometime. Remember that the story is told from two points of view and those points of view are mixed together.  It can be confusing at times!

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We are far from perfect, but despite our mistakes and our sins, we will never abandon the Lord and he will never abandon us - adapted from a statement about Abraham from the EfM Training Guide