Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2022 14:30:07 GMT -5
Honouring the Lord By: Chris Wale
Click here for the Audio Message
He poured it out before the Lord.
2 Samuel 23:16
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Samuel 23:13–17
Deeply moved by the newspaper report, he started composing his own tribute: “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of Death rode the six hundred.” Within an hour, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, finished his famous poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, honouring the British cavalry’s brave charge towards enemy fire in 1854.
We can understand why Lord Tennyson wanted to honour acts of sacrifice; King David, however, went one step further when the Philistines invaded Bethlehem. When setting up camp outside the city, David remarked how good the water was from Bethlehem’s well. Three of his soldiers overheard him and broke through the enemy lines to draw a cup of it for him.
When they gave the water to David, “he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord” (2 Samuel 23:16). What was David thinking? For him, that cup of water had become priceless because the warriors had been prepared to sacrifice their lives for it (v. 17). Yet only One deserved such a precious gift. By pouring out the water as an offering, David honoured his men even more, devoting their heroism to God, rather than to himself.
We too, like David, can and should give our first place of honour to God. After all, He is worthy of the very best we can give.
Reflect & Pray
How can you honour the sacrificial serving of others? Why do you think praising God for them blesses them even more?
Loving God, when I serve, help me to remember that my sacrifice is for You. When I benefit from the selfless love of others, may I be quick to glorify You as I honour them.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
David had a group of elite soldiers collectively known as “the Thirty” (2 Samuel 23:13, 23–24) comprised of some thirty-seven “chief warriors” who led his army (v. 39). Totally loyal to David, they were credited as men God used to fulfil His purpose of making David king of the entire land of Israel (1 Chronicles 11:10–47). In 2 Samuel 23:13–17 , David honoured the devotion of three men (known as “the Three,” vv. 8, 13–19, 23) by not drinking the water they had risked their lives to obtain. “Instead, [David] poured it out before the Lord” (v. 16). David was not being callous. Rather, in deepest humility and gratefulness, he deemed this water as symbolically representing the blood of his three men (v. 17). Mindful that “the blood is the life,” David poured out the water as an offering to God ( Deuteronomy 12:23–24), acknowledging that He—not David—was the one for whom the men should sacrifice their lives.
K. T. Sim
2 Samuel 23:13-17
King James Version
13 And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.
14 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
16 And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord.
17 And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.
Click here for the Audio Message
He poured it out before the Lord.
2 Samuel 23:16
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Samuel 23:13–17
Deeply moved by the newspaper report, he started composing his own tribute: “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of Death rode the six hundred.” Within an hour, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, finished his famous poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, honouring the British cavalry’s brave charge towards enemy fire in 1854.
We can understand why Lord Tennyson wanted to honour acts of sacrifice; King David, however, went one step further when the Philistines invaded Bethlehem. When setting up camp outside the city, David remarked how good the water was from Bethlehem’s well. Three of his soldiers overheard him and broke through the enemy lines to draw a cup of it for him.
When they gave the water to David, “he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord” (2 Samuel 23:16). What was David thinking? For him, that cup of water had become priceless because the warriors had been prepared to sacrifice their lives for it (v. 17). Yet only One deserved such a precious gift. By pouring out the water as an offering, David honoured his men even more, devoting their heroism to God, rather than to himself.
We too, like David, can and should give our first place of honour to God. After all, He is worthy of the very best we can give.
Reflect & Pray
How can you honour the sacrificial serving of others? Why do you think praising God for them blesses them even more?
Loving God, when I serve, help me to remember that my sacrifice is for You. When I benefit from the selfless love of others, may I be quick to glorify You as I honour them.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
David had a group of elite soldiers collectively known as “the Thirty” (2 Samuel 23:13, 23–24) comprised of some thirty-seven “chief warriors” who led his army (v. 39). Totally loyal to David, they were credited as men God used to fulfil His purpose of making David king of the entire land of Israel (1 Chronicles 11:10–47). In 2 Samuel 23:13–17 , David honoured the devotion of three men (known as “the Three,” vv. 8, 13–19, 23) by not drinking the water they had risked their lives to obtain. “Instead, [David] poured it out before the Lord” (v. 16). David was not being callous. Rather, in deepest humility and gratefulness, he deemed this water as symbolically representing the blood of his three men (v. 17). Mindful that “the blood is the life,” David poured out the water as an offering to God ( Deuteronomy 12:23–24), acknowledging that He—not David—was the one for whom the men should sacrifice their lives.
K. T. Sim
2 Samuel 23:13-17
King James Version
13 And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.
14 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
16 And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord.
17 And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.