Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
Giant Slayers: What David's Journey Teaches Modern Believers
Dive into the ancient wisdom of 1 Samuel as we unpack the remarkable journey of David, Israel's greatest king before Christ. What makes this shepherd boy's story so compelling isn't just his victory over Goliath, but how he navigated the treacherous waters of jealousy and opposition from King Saul.
The heart of this exploration centers on a profound revelation: having God's favor doesn't guarantee an easy path. Despite being anointed by God himself, David faced deadly persecution from the religious establishment. His story dismantles the modern misconception that faith should shield us from hardship. Sometimes our greatest challenges come precisely because God's hand is on our lives, not because we've done something wrong.
David's secret weapon wasn't physical strength or strategic brilliance—it was his unwavering heart for God. While Saul sought public approval and self-preservation, David remained fixed on pleasing the Lord. This fundamental difference in heart orientation made all the difference. Even when religious jealousy threatened to derail his calling, David kept his focus upward, seeing his circumstances from heaven's perspective rather than being consumed by earthly drama.
For anyone facing opposition while pursuing their God-given purpose, David's example offers powerful encouragement. Keep pressing forward with consistency and persistence. Don't become entangled in the swirl of criticism or sabotage. Remember that seasons change—what feels permanent today will eventually give way to new realities. Your responsibility is simply to remain faithful, knowing that your identity as God's beloved is secure regardless of current circumstances.
What opposition are you facing in your spiritual journey? How might seeing it from God's perspective change your response? Share your thoughts with us at lifearoundthefire@gmail.com or visit our website to explore more biblical wisdom for contemporary challenges.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
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Shalom to you and your home.
There's a book in the Bible, 1 Samuel. It's following the Old Testament and it is perhaps one of my favorite books because of the stories that are found in it. And for the next few podcast episodes we're going to be taking a little bit of a deep dive into 1 Samuel Because it has so much relevancy also to the world that we live in today and we've found that the scriptures, the word of God, literally are the baseline for us in this podcast. Life Around the Fire to really, we go by, but in my own personal life it's the basis for which I make decisions, final decisions. It's based upon what's found in the scriptures, because the scriptures, the written Word of God, doesn't lie In the original writings. The book known as the Bible, in its original writings contains no errors.
Speaker 1:Now, throughout the years, through scribal renditions, there have been some discrepancies, unfortunately, some discrepancies unfortunately, but with the guidance that we have provided to us by Holy Spirit, the teacher who's come to us, who believe in Jesus, who's come in the name of Jesus to teach us all things pertaining to life and godliness in the kingdom of God, he teaches us straight from the scriptures because he's the spirit that God breathed upon the writers. The scriptures are God-breathed. Amazing, god breathed upon the writers as they were writing, and the inspiration is absolutely divine. It's a cannon, it's a measuring stick by which we measure things, and it's a measuring stick by which we measure things. And so to say that we value the written word of God is almost an understatement. But for the sake of communication, I want to go on record in saying that we highly value the written word of God. It's the final authority and, yes, I believe that God speaks to us personally and yes, I believe that God speaks to us personally. But because we see in part, we hear in part, we know in part it's not necessarily I don't give it the same weight that I give to the written word of God. In fact, I measure what I hear from God by the written word of God.
Speaker 1:So, all that being said, we're going to be looking at the book of 1 Samuel. It's found in the Old Testament, in the Bible and in just a kind of a preliminary, I want to take just a peek at the life of David. I want to take just a peek at the life of David. We're going to look at him more extensively and a variety of other characters, but David makes up the lion's share of the book of 1 Samuel and he was the second king of Israel.
Speaker 1:The first king was Saul, and Saul was anointed king and he looked the part. I mean he was head and shoulders above anybody else in height and he came from a good lineage, and so I mean he had all things going for him, except the fact that he had some personal issues, some weaknesses that came to the surface, and it's funny how that can take place when we're given higher privileges. It's the responsibilities, or the lack of us taking responsibility, that the privilege seems to put pressure on us and the irresponsible ways of a person can show up, and they did in the life of Saul. He had great privilege but he didn't have a balancing level of responsibility. He didn't follow through with what God told him to do. He did it in part and then kind of made excuses for why he didn't do it all the way, and finally God basically rejected him as a king and David became anointed as the second king and his rulership, his kingship, is marked as a high watermark for the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1:High watermark for the nation of Israel, king David, even though he had some moral issues that had come to the surface. He had a heart that was after God. He had a heart after God, whereas Saul had a heart to please the people and keep people from criticizing him and taking matters into his own hands. David had a heart after God. And you know you think no. Here's where I'm going with that. You'd think that having a heart after God would cause things to go your way. I mean God is with you and because of that, nothing can stand in your way. I mean God is with you and because of that, nothing can stand in your way. Nothing can stand in my way. God's with me. And there's actually a teaching that goes throughout the the church right now, and it really basically says this that if God's with you, you really, if you have faith in God, you really shouldn't be facing challenges. That would be contrary to things going your way, you being healthy, wealthy and wise all the time. And if you're not, there's undoubtedly something wrong with you. There's either sin in your life, you have some sort of lack of faith, unbelief, and sometimes that's just not the case. In fact, sometimes, because God has his hand on a person's life, there are challenges that come and they can be significant.
Speaker 1:For example, david was anointed king at a young age, probably in his early teens, maybe even pre that, but young, a young man, growing boy, however you want to term it. He was young Ruddy, it says it says and his life prior to his being anointed as king was that of being a shepherd. He was tending sheep and he was good at it. Interesting, he was good at the small things even at a young age. And if you're young it doesn't mean that you can't be involved in something significant. It might take some time for you to grow into it, but being young does not disqualify you. Sometimes it's actually a qualifier. It was for David. God anointed him at a young age because he had a heart after God. But even then, tending sheep, he treated the sheep good. He protected them.
Speaker 1:Sheep Well, people are even more valuable than sheep, but we all know that in our life we need at times someone to look over and look after us, shepherd, us under shepherd. God being the great shepherd. Having an under shepherd is important A human being extending God's love and his life to us. And David did that with sheep and he translated that over to people. In fact, he wrote Psalm 23, saying the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I will want for nothing. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack for nothing. He leads me beside still waters. He lets me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul by still water. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. His rod and his staff. They comfort me. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's the heart of David. And so, once again, it would seem as though that would mean that things would go his way or, in our case, things would go our way. However, that's not always the case, and sometimes that can throw us for a loop.
Speaker 1:David, david was used by God to defeat a Philistine giant with a sling and a stone Goliath. Goliath was actually a giant of a man, 10 feet tall, maybe more feet tall, maybe more. His spear was like the thickness of an, you know, the oar of a boat. It was a weaver's beam. It says it was big. His sword was just massive. And when he talked he was loud and boisterous and boastful, defying God and the armies of Israel. And David looked at him and said who is this uncircumcised meaning? This person is not part of the covenant of God. Circumcised being the sign of covenant, he's not part of the covenant. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? This is a young man and he said I'll go, I will go and fight him. The rest of the army, the adults, didn't want anything to do with it. They were afraid. David went and he killed Goliath, knocked him down with a stone in a sling, hit him in the forehead, cracked his skull. He fell down and then he cut his head off With his own sword, with Goliath's own sword. He beheaded him. The Philistine army fled and Israel went after them and defeated them. The army fled and Israel went after them and defeated them.
Speaker 1:And then it was said, considering David and Saul, that Saul had killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands. And Saul got jealous. Funny thing when people get jealous of you, they can do ugly things. They can do really ugly things, sometimes even sabotage or try to your name, your reputation, or perhaps even, in the case of David, to take his life. There came a point in time where Saul got so jealous of David he became demonized by his own. Saul became demonized by his own preoccupation with things other than God. He became preoccupied with things that caused jealousy just to burn inside of him, a rage to the point where he tried to murder David.
Speaker 1:Opposition came David's way. David Opposition came David's way. Even though he was called and anointed by God, empowered by God's spirit, to be a king, the previous regime tried to kill him. Isn't that funny? Religion can try to do that. People can do that to you, a believer in Jesus, anointed by God, called for a purpose, and the religious community who stand in the name. They claim the name of Jesus, they claim the very same things you do, but they are religious, not relational. They're works-oriented. Do it this way, that's the way to do it.
Speaker 1:If you don't do it that way, something's wrong with you or you're a threat, and jealousy can set in people. Don't call it jealousy, but it is jealousy and religion is an ugly thing when it rears its ugly head. If things go the way that the religious crowd wants it to go, there's quasi-peace. But if the way that the religious crowd wants it to go, there's quasi-peace. But if it's confronted in any way, or if it's shown to be less than what it wants to be seen, as there can be some real sparks that fly, and in the case of David, sparks flew. Saul couldn't stand him Early on. Saul loved him, loved it when David would play his music, his harp, and the rage and the demonization within Saul would subside and he was fond of David. But that fondness wore off because jealousy came back and anger came back. Religious pride came back and tried to oust David.
Speaker 1:And sometimes that happens to us, maybe it's happened to you, maybe it's happening to you right now. You're called and anointed by God to do something, but the people around you are jealous and they're trying to besmirch your name, maybe not kill you outright, but they're trying to undermine what you're doing. And my encouragement is to be consistent and persistent. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't get caught up in the swirl around you. Keep your eyes focused on the Prince of Peace and he will impart to you his peace that goes beyond understanding, and Holy Spirit will keep your heart and mind garrisoned, focused in on Jesus, so you can be an overcomer. You can rise up and be seated with Christ in heavenly places, seeing things from perspective, from above, so you can really see more clearly, instead of seeing things from the bottom up. You see things from the top down and decisions can be made more clearly. When you hear the word of God, you can speak made more clearly. When you hear the word of God, you can speak it more clearly because you're seeing and hearing it from a higher level. So my encouragement is if you're in the place of having things go contrary to what it would seem like they should go, you know how they should go.
Speaker 1:Don't faint, don't lose heart, don't give up. Keep pressing on, because things will change. That's the other good news, right there. Things will change. When you're sick, when you're not feeling good, it seems like you're always going to feel that way until right, until the sickness breaks and you feel better. Then it's hard to even imagine what it was like to feel sick after a while. Well, things change.
Speaker 1:Things change for David Saul was the one who died, and then David went on to become known as the greatest king in Israel aside from Jesus, who is the king of kings. David is a picture of Jesus, a forerunner of Jesus, but now we have the king of kings Jesus, but now we have the King of Kings Jesus, the perfect one, who has given us the privilege and the responsibility of walking in his footsteps so we can become kings and priests, like we are kings and priests. In fact, we are kings and priests when we enter into his kingdom by virtue of the covenant that he has cut in his own blood, his own body, hallelujah. So we're going to be taking a deep dive into the book of 1 Samuel, but I just want to give you a taste of how things from the Scriptures can really speak to us in our lives today. Let's pray, father.
Speaker 1:Once again, I thank you. I thank you for who you are, god, for what you're doing, how you're doing it. Holy Spirit, thank you, thank you. Thank you for coming in the name of Jesus, being our helper, being our guide, being our teacher, our comforter. Jesus, you are our healer, our savior, our Lord, your King of Kings, lord of Lords, we honor you, we lift your name up high and, holy Spirit, we ask that you'd help us become like him more and more and more, so we can grow up before we grow old, and we can come on up, so your glory can come on down. And we stand here in agreement and we pray these things and say so be it in the name of Jesus, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:All right, folks, we love you and if you have any thoughts, questions or concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmailcom that's our email address. Or if you just want to look us up on the web and see what's going on, you can type in life around the fire and we would love for you to just enjoy yourself. Listen some music, look at the blog. We've got going on and uh, in the meantime, god bless you. Adios amigos.