April 10-11

Have you noticed that we are talking about giants again (descendants of Rapha)? It seems after any mountain top victory (being crowned king, dancing before the ark) there are giants to fight. It seems there was more than one Goliath (literally). Maybe a cousin or some relative....  Sometimes the Bible just cracks me up- the giant with 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot - 24 in all (in case you were a little slow in math class?). Aside from the physical giants that David has to fight, he has a different kind of battle on with his fleshly desires. He doesn't fair so well in this battle.

The picture on the left is a fairly recently discovered wall that dates back to the time of Solomon. David's home/palace was near here also. Between the Palastinian homes shown on the right and the (used to be) palace on the left is a valley. The palace would have been even higher up I imagine, so looking over on to someones rooftop would not be much problem. David makes one mistake after another until the sin comes to light (which it always does). I love how God lead Nathan the prophet to tell David this story........things that he can relate to.....things that touch his own heart and then he realizes the man in the story is him!

 A familiar story....I always like to look for things I hadn't noticed before. It says that after Bethsheba mourned for Uriah, that David took her and married her. However it says that the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore (not David's wife). I found that interesting. David fasts and prays for seven days hoping the Lord will change his mind, but when the child dies- he cleans up goes to the house of the Lord and WORSHIPS!! Same thing Job does when tragedy strikes. I try to mentally prepare myself that should be my first reaction when tragedy strikes. I rehearse it mind......This life is full of tragedy. It is a sin broken world. It's not IF tragedy will strike, it is when. And that needs to be our immediate reaction- WORSHIP. Not that we are thankful for the circumstance but we trust the Hand that has all things under His control.

 David gets back to the business of fighting the enemies around him. We know David's name and fame but the unsung hero's are his Thirty Chief Men and the Three Might Men among those thirty.