Scripture

Then Saul confessed, “I have sinned. Come back home, my son, and I will no longer try to harm you, for you valued my life today. I have been a fool and very, very wrong.”

~I Samuel 26:21, NLT

Quote

“Serving Christ brings joy–serving self brings peacelessness–Self is the god of unhappiness.”

~Lorenzo Scupoli

Trying to finish the Geneva Bible in 2025 and reading I and II Samuel presently. Most people don’t really know David because they have never read the Bible through and same is true with Saul. Of course there is a huge difference: David is a type of Christ and Saul is a type of the flesh. David has two opts to do Saul in but refuses to kill him both times. After David spares Saul’s miserable life, Saul confesses his sorrow to David for his despicable behavior. The above confession looks good on paper but there is one problem: you cannot trust the flesh. Saul is unstable. He is not reliable. His talk and his behavior are not a match. He is a persecutor and a fear mongerer. To put it in a nutshell, he is a thorn in the flesh. David listened to his passionate speeches of sorrow and he also noted Saul’s crocodile tears but David was too wise to trust Saul. He knew Saul would renege and of course this is exactly what Saul did. Until his dying day, he refused to give up the hunt.

When we get saved, we get a renewed higher nature but we do not lose the flesh or the old nature. We still have that self-centered tendency rooted deep in our being. All Christians are capable of being carnal or fleshly. We can and do act selfishly at times. Pride and vanity or rooted in the flesh and we have to learn to distrust them. Never trust the flesh: it will fail you every single time. Peter made the mistake of trusting his flesh just minutes after Jesus had warned him,“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,”  [Matthew 26:41] Peter denied Jesus three times. At the moment Jesus warned him, Peter did not know what Jesus was talking about…Peter was thinking…“I’ve got this, stop worrying.” Like me and millions of other believers, Peter learned that the flesh cannot be trusted. It is totally unreliable. It boast great things but it lacks the power to execute them. The flesh is strong when it comes to doing things our way but it is helpless when it comes to pleasing God.

Extra

Another cool brisk morning. No COLS today but one visitation. The visitation for Josh and the boys is tonight. Charity’s COLS is tomorrow at 11:00. Just think, one year ago she was on stage at DBC singing and playing the piano. They are giving rain for Sunday evening and Monday. It will not effect us at the POINT but DBC is planning their annual Trunk-A-Treat which is big. They have had over 1,000 several years in a row. It may be bigger than the Danville Homecoming Parade. You would have to see both to believe them.

I hope you have a great Thursday and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

When I get a new Bible, I read the introduction and in reading the Geneva Bible I was shocked. King James did not like the Geneva Bible. It was John Calvin’s favorite translation and it was full of footnotes. The footnotes and editorial comments was what King James hated. He believed in the DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS. In other words, he believed that kings could not be wrong or questioned. He believed the footnotes in the Geneva Bible were encouraging civil disobedience. The word TYRANNY or TYRANT is used in the Geneva Bible and you will not find it in the KJV. This does not mean that the KJV is a bad translation; it is not, but it was politically correct as far as King James was concerned. I thank God for all English Translations.