GARY HOLLOWAY

The last story of Samuel is a tough one, but it shows the importance again of learning and listening to God’s leading in all of our lives. We let out a big Journey “Thank you, sir!” to Gary Holloway, who wrote more than fifty, yes fifty devotionals on 1 and 2 Samuel! I don’t know of another source where you can get fifty devotionals on these important books on the lives of the first kings of Israel than The Journey Bible Project Devotional blog. Tell your friends and ask them to sign up for the daily blog posts they can receive by email.

When in 2 Samuel 23:1-39 David speaks about his kingdom, it sounds like bragging, but is it?

Today’s entry in The Journey Bible Project blog is pretty cool, because here David sings a song (2 Samuel 22:1-51) that is the same as Psalm 18. What do we do when we realize how much God has done for us? David sings and calls others to sing with him!

In 2 Samuel 21:1-22 we see another example of the truth of Nathan’s prophecy over David’s sin, the consequences of David’s and Israel’s sins that David and the next generations must endure.

The story of David at this point is a classic study of what one king does when it seems everyone has turned against him.

David has done such a good job of capturing the hearts and minds of even his former enemies, that soon the men of Israel are arguing with the men of Judah over who is more loyal to David. Today’s Journey Bible Project blog calls us to become merciful to those who wish to harm us.

David learns to receive his soldiers with honor, even after they’ve killed his own son.

The Journey Bible Project is based on listening four years to the voice of God, not the competing voices of our culture and politics and social media today. Are you listening to the wise, loving voices or the foolish, hateful voices in our culture today?

What do you do when critics throw dirt at you? Do you react? How did David respond when a critic threw dirt and curses at him?

Politicians antics are nothing new. Absalom does some things to gain favor with people and undercut his own father for political gain.