Solitary Place

I Chronicles 20 accounts some of King David's conquests against the adversaries in the lands around Israel part of the land promised to Abraham in Genesis 15. Most notably David continues pressing against the Philistine peoples who are freakishly large giants with anomalous phalanges from the descendants of the Rephaim. Who are the Rephaim? In Deuteronomy and Joshua the Rephaim were associated with giants in the land of Canaan often linked to Og king of Bashan, Philistine giants are Rephaim and include Goliath whom David fought and killed as a young man. These Rephaim are the giants in the land that the twelve Israelite spies saw when first scoping out Canaan after leaving Egypt. David's conquest against the Philistines is a continuation of taking the land that God had promised - picking up where the Israelites left off before the period of the Judges.  When God promises land to His people and strengthens His people to take it there should be no hesitation, for what God wills G...

Psalm 70:4 (NKJV) "Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say continually, "Let God be magnified!" Let God be magnified! The word magnified in Hebrew is yigdal which means to grow up or to become great, understanding that all authority, power and greatness belongs to the LORD brings gladness to the hearts of those who love His salvation. The emphasis on faith in this verse is important, King David writes that those who seek  the LORD rejoice and are glad in Him, not those who find  the LORD. There is joy, happiness and gladness in seeking the LORD this is so important and faith building because we know that when we seek the LORD we will find  the LORD, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. What does it look like to seek the LORD with all your heart? Seeking takes time. Seeking out is an intentional act of the will, active and engaging. For me personally in this season of life seeking the LORD looks like praye...

In these accounts David defeats the adversarial Ammonites subjecting them to Israel by striking with a strong and mighty arm. Now the Ammonites resided in the land east of the Jordan river and are the descendants of Abrahams nephew Lot, they are a people that God warns Israel not to intermarry with. The beginnings of the Ammonites pick up in sin where Sodom and Gomorrah leave off through incest and as we will see in Solomon's time the progression is downward. Specifically child sacrifice through the worship of Moloch. YAHWEH detests this idolatry.  Psalm 20:6 (NIV) "The LORD gives victory to his anointed." This truth simply inspires fresh hope in the confident and mighty King David who smites all enemies surrounding Israel. Over and over it is reiterated that the LORD gave David victory wherever he went (II Samuel 8:14) and this is because God blessed and anointed David for such a time. As God's anointed, grafted into the family and heritage of Abraham, Christians can...

The subheading for Psalm 60 is an interesting one, it's a song written to music, specifically the tune of 'The Lily of the Covenant' and contains championing language depicting victory over Israel's enemies. In terms of timeline this was written just after David's mighty men at the hand of Joab struck down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. Psalm 60:12 (NIV) "With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." I think about the victorious living narrative that the believer must reinforce daily. We know that we are in a spiritual war and the battles we fight are not flesh and blood. We know we are warriors of righteousness with all authority and power under heaven in our hands by the Holy Spirit. We are more than conquerors in Christ because of Christ alone. We can win the day because He won the day, we fight from victory not for victory because death, Satan and sin have already been crushed.  Romans 8:37-39 (NIV) "In all thes...

II Samuel 8 and I Chronicles 18 are parallels, nearly identical with minimal detailed differences but outline all the victories of King David in the unified land of Israel against the remaining Canaanites along with Edom (sons of Esau), Moab (son of Lot, Abrahams nephew), Amalekites (Esau's grandson) and  Ammonites (son of Lot). The most amazing aspect of David's victories is that all the surrounding kingdoms around Israel subjected themselves to King David through paying him tribute and the accounts of his mighty hand in battle would've struck fear into all enemies outside those territories of subjugation. II Samuel 8:13 says David became famous after striking down 18,000 Edomites, earlier in the chapter we see David systematically defeat and subdue his enemies ruthlessly, but it's important to know what the author of II Samuel and I Chronicles 18 mentions not once but twice  in these chapters - therefore appearing 4 times in the recounting of David's victories: II...

Psalm 29:11 (NIV) "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." This strengthened my spirit man this morning. I am on day 5 of a fast and while my body is indeed weak my spirit is strong because of the Spirit of God living inside me! In seeking the LORD's voice as David had in times past, the sevenfold spirit of God has indeed strengthened me with wisdom and understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the LORD and His Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2-3). I find that I am most strengthened and am at the most peace, no matter what circumstances, trials, temptations or tribulations I face because the peace of the LORD transcends what I believe or "think" peace is humanly. This peace often accompanies an intentional silencing of distractions, especially for me with proper biblical fasting (refraining from food) in rebellion against the original sin of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When G...