May 19

Today's Reading

1 Samuel. David spared Saul's life and Saul "repented" from trying to kill David. Saul's idea of repentance was like ours can be: "I'm sorry!" However, genuine repentance indicates a complete change of mind and only happens when we fully place ourselves under God's authority in the matter. Obviously, Saul didn't do that.

Near that same time, David's men had been protecting the property of people out in the wilderness where they were hiding. It would have been common to "pay" the protection service and David's request wasn't haughty. Nabal's answer, though, was. When David married Abigail, he most likely received all of Nabal's estate. He seemed attracted to Abigail for the honorable way she had dealt with the previous matter.


John. The tension kept growing between Jesus and the religious leaders. The people, meanwhile, saw the validation from John the Baptist as important in the structure of their faith. If John was a prophet (he was), then his testimony about Jesus validated Jesus as Messiah.

The more I read today's Psalm, the more I remembered the time I saw it lived out. My dad was a godly man who grew more and more grateful for his salvation during his latter years. He constantly talked about how thankful he was that God would sacrifice His own Son to save someone like him.

Proverbs. "Foolishness brings joy to those with no sense..." I have lived that life. Have you?

How are you doing in your reading, Climbing Companion? Do you have questions or comments today?