The valiant warriors who buried King Saul and his sons remind us that we need to be respectful of the authority figures God has put into our lives. David also demonstrated this even when he new he would be the next king. He knew it was up to God, not him, to decide when Saul's reign would end. God is sovereign and has raised up leaders for a purpose. Even those who are evil are to be respected for their position, but we are not to follow their example or allow them to lead us into sin.
The life of David is an excellent reminder that God's promises are worth waiting for. He had to wait years after his anointing to become king, and even then he had to wait another 7 1/2 yrs to become king over all Israel. We are often eager to rush God's timing, but we need to rest in the fact that God's timing is best.
Our Luke passage made me wonder if Mary was around for the birth of John. Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when the angel came to Mary with the revelation that she would bear the Messiah, and then Mary went to visit her (the travel must have taken some amount of time) and stayed for 3 months. The timing is right, but the text does not say.
I love that John, as a baby in the womb, leaped for joy when his spirit recognized the spirit of Jesus in Mary's womb. The fact that he leaped for joy, and that the baby within Mary was recognizable as the Messiah when she must have been in the very early stages of pregnancy, both testify to the value of the unborn. The progression of science and ultrasound technology has made it much more difficult to discount this truth, yet society continues to be resistant to change in this area. All life is valuable because we are image bearers of God.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 1 Chronicles 13-15; Luke 1:57-80
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