YEAR 2, WEEK 32, Day 7, Sunday, 10 August 2025

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 10 August 2025:

Psalm 84:1-2 – How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The psalmist expresses an intense longing for God’s presence, not just admiration from a distance, but a deep yearning that consumes both body and soul. This is not a passing religious interest; it is a whole-life desire that shapes his thoughts, feelings, and actions. True love for God produces a longing to be with Him and to live under His rule with His people.

How important is it to you to be close to God today in His church with His people? If you don’t feel like going to church each Sunday, check your heart, and go anyway. Be where God intends you to be, and pray that God will use the experience to convict your heart.

Psalm 84 is identified as “A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.” Korah was the grandson of Kohath, one among the 250 who challenged the rights of Moses and Aaron to the priesthood as recorded in Numbers 16. You may recall from Numbers 16 that God wrathfully opened the earth and consumed Korah and all associated with Korah, his household and possessions. (Numbers 16:28-35) However, we learn in Numbers 26 that the sons of Korah did not die; God spared them in His mercy. God purified the house of Korah. Seven generations later, the prophet Samuel arose from the line of Korah (1 Chronicles 6:31-38; 1 Chronicles 38; 1 Samuel 1:1, 20). The Korahites became doorkeepers and custodians for the tabernacle. (1 Chronicles 9:19-21, 1 Chronicles 2) Some became expert warriors and joined King David in various military exploits. (1 Chronicles 12:6) Pertaining to the Psalms, the Korahites became David’s music ministry leaders in the Tabernacle and Temple.

There are many Psalms attributed to the sons of Korah (About 25). All mirror the same heart for the Lord that is revealed today in Psalm 84. For example, you may have been touched by Psalm 42:1 — “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” – another testimony of how much the Sons of Korah loved the Lord.

The Psalms written by the Sons of Korah are not just platitudes but are rather deep expressions of praise which come from their real encounters with God, having experienced God’s wrath, but also His mercy and grace. For example, with Exodus and Numbers 16 in mind, we have a greater appreciation for the heart behind Psalm 46:1-3: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” The heart of the Korahites so beautifully revealed in the Psalms is a heart of genuine gratitude, praise, and worship that comes from true salvation.

The Korahites were descendants of men who “despised” God, an infamous group who brought a level of wrath from God the likes of which the people had never seen before (“something new” — Numbers 16:28-35). The ignoble beginnings of the Korahites were, of course, known by all and recorded for eternity in the Bible. But more importantly, what was also evident to all and recorded in the Bible for eternity is what God did in the Korahite family through the Sons of Korah. God’s justice combined with His mercy and love transformed the Korahites, and this is their very public testimony that brings great glory to God. The Sons of Korah loved much because they had been forgiven much. They could not help but proclaim their love in both word and deed. As Paul Harvey use to say, “Now you know… the rest of the story.” Perhaps you have a similar testimony. Your story of salvation brings glory to God when you proclaim it publicly. Your story is your witness of the Truth of God. Proclaim it with passion today!

Is Jesus your ultimate desire and your joy? Is he your strength? Do you trust him implicitly? Do you long for a heart that is more desiring of God, more loving of God, and more obedient to God? Perhaps, like me, you can relate to the man who said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24)!” I am struck by the fact that it is God that softens our hearts and gives us a heart that seeks Him (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26), while at the same time, God’s greatest command to us is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).” In fact, the Bible warns us to “be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God (Joshua 23:11).”

God gives us the ability to love Him and to love others, and God also gives us the responsibility to do both. But if I have the desire to love, do I need a command to love? No. In perfect love, there is no need for commands, and obedience is natural, inevitable. As John said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).” But in our imperfection, God’s commands guide us in our sanctification and our pursuit of love – they are a lamp unto our feet as we seek to walk with God. Paul reminds us that we have to “fight the good fight” and “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22) Give thanks that God in His grace has enabled and equipped us to grow in our love for Him and for others. As was the case with the Korahites, the more we learn the truly appreciate the love, mercy, and grace we have received from God through Jesus, the more we are ‘amazed by grace,’ the more we will grow to love and naturally obey Him and proclaim Him – “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

• Jeremiah 29:13 — You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Psalm 84:3, 4 – Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

The image of small, insignificant birds finding shelter near the altar reveals God’s welcoming nature. The temple was not only a place of sacrifice but also of refuge. In a similar way, Christ calls the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him for rest. The blessing here is not tied to material prosperity but to the privilege of dwelling continually in God’s presence and living a life of worship.

• Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We can be at home without a home when we are in the presence of God. Jesus (and John) said the key to life is “abiding” (living or remaining in) Him. If our life isn’t “one” with Him, and if His life isn’t flowing through our lives into the world, we have no life at all, none. (see John 15 and John 17). Where do you live?

• 1 John 2:6, 10, 14, 17, 24, 27-28 — … whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked…. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling…. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one…. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever…. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father…. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
• 1 John 3:6, 9, 14, 15, 17, 24 — No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him…. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God…. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him…. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? … Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
• 1 John 4:12-13, 15-16 — No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit…. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
• 2 John 1:2, 9 — …because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever…. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Psalm 84:5-7 — Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs….

The “Valley of Baca” was likely a dry, arid place, possibly symbolic of seasons of hardship. Pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem transformed even their driest journeys into places of refreshment because their hearts were fixed on God’s presence. Strength came not from circumstances but from Him. This challenges us: Are we carriers of living water in barren places, or do we let the desert drain us?

Psalm 84:10 — I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

This is one of the psalm’s most famous lines. The Sons of Korah speak from the perspective of temple servants — possibly even gatekeepers. They would rather take the lowest position in God’s service than enjoy prestige in a sinful environment. This is a powerful corrective to our culture’s obsession with status. What matters is not our position in the world, but our proximity to God.

What is your life’s ambition? How do you define life success? Does your joy depend on anything other than merely being in God’s presence? Would you rather be a nobody with Jesus or have everything this world can offer? What is your ultimate goal in life? What does the Bible say your goal should be?

• John 17:3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
• 1 Corinthians 2:2 — For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
• Philippians 3:8-12 — Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Psalm 84:11, 12 – For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

What guarantees joy, prosperity, and security in life? God is both the source of life (“sun”) and protection (“shield”). This is not a blanket promise that believers will get everything they want, but that God withholds nothing truly good for our eternal well-being. The real blessing is found in trusting Him completely, even when His definition of “good” differs from ours.

1 Samuel 27:1 — Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul.”

David lost hope and made a questionable choice. Fear and fatigue have a way of rewriting our theology. Up to this point David repeatedly inquired of the LORD (1 Samuel 23) and demonstrated remarkable restraint (1 Samuel 24-26). Here, though, he “says in his heart” — the language is important. It marks a decision made internally, independently, without bringing the matter again to God. The fatigue of long pursuit (mental weariness), the grief of exile (emotional exhaustion), the constant movement and skirmishing (physical depletion), and the slow erosion of hope (spiritual drain), all without the encouragement of an accountability partner (social isolation) converge and produce a plan born more of survival instinct than of trust. You can translate that M-E-P-S-S analysis (Mental, Emotional, Physical, Social, and Spiritual) directly onto David: when the first four suffer, the fifth is endangered.

This verse should warn us: spiritual disciplines aren’t optional insurance to be picked up later; they are the reservoir we draw from when the pressure intensifies. The NT repeatedly calls believers to persistent dependence rather than anxious self-reliance (see Luke 12:22–31; Philippians 4:6–7). Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4) show the opposite posture — even when hungry and tempted, He refused the shortcut. David’s plan here is not an act of faith; it is an act of human expedience. We must be careful about decisions we make when we are weak mentally, emotionally, or physically, acting on your feelings rather than faith, without to accountability of fellow committed followers of Christ protecting us against our blind spots. When we are being tested, we must rely on our spiritual strength which is cultivated over time (before you need it) through daily, genuine relationship with Jesus.

1 Samuel 27:2 — So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

David does not go alone. His leadership has a following, and the consequences of his decisions will affect them. That makes the choice graver. The text thus highlights an ethical dimension: our faulty choices rarely only hurt us; they carry others with us. When leaders make fear-driven choices, followers walk into the same compromise. Paul’s charge to elders and leaders in the NT (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2–3) reminds us that responsibility multiplies the moral weight of mistakes.

1 Samuel 27:3 — And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David had with him two hundred men.

David secures a place of apparent safety. Notice “each man with his household” — this is not a short-term scouting trip; it’s a relocation. The moral hazard of relocation is that survival becomes an idol, and identity blurs. The very thing that promises security, being inside the camp of the enemy, starts to reshape loyalties. In the NT Paul warns about being unequally yoked; while that text (2 Corinthians 6:14) is generally applied to marriage/business, the principle applies broadly: a sustained, intimate alliance with the ungodly will shape your heart and choices.

1 Samuel 27:5-7 – Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.

Relying on his own wisdom and strength (which seemed to work), David entangled himself in relationships with the ungodly. This reminds me of when Abraham went back to Egypt. When faith wavers people often take refuge in foreign convenience. We must beware the “pragmatic compromise” that allows safety at the cost of spiritual fidelity. In the NT Jesus teaches that the kingdom’s path often looks foolish to worldly wisdom; however, the temporary advantage a compromise brings comes with long-term loss far, far greater than the gain (Luke 16:11–13; Matthew 10:34–39). You reap what you sow, but what you reap is always much bigger than what you first sowed.

1 Samuel 27:8 — Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt.

This verse begins the morally complex pattern of David’s raids. Context matters: some of these peoples were longstanding enemies of Israel (Amalek especially carries historic guilt), but the text also states plainly that these raids are committed while David lives under Philistine protection. This wasn’t just tactical deception, this was betrayed trust, returning evil for kindness. The lesson: the ends do not justify means. In the NT Paul says the fruit of the Spirit includes self-control and peace (Galatians 5:22–23); violent pragmatism is inconsistent with the Spirit’s fruit.

1 Samuel 27:9 — And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish.

The brutality is stark. David’s tactics include total destruction and plunder, leaving no witnesses. Whether these actions were militarily strategic or acts of desperation, they are ethically grievous: they look like the ways of the very oppressors Israel lamented. The irony is painful — David, whom God anointed, now employs methods indistinguishable from the nations Israel was called to be separate from. The NT consistently pushes followers away from violence and vengeance (Romans 12:17–21; Matthew 5:38–48). If the people of God adopt the patterns of the world to survive, the witness of God’s kingdom is lost.

• 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 — For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ….

1 Samuel 27:10 – When Achish asked, “Where have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Kenites.”

Again, deception is an acceptable part of warfare, but in this case, David was violating a personal trust of hospitality which was unrighteous. Deception now becomes part of David’s practice. He lies to his protector, Achish, claiming his raids were against Judah’s enemies. The motive — to keep Achish’s trust — shows the moral compromises leaders can make to secure protection. Two wrongs are evident: first, the deception itself (Ephesians 4:25 commands put away falsehood), and second, the preemptive elimination of witnesses to prevent accountability. In the NT the ethics of speech and truth are emphasized (Colossians 3:9–10); Christians are to be known for honesty, not hidden raids and cover-ups. David’s choices undermine his character and the long-term credibility of his future kingship.

1 Samuel 27:12 – And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”

Having turned to the ungodly for sanctuary, David lived a deceitful, bloody life, returning evil for good – “And Achish trusted David.” Though these were the enemies of Israel, they entered into a relationship of trust with David, yet David reduced himself to their practices which had been used to victimize the Israelites for years. Christians must never use the “weapons of this world” regardless our intentions, and we must guard our holiness and integrity. If we act like the world, be will increasingly become like the world, quenching the power of the Spirit within us, failing to achieve our purpose of glorifying Him.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 10 August 2025: From Psalm 84 we learn that nothing compares to being in God’s presence, even in the lowest position. From 1 Samuel 27 we learn that fear and weariness can lead us away from God’s presence into compromise. Today, choose to guard your nearness to God at all costs — through prayer, obedience, and truthfulness — resisting the shortcuts and compromises that distance you from Him. When fear tempts you toward a shortcut, practice the threefold discipline before acting: Pause (physically step away for 5–10 minutes), Pray (one-sentence petition: “Lord, is this from fear or from faith?”), and Partner (call or message one trusted, Christ following friend, and ask for immediate counsel). Use this sequence once today on any decision born of anxiety or weariness. Repetition builds the habit of waiting on God and protects M-E-P-S-S weakness from dictating spiritual choices.

Pray: “Lord, make my heart long for You as the Sons of Korah longed for Your courts. Guard me from letting fear or fatigue push me into compromise. Forgive the times I have bargained for safety apart from Your counsel. When I am weary, weak, or afraid, pull me back into dependence on You. Give me courage to wait when the world urges me to act. Keep me near, and help me value Your presence more than temporary relief and to act in ways that reflect Your kingdom, not my fear. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”