1st Samuel 27
(v.1) David has been such a man of faith, and he so many times talked with God, but here he has not consulted God, and let his flesh take control. If he had remembered that God is on his side, he wouldn't have said to himself that he would die at the hand of Saul.
We all do this...we talk ourselves into and out of things. The power of rationalization is great...we can justify bad deeds or words, and we can convince ourselves that we know what is best for us. But sooner than we think, God shows us every time, that He knows what's best for us. If we just start every day walking with Him, and continue the day in prayer, we would be much better off!
(v.7) David figured that in order to have Saul's pursuit of him to end, he would encamp in the enemy's territory. This worked, but we'll see that David had to endure a whole new set of problems because of it.
This is important for our kids (and us parents) to remember...as long as we have breath, we will have trials and problems in life. Sometimes they are little, and other times, they are big problems. I teach my kids this scenario, in order that they may glean something practical in their lives from David:
When we are born again, we are new creatures in Christ. We have new power and vigor, but this doesn't mean we will never have problems, doubts, stumbles or issues the rest of our lives. In fact, because Satan doesn't want us to be effective ambassadors of Christ, he will tempt us to make us fall away from Christ and be stagnant and ineffective Christians.
So if we let our trials and persecutions in Christ drag us down, we have let the enemy win. We think if we don't speak out for Christ, and if we don't let others know the hope that is in us, we will avoid conflicts...we may just blend into the world. But soon we will find that we're more miserable away from Christ in the world, than living for Christ with persecution! (Jam 1:2-3)
(v.11) So now that David has avoided his persecution from Saul with God on his side, he has become a common thief, a liar and murderer. He has absorbed the pitfalls of this world by trying to avoid serving God! This is common with believers who fall away from God...they end up worse than when they were unsaved! The only thing that will make backsliders happy again, is to repent and return to Christ.
1st Samuel 28
(v.6) Saul was blind without God. Samuel was dead, and the LORD wouldn't speak to Saul because of Saul's unbelief.
(v.14) Because Saul was not walking with God, he sought a medium (a witch) to speak to the dead. When Saul saw Samuel, he bowed down to him. Not only was it wrong to seek Satanic mediums to speak to the dead, but it's worse to bow down to mortal men. Only God is worthy to bow down to. (Phil 2:10)
(v.19) Depending upon the ages of your kids, you may want to approach this part with discretion. It seems that Samuel's spirit is appearing to Saul. We often hear of ghosts, and perhaps this is a biblical example of a ghost.
I teach my kids, that our bodies are mortal, but our spirits are immortal. We will live forever, but our faith and choices determine WHERE we will live in eternity. Before Christ came to conquer sin and death, all the people who lived before then, went to Sheol when they died. Sheol was the Hebrew, and Hades was the Greek name for the spirit world in the Old Testament. If we read Luke 16:19-31, we see that there were two parts to this spirit world...one for believers in God, and another part for the unbelievers. The believers went to Abraham's Bosom, since Abraham is known as the "Father of the Faithful."
This is why Samuel said that Saul would be with him in the spirit world the next day. I suspect that Samuel is in Abraham's Bosom, and Saul will be in the other place that Jesus spoke about, in eternal torment. After Christ died on the cross, he freed the believers from Abraham's Bosom and took them to heaven, leaving the others in Sheol to wait for their eternal judgment.
So getting back to the issue of ghosts...If we remember the Nephilim and the giants (Gen 6), and the reason for the flood, then the spirits of these Nephilim and giants were killed in the Flood, but their spirits lived on. This is what scholars believe are demons...evil spirits that died in body, but their spirits are evil. So, I recommend that we pray and seek His wisdom when we discuss these things with our kids, since they can be a little scary and freaky to them...it is to me as well! But...it is biblical and the truth, so I don't keep that from my kids.
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