Daily Devotional For Monday, February 17, 2025
Merry Monday! I hope your weekend was restful and relaxing. For most of us, we all are back in the grind of either work, school, both or something else. So, good morning. We live in a world of extremes. We can have extreme weather, extreme sports, extreme diets, extreme political views, extreme poverty, extreme makeovers, extreme pain, extreme measures and extreme reactions just to name a few.
When we go to Scripture, one lover of God who lived a life of extremes was King David. David was a man of extremes: extreme passion, extreme cunning, extreme political astuteness, and extreme blunders. David’s deceitful and destructive actions toward Uriah, the Hittite, in 2 Samuel 11, displeased the Lord, and David was punished severely for them.
One of the remarkable aspects of Scripture, however, is that God reveals David to us as a godly man―not because of his absolute consistency, but because of the passion with which he served the Lord. In spite of his failures, the Bible says David was a “man after God’s own heart.” That can also be true of us. satan will tell you that you are not worthy of serving and worshiping the Lord, but do not let him convince you of that. Like David, you can be a person who is humbly repentant and loves the Lord with your whole heart.
Our lives are really not any different than David’s. We are a mixture of extremes as well in so many areas. Our pendulum can swing from one extreme to the other. We can change and vacillate more than a speed indicator in our car while driving. This simply shows how we can let circumstances, situations, and even people dictate our reactions. We tend to be creatures of habit and we like our schedules. We like to feel we are in control so that we can eliminate any unnecessary surprises.
King David thought he could eliminate his sin with Bathsheba by having Uriah (her husband) murdered, and all would be well. How does a “man after God’s own heart” really believe he could escape God on this? It shows David’s extreme pendulum swing between pride and praise, between hubris and humility and between selflessness and selfishness. Are we any different? Maybe this is why we can relate to David so well.
1 Kings 15:5 says this, “Because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite” (NASB). What a trademark! What a legacy. God knew David would do this. God was not shocked or disappointed because God already knew. Disappointment occurs when someone doesn’t live up to our expectation and we didn’t see it coming.A mountaineer named Aron Ralston understands what it is like to be in an extreme situation:
“Late-night TV talk host David Letterman interviewed an extreme mountaineer named Aron Ralston. According to the Chicago Tribune, Ralston used a pocket knife to "sever his lower right arm, which had been pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder in a remote Utah canyon for five days. After rappelling down, he walked three hours, was spotted by a helicopter, and three months later was on national TV explaining all of this to a profoundly moved TV host."
"With the interview wrapping up, Letterman wondered, 'Could everybody have done this?' Ralston, 27, replied, 'If you had a choice to go through an hour of pain to live another 60 years, you'd do the same thing.'
"Letterman didn't even bother to respond with a quip, the usual antidote to an interview that's suddenly veered into uncertain terrain. He instead leaned on his elbow, settled himself into his chair, peered at Ralston through those primly professorial spectacles, and asked: 'Is that what you know about life that I don't know necessarily?'"
The article went on to observe, "Some members of the audience tittered, unsure whether they'd just heard a joke or whether they had actually heard television's most deeply serious funnyman ask the least funny question of them all. As in: What's the meaning of life? What's it all about? Why are we here and where are we going? You have some answers, Aron? You've been to the brink and back, so lemme have 'em” (Source: Verne Gay, "Lights out on 'Late Show'?" Chicago Tribune, 9-1-03).
God can use our failures for His perfect plans. His love and power are greater than our faults. God can use us when we are pinned by a “boulder” in life if we will trust Him.
Questions To Consider
- What would you say are the extremes you vacillate between in your life? What does this tell you about yourself and your relationship to Christ?
- King David was not a consistent man, but he was a passionate man. Early in his life he is called by God “a man after My own heart.” And then 1,000 years later in the New Testament, God calls him that again. We all know about David’s life and sins. We might not be so inclined to call David this after such failures. So, what does this tell you about God and why?
- David’s legacy was Uriah. If you were to die today, what one word or phrase do you think God would give about you to label your legacy and why?
- Mountaineer Aron Ralston had to make an extreme decision. While we may never find ourselves in such an extreme situation, we do have to decide every day multiple times will we cut ourselves from the boulder of sin. In which areas of your life do you consistently do this and do not do this? Why?
Scripture To Meditate On: 2 Chronicles 34:2, “He (Josiah) did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, in spite of my many weaknesses and imperfections, I want to be a person after Your own heart, who worships and serves You all of my days. I ask for Your wisdom, Lord, so I will know how to do what is right in Your eyes and be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly