My confidence comes from the Lord, in knowing that He whom I recognise as Lord over my life
is the one to bring aid.
If my Lord has made heaven and earth, surely He can help me.
Surely, my Lord is well qualified to come to my assistance.
My Lord watches me when I am asleep,
He sends His angels charge over me.
He knows when I rise,
He heralds the morn that causes me to awaken.
He knows me by name,
and He calls me everyday in gentle whispers.
He is a gentleman who does not command my attention though He is my Lord.
He seeks my audience by His still small voice.
He who formed me in emptiness knows me by heart,
He knows everything I have been through,
my highest moments,
my lowest moments,
when I laugh, He laughs with me,
when I cry, He cries with me.
He is deeply acquainted with my sorrows and trouble because He has been through it all.
He is the only one who knows the way out.

My God,
you who orchaestrate the running of the universe, You who are deeply acquainted with every detail on earth,
You who know each of us,
every six billion of us by name,
Be thou glorified!
Be lifted up to the ends of the earth.
If we live, let us live because of You,
If we die, let us die because of You.
Let not illness or disease stop us or our body from worshipping you,
Let not relationships or carnal desires distract us from your greatness.
Let not our failures, weaknesses or despondency stop us stop you.

My God, my delight is in You.
I know You watch over me,
By day, You are the cloud in the sky,
By night, You are my pillar of fire,
When I am hungry, you are my manna,
When I follow You through the desert,
You preserve my clothes and my sandals.
Man shall not live by bread alone,
But by every word that comes from Your mouth.

Surely, our God is worthy of all our praise.

therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave Michal his daughter as a wife.

two pennies for my thoughts.

1/verse 19 And it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to be his wife.

verse 25 And Saul said, You shall say this to David, The king does not desire any dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

David was inclined to always give his best and more, when he knew that to "deserve" being the king's son-in-law required the lives of one hundred Philistines, David brought twice as much. Compare that with Saul, who was meant to give his elder daughter in marriage to David, but did not make arrangements for it. He did not live up to his promise, and proceeded to give David the "second best". In doing so, Saul dishonored his daughter Michal, no matter what her affections towards David might be.

2/ David was not a man to take short cuts. Though he was annointed to be king, he knew he would take over Saul, he took none of the privileges without the integrity, without bypassing the requirement of deserving the honour.

The annointing of God over our lives encourages us that every little thing we are faithfui to counts. Being annointed by God does not mean we bypass the difficulties and challenges in the journey, but rather, in everything, there is a purpose, a lesson for everything we encounter in the present. Even more impressively, David went and did more than he should. He went over and above what was required of him.

God, even in this hour, I ask that you forgive me for the mess I have found myself in. I set myself back inj the place you have claled me to. My eyes are not haughty, nor do I set my heart on things too lofty for me. Let me be as a weaned child in her mother's arms. Let me find myself resting in your presence. Let me remember that things around me are ephemeral, that my life is yours, and not mine for my own glory. Every decision I make, let it be made in the context of who your are to me and your plans for this world.

Let me be as David, a woman after your very heart, that I live and breathe and have my being in you.

The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistines.

And one of the servants answered and said: " Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, and a mighty warrior and a man of battle, and prudent in speech. And he is a person of good form, and the Lord is with him."

O: This is how David, before he was a man renown across the land, before he killed the giant Goliath, and before he even entered into Saul's court was seen. Previously, the impression we always received from tradition and culture brings about an image of a boy who knows mainly to tend his sheep and to play on his harp. We think because he was the youngest child in the family, he was impressionable and tame. Here, though, we hear from the servant that David was not just a cute little country boy, but a man who was excellent, skillful and mighty. Reconciling that with the boy who tends to his flock, who was a humble shepherd and watched out for the well-being of his "responsibility", I see something new of David I have never noticed before. David a warrior, hero in the making dressed in the clothing of a shepherd. He must have known that with all the training in battle, and talent in music, he could be in higher places, attracting the affections of girls with his macho image and impressing crowds of people with his harp. Yet there was a humility in him that did not despise his present station in life. He did his strength to protect his sheep, mere animals who cannot give him due honour or respect. He did not mind playing his sheep his latest composition, even when they could not recognise the latest hits when they hear it. To me, this verse illuminates humility in David's heart more than anything.

A: I feel encouraged that such a great king as David can have such a very humble beginning. He was not a guy who did not know his potential. He was well trained, and people must have commented on how good he is, and even with his handsomeness, he must have attracted attention. Yet he was not proud and demanding. Everything he is that I see is an example and an encouragement to be excellent and to use every opportunity to enjoy your station in that season.

P: God, you have reminded us to not despise the days of small beginnings. Teach me to see you in everything I do, even in the most mundane of task. Develop in me a heart of excellence. I praise you because no matter where we might be at this moment, your great plans will carry us through. Amen.

Scripture: Acts 7:46+47
David found favor in God's sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. However it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

Observation: Proverbs 19:21 Many plans are in a man's heart, but the cousel of the Lord will stand. It is God who has the final say.

Application: It is easy to plan for things. And for someone like me who loves to plan, it is easy to get engrossed and forget that it is God who has the final say.I do not want to move on my own. I would love to have God take charge of every area of my life. It's important to plan, but it's even more important to seek counsel with God and be a willing partner, a vessel through which God can use.

Pray: Father, I want to submit my will to you. The ability to plan many things in my heart is a blessing from you, but God, I choose to consecrate all my plans to you. You chair all my meetings and be the leader of all my ministries. I choose to make space for you and allow you to change my plans if you will it to be, for you have said "The king's heart is like channels of water in your hand; you turn it wherever you wish." So let it be, Amen