Daily devotion – Monday 21st June 2021
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
We continue in our devotions this week with the highlights of our regular Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour tours to the Holy Land. It’s our 5th Day in Israel but actually day 4 of our tour.
We begin our 4th day with the opportunity to be baptized at the Jordan River Baptismal site.
This is a real highlight with those travelling to Israel for the first time. To undergo baptism in the Jordan at this location following in the footsteps of John the Baptist.
After a hot shower we next we travel southward to Beit-Shean/Scythopolis, the most magnificent archaeological site in Israel, located at the strategic juncture of the Jezreel and Jordan valleys. Like Jericho, it has been almost continuously occupied throughout history.
It was here, after defeating Saul and his sons on Mt. Gilboa, the Philistines hanged their bodies on the walls of Beit-Shean. During the time of Jesus, Scythopolis was one of the chief cities of the Decapolis – a league of ten cities sharing Greek culture and government.
King Saul you will remember was the king that Israel cried out to have to be like the other nations around them. They rebelled against God having rule over them which broke not only God’s heart but Samuel the prophet as well at that time.
God allowed them to proceed down this tragic path even though Samuel wanted to resist such rebellion against the Lord. I never desire to have my own will, and neither should you. We all should want God’s will to be done in every area of our lives so that we don’t suffer the consequences of going our own way!
Many people today too, have rebelled against God being Lord of their lives, choosing rather to be like the rest of the world which has tragic results. Today, are you allowing God to have the rule over your life? Or do you allow the rule of self and the world over you?
God desires the very best for us at all times as James tells us and when we push back against His will for our lives, we end up with the same result that King Saul provided for Israel. A fleshly king who was a disastrous ruler whose final wretched condition is betrayed by his consultation of the witch of En-dor. That is simply the height of foolishness.
It was the following day, that Saul and his three sons were killed at the hands of the Philistines on Mount Gilboa.
I pray that this week, you give God the position of being Lord over your life and in every area of your being. This will result in God’s blessing, guidance and security on all that you do.