Life often hands us unexpected challenges, and today’s episode of Add Bible addresses how we can navigate these storms with spiritual resilience. Our host candidly shares a personal battle with cancer, drawing parallels to spiritual sickness and the urgent need to rid our lives of sin. Listen in as we discuss the transformative power of God’s word and how daily devotion and faith can turn even the bleakest news into a journey of hope and redemption. Learn about the spiritual principles that can guide us through our trials and prepare us for God’s purposes.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in 1 Samuel chapter 27, a pretty short chapter, only 12 verses. So let’s listen in to Faith Comes by Hearing.
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1 Samuel 27
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Then David said in his heart, Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.
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So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
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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?
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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. Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur to the land of Egypt. 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. When Achish asked, Where have you made a raid today?
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David would say, Against the Negev of Judah, or Against the Negev of the Jeromelites, or Against the Negev of the Kenites.
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And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, Lest they should tell about us and say, So David has done. Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. And Achish trusted David, thinking,
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He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel. Therefore he shall always be my servant.
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We’ve had a very short chapter, and also I have some very short journal entries about this chapter. Back in 1983, one of those great one-liners, David flees to Philistines to avoid Saul. Not much better in 2002, a one-liner even. David lies to stay alive in Philistine country. But if you think you’re going to get off early today, not the case, because I do have something more in 2007. David retreats to the Philistines again. He stayed there 16 months. How long was it between Samuel anointing him king and actually becoming king? What was his training? To depend on God, not man. To follow God’s timing and sovereignty, not his own. To be a survivor. To be a leader. He was over 600 men by now. To be compassionate, Abigail. To negotiate, Saul and Achish. To be a warrior. To honor God’s anointed, Saul. God was training David to become king. Training. I am not absolutely sure, but I think it’s about 16 years between Samuel anointing David king and the time he actually becomes king. In that time, God is training David. We saw no such training for Saul, did we? David is in the tender hands of God Almighty, and he is developing David’s character. What have you been going through in your life? Maybe it hasn’t been easy. Well, by what we’re reading, it hasn’t been easy for David either. Are you trained? Are you usable for God yet? What assignment might God be training you for? Look back in your own experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and ponder it in the light of what God may have been doing for your training. Then, look up and ask God if you are ready. Then, ask Him for your assignment. Father, like David, we are created by You for a purpose. Oh, we may not be being groomed to become a king, a governor, or a mayor, but Lord, whatever you need me to do, train me up to do it. Thank you for training me. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. I hope you’re enjoying AdBible, audio daily devotions from the Ezra Project. If so, I hope you will share it with someone else. Tell someone. Tell someone in your family. Tell your friends. Tell your church friends. Let others know about the opportunity to listen to God’s Word and hear an explanation and application to their lives each and every day. Many Christians find it difficult to get in time for daily Bible reading. That’s why we made these AdBible podcasts, for busy people. So if you know one who’s struggling to spend time with the Lord, tell them about AdBible. Let’s get them involved in listening and understanding and applying God’s Word in their lives as well. Thank you. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Have you ever received bad news? Well, all of us have. We get the good, the bad, and the ugly every day. The question is not whether we get bad news. The question is what we do with it. On December 28, 2011, I got the worst news of my life. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. How did I get there? I was healthy. How could a deadly disease get inside of me? I didn’t feel a thing. I felt fine. I met with a doctor when I got that diagnosis, and he gave me four options. Surgery to remove the prostate, implant seeds to kill the cancer cells, do shots, hormone shots to wipe out my testosterone, or number four, active surveillance. Come back in six months for another PSA and do another biopsy six months after that. So I didn’t really think I had anything, so I chose active surveillance. Later that year, I met with another doctor who reviewed my pathology report and said, you have nasty stuff. You now have no choice but to get your prostate out. He said, we’re not talking about the quality of your life. We’re talking about saving your life. Have you ever had a physical checkup lately? Have you had a physical checkup lately? What shape are you in, spiritually? Have you had a spiritual checkup lately? I didn’t know I had something in me that could kill me. You may not realize it either, but you have something inside of you that can kill you. It’s called sin. And like cancer, it’s deadly. James 1.15 says, Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. This may be bad news to you right now. Bad news, like being diagnosed with cancer. The question is, what are you going to do with the bad news? Ignore it? Deny it? Put it off? Deal with it someday, but not right now? Do you think sin is slow growing like I was told prostate cancer was slow growing? Right after I received my bad news, I fell to my knees and I prayed, Lord, I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know where we’re going, but I know this. I’m in the same place today as I was yesterday in the palm of your hand. The next step is to turn bad news into good news by doing something about it before it’s too late. In my circumstance, I didn’t act. I waited too long. I believed the lies. I was engaged in active surveillance until it was too late. I had no choice. I had no choice then but to do radical surgery. You need radical surgery today. Get the sin out of your life. We’re not talking about your quality of life. We’re talking about saving your life. Don’t wait for sin to destroy you. Get it out today. After my surgery, I thought I was done. Cancer-free, not so. After my radical prostatectomy, I got more bad news. The cancer may have spread outside the prostate. I needed more treatment, and so will you. My prescription was two years of hormone shots and 37 days of radiation treatments. I didn’t want to do either one. The hormone shots wipe out a man’s testosterone, which makes us men. It’s our strength. It’s our drive. The shots would give me hot flashes. Radiation was a prescription five days a week for about two months. I needed to show up every day to stay on track. I couldn’t skip a day. I had to keep going. My doctor gave me the choice, though, to follow his prescription or not. If I chose not to, there was a 70% to 80% chance the cancer would return. What are you willing to do to turn your bad news into good news, to get rid of the sin that so easily besets us? If you choose radical spiritual surgery today, your sin will be removed. You will be set free, washed in the blood of the Lamb of God. You will be white as snow. Your sin will be removed as far as the east is from the west. But there’s a 70% to 80% chance it will come back. So what can you do to resist the devil? What can you do to build your spiritual immune system against sin? I offer you a spiritual prescription. It’s not take two aspirin and call me in the morning or take an antibiotic for 30 days and all will be fine. No, I prescribe radical surgery. Get sin out of your life today. It is making you sick and eventually it will kill you. Ask Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, to forgive all the sin that is within you. Get it out. Do not wait another moment. Next, I prescribe reading or listening to the Bible, God’s holy word. It’s a prescription you can take and use every day for the rest of your life. It has no bad side effects. It will not make you sick. It will be life to your flesh and health to your bones. No more active surveillance. I could not skip those radiation treatments. I had to go stay consistent. You need to be consistently in God’s word for your spiritual health. You need to fight temptation and resist the devil every day from now on. Psalm 1 verses 1 through 2 say, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. No more active surveillance. Get the sin out of your life. Pray right now to Jesus. Ask him to forgive your sin and commit to live for him in the days ahead. Say yes to the spiritual prescription of searching the scriptures daily. God gives us his word to live life more abundantly. I know sometimes your doctor gives you a sample or a 30 day supply of the drugs. The Ezra Project is going to give you a gift for your new spiritual journey. Those who have Jesus perform radical surgery to get the sin out right now will receive a chronological Bible reading journal from the Ezra Project as your prescription to get you started in searching the scriptures daily. Pray today, then contact us at Pray today, then contact us at EzraProject.net to receive your free prescription. No more active surveillance. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
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And want to share it with others.
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