FRIENDSHIP 4 - Envy can destroy a friendship.

Friendship 4 - English file 

Freundschaft 4 - German file

Devotional Thoughts about 1 Samuel 18:6-16

When the women of Israel began comparing Saul unfavorably with David, it seemed to flip a panic switch in the king that stayed on for the rest of his life. He became obsessed with David (18:9), deter­mining to remove this threat to himself, his family and his kingdom. Sometimes he tried spearing David himself in the heat of his rage; at other times he ordered his servants and soldiers to eliminate him, all without success.

Samuel had already told Saul that God had taken the kingdom from him and given it to a neighbor (15:27). At this point it was surely clear to him who that was, but he still kept fighting against it with all his resources. Knowing that God was with David and not with himself plunged him deeper and deeper into fear and his futile mission.

We’re not kings with kingdoms at stake, but when certain goals seem impos­sible to us, we often look for someone besides ourselves to blame. But the envious person is almost always worse off than the envied one.

David had a lot to lose, and not only from Saul. At one low point in his exile, his valued friends  turned against him, threatening to stone him (30:6). But David looked to the Lord for encouragement.

Lord, help me come to You with all my worries, whether I’ve become a target for others or am tempted to envy others. 

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FRIENDSHIP 3 - Help for Friendships in Trouble

Friendship 3 - English files

Freundschaft 3 - German files 

Devotional Thoughts about Acts 15:36-41

In reading up on the disagreement between Barnabas and Paul, I found an opinion concluding that Paul was likely in the right because his choice of Silas as a new missionary partner was ratified by the church (15:40). But would even Paul himself have claimed that years later, once time had shown what a servant of the gospel John Mark had become? He was probably just thankful that Barnabas had done the mentoring job that he himself hadn’t been willing or able to do at the time. 

We’re all very different, so it’s not surprising that sharp disagreements arise between friends. What do you do when a friendship goes wrong? Maybe you’ve offended someone, had a misunderstanding or been devastated to find out that the two of you think very differently about an important matter.

How do you go about setting things right? Paul’s practical guide to communication in Ephesians 4:25-32 calls for speaking the truth, not quarreling, turning away from what we’ve done wrong, encouraging with our words and being kind and forgiving as God has forgiven us.

It’s good to see evidence that Barnabas as well as Paul continued serving God (1 Corinthians 9:6) and that Paul’s opinion of John Mark had changed so drastically over the course of some 20 years that in the final days of his life he requested the company of that once immature kid who had turned into a valuable colleague (2 Timothy 4:11).

Lord, help me treasure my friends and not write them off when we have differences. Keep me praying for them and hoping that things will change.

Downloading lesson files

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FRIENDSHIP 2 - Be careful in choosing your friends!

Friendship 2 - English files

Freundschaft 2 - German files

Devotional Thoughts about Genesis Chapters 13 and 19

The narrative about Abraham starts early on in Genesis, and the flip sides of many of the pages begin setting the cultural backdrop of Canaan. That’s where we find the warning story of Sodom. Besides Sarai, Abram's wife, Lot was the patriarch's only family member to accompany him from Haran to Canaan. This nephew seemed to be the son he didn’t have, probably sharing in his wealth.

We wonder how things might have turned out if Lot had chosen differently, but as it was, he went from being the lottery winner of an earthly paradise (13:10) down the slippery slope of pitching his tent toward Sodom (13:22) to living in Sodom (14:12) to sitting in its city gate (19:1). This last was a place of influence in an oriental city, but the story shows that the city had influenced him and his family.

Lot was a hospitable man who was rightly concerned for the welfare of his guests, but when a mob came pounding on his door demanding the strangers, he actually offered his daughters to pacify them! In 2 Peter 2:7,8 it says he was a righteous man who was deeply disturbed by the wicked­ness around him. Yet he stayed in Sodom for years and even hesitated when the angels warned him to get out. The family escaped only by God’s mercy, being led—if not pulled—by the hands of angels.

Our last picture of Lot in Genesis is of a frightened old man in a mountain cave, and there his daughters took matters into their own hands. With time, the Moabites and the Ammonites joined the cultural landscape of Canaan, offering the Israelites a yet larger assortment of idols vying for their worship.

Lord, please give me discernment in choosing friends and the strength to say no to what I know is wrong.

Downloading lesson files

If you're interested in the lesson files, simply click on the appropriate link above to download them in the desired language. See the Informational Pages in the right column for more about the lesson series. The next two blogs will continue the Friendship series. 

FRIENDSHIP 1 - Friends stand by each other and help each other.

Friendship 1 - English file

Freundschaft 1 - German file

Devotional Thoughts about 1 Samuel Chapters 18-31

Everyone would like to have good friends at school and beyond, but we don’t think so much about what it takes to be a good friend. David and Jonathan show us attributes of a good, strong friendship.

Mitdenken is an important German verb formed by simply compounding the words for think and with. It means thinking ahead in the best possible sense. Bosses, for instance, look for and treasure employees with this characteristic because they can see the larger picture beyond their own tasks and are more likely to work with the good of the company at heart.

Jonathan had this quality. In the earlier days of his father’s mental instability, he was slow to grasp that David was in permanent danger when Saul was at large (20:2), but once he was convinced of it, he put everything on the line to help David, making as well as executing the plan to inform him secretly so he could get away safely.

And both David and Jonathan were dedicated to the other's welfare, which included the other’s family. We can see in chapters 24 and 26 and also in the Psalms what a huge struggle it was for David to resist the temptation to kill Saul and end the fatiguing exile on his own terms. But he held out because of his commitment to God and to his friend.

Lord, help me be a good friend to others because I've experienced Your friendship.

Downloading lesson files

If you're interested in the lesson file, simply click on the appropriate link above to download it in the desired language. See the Informational Pages in the right column for more about the lesson series. The next three blogs will continue the Friendship series.