Daily Bible CEV June 03 Scroll

God's Choice of Israel

Romans 9 I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience. So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say ²my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow. ³I would gladly be placed under God's curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people. ⁴They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them. ⁵They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of Jesus Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever! Amen.

⁶It cannot be said that God broke his promise. After all, not all of the people of Israel are the true people of God. ^7-8In fact, when God made the promise to Abraham, he meant only Abraham's descendants by his son Isaac. God was talking only about Isaac when he promised ⁹Sarah, "At this time next year I will return, and you will already have a son."

¹⁰Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. ^11-12Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. ¹³That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.

¹⁴Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! ¹⁵The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. ¹⁶Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do. ¹⁷In the Scriptures the Lord says to the king of Egypt, "I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth." ¹⁸Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.

God's Anger and Mercy

¹⁹Someone may ask, "How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?" ²⁰But, my friend, I ask, "Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did? ²¹Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?"

²²God wanted to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. ²³He did this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he has chosen to share in his glory. ²⁴Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are those chosen ones, ²⁵just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,

"Although they are not my people,

I will make them my people.

I will treat with love those nations

that have never been loved.

²⁶"Once they were told, 'You are not my people.'

But in that very place they will be called

children of the living God."

²⁷And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,

"The people of Israel are as many

as the grains of sand along the beach.

But only a few who are left will be saved.

²⁸The Lord will be quick and sure to do on earth

what he has warned he will do."

²⁹Isaiah also said,

"If the Lord All-Powerful

had not spared some of our descendants,

we would have been destroyed

like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah."

David Becomes One of Saul's Officers

1 Samuel 17 ⁵⁵After King Saul had watched David go out to fight Goliath, Saul turned to the commander of his army and said, "Abner, who is that young man?"

"Your Majesty," Abner answered, "I swear by your life that I don't know."

⁵⁶"Then find out!" Saul told him.

⁵⁷When David came back from fighting Goliath, he was still carrying Goliath's head.

Abner took David to Saul, ⁵⁸and Saul asked, "Who are you?"

"I am David the son of Jesse, a loyal Israelite from Bethlehem."
1 Samuel 18 David and Saul finished talking, and soon David and Jonathan became best friends. Jonathan thought as much of David as he did of himself. ²From that time on, Saul kept David in his service and would not let David go back to his own family.

³Jonathan liked David so much that they promised to always be loyal friends. ⁴Jonathan took off the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David. He also gave him his military clothes, his sword, his bow and arrows, and his belt.

⁵David was a success in everything that Saul sent him to do, and Saul made him a high officer in his army. That pleased everyone, including Saul's other officers.

Saul Becomes David's Enemy

⁶David had killed Goliath, the battle was over, and the Israelite army set out for home. As the army went along, women came out of each Israelite town to welcome King Saul. They were singing happy songs and dancing to the music of tambourines and harps. ⁷They sang:

Saul has killed a thousand enemies;

David has killed ten thousand enemies!

⁸This song made Saul very angry, and he thought, "They are saying that David has killed ten times more enemies than I ever did. Next they will want to make him king." ⁹Saul never again trusted David.

¹⁰The next day the LORD let an evil spirit take control of Saul, and he began acting like a crazy man inside his house. David came to play the harp for Saul as usual, but this time Saul had a spear in his hand. ¹¹Saul thought, "I'll pin David to the wall." He threw the spear at David twice, but David dodged and got away both times.

¹²Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was helping David and was no longer helping him. ¹³Saul put David in charge of a thousand soldiers and sent him out to fight. ¹⁴The LORD helped David, and he and his soldiers always won their battles. ¹⁵This made Saul even more afraid of David. ¹⁶But everyone else in Judah and Israel was loyal to David, because he led the army in battle.

¹⁷One day, Saul told David, "If you'll be brave and fight the LORD's battles for me, I'll let you marry my oldest daughter Merab." But Saul was really thinking, "I don't want to kill David myself, so I'll let the Philistines do it for me."

¹⁸David answered, "How could I possibly marry your daughter? I'm not very important, and neither is my family."

¹⁹But when the time came for David to marry Saul's daughter Merab, Saul told her to marry Adriel from the town of Meholah.

²⁰Saul had another daughter. Her name was Michal, and Saul found out that she was in love with David. This made Saul happy, ²¹and he thought, "I'll tell David he can marry Michal, but I'll set it up so that the Philistines will kill him." He told David, "I'm going to give you a second chance to marry one of my daughters."

^22-23Saul ordered his officials to speak to David in private, so they went to David and said, "Look, the king likes you, and all of his officials are loyal to you. Why not ask the king if you can marry his daughter Michal?"

"I'm not rich or famous enough to marry princess Michal!" David answered.

²⁴The officials went back to Saul and told him exactly what David had said. ²⁵Saul was hoping that the Philistines would kill David, and he told his officials to tell David, "The king doesn't want any silver or gold. He only wants to get even with his enemies. All you have to do is to bring back proof that you have killed a hundred Philistines!" ²⁶The officials told David, and David wanted to marry the princess.

King Saul had set a time limit, and before it ran out, ²⁷David and his men left and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought back the proof and showed it to Saul, so he could marry Michal. Saul agreed to let David marry Michal. ²⁸Saul knew that she loved David, and he also realized that the LORD was helping David. ²⁹But knowing those things made Saul even more afraid of David, and he was David's enemy for the rest of his life.

³⁰The Philistine rulers kept coming to fight Israel, but whenever David fought them, he won. He was famous because he won more battles against the Philistines than any of Saul's other officers.

Psalm 63
[A psalm by David when he was in the desert of Judah.]
God's Love Means More than Life

¹You are my God. I worship you.

In my heart, I long for you,

as I would long for a stream in a scorching desert.

²I have seen your power and your glory

in the place of worship.

³Your love means more than life to me,

and I praise you.

⁴As long as I live, I will pray to you.

⁵I will sing joyful praises and be filled with excitement

like a guest at a banquet.

⁶I think about you before I go to sleep,

and my thoughts turn to you during the night.

⁷You have helped me,

and I sing happy songs in the shadow of your wings.

⁸I stay close to you,

and your powerful arm supports me.

⁹All who want to kill me will end up in the ground.

¹⁰Swords will run them through,

and wild dogs will eat them.

¹¹Because of you, our God, the king will celebrate

with your faithful followers,

but liars will be silent.

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