The unfolding of Your words

                 gives light;

it imparts understanding

                 to the simple.

                 Psalm 119. 130

(Daily time in God's Word

   gives light and understanding 

before we need it

         for when we need it.

God's Word

will change you

and the course of your life.)

It may be that

the LORD will look

upon my affliction,

and that the LORD

will repay me with good

for this cursing of me today.

               2 Samuel 16. 12

(Apply a thick layer

         of grace to it,

and leave the outcome

                  to God.)

A man's mind

       plans his way,

but the LORD

       directs his steps.

         Proverbs 16. 9

(When I don't lay my day

before the LORD,

but ask Him 

to lay His day before me,

there are no interruptions,

only divine appointments.

Listen for His voice,

follow Him into it,

and trust Him 

        with the outcome.)

If Your law had not

      been my delight,

I should have perished

      in my affliction.

                   Psalm 119. 92

(You never know

the full impact

of God's daily Word,

His strength in you

        and shield over you

in unexpected places.)

The LORD has made

everything for its purpose....

                   Proverbs 16. 4

(....to bring us into

intimacy with Him.

Trust God in it.

There is nothing

 the LORD cannot use.

There is nothing 

    He cannot redeem.

We can only yet see

   the earthly side.)

And the king said,

"Is there not still someone 

of the house of Saul,

that I may show

the kindness of God to him?"

                2 Samuel 9. 3

(Who has God placed

on my path today?

Kindness is intentional,

         never random.)

Peace I leave with you,

My peace I give to you,

not as the world gives

   do I give to you.

Let not your hearts

            be troubled,

neither let them be afraid.

                 John 14. 27

(The peace of God

is like nothing else,

   not dependent on

       circumstances,

but on His Presence.)

"The LORD has

broken through my enemies

like a bursting flood."

              2 Samuel 5. 20

(He is the Lord

      of breaking through,

no darkness too deep)

...and girded Himself

             with a towel.

              John 13. 4

(How do I go

        into this day?

How do I handle

        this situation?

Towel in my pocket,

ready to serve

       no matter what,

bearing the mind of Christ

into it.)

This is the day

which the LORD has made;

let us rejoice

      and be glad in it.

            Psalm 118. 24

(Praising God

       dispels despair.

Gratitude to the LORD

even in the hard places

alters the entire landscape.)

...all the people

        were bitter in soul.

But David strengthened himself

     in the LORD his God.

                 1 Samuel 30. 6

(Make a choice

       in how you respond.

There is always an available excuse

        to live in despair,

but that is never God's way in that.

God never promised that life 

               would be easy,

        but that "I am with you.")

Because you did not 

     obey the voice of the LORD...

  

                        1 Samuel 28. 18

(Choices have consequences.

Obedience bears blessing

        in more ways than we can know.

Disobedience always leaves

      victims in its wake.)

So may the LORD 

    reward you with good

for what you have done

to me this day.

               1 Samuel 24. 19

(Show me, O LORD,

      Your way in this.

God always blesses obedience,

            grace,

and kindness in impossible places,

   even in ways we cannot yet see.

I cannot know with what you struggle,

but everyone struggles with something.

And this I do know

       that God loves you

       more than you can comprehend.)

And David remained

in the strongholds

         in the wilderness,

in the hill country

  of the Wilderness of Ziph.

                   1 Samuel 23. 14

(Why am I here

    in this backwater,

    in this barren place,

    in this foreign land?

To be faithful to God.

God is working mightily

    even in unexpected places,

    even when I don't understand.

The most fruitful place on earth

     is the center of His will.

And there we are.)

The sword of Goliath...is here...

                     1 Samuel 21. 9

(Obedience to God

   always comes back

to aid us in times of need.

Obedience reverberates

   in us and through us,

a provision,

a guidance,

a story of His Faithfulness.

Your following God in this

radically impacts 

      everyone around 

      and all who come after.)

And David had success

      in all his undertakings,

for the LORD was with him.

                1 Samuel 18. 14

(The question is not

       is the LORD with us,

but are we with Him in this?

God brings great victory

through what looks like

      a simple act of obeying Him.

David followed God into it,

and He takes care of the outcome.

Our obedience to God

and God's victory in it

always impacts

   the welfare of many people.)

And David said,

"The LORD who delivered me

from the paw of the lion

and from the paw of the bear,

will deliver me

from the hand of this Philistine."

       

                   1 Samuel 17. 37

(God is faithful

            even in this.

"I have seen too much

  to question God in this."

Trust Him

   with your "Philistine,"

those overwhelming fears.

You are not alone.

     God goes before you.)

Rule in the midst
           of your foes.

                   Psalm 110. 2

(Rise above the turmoil,
choose the high road through it,
and bring grace by the boatload.)

And they said,

"Do whatever seems good to you."

But the priest said,

    "Let us draw hither to God."

                   1 Samuel 14. 36

(Seek first God's counsel,

and consider,

"What is God's way in this?")

With God

    we shall do valiantly;

it is He 

who will tread down our foes.

                     Psalm 108. 13

(The key words here are

         "with God."

Trust God for the outcome.

Trust Him for the victory

over anything we fear,

      both real and imagined.

Nothing stands outside His realm.)

            

For He shatters

       the doors of bronze,

and cuts in two

       the bars of iron.

                 Psalm 107. 16

(God specializes 

    in impossible situations,

that which only He can do.)

Then they said to Him,
"What must we do,
to be doing
        the works of God?"
Jesus answered them,
"This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him
whom He has sent."

                      John 6. 28-29

(Be found in Christ.)

Then Samuel said
       to all the house of Israel,
"If you are returning to the LORD
                  with all your heart,
then put away the foreign gods
and the Ashtaroth from among you,
and direct your heart to the LORD
            and serve Him only,
and He will deliver you
out of the hand of the Philistines.

                             1 Samuel 7. 3

(Following the LORD
     sets me on another path,
     a new story,
     a different outcome,
even right where I am.
If things are going to be different,
       something has to change.
And that would be my heart in this.)

...for those who honor Me,
          I will honor.

                     1 Samuel 2. 30

(How do I navigate this situation?
Seek to honor Him
                even in this,
    and He will guide me through.)

So it went on,
      year by year...

              1 Samuel 1. 7

(And all this time,
   God is at work mightily,
preparing her heart
        for just the right moment.
Count on it,
even when you cannot
       yet see the outcome.)

...and she happened to come

to the part of the field

          belonging to Boaz...

                       Ruth 2. 3

(God's sovereign and strategic design

     unfolds in what only appears

     as the most ordinary of days.

Ruth never knew how significantly 

   God would bear fruit 

   through her faithfulness to Him.

Ruth became David's great grandmother.

There are no ordinary days

       in the eyes of the LORD.)

Seek the LORD and His strength,
    seek His presence continually.

                           Psalm 105. 4

(God will guide you through this.
God is still God
          when times are hard.
His story for you is not yet done
       and not yet fully redeemed.)

...he who receives His testimony
      sets his seal to this,
that God is true.

                       John 3. 33

(Others are watching
not to see if you are perfect,
but to know that God is real.)

But he who does what is true
comes to the light,
that it may be clearly seen
that his deeds have been
          wrought in God.

                     John 3. 21

(May Your hand be that obvious
       in all that I do today,
not what I do,
but You, O God,
                    at work.
   There is no higher calling
          than to be used by Him.)

...and the Spirit of the LORD
   came mightily upon him.
...and his bonds melted off his hands.

                          Judges 15. 14

(Call upon the LORD.
He releases from whatever enslaves
and provides His strength
               in impossible places.
God is with us.
Don't live as if He is not.)

He brought him to Jesus.

                        John 1. 42

(And God takes it from there.)