II Samuel 16:9-10 NASB Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over now and cut off his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’

Have you ever known someone who couldn’t be taught anything, because they already knew everything? I’m sure people have thought that about me before, but that’s not how I want to be!

David was King of Israel (by God’s anointing) but he didn’t assume he would always be God’s anointed. He could have been indignant and prideful when someone from Saul’s household cursed him, but he was humble in thinking that he might not know God’s plan. We know all of David’s failings, but we also know that he continued to seek God’s way. David penned these words: “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” Psalm 25:9 ESV

Are we humble enough to be teachable?

-Kevi

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II Samuel 12:10 NASB Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

I spent this past weekend with 11 of my cousins on our annual “Cariker Cousins Retreat.”  We had fun and shopped and laughed together, but we also uplifted and encouraged one another. It was another reminder of how blessed I am to have the family that I have. But it didn’t happen by accident. The values and love for family that my grandparents passed down to their children have been passed down to our generation and we will hopefully continue that tradition.

In contrast, I have been reading in II Samuel how David passed down certain values in his family. He used trickery and deceit in his affair with Bathsheba, ultimately having her husband killed, and Nathan the prophet said “the sword shall never depart from your house.” It is no accident that his children used trickery and deceit against each other and eventually against David himself.  

What family traditions are we passing on? It’s not too late to start new traditions for the next generation!

-Kevi

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1 John 3:7-8 NASB Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

My toddler is getting harder and harder to trick. If he has his mind set on fruit snacks, and I try to give him some other snack? Well he just bats it away, he knows the difference!

Even children can tell the basic difference between right and wrong, so why are we so often deceived? Maybe because we want to be! It is sometimes easy to pretend that we can be a Christian and continue in our sin, but don’t be deceived! God says the difference between a believer and the world should be quite easy to see:

The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:24 NASB

-Kevi

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1 John 1:5-9 NASB This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When my son woke up early this morning he had a fever and I needed to give him some medicine. I meant to turn on my bedside lamp but out of habit I flipped on the overhead light. Wow was that bright!  Going from complete dark to light can be blinding!

John says that God has no darkness in Him at all. Comparing our light to his can be blinding! But it is better to be temporarily blinded and realize our need for forgiveness, than to ignore the darkness (sin) in our lives and miss out on walking in “fellowship with Him” in the light. He is offering forgiveness, we just need to ask!

-Kevi

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1 Timothy 6:6, 8-9 NASB But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

I’ve never been without food. I’ve never been without clothing or shelter. But I have been without contentment.

-Kevi

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1 Samuel 30:3, 6, 8 NASB  When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁶Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. ⁸David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all.”

When my son gets frustrated because something isn’t working right (can’t open something, the dog isn’t minding him, his sock won’t come off, you know, really tough stuff) he usually gets frustrated and upset before I intervene and help him. But sometimes he is wise enough to bring his problem directly to me, like today when he brought me a Tupperware of animal cookies to open. He avoids a lot of tears by taking his problems straight to his mama.

When the Amalekites burned David’s home and captured the families of all of his men, he was “greatly distressed.” But he wisely avoided a lot of trouble by taking his problem straight to the Lord through prayer. When he asked God for guidance, God assured David that they would be victorious and recover all of their families. And they did! (v. 19) I don’t think the outcome would have been the same if David hadn’t been wise enough to seek God first.

-Kevi

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1 Thessalonians 5:2-3;6;8-9 NASB  ²For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. ⁶so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. ⁸But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

It’s springtime in Oklahoma, and that means gearing up for severe weather season. The first chance of severe weather was today, so my husband cleaned out our storm shelter yesterday. That way if we have to use it we won’t be sharing it with spiders. My sister-in-law bought a new house this past fall, and got a storm shelter installed today, just in time for storm season.

We put a lot of thought into severe weather preparations around here, because it is a very real possibility. I wonder if the reason we don’t put enough time and thought into spiritual preparation is because we don’t think the end is really coming. If we want to be prepared for the Day of Judgment, Paul says to arm ourselves with faith in Christ, with the love of Christ and with hope of salvation though Christ. Make your preparations!

-Kevi

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1 Timothy 1: 5-8 NASB  But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,

I was raised by two public school teachers, so I have always tried my best to be respectful of all my teachers. But I must say, even though I liked my 9th grade Spanish teacher, it was pretty clear she had no business teaching Spanish! She mispronounced words (you eat a tor-tee-yah, not a tor-till-uh), conducted the class mostly in English, and just generally gave the impression that she would rather be teaching something else. Fortunately I was still able to learn some Spanish from the textbook and by doing all of my assignments.

We will all encounter people who want to teach us what God’s Word says, when they really have no business teaching it! But we don’t have to let other people steer us away from the truth in God’s Word. We can study it for ourselves, and ask the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.

-Kevi

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1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NASB  Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

When I broke that glass yesterday and spent a half hour cleaning it up (while listening to my son cry) I decided to distract myself by dwelling on the up side to breaking said glass. I came up with three reasons to be thankful for my current circumstance:

1. My cabinet for glasses was actually too full; I had just bought a set of “Star Wars” glasses for my husband, so with one less regular glass things would fit better.

2. I needed to vacuum anyways, so the time spent cleaning the floor was still productive.

3. The Holy Spirit gave me an idea for a devotional I could write about breaking a glass!

It’s difficult to be thankful in every circumstance, but if anyone knew about difficult circumstances it was Paul! If nothing else, we can be thankful to God for our salvation.

-Kevi

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Habakkuk 1:2;5 NASB  How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.  “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—You would not believe if you were told.”

Today I knocked a glass off the kitchen counter and it shattered into a thousand pieces all in my kitchen, dining room and living room. Because I did such a good job breaking it, it took probably half an hour to sweep it all up, move furniture around and then vacuum to ensure I got every last bit. All during this time I had to put my son in his room, behind the safety of the baby gate, so he wouldn’t be harmed by any of the glass. And you know what? He cried the whole time, wanting to come out of his room! No explanation from me could make a one year old understand why he had to wait.

In Habakkuk chapter 1, the prophet is lamenting to God about the injustice in the world: he wants God to come to the aid of the innocent, and punish the wicked. But in verse five God tells Habakkuk that He is doing something about it, the only problem is that we can’t wrap our minds around God’s plan!

-Kevi

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