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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 16 and Psalm 92 Psalm 92:6-7 declares with defiant faith, “Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand,that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed for ever.” In this brief season, Absalom’s evil plan seemed to have been successful. He had managed to sway the…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 15 and Psalm 91 Psalm 91 is a well-known, dearly loved, and much mis-construed Psalm. The danger is that if we read it and “claim” its promises for ourselves, we might end up believing that nothing bad can happen to us because, as the bumper sticker says, we are “protected by…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 14 and Psalm 90 In Psalm 90:14 Moses prayed, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Most often we would associate Moses with the law of God, but here he shows us in the Psalm he penned…
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Dily Readings: 2 Samuel 13 and Psalm 89 God had promised David that his kingdom would endure forever (2 Samuel 7:16). Yet, after sinning the way he had, David must surely have known that he did not deserve this kind of goodness and favour. As the events of chapter 13 unfolded, he must have realised…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 12 and Psalm 51 Today, alongside 2 Samuel 12, we skip back to Psalm 51 and read David’s psalm of confession and repentance, which he composed after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. In some ways, the entire Psalm is an elaboration of the heart-attitude expressed in…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 11 and Psalm 88 We come now to two of the most painful and confusing chapters of the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 11 and 12. Fortunately in our 5-day-a-week reading plan, they fall on either side of a weekend break. Each chapter highlights a great truth. The first truth, highlighted in…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 10 and Psalm 87 “Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.’” (v12) The new king of Ammon, Hanun, chose to humiliate envoys whom David had sent to express condolences after the passing of Hanun’s…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 9 and Psalm 86 In the kingdoms of the Middle East, when a new king ascended the throne, he would often seek out any surviving members of the previous king’s household and put them to death. This was to secure the throne and ensure that no rival claim to his throne…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 8 and Psalm 85 It’s easy to miss, but 2 Samuel 8 contains historical reference to the moment that God fulfilled a promise given to Abraham about the land He would give to his descendents. As David conquered Hadadezer, the king of Zobah (v.3-8), he established dominance over territory that extended…
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Daily Readings: 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 84 When King David was the settled and established ruler over Israel, and the nation was at peace, he had it in his heart to build a “house for God to dwell in” (v.1-5). It was a lovely thought, and God was pleased with David’s heart. Yet God,…