Gerbrand van Schalkwyk

David is gracious in his memorial psalm. How does he remember Saul's life? David remembers that Saul was anointed by God. He focus on the possitive, he remembers how God worked through Saul while Saul was still in His will. He also remember's that Saul worked hard for the nation, even though much of this was done out of selfishness, David remembers the positive. When we live close to god we often only see the good in everybody. How does the Chronicler remember Saul's life? He see how Saul was selfish, how Saul tried too use God for personal gain. he saw how Saul became self focused and not God focused. How do you think God evaluates Saul's life? This is between God and Saul, but i dont want to be in Saul's shoes when he was judged.. What do we learn from this? live for God, search God's will in everything you do. Search His kingdom. be obedient to God. Humble yourself. Be a mirror image of Jesus, let everybody see Jesus in your life. We live on borrowed time, we can die anytime. Since our lives are borrowed from God, hand over control of your life back to God, give back your life to Jesus before it is too late. Praise God that He gave us a Saviour that can be a perfect Master to us, we must learn to serve our Saviour so that our names can be remembered in a positive way

From the Psalms of David, how does David seem to strengthen himself in the Lord when things are going bad? What devotional exercises does he adopt? He calls on God when things are tough, "In my distress I called to the LORD", he knows where to find help. He trust in God for guidance and freedom, "The LORD is my light and my salvation" he knows to keep his focus on God He also knows God is Almighty, he is protected from any attack "whom shall I fear?" He builds his confidence and faith on the Rock of salvation. "The LORD is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid?" He praises God in all situations, as Ps63 is a beuitiful example, also Ps34. "I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. He draw strength from his experiances with God. He saw God working in his life, thus he knew God will help him again. " He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." (Psalm 40:1) He was actively searching for God, just as we must find the Kingdom of God by actively searching God and His Kingdom in all we do. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." He hands over his problems to God, he comunicates all that happens with him to God "These things I remember as I pour out my soul" He encourages himself by reminding himself what an awesome God he serves. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." He raises his request to God, he tells God what he wants, but he still searches God's will. He knows to stay true to God. "Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. He find rest in God, although he is being attacked and going through difficult times, he is at peace. "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." What is the focus of his faith? God. He finds strength in God, he trust God and he searches God's will

Why do the men blame David? They are human, we all try to find reasons why stuff happens. We ask "what went wrong, who did what?". In this case David took his men to fight against Israel, the answer must have looked obvious to the men. David took his men to attack God's nation, so they must have thought God punished them for marching against Israel. I think most of us whould have blamed David as well!! Why is the situation so explosive at this point. The men lost their families, they must have thought they were outside God's will because of what they did and where they stayed. They also knew Israel was under attack from its age old ennemy. They further knew the other leaders didn't trust them, if Israel was defeated there was no reason for the leaders not to attack David's little band as well. They knew their town was attacked because they raided the very same people who now took their families, and the reason it was possible was because David didn't leave protection behind to take care for the families. What does David do in the situation? He sep search God. He is also weeping, but he knows the only place to find strength is to seek God. He has to be within God's will if he wants to have any solution to his problems. He doesn't argue with his men, he doesn't try to justify himself, he doesn't rush off and try to correct the situation, he search God and His will. We must be the same. He called a priest and enquire from God the next step to take. He wants to stay in God's will. How many of us would have rushed off to find our families? David took the time to take the correct action, to stay within God's will. Earlier in the book we saw when Jonathan acted within God's will and God caused chaos within the ennimy camp, Saul called the priest to ask for God's will, but when he saw what was happening he told the priest, dont worry, let's attack. It shows clearly the diffenence between David and Saul. David takes time to stay within God's will. Also David give praise to God where it is due, Saul wanted to kill Jonathan because he wanted the glory that belonged to God through Jonathan (Sam14), because jonathan took action through doing God's will. David clearly was a better leader We saw when David got upset with Nabal he acted out of his own will and nearly made a big mistake. This time he didn't act out of his own will, he wanted strength from God, leadership from God. He obviously learned his lesson from the mistake that he made with Nabal. What is David feeling? Grief, he was crying. He was also feeling hopeless, we see that he had to draw strength from God. He must have been afraid as well, his own men wanted to kill him, but he knew where his help would come from, so he asked guidence from God. Why doesn't he act immediately? He knew he had to 1st get direction from God. He knew he had to stay within God's will. When we act too soon we do our own solution instead of following God's guidence to get a perfect solution.

Why do you think God condemns occult practices of communicating with the dead and channeling spirits of the dead? We must trust God for guidence in everything in our lives. Why would you like to communicate with a spirrit, the only Spirit that must matter to you is the Holy Spirit. God will reveil to us what we need to know about the future and the after life, trust God to lead you where you are safe and within His will. How might such practices open Christians to victimization and oppression by evil spirits? Also, messing around with spirrits expose you to dangers that we are not to be involved in at all. When you start messing with spirits, you are moving out of God's will and protection. You are not only tresspassing, you are openly disobedient to God. Until you repent, you are now piling up sin and removing yourself from God's protection. You are exposing yourself fully to demonic attack. Since you are doing this of free will, you are turning your back on God and allowing Satan access to yourself. You are not able to resist these powers without God protection. What should you do if you've been involved in such practices in the past? REPENT. Confess your sins and beg forgiveness. Turn around completely and ask the Holy Spirit to clear out all traces that these spirits might have left within you. Hand your whole life, body and soul to God and ask Him to wash you clean with the Blood of Jesus, give you protection through the Blood of Jesus and then follow the guidence of the Holy Spirit.

What do we learn about David's character in this incident with Nabal and Abigail? Although David lived close to God, he was still human, and sometimes his own will still came to the front instead of seeking God's will in everything he did. We are all like that, sometimes we act in the heat of the moment and dont ask God for His guidance 1st. We also see David atmitting his faults and gratitude when he was corrected. He was not to proud to humble himself and let go of his own plans. When he realized his plans were wrong he rejoiced that he was corrected and changed his tune completely. We must also change easily when we realize we are on the wrong path. What do we learn about Abigail's character? She was a woman of action, with wisdom and with respect. She did what was best for her family, not what was always best for her. We she that she told her husband when she did something against his will. Her husband was a hard man, and could have reacted very badly towards her, yet she still told him. Honesty in a mariage is extreamly important, even if it is news the other one doesnt want to hear. We also see that in this case she opposed her husband, yet she didn't confront him. The Bible tells us regularly that women mustn submit to their husbands, but like with all authority, we must 1st submit to God. She stays humble to her husband, although she acts against his will. She was a very wize woman indeed. Nabal's character? We dont read anything good about him. His reaction after his wife told him what she did could have been from shock when he realized he was wrong, or from anger when he heard she opposed him. We dont know. We only know he had no gratefullness in him, no compassion and no respect for God's anointed man. He show disrespect instead of gratitude to David Why do you think this story was included in 1 Samuel? It shows that if we make mistakes like Nabal did, it can influence many others around us, many could have died because of his wrong actions. In the same way his wife's correct actions saved many, we must do what is best to our comunity, not be sekfish all the time. It shows David was still human who made mistakes, it shows where his 2nd wife came from, it shows that we must hand over judgement to God and search God's will before we act. It shows that we must be willing to be corrected and be gratefull for being corrected as well. This story shows us many Biblical principles, i cant see why it should not be included. What important knowledge does it add to our understanding? As discussed above

How do we apply the principle of not lifting a hand against the Lord's anointed in our day? We treat our church leaders with respect. This is what we are taught and it is Biblical What provisions are there in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 for calling leaders to account. 1Ti 5:19 Do not accept an accusation against an elder unless it is supported "by two or three witnesses." 1Ti 5:20 As for those who keep on sinning, rebuke them in front of everyone so that the rest will also be afraid. We can call leaders to account, but there must be witnesses. We must do it carefully and with respect. What do you think God will do to those who slander, persecute, and martyr his appointed leaders? The judgment is God's, not ours

Why doesn't David kill Saul when he has the chance? David knows that all authority comes from God. To kill Saul would be to disrespect the authority that was put in place by God What motive do David and his men have for killing a king who is trying to kill them? They are being chased down like animals, yet they have done nothing wrong. They are just defending themselves. What is David's rationale for sparing Saul? He knows that Saul was God's chosen leader for Israel. He will leave judgement for God What does this tell us about David's character? He is humble, faithful and has utmost respect for God. About his faith? He knows God is in control and he had complete faith that God will bring justice What does it say about David's leadership ability that he is able to dissuade his men from killing Saul? He had complete control over them, most probably he has taught them to have the same respect and faith in God as he had.

Why do we so often forget that "the battle is the Lord's"? We are used to doing stuff in our own way, we are taught to achieve, to be the best, to become no 1. We learn to develop ourselves so that we can be the best. So we learn to rely on ourselves, we learn to involve God as a inspector, instead of working with God, the "Hi God, see what i am going to do for You idea" instead of " Dear God, lead me to do what You want me to do, use me to do Your will." What does that phrase actually mean? God is in control, we must just hand the situation to Him How can we avoid the arrogance of pulling God into our battles ("God is on my side"), rather than engaging in His battles ("I am on God's side")? Seek the Kingdom of God, seek His will, Seek His Face, not just His Hand, seek God and become humble, become a true servant, serving God, not instructing God how He should help you.

What does David's explanation to Saul of his combat experience say about David's faith? David knew God did these things, David was a willing vessal that did mighty things because God supported him. Note that David did it, too often people pray but don't do, we still have to do so that God can work through us, it takes obedience, and David was obedient and had faith that these obstacles were nothing because God was in control How lethal is David as a warrior? Extreamly, God was in control Why do you think Saul allows him to go out to battle Goliath? David convinced him, and he knew the power of God, he knew that if God was with David, the victory was his, and David gave enough proof that he was capable of killing this man, bears and lions are far more dangerous in hand to hand combat. Does Saul have faith? Yes If so, what is the source of it? He experianced God in his life, he has even experienced the Holy Spirit taking control of him, there is no way he didn't believe in God, unfortuanately he believed in his own abilities, his own will and his reasoning more than he believed in God's abilities

Why is David so upset about Goliath’s taunt? David stood up for what was right. He was loyal to his people, his tribe and to God, and this man was taunting all of what was dear to David. It will upset all of us. What is more, David knew the power of God, thus he was not afraid, he was upset that nobody else saw God's potential in this situation and that nobody has quieted the man yet. Why is Eliab, David’s brother, so upset with David? He also didn't see the potential of God, and he definately didn't see the potential of David. He wanted to keep his brother from harm, but also keep him away from where he might embarrace the family. He knew about David's anointing, but didn't believe God was with David What does this teach us about David’s faith? David's faith was very strong, because he was living with God, he truely believed in God What does it teach us about Eliab’s character? He was the proud oldest brother, he relied on his own strength and wisdom, not on God. He wanted to be in control, he reasoned things through instead of just handing everything over to God.

In these ascriptions to these psalms, how many celebrate happy occasions? All are happy occasions, although all are tough occasions as well. Job tells us that the good and the bad comes from God. God uses tough times to sactify us. How can it be a sad occation when God is busy with us, when God is taking an interest in us, when God is showing us that He is protecting us. How many arise from struggles? All, David had quite a hard life. God was really working with him, and later, when he became king, he sinned seriously, so God had to correct and sanctify him again. So often we do the same. God prepares us for what He needs us to do, and once we taste success through Him, we are so happy at what we achieved, that we loose focus on God Who gave us the ability and help to get there, so we stop seaking His will, and then we bring hard times on ourselves so that God can pull us back into His will. What does this tell you about David's relationship with God? At this time he was fully focussed on God, and he experienced God all the time. There is nothing that builds your faith as experiencing God. There is nothing that builds your relationship with God as faith. Faith is build on a physical level through experience, and on an intelectual level through studying the Bible and scriptures. With David in hideout and having a priest with him, ha had plenty time and oppertunity to enhance his faith on both levels, and thus build his relationship to a maximum that was possible. Later we will see nothing breaks your relationship as sin does, disobedience in any way. What does this tell you about his faith during trials? His faith became stronger because he experienced God Which is your favorite among these psalms? Why? Pick any one, they show us that David knew God in his life, just as we have to. 63 is a little bit extra special, showing how he knew God at all levels in his life, even when most people would have complained.

Why does Jonathan visit David in the wilderness? God knew David needed support, so he sent it in the form of his best friend. For jonathan it would have been good to see that his friend was still alive and well, and to just catch up with what was happening to him David needed this visit to know there is still hope, God is still with him and his friends are still supporting him. What risk is there for David? Saul could have followed his son and found David. There was also the outside chance that Jonathan might have forgotten his promise and could have used this oppertunity to ensure his future kingdom. What risk is there for Jonathan? His father would surely have killed him if he knew his son went behind his back to his ennemy, or the man he saw as an ennemy, remember, David was never Saul 's ennemy, because he said Saul was anointed by God. What do you think it meant to David? This was huge encouragement. He must have felt ontop of the world. He also knew he was still in God's will. Have you ever received a visit from a friend when you needed it most? I'm sure everybody has

What did Abiathar and the ephod have to do with "inquiring of the Lord?" As a priest Abiathar had the toold and the knowladge of how to use the tools to enquire of the Lord. Add to this David's close relationship with God, gave David a great oppertunity to stay in the will of God, and thus to be protected by God. Why did David inquire of the Lord? He wanted to stay in God's will so that he could be protected by God. He was not relying on his own ability but relied on God to lead them safely What huge advantage does the person have who seeks God's will before acting? They take proper decisions, inspired by God. We can never make the same quality moves out of our own. How can you find God's will at key points in your life? Prayer, bible study, discussions with other Christian leaders, or faithful Christians Having a close relationship with God all the time.

Q1. (1 Samuel 22:2) Why were David’s men attracted to him? He was a good leader, he had God's lead and blessings, thus he was successful I think they felt safe with him, and admirired his ability. What did they have in common? They were hunted by Saul, for some reason they lost favour with Saul. Why kind of men were these? I would guess all kinds of men, a gret veriaty. This was good practice for David to lead the country, 400 different personalities to lead What difficulties do you think David probably had in leading them? Feeding them all must have been a chalenge. Hiding such a big group of people from the goverment was also impresive. Keeping all in harmony and happy showed real leadership. Preventing them to turn to crime for income must have taken wisdom from God to handle.

Q3. (1 Samuel 19:18-24) What does it tell us about Saul’s faith that he pursues David even when he has sought the sanctuary of the prophet Samuel? Saul believed only in his own ability and his own ideas. Very often outsiders cant understand what someone was thinking when they acted, and this is one of those cases. I can only believe God hardened his hart because He wanted to teach us something, although the bible doesnt tell us so, like God did with Pharoh. All the evidence was there to stop, but just like Pharoh, Saul just pushed on with his own will Why do people prophesy when the Holy Spirit comes upon them? Prophesy is to speak the Words of God. The Holy Spirit empower us, but also comunicate with us, thus when He come over us, we prophesy. What is the relationship between this incident and the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2)? The Holy Spirit came over the people , so they spoke the Words of God.

Which of the following is David’s chief motive for marrying Michal, in your opinion? Argue for the motivation that makes the most sense to you: (1) pride in his military prowess, No, David clearly gave the victory of Goliathto God. He knew the victory belonged to the Lord. He was not giving himself the victory, else God would have taken action against him tom rid him of his pride (2) obedience to Saul’s desires, maybe. David loved and served God. David knew all authority came from God, so he also knew God put Saul in the position of authority. If we serve God we must also respect the authority He put in place above us (3) love or desire for Michal, maybe, the Bible doesnt tell us or (4) enjoyment in killing Philistines. No, David served God I believe David knew he had to marry her because of some way God comunicated it to him, he gave God the honour for all else he did, so he would have involved God in this decision as well.

Q1. (1 Samuel 18:13-16). Why does Saul send David into battle? What is the result? To what does the narrator attribute David’s success? He wants to eliminate a problem in a way that would be popular with the people. If he died in battle, nobody would blame Saul and they will still have huge respect for David, Saul would win twice. David just became more popular and proved to the people that he was a good leader. God was with David, in the same way Joseph was suported by God. When we walk with God, God makes us a success. In whatever we do. As with both David and Joseph they both go through hard times, yet they are still successful because God is with them. Modern times will call a success as making a lot of money, but these men achieved much and were recognized for it

From Saul's perspective, why is David summoned to court? David was called to help the king, to sooth him, to make him feel God's presence again. To calm him down. From God's perspective, what seem to be the reasons for this service in Saul's court?God is a graceful God. When we are disobedient, rebellious, God send us hard times to call us back to Him. God gave Saul every chance to repent and come back to Him. It was his own choice to cling to his own will, to persists in his rebellion. From David's perspective, God was working with him, training him, giving him all the time he neededto praise God with music. This was a great oppertunity for David to learn the work in a kingdom and to praise God. What things tend to prevent us from learning from God in the midst of the circumstances in which we find ourselves? We want to fix our own problems. We follow our own ideas instead of waiting for God's directions. We are stuggling so we have this attitude that "Just hold on God, let me just fix this and then i will get back to you" Instead of just handing over control over to God straight away. What might make us more teachable?

What is the significance of Samuel anointing David? Samuel, through obedience, showed that David was God's choice. God chose David for who he already showed himself to be, but also because of what God knew He could do through David. What is the significance of the Holy Spirit coming upon David? It proves that Samuel was obedient, it proves that David was God's choice. It means God was with David all the time. Because the Holy Spirit was with David, David could do the will of God, because he has strong guidence and he had the powwer to do it. How does this explain his success? He was in God's will to begin with, he was chosen by God and God was with him. He had the power and strength to do what was needed. How is the Holy Spirit upon us vital for our own success as disciples? Without the Holy Spirit we dont have a Teacher, a Leader, a Guide Who is empowering us with gentleness.

How does this story teach us the importance of listening carefully to God's voice? Samuel could easily have anointed the wrong son. He could have made his own choice and moved out of God's will. It is the Abraham story. Abraham had to offer his son. Then just as he showed himself willing to obey, God spoke to him again. Many of us offers our mission for God because we dont listen. We are obedient to a point, but we get so involved with our mission that we dont hear God's voice again, and we miss the next instruction. Then we move completely out of God's will. What is our instinctive way of discerning? Usually we see what would fit my needs best, our what fits my will best. Our i want to make the choice because i think i will know best. How is God teaching us to discern? To wait for his choice. To pray. We see Jesus asked that the cup must pass Him by, but He ended the prayer that it is nit His will, but the Father's will. We must learn to respond to the Spirit's voice. How do we learn to listen to the Spirit? Through experiance and being focused on wanting to do the will of God. It takes practice. As i ask for God's guidence and i respond, I will experiance God in my life. As I experiance God in my life my relationship with God will grow. Because i experianced Him, my faith will grow. Since my faith grew, next time i will more redily wait on God's answer. So the process repeats, my relationship, faith, obedience and ability to recognice God's voice all keeps on growing. but when i dont wait for God, i do my own thing, and i dont experiance God, thus nothing can grow. In fact, often we pray, "God, bless the works of my hands," but then we do our own will, so how can God bless us. That is when people say but prayer does nothing and lose their faith, because they cant experiance God

What is rebellion? Rebellion is wanting to do it my way, forcing my will on the situation. Ignoring all authority. Accepting only my desires. In what way is rebellion as bad as witchcraft or occult practices? You refuce to accept authority, and to accept God's will, thus you are doing what you want to, or what Satan would want you to do. If you do what Satan would have liked you tom do it is the same as witchcraft. What does rebellion have to do with arrogance? I believe my will and my plans are better than God's Authority, God's will and God's plans. What can we do when we find rebellion against God in our hearts? Repent imeadiately, Pray to God to forgive you and help you to get through your rebellion. Beg God to sactify you, to build you, to improve you. Declare yourself the clay and hand control over to the Potter. What happens if we do nothing? We can not be sactified, we can not grow closer to God, we can not build a relationship with God, and we will end up lost

Why does Paul command Timothy to "discharge all the duties of your ministry"? What is the work of an evangelist that Timothy is to do? What does the command in verse 5 mean to you personally? We must fulfill all the fuctions of spreading the Word. We must teach, encourage, help, correct and so on. If we just bring people to God and don't help them to grow in Christ, they might easily be lost again, like the seed in shallow ground. We must do a complete job

In what ways does Scripture equip a Christian for ministry? The bible is our Studyguide for life, in everything we do. It also give us the only basis on which to build our life and Ministery. In what different ways can the Scriptures function, according to verse 16? Teaching, rebuking, correcting and training,

What does inspiration of Scripture mean? God wrote it through men who He chose and used. They didn't write it, He wrote it through them What does the term "God-breathed" tell us about the source and authority of Scripture? Its authority is complete, because it came from God. As long as the Scripture is rewrote and translated truthfully It's authority is complte, where it has been changed through the years, we must pray for wisdom to receive the message as God intended.If it is possible, get yourself a copy of one of the books that discuss the major changes in the Bible Why is the doctrine of inspiration of Scripture important? We must know and believe that God speaks to us through the Bible, and that we must respond to the teachings in the Bible

Why is it so easy to become a hypocrite? We are from the world, we still stay in our flesh, we are just renewed in Christ. The flesh will still call us, we must just resist it. When we become hypocrites, it is our ego that finds a way of venting, of coming to the fore again, just in another manner. How can we prevent our faith from degenerating into "a form of religion" without the power? We must hand ourselves over to God all the time, allow the Holy Spirit to work in us all the time, humble ourselfs all the time, study the Bible all the time, how else can we build our relationship with God if we dont know Him. Our faith and our relationship must feed each other all the time. As we experiance God in our lives because of our relationship with Him our faith in Him and His abilities must grow. As our faith in Him grows, we will experiance Him more in our lives so our relationship with Him will grow more and more. We must be like the apostles who asked for more faith. We must keep ou focus on God and ignore our pride.