DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY APRIL 1:
WORD OF WISDOM
A mind focused on Doubt and Fear cannot focus on the journey to victory!
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DAILY DEVOTION
Eighty-Six Thousand Four Hundred
Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest:
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private bank account
for your own use. However, this prize has rules, just as any game has
certain rules.
The first set of rules would be:
1) Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from
you.
2) You may not simply transfer money into some other account. You may only
spend it.
3) Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another
$86,400.00 for that day.
The second set of rules:
1) The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say,"It's
over, the game is over!"
2) It can close the account in an instant and you will not receive a new
one.
What would you personally do? You would buy anything and everything you
wanted, right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people in your life,
right? Maybe even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly
spend it all on yourself and the people in your life, right? You would try
to spend every single cent, and use it all up every day, right?
Actually, this game is a reality, but not with money!
Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just don't seem to
see it.
The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!
Each morning we awaken and receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and
when the day is done, any remaining time is gone and NOT credited to us.
What we haven't lived up to that day is lost forever. Yesterday is forever
gone.
Each morning the account is refilled, but the magical bank can dissolve our
account at any time....WITHOUT WARNING.
SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds? Think about that, and always
think of this: Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so
much quicker than we think. Take good care of yourself, and enjoy life. Live
each day to the fullest, be kind to one another, and be forgiving. Harbor a
positive attitude and always be the first to smile.
Here's wishing you a wonderful, beautiful day, each and every day!!!
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DAILY BIBLE READING
2 Samuel 10-12Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Hanun Shames David's Men
10 Later King Nahash of the Ammonites died. His son Hanun became the new
king after him. 2 David said, "Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to
his son Hanun." So David sent his officers to comfort Hanun about his
father's death.
David's officers went to the land of the Ammonites. 3 But the Ammonite
leaders said to Hanun, their lord, "Do you think that David is trying to
honor your father by sending some men to comfort you? No, David sent these
men to spy on your city. They plan to make war against you."
4 So Hanun took David's officers and shaved off one half of their beards. He
cut off their clothes at the hips. Then he sent them away.
5 When the people told David, he sent messengers to meet his officers. He
did this because these men were very ashamed. King David said, "Wait at
Jericho until your beards grow again. Then come back home."
War Against the Ammonites
6 The Ammonites saw that they had become David's enemies, so they hired
Arameans from Beth Rehob and Zobah. There were 20,000 Aramean foot soldiers.
The Ammonites also hired the king of Maacah with 1000 men and 12,000 men
from Tob.
7 David heard about this, so he sent Joab and the whole army of powerful
men. 8 The Ammonites came out and got ready for the battle. They stood at
the city gate. The Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the men from Tob and
Maacah did not stand together with the Ammonites in the field.
9 Joab saw that there were enemies in front of him and behind him. So he
chose some of the best Israelite soldiers and lined them up for battle
against the Arameans. 10 Then Joab gave the other men to his brother Abishai
to lead against the Ammonites. 11 Joab said to Abishai, "If the Arameans are
too strong for me, you will help me. If the Ammonites are too strong for
you, I will come and help you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for
our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides
is right."
13 Then Joab and his men attacked the Arameans. The Arameans ran away from
Joab and his men. 14 The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away,
so they ran away from Abishai and went back to their city.
So Joab came back from the battle with the Ammonites and went back to
Jerusalem.
The Arameans Decide to Fight Again
15 When the Arameans saw that the Israelites had defeated them, they came
together into one big army. 16 Hadadezer[a] sent messengers to bring the
Arameans who lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. These Arameans
came to Helam. Their leader was Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer's army.
17 When David heard about this, he gathered all the Israelites together.
They crossed over the Jordan River and went to Helam.
There the Arameans prepared for battle and attacked, 18 but David defeated
them, and they ran from the Israelites. David killed 700 chariot drivers and
40,000 horse soldiers as well as Shobach, the captain of the Aramean army.
19 The kings who served Hadadezer saw that the Israelites had defeated them,
so they made peace with the Israelites and became their servants. The
Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites again.
David Meets Bathsheba
11 In the spring, when kings go out to war, David sent Joab, his officers,
and all the Israelites out to destroy the Ammonites. Joab's army surrounded
their capital city, Rabbah.
David stayed in Jerusalem. 2 One evening he got up from his bed and walked
around on the roof of his house. From there he saw a woman bathing. She was
very beautiful, 3 so David sent for his officers and asked them who she was.
An officer answered, "That is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam. She is the wife
of Uriah the Hittite."
4 David sent messengers to go and bring Bathsheba to him. She had just
purified herself after her monthly time of bleeding. She went to David, he
had sexual relations with her, and then she went back to her house. 5 Later,
Bathsheba became pregnant. She sent word to him saying, "I am pregnant."
David Tries to Hide His Sin
6 David sent a message to Joab. "Send Uriah the Hittite to me."
So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came, David asked him how Joab
was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to
Uriah, "Go home and relax.[b]"
So Uriah left the king's palace. The king also sent a gift to Uriah. 9 But
Uriah did not go home. He slept outside the door of the king's palace, as
the rest of the king's servants did. 10 The servants told David, "Uriah did
not go home."
Then David said to Uriah, "You came from a long trip. Why did you not go
home?"
11 Uriah said to David, "The Holy Box and the soldiers of Israel and Judah
are staying in tents. My lord Joab and my lord's officers are camping out in
the field. So it is not right for me to go home to eat and drink and sleep
with my wife. As surely as you live, I will not do this."
12 David said to Uriah, "Stay here today. Tomorrow I will send you back to
the battle."
Uriah stayed in Jerusalem until the next morning. 13 Then David called Uriah
to come and see him. Uriah ate and drank with David. David got him drunk,
but Uriah still did not go home. That evening, Uriah again slept at the
palace with the rest of the king's servants.
David Plans Uriah's Death
14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and made Uriah carry the
letter. 15 In the letter David wrote: "Put Uriah on the front lines where
the fighting is the hardest. Then leave him there alone, and let him be
killed in battle."
16 Joab watched the city and saw where the bravest Ammonites were. He chose
Uriah to go to that place. 17 The men of the city came out to fight against
Joab. Some of David's men were killed. Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Then Joab sent a report to David about what happened in the battle. 19
Joab told the messenger to tell King David what had happened in the battle.
20 "The king might get upset and ask, 'Why did Joab's army go that close to
the city to fight? Surely he knows that there are men on the city walls who
can shoot arrows down at his men? 21 Surely he remembers that at Thebez a
woman killed Abimelech son of Jerub Besheth when she threw the top part of a
grinding stone down from the wall. So why did he go that close to the wall?'
If King David says something like that, tell him, 'Your officer, Uriah the
Hittite, also died.'"
22 The messenger went in and told David everything Joab told him to say. 23
The messenger told David, "The men of Ammon attacked us in the field. We
fought them and chased them all the way to the city gate. 24 Then the men on
the city wall shot arrows at your officers. Some of your officers were
killed, including Uriah the Hittite."
25 David said to the messenger, "Give this message to Joab: 'Don't be too
upset about this. A sword can kill one person as well as the next. Make a
stronger attack against Rabbah and you will win.' Encourage Joab with these
words."
David Marries Bathsheba
26 Bathsheba heard that her husband Uriah had died, so she mourned for him.
27 After her time of sadness, David sent servants to bring her to his house.
She became David's wife and gave birth to a son for David. But the Lord did
not like what David had done.
Nathan Speaks to David
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were
two men in a city. One man was rich, but the other man was poor. 2 The rich
man had lots of sheep and cattle. 3 But the poor man had nothing except one
little female lamb that he bought. The poor man fed the lamb, and the lamb
grew up with this poor man and his children. She ate from the poor man's
food and drank from his cup. The lamb slept on the poor man's chest. The
lamb was like a daughter to the poor man.
4 "Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to
give food to the traveler, but he did not want to take any of his own sheep
or cattle to feed the traveler. No, the rich man took the lamb from the poor
man and cooked it for his visitor."
5 David became very angry with the rich man. He said to Nathan, "As the Lord
lives, the man who did this should die! 6 He must pay four times the price
of the lamb because he did this terrible thing and because he had no mercy."
Nathan Tells David About His Sin
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are that rich man! This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: 'I chose[c] you to be the king of Israel. I saved
you from Saul. 8 I let you take his family and his wives, and I made you
king of Israel and Judah. As if that had not been enough, I would have given
you more and more. 9 So why did you ignore my command? Why did you do what I
say is wrong? You let the Ammonites kill Uriah the Hittite, and you took his
wife. It is as if you yourself killed Uriah in war. 10 So your family will
never have peace! When you took Uriah's wife, you showed that you did not
respect me.'
11 "This is what the Lord says: 'I am bringing trouble against you. This
trouble will come from your own family. I will take your wives from you and
give them to someone who is very close to you. He will have sexual relations
with your wives, and everyone will know it![d] 12 You had sexual relations
with Bathsheba in secret, but I will punish you so that all the people of
Israel can see it.'"[e]
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."
Nathan said to David, "The Lord will forgive you, even for this sin. You
will not die. 14 But you did things that made the Lord's enemies lose their
respect for him, so your new baby son will die."
David and Bathsheba's Baby Dies
15 Then Nathan went home. And the Lord caused the baby boy who was born to
David and Uriah's wife to become very sick. 16 David prayed to God for the
baby. David refused to eat or drink. He went into his house and stayed there
and lay on the ground all night.
17 The leaders of David's family came and tried to pull David up from the
ground, but he refused to get up. He refused to eat with these leaders. 18
On the seventh day the baby died. David's servants were afraid to tell him
that the baby was dead. They said, "Look, we tried to talk to David while
the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell David that
the baby is dead, he might do something bad to himself."
19 David saw his servants whispering and understood that the baby was dead.
So David asked his servants, "Is the baby dead?"
The servants answered, "Yes, he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the floor. He washed himself. He changed his
clothes and got dressed. Then he went into the Lord's house to worship.
After that he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave
him some food, and he ate.
21 David's servants asked him, "Why are you doing this? When the baby was
alive, you cried and refused to eat. But when the baby died you got up and
ate food."
22 David said, "While the baby was still living, I cried and refused to eat
because I thought, 'Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let
the baby live.' 23 But now the baby is dead, so why should I refuse to eat?
Can I bring the baby back to life? No. Some day I will go to him, but he
cannot come back to me."
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife. He slept with her and had sexual
relations with her. Bathsheba became pregnant again and had another son.
David named the boy Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon 25 and sent word for
Nathan the prophet to give Solomon the name Jedidiah.[f] So Nathan did this
for the Lord.
David Captures Rabbah
26 Rabbah was the capital city of the Ammonites. Joab fought against Rabbah
and captured it. 27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, "I have fought
against Rabbah and have captured its water supply. 28 Now bring the rest of
the army together and attack Rabbah. Capture this city before I do, or else
it will be called by my name."
29 So David gathered all the soldiers together and went to Rabbah. He fought
against Rabbah and captured the city. 30 David took the crown off their
king's head.[g] The crown was gold and weighed about 75 pounds.[h] This
crown had precious stones in it. They put the crown on David's head. David
took many valuable things out of the city.
31 David also brought out the people of the city of Rabbah and made them
work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also forced them to build things
with bricks. He did the same thing to all the Ammonite cities. Then David
and the army went back to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
a.2 Samuel 10:16 Hadadezer The ancient Greek version has "Hadarezer." Also
in verse 19.
b.2 Samuel 11:8 relax Literally, "wash your feet."
c.2 Samuel 12:7 chose Literally, "anointed." See "anoint" in the Word List.
d.2 Samuel 12:11 and everyone will know it Literally, "in the sight of the
sun."
e.2 Samuel 12:12 so that all . can see it Literally, "before all Israel and
before the sun."
f.2 Samuel 12:25 Jedidiah This name means "loved by the Lord."
g.2 Samuel 12:30 their king's head Or "Milcom's head." Milcom was a false
god that the Ammonites worshiped.
h.2 Samuel 12:30 75 pounds Literally, "1 talent" (34.5 kg).
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright C 2006 by Bible League International
