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Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a Year Podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today it is day 117. Congratulations for getting all this way. We're reading First Samuel, chapter 26, just one chapter in First Samuel today, as well as praying Psalm 56. As always, the translation that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan so you know exactly what the reading will be every single day, you can visit ascensionpress.com Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking subscribe. That is why the button is there and that is why I keep saying it basically every day for the previous 116 days. And this day, day 117 is no difference. As I'm saying, as I was saying, it is day 117. We're reading from First Samuel, chapter 26 and we're praying Psalm 56, First Samuel, chapter 26. David again spares Saul's life. Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon? So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with 3000 chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hakilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. And when he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned of a certainty that Saul had come. Then David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay with Abner the son of ner, the commander of his army. And Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him. Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zerui, who will go down with me into the camp to Saul. Then Abishai said, I will go down with you. So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then said Abishai to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him. For who can put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spirit that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go. So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood afar off on top of the mountain with a great space between them. And David called to the army and to Abner the son of ner, saying, will you not answer, Abner? Then Abner answered, who are you that calls to the king? And David said to Abner, are you not a man who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king, your lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not kept watch over your lord. The Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head. Saul recognized David's voice and said, is this your voice, my son David? And David said, it is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What guilt is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. But if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek my life like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I have done wrong. Return my son, David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, I have erred exceedingly. And David made answer, Here is the spear, O King. Let one of your young men come over and fetch it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, blessed be you, my son David. You will do many things and will succeed in them. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. Psalm 56 Trust in God under persecution to the choirmaster According to the dove on far off terebinths a mictim of David when the Philistines seized him in gath. Have mercy on me, O God, for men trample upon me all day long. Foes oppress me my enemies trample upon me all day long, for many fight against me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise, in God I trust. Without a fear what can flesh do to me? All day long they seek to injure my cause. All their thoughts are against me. For evil they band themselves together, they lurk, they watch my steps as they have waited for my life, so recompense them for their crime in wrath. Cast down the peoples, O God. You have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will be turned back in the day When I call this I know that God is for me. In God whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust without a fear, what can man do to me? My vows to you I must perform. O God, I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we give you glory. We thank you for this day. Thank you for this brief time, briefer than normal, this time of just exposing ourselves to your word and to hear your voice. Thank you for reminding us of the virtue of mercy. Thank you for reminding us of the virtue of reverence. And thank you for reminding us of the virtue of faithfulness. In your name we ask you to please help us to be merciful, to be reverent, and to be faithful. In Jesus name we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we have this. Here is Saul in chapter 24, who repented of trying to kill David when David cut off the hem of his of his cloak in the cave when he was relieving himself. But here he is back at it again in chapter 26, Saul seeking David's life. And yet he is David with these three critical virtues. David has the virtue of mercy. He has the virtue of reverence. He has the virtue of faithfulness. This is so, so key, right? So David, who's saying that, no, it's not my job to take justice or revenge upon the Lord's anointed. That, that sense of here I'm what I'm called to do, you know, as, as we said Abishai his, his comrade in arms, who's down in the encampment with David here in chapter 26, saying, Listen, I can do it right now. I can pin him to the ground with one strike of the spear and everything will be over. This whole thing will be done. And David with mercy, essentially says, no, that's not my job, it's not my role. And as I've treated Saul, may the Lord treat me as I've held his life to be precious. May the Lord hold my life to be precious. There is something in that we see an echo or a pre echo really of what Jesus is going to talk about when he gives us the Our Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Here's David reversing that in some ways, saying, like, as I am treating others, please Lord, treat me. And it's just so, so good. He shows this virtue of mercy, then he shows this virtue of reverence because he recognizes why is he preserving the life of Saul? Why is he preserving the life of the man who's made himself David's enemy? And there's only one reason. And the reason is because Saul remains the Lord's anointed. And so even though Saul's not living in a virtuous way, Saul is living in an evil way. And yet David has reverence for things of God. And since Saul has been anointed, since Saul has been consecrated, he belongs to God even if he's not living like it. And so there's something about this virtue of reverence and third, faithfulness. Because here is David, who's walking in faithfulness in fact, we've highlighted this many times that his, his psalms, his prayers often have to do with the fact that he does not know the next step. He does not know how God is going to deliver him. He doesn't know how God is going to free. He does not know how God is going to fight for him. But David continues to walk in faithfulness. And that's a big piece of what it is to walk in faithfulness. It's, I don't know the next step, or I don't know where this ultimately is going to lead, but I know that I'm walking with God. And so for all of us today, to be able to say, okay, how do I cultivate these virtues, the virtue of mercy, the virtue of reverence, and the virtue of faithfulness, because all of us have battles as well. And then for David, it was an unfair battle. He did nothing. He literally did nothing wrong up to this point. There's no reason why Saul should seek his life except for Saul's own envy. And in the midst of that, that incredible injustice and that incredible this is not fair moment, here is David who says, okay, in the face of this injustice, I will continue to show mercy. In the face of Saul treating me as if I'm nothing, I will show him reverence. And in the face of not knowing where this is leading, I'm going to walk in faithfulness. And that's such as, again, for all of us, even though this reading today is briefer than most of them, it also has a message of power for us. We're almost to the end of 1 Samuel. We only have a couple days left, and yet we're walking with David for a long time to come because we have Second Samuel, we have First Chronicles coming up in just a couple days. And so we're going to be walking with David because David, yes, he walks as a man of faith, but also he walks as a human being, as he walks as a man who also has weaknesses. And so as Saul is soon to be replaced as the king by David, so David is his weaknesses, his woundedness and his unfaithfulness is going to be highlighted as well. And so we need to take the lesson not only from David the virtuous, but also David the fallible and David the weak. And so because, yeah, as we are some days virtuous, and some days we're weak, some days we are faithful, and some days we are not faithful. And that's one of the reasons why we always, every single day, just pray for each other. I know that you're doing this. And this is remarkable that you're this community of people, so many of us who are going through this. You are praying on each other's behalf. I think that's probably the only reason why here we are at day one 17, and we still have people who are showing up every single day. And they're just letting the Lord speak to them, letting him illuminate our minds, letting him shape our vision, and letting him put his fire of love into our hearts. So please, let's keep praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.