Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "More than Expected" for Wednesday, 5 May 2015

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "More than Expected" for Wednesday, 5 May 2015 

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.[Genesis 50:20]
The parents of Minnesota's 10-year-old Mackenzie Moretter wanted to give her a birthday party.
To make that wish a reality they invited 10 girls to the festivities.
For whatever reasons, all ten girls were unable to be at the celebration. Naturally, Moretter, who has some speech and learning difficulties, felt she had been ostracized by people she had hoped were her pals. It was a dark time for her and the entire Moretter family.
But what could be done? After all, you can't force people to come to a birthday party.
Let me tell you what happened. First, Moretter's parents decided to try again. Her mom went on Facebook and explained the situation. She asked for a number of girls -- girls who were strangers -- to help her out and come to her daughter's party.
Mom got more than she bargained for.
People read that Facebook page and they were touched by Moretter's story. In a few hours, hundreds of people said, "We're coming!" Included in that list was the mayor of the town where the Moretter family lives. He came and he also declared the party day: "Mackenzie Moretter Day."
About 400 people showed up, including Minnesota Vikings wide-receiver Charles Johnson and his family. Some folks showed their support by sending money and local businesses donated food to feed the festive throng.
And Mackenzie ... how about Mackenzie? She said, "I have a hard time making friends in school, but thanks to all of you ... my voice was heard. I love you all." Her mom says they are going to use the extra money they had received to support organizations that put on birthday parties for sick children.
The whole story reminds me of the biblical narrative of Joseph. Having been sold into slavery by his brothers, years later, after the Lord had lifted him to a position of power, he told his brothers, "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good ...."
All of this means there is a lesson to be learned here.
There is no doubt there is evil in this world. But that doesn't mean God's people must accept it. There are times we can look evil in the face, dig in our heels, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us change things. That's what Moretter's mother did; it's what the mayor of Shakopee, Minnesota, did; it's what those businesses and guests at the party did.
And it's what we can do too. It's what we do as we reach out to others in love, even as Jesus did the same for us.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we live in a world which is very evil. Quite often that evil likes to push us around. Help us realize that we, in the Savior's Name, can push back in a most loving way. When we do, we pray the Holy Spirit will turn evil into good. In Jesus' Name I pray it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
1 Samuel 24:1 (23:29) From there David went up and lived in the strongholds of ‘Ein-Gedi. 2 (1) When Sha’ul returned from pursuing the P’lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at ‘Ein-Gedi. 3 (2) Sha’ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra’el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are. 4 (3) Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha’ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave; 5 (4) and David’s men said to him, “Look! The day has come that Adonai told you about when he said to you, ‘I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.’” Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha’ul’s cloak. 6 (5) But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha’ul’s garment. 7 (6) He said to his men, “Adonai forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, Adonai’s anointed, as raise my hand against him! After all, he is Adonai’s anointed.” 8 (7) By saying this, David stopped his men and would not let them do anything to Sha’ul. Sha’ul got up, left the cave and went on his way.

9 (8) Then David too got up and went outside the cave, where he called after Sha’ul, “My lord the king!” When Sha’ul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. 10 (9) David said to Sha’ul, “Why do you listen to people who say, ‘David is out to harm you?’ 11 (10) Here, today you have seen with your own eyes that Adonai put you in my power there in the cave. Some of my men said I should kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I won’t raise my hand against my lord, because he is Adonai’s anointed.’ 12 (11) Moreover, my father, look! Here in my hand you see the corner of your cloak. By the fact that I only cut off a piece of your cloak and didn’t kill you, you can see and understand that I have no plan to do harm or rebel, and that I haven’t sinned against you — even though you are seeking every chance you get to take my life. 13 (12) May Adonai judge between you and me, and may Adonai avenge me on you! But I will not lay a hand on you — 14 (13) as the old saying has it, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness, but I will not lay a hand on you.’ 15 (14) The king of Isra’el has come on a campaign — after whom? Whom are you chasing? A dead dog! A single flea! 16 (15) Adonai be the judge; let him decide between you and me. May he take my side and rescue me from your power!”

17 (16) After David had finished speaking to Sha’ul, Sha’ul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Then Sha’ul cried out and wept; 18 (17) and he said to David, “You are more righteous than I, because you have treated me well, while I have been treating you badly. 19 (18) You have made it clear to me today that you have done me good; for when Adonai put my fate in your hands, you didn’t kill me. 20 (19) A man finds his enemy and lets him go unharmed?! May Adonai reward you well for what you did to me today. 21 (20) Now I’m certain that you will indeed become king, and that the kingship of Isra’el will be established in your hands. 22 (21) So swear to me by Adonai that you will not kill my descendants after I die or blot out my name from my father’s family.” 23 (22) David swore to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul went home, but David and his men went back up to the stronghold.

25:1 Sh’mu’el died. All of Isra’el assembled to mourn him and bury him at his home in Ramah.

Then David set out and went down to the Pa’ran Desert. 2 Now there was a man in Ma‘on who had property in Karmel. He was very rich, having three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Karmel. 3 The man’s name was Naval, and his wife was named Avigayil. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but the man was surly and mean in his actions; he belonged to the clan of Kalev. 4 David, there in the desert, heard that Naval was shearing his sheep. 5 David sent off ten young men with these orders: “Go up to Naval in Karmel, and bring him greetings from me. 6 Say, ‘Long life and shalom to you, shalom to your household, and shalom to everything that is yours! 7 I’ve heard that you now have shearers. Your shepherds were with us [for a while], we did them no harm, and they found nothing missing all the time they were in Karmel. 8 Ask your own men; they’ll tell you. Therefore, receive my men favorably, since we have come on a festive day. Please give what you can to your servants and to your son David.’”

9 On arrival, David’s men said all these things to Naval in David’s name. When they had finished, 10 Naval answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Yishai? There are many servants nowadays running away from their masters. 11 Am I supposed to take my bread, my water and my meat that I slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows where?” 12 So David’s men turned around, went back and came and told him everything Naval had said. 13 David said to his men, “Buckle your swords on, all of you!” Each one buckled on his sword, David too; and there went up after David about four hundred men, while two hundred stayed with the equipment.

14 But one of Naval’s men told Avigayil his wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, and he flew on them in a rage, 15 even though the men had been very good to us — they didn’t harm us, and we found nothing missing during the entire time we went with them, while we were out in the countryside. 16 They served as a wall protecting us day and night all the time we were with them caring for the sheep. 17 So now decide what you are going to do, for clearly harm is on its way to our master and all his household, but he’s so mean that no one can tell him anything.”

18 Avigayil wasted no time in taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already prepared, six quarts of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes, and having them loaded on donkeys. 19 Then she said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me, and I’ll come along after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Naval.

20 She was riding her donkey down past the hiding-place in the mountain, when David and his men descended toward her, and she met them. 21 David had said, “What a waste it has been guarding everything this fellow has in the desert, so that nothing of his was missing! He has repaid me bad for good!” 22 Then he swore, “May God do the same and more to David’s enemies if I leave alive even one male of everything he owns.”

23 When Avigayil saw David, she hurried to dismount from her donkey, fell on her face in front of David and bowed down to the ground. 24 Having fallen at his feet, she said, “It’s all my fault, my lord, all my fault! Please let your servant speak in your ears, and listen to what your servant says. 25 Please! My lord shouldn’t pay any attention to this worthless fellow Naval, because he’s just like his name — ‘Naval’ means ‘boor,’ and his boorishness stays with him. But I, your servant, did not see my lord’s men, whom you sent. 26 Therefore, my lord, as Adonai lives, and as you live, inasmuch as Adonai has kept you from the guilt of shedding blood and from taking vengeance into your own hands — therefore, may your enemies and anyone seeking your harm be [as worthless] as Naval. 27 Meanwhile, let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the men in my lord’s service. 28 And please forgive the offense your servant has caused; because Adonai will certainly establish my lord’s dynasty, for my lord fights Adonai’s battles, and nothing bad has been found in you all your life long. 29 Even if someone comes along searching for you and seeking your life, your life will be bound in the bundle of life with Adonai your God. But the lives of your enemies he will fling away as if from the pouch of a slingshot. 30 Then, when Adonai has done all the good to my lord that he has said about you and made you ruler over Isra’el, 31 what happens here will not have become an obstacle to you or a cause for remorse to my lord, neither that you shed blood without cause nor that my lord took vengeance into his own hands. Finally, when Adonai has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32 David said to Avigayil, “Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el, who sent you today to meet me; 33 and blessed be your tactfulness, and blessed be yourself for having kept me today from the guilt of shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands. 34 For as Adonai the God of Isra’el, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you hadn’t rushed to meet me, not even one male would have been left to Naval by morning!” 35 So David received from her what she had brought him, then said to her, “Go up in peace to your home. I have listened to what you said and granted your request.”

36 Avigayil came to Naval; there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. He was in high spirits, because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing whatever until the next morning. 37 In the morning, when he was sober and his wife told him what had happened, he had a stroke and became as motionless as a stone. 38 Some ten days later Adonai struck Naval, and he died.

39 When David heard that Naval was dead, he said, “Blessed be Adonai for having taken my side in the matter of Naval’s insult and for having prevented his servant from doing anything bad. On the contrary, Adonai has caused Naval’s bad deeds to return on his own head.” Then David sent a message that he wanted to make Avigayil his own wife. 40 When David’s servants reached Avigayil in Karmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to bring you to him to be his wife.” 41 She got up, bowed with her face to the ground, and said, “Your servant is here to serve you, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Avigayil then hurried, set out and rode off on a donkey, with five of her female servants following her; she went after David’s messengers; and she became his wife. 43 David also took Achino‘am of Yizre‘el; both of them became his wives.

44 Meanwhile, Sha’ul had given Mikhal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Layish, who came from Gallim.

26:1 The people from Zif went to Sha’ul in Giv‘ah and said, “David is hiding himself on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon.” 2 Then Sha’ul set out and went down to the Zif Desert with three thousand men chosen from Isra’el, to search for David in the Zif Desert. 3 Sha’ul pitched camp on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon, near the road. David was staying in the desert, and he saw that Sha’ul was coming into the desert after him. 4 So David dispatched spies and determined that Sha’ul had definitely come.

5 David set out and went to where Sha’ul had pitched his camp. He saw where Sha’ul and Avner the son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping. Sha’ul was lying inside the barricade with the troops asleep all around him. 6 David said to Achimelekh the Hitti and Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah, Yo’av’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Sha’ul in the camp?” Avishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7 So David and Avishai went to the soldiers by night. Sha’ul was lying there asleep inside the barricade. His spear was stuck in the ground next to his head, with Avner and the troops asleep all around him. 8 Avishai said to David, “God has handed your enemy over to you today; so now, please, let me pin him to the ground with just one stroke of the spear. I won’t strike him a second time.” 9 But David said to Avishai, “Don’t destroy him! Nobody can raise his hand against Adonai’s anointed without becoming guilty!” 10 David then added, “As Adonai lives, Adonai will strike him down, or the day will come for him to die, or he will go down to battle and be swept away. 11 Adonai forbid that I should raise my hand against Adonai’s anointed! But now, we’ll take the spear by his head and the jug of water, and get out of here.” 12 So David took the spear and the water jug from Sha’ul’s head and got away. Nobody saw or knew about it, and no one awoke, because they were all asleep — a deep sleep from Adonai had fallen over them.

13 David crossed to the other side and climbed to the top of the distant ridge, leaving a considerable space between them. 14 Then David called out to the troops and to Avner the son of Ner. “Avner! Aren’t you going to answer?” Avner answered, “Who are you, calling to the king?” 15 David said to Avner, “Aren’t you the brave one! Who is there in Isra’el to compare with you? So why haven’t you kept watch over your lord the king? Someone came in to kill the king, your lord! 16 It’s not good, what you’ve done! As Adonai lives, you deserve to die; because you didn’t keep watch over your lord, Adonai’s anointed. And now, see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was next to his head!”

17 Sha’ul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord king!” 18 and continued, “Why is my lord chasing his servant? What have I done? What evil am I planning? 19 Please, now, may my lord the king hear what his servant is saying. If it is Adonai who has stirred you up against me, let him receive an offering. But if it’s human beings, then a curse on them before Adonai! — because, as things stand today, they have driven me out, so that I can no longer share in Adonai’s inheritance — they’ve said, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ 20 Now don’t let my blood fall on the ground away from the presence of Adonai. The king of Isra’el has gone out in search of a single flea, as if he were hunting partridge in the mountains!”

21 Then Sha’ul said, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you any longer, because you regarded my life as precious today. Yes, I have behaved like a fool. I was altogether in the wrong.” 22 David answered, “Here is the king’s spear. Send one of the men over to bring it back. 23 Adonai will give every person a reward suited to his uprightness and faithfulness. Adonai put you in my power today, but I would not raise my hand against Adonai’s anointed. 24 Look: just as I put great value on your life today, so may my life be given great value by Adonai. May he deliver me from every kind of trouble!” 25 Sha’ul answered David, “Blessings on you, my son David! No question that you will accomplish everything you set out to do!” So David went on his way, and Sha’ul returned to his place.

27:1 But David said to himself, “One day Sha’ul will sweep me away. The best thing for me to do is to escape into the territory of the P’lishtim. Then Sha’ul will give up trying to find me here or there in Isra’el’s territory, and at last I’ll be free of him.” 2 So David set out with his six hundred men and passed on to Akhish the son of Ma‘okh, king of Gat. 3 David lived with Akhish, he and his men, each man with his household — including David with his two wives Achino‘am from Yizre‘el and Avigayil from Karmel, Naval’s widow. 4 Sha’ul was told that David had escaped to Gat, whereupon he stopped searching for him.

5 David said to Akhish, “If you are now favorably disposed toward me, let me have a place to live in one of the cities in the countryside. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” 6 That very day Akhish gave him Ziklag, and that’s why to this day Ziklag belongs to the kings of Y’hudah.

7 After David had been living in the country of the P’lishtim for a year and four months, 8 he and his men began going up and raiding the G’shuri, the Gizri and the ‘Amaleki (from ancient times these people had lived in the land in the direction of Shur, all the way to Egypt). 9 David would attack the land, leaving alive neither men nor women, but taking the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothing. Then he would return and go to Akhish. 10 Akhish would ask, “Where were you raiding today?” and David would answer, “Against the Negev of Y’hudah,” or “Against the Negev of the Yerachme’eli,” or “Against the Negev of the Keni.” 11 The reason David spared neither men nor women to be brought to Gat is that he thought, “We don’t want them telling on us, saying, ‘David did so-and-so.’” That’s how he conducted his raids for as long as he lived in the country of the P’lishtim. 12 And Akhish believed him; he said, “David has caused his own people Isra’el to despise him utterly; he will be my servant forever.”

Luke 23:1 With that, the whole Sanhedrin got up and brought Yeshua before Pilate, 2 where they started accusing him. “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah — a king!” 3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” And he answered him, “The words are yours.” 4 Pilate said to the head cohanim and the crowds, “I find no ground for a charge against this man.” 5 But they persisted. “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Y’hudah — he started in the Galil, and now he’s here!” 6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was from the Galil; 7 and when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who at that time happened to be in Yerushalayim too.

8 Herod was delighted to see Yeshua, because he had heard about him and for a long time had been wanting to meet him; indeed, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He questioned him at great length, but Yeshua made no reply. 10 However, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers stood there, vehemently pressing their case against him. 11 Herod and his soldiers treated Yeshua with contempt and made fun of him. Then, dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; previously they had been enemies.

13 Pilate summoned the head cohanim, the leaders and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man before me on a charge of subverting the people. I examined him in your presence and did not find the man guilty of the crime you are accusing him of. 15 And neither did Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has not done anything that merits the death penalty. 16 Therefore, what I will do is have him flogged and release him.” 17 [a] 18 But with one voice they shouted, “Away with this man! Give us Bar-Abba!” 19 (He was a man who had been thrown in prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.) 20 Pilate appealed to them again, because he wanted to release Yeshua. 21 But they yelled, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” 22 A third time he asked them, “But what has this man done wrong? I haven’t found any reason to put him to death. So I’m going to have him flogged and set free.” 23 But they went on yelling insistently, demanding that he be executed on the stake; and their shouting prevailed. 24 Pilate decided to grant their demand; 25 he released the man who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder, the one they had asked for; and Yeshua he surrendered to their will.[Footnotes:

Luke 23:17 Some manuscripts have verse 17: For he was required to release one man to them at the festival.]

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