She looked after the king and took care of him.

1 Kings 1:4, NLT

Chosen for her youth and beauty, Abishag found herself one day the live-in nurse of the great but old King David. Her job was to keep the king warm. Within months her patient died. We know little about their relationship except that they never had sexual intercourse. She offered David uncomplicated companionship and human closeness without agenda in his last days. Little did she know how complicated her own life would soon become. Almost immediately after David's death, Abishag became the bargaining chip in a power struggle between the king's son Solomon and widow Bathsheba, and another son of David, Adonijah. For Adonijah, Abishag was probably little more than a possible leverage point to renew his claim on the throne of David. Bathsheba, herself acquainted with being treated as an pawn, may have been trying to do Abishag a favor as well as to pacify Adonijah. Her ultimate agenda, though, was to protect her son, Solomon. Solomon gave his half brother no room for doubt. He assumed Adonijah was planning to use Abishag to fight for the throne. These maneuvers make one fact clear: No one cared what Abishag thought. She might as well have been listed with the furniture. Home and work are both settings in which people are sometimes treated as objects. You may bear the emotional scars of past encounters with people who devalued and abused you. You may be hurt today by such treatment. Family members may withhold appreciation. Fellow workers may treat you like just another office machine. Resist these invitations to hopelessness or resentment by remembering that God knows. He knows you intimately, and he will always treat you as a person of value. Other people may overlook us, but God never does.

Fear The Lord And Faithfully Serve Him

But be sure to fear the LORD and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you.

1 Samuel 12:24, NLT

Samuel reminded the people to take time to consider what great things God had done for them. Taking time for reflection allows us to focus our attention upon God's goodness and strengthens our faith. Sometimes we are so progress- and future-oriented that we fail to take time to recall all that God has already done.

Remember what God has done for you so that you may move ahead with gratitude.

Receiving Guidance Through Christ

Proverbs 1 5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.   Let those with understanding receive guidance 6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,   the words of the wise and their riddles. 7 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge,   but fools despise wisdom and discipline. A Father's Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom 8 My child,* listen when your father corrects you.   Don't neglect your mother's instruction. 9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace   and be a chain of honor around your neck. 10 My child, if sinners entice you,   turn your back on them! 11 They may say, "Come and join us.   Let's hide and kill someone!   Just for fun, let's ambush the innocent! 12 Let's swallow them alive, like the grave*;   let's swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death. 13 Think of the great things we'll get!   We'll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. 14 Come, throw in your lot with us;   we'll all share the loot." 15 My child, don't go along with them!   Stay far away from their paths. 16 They rush to commit evil deeds.   They hurry to commit murder. 17 If a bird sees a trap being set,   it knows to stay away. 18 But these people set an ambush for themselves;   they are trying to get themselves killed. 19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money;   it robs them of life. Wisdom Shouts in the Streets 20 Wisdom shouts in the streets.   She cries out in the public square. 21 She calls to the crowds along the main street,   to those gathered in front of the city gate: 22 "How long, you simpletons,   will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking?   How long will you fools hate knowledge? 23 Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you   and make you wise. 24 "I called you so often, but you wouldn't come.   I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. 25 You ignored my advice   and rejected the correction I offered. 26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble!   I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,   when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone,   and anguish and distress overwhelm you. 28 "When they cry for help, I will not answer.   Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. 29 For they hated knowledge   and chose not to fear the LORD. 30 They rejected my advice   and paid no attention when I corrected them. 31 Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,   choking on their own schemes. 32 For simpletons turn away from me—to death.   Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. 33 But all who listen to me will live in peace,   untroubled by fear of harm."

The Glory Be to God

The glory be to God

Band credits faith with success of annual Winter Jam

  

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When Eddie Carswell of NewSong talks about the success of the Winter Jam Spectacular, there’s no mention of “I” or “we.” Instead he turns all the praise for the Christian music tour back to one man: God.
“One thing I say (is that) it’s such a faith event,” he says by phone while on a stop in West Virginia. “It’s not a NewSong tour; it’s not anybody’s tour; it’s God’s tour. It’s a God idea.”
But NewSong does get credit for founding Winter Jam, which started in 1995. This year will be No. 18 for the band.
“God just multiplied that over and over again,” Carswell says. “… We’re just a part of it.”
Carswell says that when Winter Jam started, the band made it a goal that anybody could come if they wanted to. They started selling admission for $3, then bumped it up to the current price of $10. There are no tickets; concertgoers pay at the door.
The tour is marketed as 10 bands for $10, and there are some amazing bands this year, he says.
“We try to have 10 bands that you really want to go hear,” Carswell says.
Other performers this year include TobyMac, Red, Matthew West, Sidewalk Prophets, Jamie Grace, Royal Tailor, Jason Castro, OBB and Capital Kings.
Carswell says he is amazed at the number of people who line up to get in to the show, which year after year includes a line that snakes through the Memorial Coliseum parking lot. Carswell says he believes some of the photos on the Winter Jam website’s video are from Fort Wayne.
NewSong has been on tour with its album, “One True God,” which was released last year. The band’s new album, “Swallow the Ocean,” comes out Feb. 12.
Carswell, who writes a lot of the band’s songs, says he is “thrilled it’s finished.”
When writing songs through the years, he says he has found that he has “to be really sensitive to what God wants you to write about.” He says the album title is from an old hymn called “The Love of God,” in which the last verse talks about how if all the oceans were filled with ink, they would be drained dry if you tried to write about the love of God.
Carswell says it’s always been the mission of the band to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and “not be ashamed of what we do.”
NewSong started out 31 years ago as a church band in Georgia, and Carswell says God “keeps giving us something wonderful to do.”
“We said we would do this, … until God tells us to stop,” Carswell says. “People are wanting and needing to hear what we want to say. (God) put us into this Winter Jam and different situations and keeps us close to brand new artists.
“I’m still wondering what is the next thing he wants us to do.”

Keeping Promises

And she made this vow: "O LORD of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut.*"

1 Samuel 1:11, NLT

Be careful what you promise in prayer because God may take you up on it. Hannah so desperately wanted a child that she was willing to strike a bargain with God. God took her up on her promise, and to Hannah's credit, she did her part, even though it was painful. Although we are not in a position to barter with God, he may still choose to answer a prayer that has an attached promise.

When you pray, ask yourself, Will I follow through on any promises I make to God if he grants my request? It is dishonest and dangerous to ignore a promise, especially to God. God keeps his promises, and he expects you to keep yours.

God is our Strength, Always and Forever

Psalm 18

For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. He sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:
1 I love you, LORD;
  you are my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
  my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
  and my place of safety.
3 I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
  and he saved me from my enemies.

4 The ropes of death entangled me;
  floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave* wrapped its ropes around me;
  death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD;
  yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
  my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
  The foundations of the mountains shook;
  they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
  fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
  Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
  dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,* he flew,
  soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
  veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
  and rained down hail and burning coals.*
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
  the voice of the Most High resounded
  amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
  his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused.
15 Then at your command, O LORD,
  at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
  and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.

16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
  he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
  from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
  but the LORD supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
  he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me for doing right;
  he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
  I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
  I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
  I have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD rewarded me for doing right.
  He has seen my innocence.

25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
  to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
  but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
27 You rescue the humble,
  but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
  The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
  with my God I can scale any wall.

30 God's way is perfect.
  All the LORD's promises prove true.
  He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the LORD?
  Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
  and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
  enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
  he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
  Your right hand supports me;
  your help has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
  to keep them from slipping.

37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
  I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
  they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
  you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
  I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
  They even cried to the LORD, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
  I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
  You appointed me ruler over nations;
  people I don't even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
  foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
  and come trembling from their strongholds.

46 The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock!
  May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
  he subdues the nations under me
48   and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
  you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations;
  I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
  you show unfailing love to your anointed,
  to David and all his descendants forever.

Invest in God's Love, Not Worldly Things

"What do you mean, 'What's the matter?'" Micah replied. "You've taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!"

Judges 18:24, NLT

Micah made idols and hired a priest to run his personal religion. When the men of Dan took his idols and priest, nothing remained. What an empty spiritual condition! And idol is anything that takes God's place in a person's life.

Some people invest all their energy in pursuit of money, success, possessions, or a career. If these idols are taken away, only an empty shell is left. The only way to protect yourself against such loss is to invest your life in the living God, whom you can never lose.