Opportunities to Return

Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 29:10-11, Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart.” 11 So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

In the previous devotional we focused on God’s faithfulness to us, in spite of us. When we stop and think about how patient God has been, and is, with us, how can we not stop and praise Him? Along with being patient with us, His love and forgiveness is always available to us in Christ Jesus. After all was said and done with David’s rejection by the Philistines, we see that he was given an opportunity to return. Return where? Well, it was an opportunity for David to return to his own people. Instead, we see him return to the land of the Philistines. It truly is sad when we see a born again believer return to the ways of the world when God is giving him/her the opportunity to return to Him. I praise God that our salvation in Christ is sealed by the Holy Spirit and we can never lose it. However, we can do a lot of damage to our walk with Christ when we choose to remain in the world, even after the Lord gives us an opportunity to turn back to Him. In the Old Testament we see the example of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. He turned to Sodom, a place he never should have dwelled in, and found himself and his family captured. God, in His mercy, allows Abraham to rescue him and his family, and Lot comes out of it without losing a thing. Genesis 14:14-16 tells us, “Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16 So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.” God was better to Lot than he deserved in that He allowed Lot to come away from that experience without any lasting consequences. Lots had a choice. He could have chosen somewhere other than Sodom to return to, but instead went right back to that wicked place after God had given him an opportunity to return to Him. The consequences of that was that Lot eventually lost his wife, and opened the door for an incestuous relationship to occur between him and his daughters (Genesis 19). In David’s case, it would take something drastic to get him to return to his own people. Why do we wait until severe consequences befall us before we accept God’s gracious and undeserved invitation to turn back to Him? Rather than wait until God has to discipline us with consequences for our refusal to live for Him, why not praise Him, give Him thanks for His goodness, and return to sweet fellowship with Him? Romans 2:4 reminds us, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” None of us are exempt from finding ourselves in a place far away from fellowship with the Lord. David was a man after God’s own heart, yet he found himself far from the Lord. Nonetheless, God is faithful who will always give us the opportunity to return. He will never forsake His children, and we His children need to be always ready to return to His sweet embrace when we find ourselves in a place we should not be.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).