Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Samuel 19-21
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 99
Key Verse
1 Samuel 20:17 — “And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.”
Devotional Thought
The closing days of August find David in the wilderness of human jealousy, and the reading opens with Saul’s open decree: his own son Jonathan and all his servants are commanded to kill David. Jonathan, who “delighted much in David,” becomes the first advocate, standing in the field beside his father and pleading David’s innocence—reminding Saul how David put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine, and how the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel. Saul swears, “As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain,” and for a moment the storm passes. But the evil spirit returns, and the javelin flies again; Michal lets her husband down through a window; the messengers are foiled; and David flees to Samuel at Ramah, where even Saul’s pursuers—and Saul himself—are seized by the Spirit and prophesy.
Here is a portrait of ordinary life under pressure. We know something of javelins hurled across rooms, of friendships that cost us a father’s favor, of the weariness of watching over our shoulder. David does not march out of these chapters in triumph; he escapes by a window, lies to Ahimelech about the king’s business, eats the shewbread, takes up Goliath’s sword, and finally feigns madness before Achish of Gath, scrabbling on the gate doors with spittle in his beard. The man after God’s own heart is reduced to pretending insanity in a Philistine court. Yet the psalms of this season are not silent; Psalm 99 thunders above the fugitive’s road: “The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble… The king’s strength also loveth judgment.” God is not absent because the throne room is hostile; He sits between the cherubims while the earth is moved.
Notice, too, the tenderness threaded through the danger. Jonathan’s arrows shot beyond the lad, the covenant sworn between them, the friends weeping until David exceeded—these are the kindnesses of God in a hard season. And Samuel, “among them that call upon his name,” still stands over the company of prophets in Ramah; the old seer who anointed David is the refuge to whom he runs. When the Lord’s anointed is hunted, the Lord still provides a window, a friend, a prophet, a loaf of bread.
As summer leans toward September and the days shorten, we may feel the change in our own circumstances—a relationship cooled, a position threatened, a future uncertain. The reading invites us to trust the God who reigns even when earthly kings rage, and to be, like Jonathan, the friend who speaks good of another and stands in the field on their behalf.
Reflection
- When you find yourself, like David, in a season of escape rather than triumph, do you run to the Lord and to trusted friends—or do you rely on your own schemes, as David did with Ahimelech and Achish?
- Jonathan risked his father’s wrath to speak good of David; where is God calling you to defend the innocent or stand beside a friend, even at personal cost?
Prayer
O Lord, who reignest and sittest between the cherubims, we come to Thee as those who have known the javelin and the window, the fear and the flight. Thou art holy, and Thy strength loveth judgment; do Thou establish equity in our hearts when the world around us is moved. Thank Thee for the Jonathans Thou givest us—friends who speak good of us and weep with us—and make us such friends to others. When we are tempted to lie or hide or play the madman, teach us to call upon Thy name as Samuel did, and answer us. Be between us and those we love for ever, and keep us in Thy peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 99:1 — “The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.”