Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / June 16 - Listening Over Isolation

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June 16 - Listening Over Isolation · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in Scripture and relevant for today, June 16th.
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  Listening over isolation. There's a particular kind of
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  loneliness that comes not from being physically alone, but from
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  feeling like nobody gets you. Like you've explained yourself
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  100 times and people still misunderstand and after a while
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  it just feels easier to shut down, go quiet, and stop trying
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  to connect. Why bother if people aren't
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  going to listen anyway? Proverbs chapter 18, verses one
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  and two address this with some real honesty.
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  Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire.
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  He breaks out against all sound judgment.
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  A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in
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  expressing his opinion. Ouch.
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  That's direct, but it's also true.
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  When we completely withdraw from community and stop listening to
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  anyone else's perspective, we stop growing.
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  We get stuck in our own echo chamber, and that never leads
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  anywhere good. Now contrast that with David in
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  Psalm 70, verse one. Make haste, Oh God, to deliver
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  me. Oh Lord, make haste to help me.
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  David wasn't isolating, he was calling out in desperation and
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  urgency. He turned toward God rather than
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  inward. There's a difference between
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  solitude with God, which is healthy and necessary, and
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  isolation that pushes everyone out, including God.
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  David models the first, Proverbs warns against the 2nd, and then
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  first Samuel chapter 18 adds another layer.
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  David's success and favor with people triggered something ugly
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  in Saul. Jealousy verse 8 says Saul
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  thought he has become more honorable than I, and everything
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  he does succeeds. Comparison, insecurity, anger at
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  someone else's blessing. These are the things that make
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  us want to pull back, to compete rather than connect, to see
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  other people's wins as threats to our own identity.
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  Teen life, really all of life, is full of this tension.
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  Social dynamics, peer pressure, the constant comparison cycle of
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  social media, it can make you want to either compete
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  aggressively or disappear completely.
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  But God is calling us to something in between.
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  Humility that stays connected, honesty that listens, and trust
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  in God that doesn't rise and fall with what other people are
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  doing or saying about us. You don't have to have the last
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  word. You don't have to win every
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  argument. You don't have to perform your
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  success for an audience. Just stay connected to God.
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  Stay open to wisdom from others and trust that His plan for your
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  life is not threatened by anyone else's success.
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  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for
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  always being ready to hear us and help us when we feel
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  misunderstood or tempted to pull away.
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  Help us to turn towards You and toward wise community rather
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  than isolating in our own thoughts.
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  Teach us to listen well, to stay humble in success, and to trust
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  Your plan for our lives without comparing ourselves to others.
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  In Jesus name, Amen. What if the road ahead is not
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  meant to be rushed, feared, or walked alone?
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  Going with God is a prayer script series for believers who
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  need more than encouragement for the journey.
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  They need prayer language for walking with the Lord in real
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  life, right where they are. Through themes of pace, peace,
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  paths, provision, and protection, this series helps
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  you surrender urgency, receive steadiness, seek direction,
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  depend on God's care, and pray with confidence over the road
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  before you. Whether you feel stretched thin,
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  uncertain, weary, or hungry for a closer walk with God, Going
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  with God invites you to move forward with a deeper awareness
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  of His presence and faithful care.
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  Order now on Amazon or visit prayerscripts.org.
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  Now I invite you to spend time with God in today's three-year
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  Bible reading plan. Proverbs chapter 18 verses one
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  to two world English Bible A man who isolates himself, pursues
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  selfishness and defies all sound judgement a fool has no delight
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  in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.
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  Psalm Chapter 70 World English Bible Hurry God to deliver me,
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  come quickly to help me, Yahweh. Let them be disappointed and
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  confounded who seek my soul. Let those who desire my ruin be
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  turned back in disgrace. Let them be turned because of
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  their shame. Who say Aha, aha.
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  Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
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  Let those who love your salvation continually say, Let
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  God be exalted, but I am poor and needy, come to me quickly.
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  God, You are my help and my deliverer Yahweh.
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  Don't delay. First Samuel Chapter 18 World
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  English Bible When he had finished speaking to Saul, the
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  soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan
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  loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day and
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  wouldn't let him go home to his father's house anymore.
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  Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as
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  his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the
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  robe that was on him and gave it to David and his clothing, even
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  including his sword, his bow, and his sash.
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  David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved himself
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  wisely, and Saul set him over the men of war.
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  It was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the
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  sight of Saul's servants as they came.
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  When David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the
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  women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to
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  meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy and with instruments of
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  music. The women sang to one another as
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  they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David
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  his ten thousands. Saul was very angry and this
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  saying displeased him. He said they have credited David
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  with 10 thousands and they have only credited me with thousands.
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  What can he have more but the Kingdom?
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  Saul watched David from that day and forward.
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  On the next day. An evil spirit from God came
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  mightily on Saul and he prophesied in the middle of the
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  house. David played with his hand as he
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  did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand,
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  and Saul through the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the
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  wall. David escaped from his presence
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  twice. Saul was afraid of David because
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  Yahweh was with him and had departed from Saul.
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  Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and made him his
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  captain over 1000. And he went out and came in
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  before the people. David behaved himself wisely in
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  all his ways, and Yahweh was with him.
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  When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in
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  awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved
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  David, for he went out and came in before them.
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  Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Marab, I will
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  give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me and fight
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  Yahweh's battles. For Saul said, don't let my hand
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  be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.
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  David said to Saul, who am I and what is my life or my father's
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  family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king.
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  But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have
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  been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Mahalathite
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  as wife. Mikkel, Saul's daughter, loved
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  David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
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  Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to
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  him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.
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  Therefore Saul said to David, You shall today be my son-in-law
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  a second time. Saul commanded his servants,
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  Talk with David secretly and say, Behold, the king has
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  delight in you, and all his servants love you now therefore
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  be the King's son-in-law. Saul's servant spoke those words
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  in the ears of David. David said, Does it seem to you
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  a light thing to be the King's son-in-law, since I am a poor
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  man and little known? The servants of Saul told him,
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  saying David spoke like this. Saul said, Tell David the king
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  desires no dowry except 100 foreskins of the Philistines, to
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  be avenged of the King's enemies.
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  Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the
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  Philistines. When his servants told David
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  these words, it pleased David well to be the King's
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  son-in-law. Before the deadline David arose
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  and went he and his men and killed 200 men of the
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  Philistines. Then David brought their
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  foreskins and they gave them in full number to the king, that he
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  might be the King's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Mikkel, his
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  daughter as wife. Saul saw and knew that Yahweh
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  was with David, and Mikkel, Saul's daughter, loved him.
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  Saul was even more afraid of David, and Saul was David's
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  enemy continually. Then the Princess of the
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  Philistines went out, and as often as they went out, David
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  behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so
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  that his name was highly esteemed.
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  Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
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  everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
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  Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope, and
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  walking daily with Jesus.