OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: SUNDAY APRIL 21ST 2024
THEME: YOUR EVENING
MEMORISE:
Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. Psalm 104:23
READ: 2 Samuel 21:15-17
15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
16 And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
MESSAGE:
If you are above 50, you are already in the second half of your day, and you need to apply wisdom more than ever before. By evening, you are supposed to be relying more on wisdom, not on strength as the flood might have subsided. You may refer to yesterday’s teaching to understand what I mean by the flood. Job 12:12 says that wisdom is supposed to be with the ancient; years are supposed to teach wisdom. Job 32:7 says that days should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. This is why it is said that a fool at 40 is a fool forever. You are supposed to have become wise by the time you are 40 because as people grow older, they naturally become weaker.
Nobody will believe, except those who are close me, that I used to be a boxer. Nobody will believe that there was a time I could carry a bag of cement in one hand and another in the second and say that I was balancing the equation. Now, even with two hands, I will think twice before l pick up a bag of cement.
In 2 Samuel 21:15-17, the Bible says that David waxed faint. This was the same person who killed a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-35). He was the same person that delivered 200 foreskins when he was asked to get a hundred (1 Samuel 18:25-27). David, the giant killer, the one who single-handedly cut off Goliath’s head, waxed faint, and he would have been killed in battle if somebody had not come to his aid. What lesson can we learn from that? When David was at his peak, he had prepared for the time he would grow faint. In 1 Samuel 22:1-2, when he was in the cave of Adullam, he gathered some vagabonds and turned them into mighty men. It was one of his boys that was there to help him when his evening came.
In 2 Samuel 23:1-39, we read of the people he had prepared who were now called ‘David’s mighty men: These men risked their lives by taking on an entire army just to get him water to drink. If you are in your flood age, you should prepare disciples when things are going very smoothly. Are you preparing for those days when the flood will be gone? What arrangements are you making during your daytime because the night is coming? I am speaking in proverbs, but a word is enough for the wise.
KEY POINT:
Start building younger people now so that when your strength is no longer as before, they can be there to help you.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Kings 11-13
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE
HYMN 10: IN CHRIST ALONE
1 In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here, in the love of Christ, I stand
2 In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save
‘Til on that cross, as Jesus did
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin, on him, was laid
Here, in the death of Christ, I live.
3 There in the ground, his body lay
Light of the world, by darkness, slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave, he rose again
And as he stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am his and he is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
4 No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His Hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here, in the power of Christ, I stand.
