Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Danger of Getting What You Want | Historical Books | 1 Samuel 24

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Are we all just big toddlers? Do you cut corners to get what you want? Do you trust God even when he doesn't give you what you want? In today's episode, Jensen shares how 1 Samuel 24 encourages us to trust God's promises, even if it leads us into uncomfortable situations. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Samuel 24

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. My house is full of people trying to regain control. Parents trying to manage toddlers, toddlers trying to manage each other, everyone wanting their own way and honestly failing to get it most of the time. We're working on teaching Jude, my three-year-old, how to be patient with his little sister. When she has one of his toys, we talk about. asking nicely, repeating the request, and waiting for her to make a good choice and give the toy back. If she doesn't, Judah is supposed to come and ask mom for help. The toy is rightfully his. If he's patient and uses good manners, then he knows that mom is going to come and get his toy back

for him. Now, that happens approximately zero out of ten times, right? We're working on it. What actually happens is something along these lines. Florence steals Jude's toy. Jude's screams in a high-pitched ear-splitting scream only toddlers can make. That's Jude's. He then runs after the now-fleeing Florence, pushes her down, and rips the toy out of her hands as she adds to the general uproar with her own screams of protest. Welcome to my chaos. And we're working on it. But what I love about toddlers and raising toddlers, genuinely, is that I'm realizing more and more, that I'm just a big toddler, right? Like, I have the same wants, the same desires, instincts, sin patterns as my toddlers. In some cases, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I can see that I've grown in those areas. I've learned real restraint and

replaced impulsiveness with wisdom. But, unfortunately, in many areas, I haven't put to rest the sinful desires. I've just learned how to obey them in a way that's socially acceptable. When I believe I have a right to something, when I want it, when I think I deserve it, or it's mine, I don't run screaming and physically assault someone to get it, right? That would be crazy. Instead, I use tact. I manipulate the situation, plan, take control of the situation to make sure that I get what I want. I don't like to be patient and wait. I don't often pray to ask if my desires are good or if they align with what God has for me. Instead, I take control in my own adult way.

And usually I justify what I'm doing. The thing I want isn't bad. Sometimes it's even a good thing, probably. And it's just not happening. So I need to take control and make it happen. Do I step on other people's toes? Do I make other people feel like I don't trust their ability or judgment along the way? Do I use my words to manipulate situations for my behavior?

benefit? Maybe. But usually, I'm okay with cutting corners and skirting the line of right and wrong if the thing I want isn't bad. Now, I'm beginning to realize that my attempts to make my sin more palatable to society has done nothing to actually combat the root issue. You see, when I try to walk Jude through a good way to respond when someone takes what he wants, I'm focusing on the behaviors. Don't hit, don't push, don't yell, and remain calm. What I should be focusing on is the last bit, trusting that mom is in control, that I want to help, that I will intercede in the best way. Ultimately, I should probably be teaching him, and we try, that what he thinks is his toy that he has a right to do is just something he gets to steward in this life, that nothing is really his,

that God is the one who gives generously and takes away at times, and we can trust him even when things seem out of our control. That part probably comes later as he grows up, but that's the part that I still need to learn. Trusting God, trusting his plan, trusting his timing, believing that he is working all things out for my good, even when it doesn't feel good. In 1 Samuel 24, David is given the opportunity to take control of his narrative. Remember, he's on the run, he's in the wilderness, and he's tempted. David is a man promised by God to be the next king. But now he's hiding out.

He's deep in a cave. He's on the run from Saul. And who walks into his cave? But Saul himself. Vulnerable, unaware of the danger he's in. And David's men say, This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.

That sounds right, doesn't it? God wants this. He wants David to be king. He said he'll deliver David's enemies into his hands and look. Here, he's done it. Go take what's rightfully yours, David. But he doesn't. Instead, he creeps up and he cuts a corner of Saul's clothes.

But even this grieves David later. Afterward, David was conscious-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed or lay my hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord. With these words, David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. So, when David's men tempt him to take control, to speed up the timeline, to take the crown for himself,

David remembers the Lord's commands, to not lay a hand on the Lord's anointed on Saul. It should remind us of another future king, Jesus, in the wilderness, tempted to take control of the devil, to seize the power that was rightfully his, and instead he looks to the wisdom and commands of God to be his guide. They both choose to submit to the Lord, to trust his plan, even when that plan keeps them as a fugitive in the wilderness or leads them to a hill and a cross. Now, both of these promised kings had something to gain by taking control,

something that was truly rightfully theirs, promised by God, something that ultimately wasn't bad, it was good, right, for them to sit on the throne, but they chose to remain faithful to God, to trust him, to obey him, to see their lives not in this one moment, not to impulsively act, but to see their lives in the big picture of God's story. If God promised it, he would be faithful. What would that look like in your life, to trust God and remain faithful, obedient to his commands even if it leads you into uncomfortable places. The examples of David and Jesus in the wilderness

teach us that God's plan doesn't always look at the way we might want it. It won't often be the easy way. It may not prioritize what we want to prioritize, comfort, success, ease, but it will always accomplish what it sets out to do. David remained faithful and obedient to God, even when it looked like it cost him big, because he trusted God. Had he acted, he may have removed an enemy, but he would have caused violence in the kingdom. He would have broken God's commands, and he would have taken the throne by force. If Jesus hadn't have gone to the

cross, if he had taken the throne, the kingship in another way, well, there would have been no path to resurrection for his people or for all of creation. The beauty that comes from trusting God, far outweighs the momentary relief we can get from taking control. Like it feels good in the moment we get what we want. We have the toy back. But what happens? Florence comes in and steals another toy and another one. Our sinful nature.

To want to take what we think is rightfully ours doesn't go away because we get what we want. It just grows. It gets power as we feed it. It takes over. we are never satisfied. Do you trust God? Do you trust God even when he doesn't give you what you want? Do you trust that God will be faithful to his promises? See, God is building a kingdom of love, justice, and mercy. He will eradicate all evil one day. He will physically resurrect all believers from the dead to live alongside him one day. Do you trust him to do that? If you do, if you really trust God,

allow it to give you the faith to be obedient today, even when obedience feels like it's taking you in a difficult direction. Even when it doesn't make sense, you can be like David, more grieved by the idea of disobedience than he is by his circumstances, willing to endure the trials of the wilderness faithfully for as long as God has because he trusts God's plan. Will you trust God today? Will you surrender your story, your plans, your desires to him? God, would you take our lives and use us for your bigger story to build your kingdom, not ours? God, give us the desire to pursue obedience and faithfulness. Give us the strength to endure the trials of the wilderness to take up our own cross for your glory. Help us to live our lives with

open hands, trusting you. Give us the peace we need to keep us from grasping for control. May we rest in the knowledge that you're in control, that you are trustworthy, that you are good, that you will remain faithful to your promise to redeem all of creation and bring us into your kingdom one day. Amen.