Day 22

The books of Samuel tell us the story of the union of the people of Israel and how the various tribes under judges, as they conquered neighboring lands, became unified before a monarchy during the reign of Saul and David. After David defeats Goliath the paths of Saul and David are unified but Saul is filled with envy and begins to persecute David even though God lets him know in many ways that David is the king He has chosen. David ends up running away and everyone continues to fight their separate ways. Once again Saul turns his back on God disobeying his commands and ends his days consulting a fortune teller to invoke a spirit to help him defeat the Philistines, but ends up taking his own life in the face of imminent defeat. It is evident that Saul did not feel loved by God and this leads him to seek answers outside of Him and according to his own ideas. In 2 Samuel 2:10 we find that a general of the army names a successor king from his offspring "Ishbaal, son of Saul, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years; but the house of Judah followed David." It is worth mentioning that the name Ishbaal is translated as the "name of Baal" which in Hebrew means pagan. Today God is asking you. Who do you follow? It is interesting to see that the tribes of Israel are unified at the end of the period of the judges, but at the same time they are also separated due to the confusion of a double reign. Although God called to anoint and appoint David as His king, there are those who decide to follow a pagan king, someone who believes in false gods and / or performs practices contrary to divine mandates and guidances, alluding to the name of Ishbaal. Today God is asking us to remain faithful, to recognize Him as our only king so that from the novelty of His Love, we can identify the false gods of our society. May the Lord open our hearts to His Eternal Love 🙏💕🕊️