Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Think ahead with me to 1 Samuel 17. Here is David, standing by Saul, as a giant lumbers across the distant landscape. Saul says, "Who are you?" "I'm David." Saul says, "Where have you been?" "With my father's sheep." Then Saul says, "You can't fight this Philistine. You're just a little kid."

God knew David had the quality of integrity. Today, we live in a world that says, in many ways, "If you make a good impression, that's really all that matters." But you will never be a man or woman of God if that's your philosophy. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty.

God saw in David the quality of humility. The Lord had gone to the home of Jesse in spirit form. Jesse didn't know God was there. Nobody did. God was on a secret surveillance mission in that home, and he spotted Jesse's youngest son and said, in effect, "That's My man!"

Paul's whole thrust in his first letter to the believers at Corinth was, "I'm not coming to you with brilliance or human wisdom, and I'm certainly not coming to you with any kind of impressive physique or profound philosophy. Instead, I come in the power of God."

What was Samuel's problem? He was panic-stricken. He was just plain scared. Where were Samuel's eyes? Well, they certainly weren't on the Lord. They were riveted on Saul. From a human viewpoint, of course, Samuel was right. King Saul was murderous.

The tragic story of King Saul is that he never, ever fully repented of his sin. Saul's greatest concern was his image, how he looked before the people. Even after Samuel gave him a break, Saul took advantage of it and continued in that same vein until the day he took his own life.

When God scans the earth for potential leaders, He is not on a search for angels in the flesh. He is certainly not looking for perfect people, since there are none. He is searching for men and women like you and me, mere people made up of flesh, bone, and blood.

When we read this part of [Moses'] epitaph and think of all the mighty power and all the miracles that Moses did, many of us tend to think, Moses is in another league. I can't touch him. This life I've observed amounts to just another theoretical study.

I am always amazed to hear how the Lord uses His Word in the lives of His people. I don't know your circumstances. I don't know how God intends to use this episode from the life of Moses in your own life. It may be that these words fall on a very hungry heart.

Moses asks for a man "who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd" (v. 17).

Wouldn't you love the ability to go back in time and change something you did or said? I know there have been moments in my life—awful moments when I acted on the impulse of the flesh—that I would dearly love to call back. But alas, I cannot.

Now, wait a minute! Did we miss something? Where did Moses get the okay to deliver that scathing address? The truth is, he didn't. Then where did it come from? From anger. Brimming with hostility and reacting in unbelief, he takes that rod and preaches an angry sermon to the people.

These young men were jealous for Moses' role. They said, "Moses, you can't let 'em get away with that. You're the prophet. What are Eldad and Medad doing in there? Who do they think they are, prophesying like that? That's your job."

Now we know why God met with Moses. But what did He reveal? Verse 12 tells us: He revealed His written word. The first thing God gave to this man who met with Him was His truth in written form. No one has ever had in his possession a more valuable document than this.

Isn't it great that God gave His people written instructions to obey? This is the first time in all of history that God wrote down His Word. Until the time of Moses, the written Word of God did not exist. But now, here it was. And to think, you and I possess those written words!

What a magnificent experience! If you live in an area shaken by earthquakes, you feel a little ripple now and then, get a funny feeling, and then life returns to normal. But how often do you see a granite mountain shaking or hear constant thunder rumbling from lightning strikes?

So deep, so profound must be this respect for God's holy presence that no one was even to touch the mountain. The people were to wait upon God to speak to Moses and hear the Lord's words through the Lord's servant.

The Christian worker is a strange breed. He or she wants it to look as if the work is terribly hard. In fact, the more difficult and strained the look, the better. Christian workers are notorious for what I call the "tired blood" look.

Each of us has his or her own wilderness cycle. Some struggle with a quiver full of small children at home. Others have no children. Your test may not be related to the home at all; it may be connected to your employment.

Time has passed. If you read the previous passage in chapter 15 with a careful eye, you observe that it took them only three days to find the water they now enjoyed. But now it's been a month and a half—more than forty days!