Teach Me How to Do Your Will - DAVID UNDERSTOOD HOW TO US PRINCIPLES

There is something else we can learn from the way David acted. David understood how to use principles and wanted to  live by them. A principle is a basic truth that helps us to make good decisions and helps us to understand how Jehovah thinks about a matter. Just as David did, we can often learn a principle from one of Jehovah's laws. For example, one day David said that he wanted "a drink of water from the cistern  of Bethlehem."  But Bethlehem was under the control of the Philistines. Three of David's men risked their lives by going to that city to get the water. But David refused to drink it.  He "poured it out to Jehovah." Why? Because David  said:  "It is unthinkable on my part, as regards my God, to do this !  It is the blood of those men that I should drink at the risk of their soul?  For it was at the risk of their souls that they brought it." - 1 CHRONICLES 11:15-19.

David knew that the Law said that blood should be poured out to Jehovah and not eaten. He also understood why this was the Law. David knew that "the soul of the flesh is in the blood."  However, this was water, not blood.  Why did David refuse to drink it? He did this because he had learned a principle from the Law about blood. He learned that Jehovah viewed blood as precious.  Since these men could have died when they tried to get this water, David felt that drinking the water would show disrespect for their precious blood. Instead of drinking the water he decided that he should pour it out on the ground. - LEVITICUS 17:11; DEUTERONOMY 12:23, 24. 

God's Law was an important part of David's everyday life.  He sang:  "To do your will, O my God, I have delighted, and your law is within my inward parts." (Psalm 40:8)  David studied God's law and meditated on what he learned. He trusted that he would benefit if he followed Jehovah's commandments.  David wanted to follow not just the rules of the Law of Moses but also the principles that he could learn from those rules. When we study the Bible, we should meditate on what we read.  That way we can make the principles we learn a way of our everyday life and make decisions that please Jehovah.

Next time: Teach Me Your Will to do Your Will - Conclusion of DAVID UNDERSTOOD HOW TO USE PRINCIPLES

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