1 SAMUEL 15
I decided to go with the "softer" title for this blog. My first choice was God doesn’t care about your "good deeds." This was what Saul learned in 1 Samuel 15. He expressly disobeyed God’s command when he went into battle with the Amalekites. Nobody was to be taken alive, and everything that belonged to the Amalekites was to be destroyed.
1 SAMUEL 14
It’s a little disheartening to see what happened to Saul the further he traveled from the Lord’s plans. He began his kingship as a virtuous man, one who wouldn’t make a decree to destroy those who had spoken against him. But, not too far down the road, he bound his army under an oath, saying, "Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!" (vs 24) He had obviously had a change of heart regarding revenge.
1 SAMUEL 12
Out of this whole chapter, there was one verse that jumped out at me. As Samuel was giving his farewell address to the Israelites, they began to lament over the new evil they had done—asking for a king. In response to their distress, "Samuel answered, 'Don’t be afraid. It’s true that you have sinned, but don’t turn away from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.'" (vs 20)
1 SAMUEL 11
You know, it’s hard not to think of David when we read about Saul. Knowing how the story is going to unfold, and knowing that it’s David (not Saul) who was eventually called “a man after God’s own heart,” it is hard for me to let Saul’s story just be Saul’s story. Somehow, it always just feels like the prolonged prelude to the story of David. And, in many ways, perhaps it is.
Photo © Unsplash/Joshua Earle
this—
this!
is what I
long for:
a faith so strong in God
that I could
dream the dreams
brave the slave auction
endure the dungeon
and not let the
power and
position and
prestige
go to my head
a life so lived for God
that I could
suddenly find him
incarnate in me
when I come face to face
with those who have done me
wrong
a joy so complete in God
that I could revel
in my power to save
the very ones
who had wanted me dead
a heart so close to God
that in every evil act
I could see
only his goodness
only his goodness
1 SAMUEL 10
One of the things I love most about God is that He never just asks us to take His word for anything. He always backs it up with evidence. He always provides confirmation. And most of the time, He doesn’t provide just one type of confirmation either. He gives evidence both to us and those around us.
1 SAMUEL 9
I can honestly say that in all the times I’ve read the Bible through, I don’t remember ever reading this story before. I mean, I know I must have, but it was apparently one of those things that got filed away in one of my more dusty brain corners. But boy, did it ever get my attention today!
1 SAMUEL 8
Talking about politics these days can ruffle a few feathers, so it’s a topic I try to stay away from on the blog. (Besides, this isn’t a blog about politics. It’s a blog about God.) However, I couldn’t help but notice what I believe is an important (albeit politically-related) lesson about 1 Samuel 8.
1 SAMUEL 6
Well, just when you thought nobody was paying attention to God... along comes 1 Samuel 6. Up to this point, God has had more failure with Israel than success (or so it seems). Here and there, He has a person who appears willing to listen, but those people are few and far between. It could almost make you think that God isn’t very good at getting His point across.
Photo © Unsplash/Fadi Xd
as the years had come and gone
since selling Joseph like a pawn
Judah'd had a lot of time
to contemplate his clever crime
but watching how his father grieved
had been much worse than he'd conceived
it wore him down, right to the bone
he reaped much more than he had sown
until at last, a broken man,
he lived a different master plan:
a willingness to be the slave
to sacrifice, and thus to save
redemption needn't seem so strange
even dirty hearts can change
1 SAMUEL 5
This has got to be one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. I think it’s hilarious. You’ll remember from the last chapter that the Philistines whooped the Israelites in battle, captured the Ark of the Covenant, and carried it off back to their land. The first thing they did was put it in the temple of their own god, Dagon. (Dagon was a man-fish idol.)
1 SAMUEL 4
I found something in this chapter very interesting. It opens with the Israelites going to war against the Philistines. It didn’t go well. Thousands of Israelites were killed in the battle, and when they got back home, they wondered why they had met with such defeat. As a result, they decided that they would carry the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them the next time.
1 SAMUEL 3
Have you ever had something really exciting or really sad happen to you... and you just wanted to tell someone? And, at a time like that, have you ever tried to call your friends and family—person after person—and just kept getting sent to voicemail? I had that happen to me once, and it was so frustrating!
Photo © Unsplash/Patrick Hendry
There was no food to be found
growing in the land
but there was
a bumper crop of fear.
Jacob was afraid
he was going to starve to death
or lose Benjamin
trying not to.
Jacob's sons were afraid
of being overpowered
captured
and forced into slavery
in other words
exactly what
they had done
to Joseph.
Fear, fear everywhere
as if there was
no God of our fathers
no Yahweh-Elohim
no Jehovah-Jireh.
What would it have mattered
if Israel had no shortage of food
when there was such a
famine of faith?
1 SAMUEL 1
In 1 Samuel chapter 1, there is an interesting story of a man with two unhappy wives. Both were blessed in different ways, but neither was happy with their blessings. Instead, they wanted what they didn’t have. Hannah, the eventual star of the story, had her husband’s heart and affections. Whenever the family was dining together at the temple, Elkanah gave Hannah "a double portion because he loved her." (vs 5) He showed this affection to her even though she was barren. Of course, Hannah was distraught over the fact that she had no children. For women of that time, a childless existence was usually accompanied with feelings of shame and guilt.
RUTH 4
So, in the end, Ruth finds love. She has left her homeland, her people, and her customs to move with her mother-in-law back to Israel. And because of her willingness to follow God, she ends up as the wife of Boaz and the great-grandmother of King David (not to mention a direct ancestor of Jesus). From her lowly status as a heathen woman, she becomes a woman honored in the history of Israel. I think that’s incredible.
