Today, I struggled with the message God had for me and for those who read this blog. The story in Samuel has so much in it, but not of it truly touched my heart today. The passage in John is a hard passage and while the Spirit gave me a message for my life from it, it also did not truly touch my heart. Then I read the psalm. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” That lifted my soul and made me rejoice. “His faithful love endures forever.” Yes! My heart leapt for joy. Let me read on, “Has the Lord redeemed you?” He certainly has. “Then speak out!” Now that is a challenge. Am I willing to speak out to tell others how the Lord has redeemed me? But they might laugh at me!
Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
But they might think I’m a hypocrite!
Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
Oh Lord, put your Spirit in my heart and on my tongue so that I will indeed speak out. Give me the words to tell others of your great love and power.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Samuel anointed Saul and told him that God has appointed him ruler over Israel. Samuel then told Saul that a specific series of events would happen to him on his journey home. Finally Samuel told Saul to meet him at Gilgal, where Saul was to wait until Samuel arrived to offer sacrifices and give Saul further instruction. Saul left Samuel and things transpired exactly as Samuel had foretold.
After Saul had left him, Samuel called the people together at Mizpah. Once the people had gathered, Samuel recounted how God had saved the people in the past, but now they were rejecting God and demanding a king. Since they were demanding a king, God would give them a king. Samuel had the tribes present themselves before the Lord and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. Then each family of Benjamin was presented and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Finally, Saul was selected but when they looked for him, he could not be found. They inquired of God as to whether Saul had arrived and God revealed to them that he was hiding among the supplies.
Saul was brought forth before the people. He stood a head taller than everyone else and the people declared, “Long live the king.” Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of the king and wrote them on a scroll. Samuel then dismissed the people to return to their homes. Saul returned to his home as well. A group of valiant warriors accompanied Saul, but another group rejected him as king and grumbled about him. Every time I read this passage I am struck by how the first king of Israel was chosen because of his physical attributes. Yes, God appointed Saul king over Israel, but God knows peoples’ hearts. God knew that the Israelites would desire a king who was physically impressive, so He gave them Saul, who was handsome and tall, but lacked certain leadership skills. Although, as we see in the next portion of the passage, he had many of the qualities that one would desire in a leader.
Shortly after Saul was appointed king, Nahash king of the Ammonites attacked Jabesh Gilead. The people of Jabesh Gilead asked for terms of surrender. Nahash replied that he would accept their surrender on the condition that they allowed him to gouge out the right eye of each of them. They requested seven days to consider his terms and send to the rest of Israel for support. If at the end of seven days, no one had come to their aid, they agreed that they would surrender to his terms.
When the messengers from Jabesh Gilead arrived in Saul’s town, he was out in the fields. The people of the town wept when they heard the terms which Nahash was offering. When Saul returned from the fields, he asked why people were weeping. When they told him, he became furious and cut a pair of oxen in pieces. He sent the pieces throughout the land of Israel and summoned the people to rally to follow Saul and Samuel. Saul declared that he would cut up the oxen of any Israelite that did not join his campaign. Fear of the Lord came upon the people and they joined Saul’s campaign en mass. Saul mustered an army of 330,000 men. He sent word to the people of Jabesh Gilead that by the time the sun was hot the following day, his army would strike. When the people of Jabesh Gilead got this word, they sent word to Nahash that they would surrender the following day. That night, just before dawn, Saul attacked the forces of the Ammonites and slaughtered them.
After the battle was over, the people wanted to execute those who had initially rejected Saul as king. However, Saul refused to do so, saying that God had just given the people of Israel a great victory and it was a time for celebration, not reprisal. Instead, Saul called an assembly at Gilgal for sacrifices and for the people to reaffirm his kingship.
Saul did not seek power and was reluctant to exercise it until it was thrust upon him by circumstances. Yet later in life he became jealous of those he perceived as a threat to his power. He eventually became incapable of distinguishing between his personal interest and that of the kingdom. He should serve as a warning to those who become leaders among men. Power can be corrupting. I will touch on this theme as I read more about Saul’s kingship. But even in this passage we can see Saul’s use of others to further his power. When he called the people to battle, he did not call them just in his own name. He tied his name to that of Samuel. He did not summon the people of Israel to follow himself into battle, but to follow “Saul and Samuel into battle.” He used the name recognition and respect that Samuel had gained over a lifetime of serving God and the people of Israel to bolster his claim to authority. Saul had not spoken with Samuel before he sent out this message. He was using Samuel’s name for his own purposes.
Jesus responds to the grumbling by the people from yesterday, grumbling that amounted to, “Who does he think he is? He’s just Joseph and Mary’s son. What makes him so special.” Jesus tells them (and us) that no one can come to Him unless they are drawn to Him by the Heavenly Father who sent Him. On the last day Jesus will lift up those whom the Father has called to Him. Jesus told them (and tells us) that those who are called to Him will be taught by God. Everyone who actually listens to the Father and is willing to learn from Him will come to Jesus. Those who believe what He teaches will have eternal life. Jesus is the bread of life. If we take what He taught, both with what He said and what He did, and make it our essence, we will have never die. We need to take everything about Him into ourselves much like we take food and drink into ourselves. Jesus lives because of the Father and we live because of Jesus.
There were many among His disciples who grumbled that Jesus’ teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood was hard to understand (and it most certainly is, I struggled with finding meaning in this passage today) and expressed an unwillingness to accept it. Jesus did not pamper them and soften His teachings rather He emphasized them more. He went on to say that it is only through the Spirit of God that we can have eternal life. Our efforts accomplish nothing. We cannot be righteous by our own efforts (I was going to put “in God’s eyes” there, but the truth of the matter is that we cannot even be righteous in our own eyes if we are honest with ourselves). Jesus then told His disciples that some of them did not believe Him.
Many of Jesus’ followers gave up following Him at that point because they could not accept His teachings. Jesus then turned to the Twelve and asked them if they were going to leave as well. Peter responded for them by asking Jesus who they could turn to? This passage causes me to ask, which are we? Those who find His teachings too hard? Or those who ask, where else would we turn? I put myself in the latter class. I know that it is hard to follow Jesus’ teachings, and I often fail to live like Him as He calls me too, but too what other teachings can I turn? Every other teaching about how to live my life falls short of bringing me eternal life.
There is one more point I want to make here. When many of His followers turned away Jesus did not change His teachings and start to pander to them, or to His remaining followers. He continued to preach His message. We should not change our message just because people find Jesus teachings too hard. If we are faithful to God’s word His Spirit will guide us to where we can serve Him best. We may not see the results but God will.
What a psalm to sing! It should be in our heart every day.
His faithful love endures forever.
Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
As you read through this psalm can you identify with those the psalmist speaks of:
“Some wandered…lost and homeless.”
“Some sat…imprisoned in iron chains of misery.”
“Some were fools…and suffered for their sins.”
But of these the psalmist says they had one thing in common, they cried out, “Lord, help.” Then God led them to safety, snapped their chains and healed them. The land of the wicked will be turned to wasteland, but God will turn what is now wasteland into fertile land for those who love Him. To paraphrase the psalm, those who are wise will see in history the faithful love of the Lord.
The first of today’s proverbs tells us how we should behave when those around us (and perhaps ourselves) are under stress, we should work at giving a gentle answer. If we follow our all too natural reaction, we will only make matters worse and cause tempers to flare. Let us rather strive to give a gentle answer and help calm everyone down (even ourselves).
The second proverb tells us that the wise are able to speak in such a manner that others find learning entertaining, but fools spout nonsense and everyone knows it.
The final proverb tells us that God is watching everywhere all the time, both the good and the evil. God is not like those authority figures you remember from childhood who were only watching when you did something wrong. Nor is He like those authority figures who were never watching when the “good” kid who was really a bully was instigating trouble and always blamed others for that child’s misbehavior. No, God is always watching everywhere and He sees when you do wrong, but He also sees when you do right.