Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 16:2

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“And Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Following Jesus can be an adventurous affair. Things had disintegrated under Saul to the extent that he was actively eliminating potential threats to his rule. This is a mark of a truly insecure ruler. Samuel wasn’t someone who could travel freely in Israel. His profile was high enough that when he went somewhere, everyone—including Saul—figured it meant something. If he did anything significant—like, say, anointing someone else to be king—word was likely to get back to Saul who would likely deal with both the threat and its source with ruthless efficiency. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 4:3

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“And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?  Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been to a magic show? I’ve seen a few live, but I’ve watched plenty of them on TV. I love magic shows. I enjoy trying to figure out the tricks, but I enjoy even more being completely stumped. The best magic tricks always leave you feeling a bit like the magician has some kind of power over the natural world. He can make things happen that aren’t supposed to happen naturally. This is the connection modern magicians have with their more ancient counterparts. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 15:20-21

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“And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.””
(ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Have you ever tried to confront someone with the truth and they just wouldn’t see it. Saul had been caught not doing what God had commanded. God send Samuel to confront him about not doing what He had commanded. But Saul just wouldn’t see it. And now that Samuel was getting more insistent with his charge, Saul was trying to deflect and point the blame other places. Read the rest…

How Not to Comfort the Hurting

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In part two of our series, Grace in Hard Times, we take a look at the conversation among Job and his friends as they wrestle with the awful tragedies that have befallen him.  Their attempts at comforting gradually transform into attempts at condemning him when he won’t play ball with their notions of how the world works.  Along the way, we learn an important lesson on how to approach getting our minds around the hard times we face.  Keep reading to find out what it is.

 

How Not to Comfort the Hurting

Have you ever been sure you were right…until you learned you weren’t?  Tell me if you’ve been here before.  One day we were getting ready to go to the pool and I had asked Noah to go to the garage to get something for us to take.  We weren’t planning on making it a long trip and so to the boys’ disappointment we pretty severely limited the number of toys they were going to be able to take. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 14:23

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“So the Lord saved Israel that day. And the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)‬‬

We never know when God will use our small thing to accomplish a big one. The Philistines were defeated and Israel had hardly lifted a finger to do it. This was a big, big thing because absent some other kind of divine intervention Israel stood no chance against the Philistines in battle. And yet, this big thing began with a small one. Read the rest…