1 Samuel – Page 9

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 3:1

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018Leave a comment

“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to talk to someone who wasn’t really listening? Let me rephrase that: When was the last time you tried to talk to someone who wasn’t really listening? I have three boys at home under the age of 10. In our household that’s a daily exercise, and it will probably continue to be that way for the next 15 years or so. Joy… Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 2:25

July 25, 2018July 24, 2018Leave a comment

“‘If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?’ But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of those verses that’s hard to get our minds around at first read. And second read. And third too. The Lord willed to put them to death? What happened to mercy and compassion and grace? Who can survive if the Lord deigns to destroy them? Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 2:17

July 23, 2018July 18, 2018Leave a comment

“Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Religious sin is disgusting. Are you with me? There’s something about seeing people use religion as a means of committing some kind of sin that is particularly repulsive. We may not be able to give precise wording to it, but something inside of us recoils with especial revulsion when we see it. There’s just something rotten about it. Do you know what? God feels the same way. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 1:11

July 20, 2018July 18, 2018Leave a comment

“And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Check out Hannah’s vow here. The last major judge of the people of Israel prior to Eli (who, while personally faithful, was not a great father and whose sons were faithfully carrying on the terrible legacy of the era) was Samson. Given Hannah’s vow here, Samuel was in some ways the anti-Samson. Read the rest…

Job One

June 18, 2018June 20, 2018Leave a comment

This past Father’s Day I issued an encouragement and a challenge to dads. If we take the Scriptures at face value, we are the ones primarily invested with the responsibility of passing on our faith to the next generation. In what follows, I talk about how exactly to do it. Thanks for reading.

Job One

As most of you know, I am a Kansas City Royals fan. I know…this has been a tough summer. But three years ago, it wasn’t. Three years ago was the best summer to be a Royals fan since…well…the summer before (there’s even a children’s book about that one that is on the shelves at home). But before that you have to go back 1985 to find one of comparative excitement. As for the summers in between, I’ll be honest: They were pretty rough. There were four seasons when we lost more than 100 games (for my non-baseball fans that’s a notable mark of having had an exceedingly bad season)…three of which were back-to-back-to-back. There were many more when we were just generally bad. The badness occurred at pretty much all levels from the top of the organization to the bottom. Read the rest…