159th Week, I Samuel Chapters 5-9 (Clink on the Title for a Video Introduction)

Click on Title for Video Introduction

Monday,  I Samuel Chapter 5

 I Samuel 5

Verses 2-3

Bart Strayer

Verses 2-3:  Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD.

THOUGHT

I must admit, this verse made me chuckle. The Bible is full of great accounts of God going against the false gods and putting on a visual display of defeat. Our God is an ever living God, strong and powerful.

The account of the ark in the first few chapters of Samuel is unique. It offers us a glimpse of the direct disciplinary actions of God. God wasn’t sending an army to punish the people; they were dying from His hand. This is one of the strongest examples of how displeased God can be. In the time after Christ, it is easy to forget that God is to be feared. He is slow to anger. However, justice will be served in due course. It is the fear of God that helps us remain on the right side of God and not disobey His commands.

PRAYER

Dear God, help us to stay on the right side of Your Will for our lives.  Help us as we struggle with temptations and acts that are not pleasing to You. We thank You for Your forgiveness in times of our weakness. We thank You for sustaining us through our problems. We pray in Jesus Name. AMEN

Tuesday, I Samuel Chapter 6

I Samuel 6

Verse 13

Bart Strayer

Verse 13:  Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight.

THOUGHT

Here ends the travels of the ark. Through its travels, God tried to make the people understand that God’s power cannot be harnessed in an ark.  God’s power is not to be used for personal gain. Unfortunately it cost them their lives time and again. God could not let them disregard His warnings and come to this ark flippantly. So unfortunately, it resulted in more deaths in Beth Shemesh. It is important to remind ourselves that what God calls us to do with our lives is for His Glory, not our personal gain.  God will bless us with successes in our lives at times. It is important that in those moments to not forget where the source of our blessings come from. If God has given you a gift, it is to be shared with the body to bring Glory to His Name. Don’t hoard it for yourself. Share it.

PRAYER

Dear God, we thank You for another week of time spent with You. We ask that as the weekend draws near, help us to maintain our focus on You.  Prepare our hearts for worship. Help lead us in every aspect of our lives so that our hands will bring You glory. In the Name of Jesus. AMEN.

Wednesday, I Samuel Chapter 7

1 Samuel 7

Verse 3

Matt Strayer

Verse 3:  And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

THOUGHT

We have two thoughts from the passage. The first is the need for repentance in our lives. In this verse Samuel is asking the Israelites to repent of their idolatry. Notice Samuel doesn’t tell them to just tell God how sorry they are for worshipping other gods, but he wants them to rid themselves of it.  Repentance is twofold, acknowledging the sin and then completely turning away from the sinful behavior. I think we can all agree it is much easier to feel sorry for what we have done than it is to change a sinful behavior. God not only wants us to tell Him He is first in our lives, but He wants us to put Him there.

The second thought is related to the first. God wants to be first in every area of our lives. Sometimes it is easier to divide life into sections. One section is for God, one for work, one for family, hobbies, etc. To me this verse is a reminder that God wants to permeate every area of our lives. He wants us to consider all of our time, passions, endeavors, etc. - His and not our own.

PRAYER

God, we know there are things in our lives that are not right. We have placed things in higher priority over You and have refused to give You control of things in our lives as well. Forgive us and teach us how You want us to live. Make it evident to us the things that need to be changed. Thanks for Your grace, mercy, and patience in these areas of our lives that are a struggle. You are so good to us!  AMEN

Thursday, I Samuel Chapter 8

I Samuel 8

Verses 6-7

Matt Strayer

Verses 6-7:  But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” this displeased Samuel: so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him; “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”

THOUGHT

God’s original plan for Israel was for God himself to be the king. God had promised to be their savior and deliverer.  God was Israel’s only king for a while until I Samuel 8. In this chapter the people rejected this idea and wanted a human king. This was a major turning point for the Israelites. The rejection of God was a sin that came with consequences. The kings Israel had were all human, and therefore brought sin into the picture. For example, many married foreign women (which God told them not to do), and these women brought their idols with them, thus introducing even more idolatry into Israel.

The bottom line is that God’s way is the best, and any plan we can come up with is not going to compare. The Israelites thought they could solve their problems by having a human king, but what they really needed to do is to give themselves completely over to God. I think they had a huge case of, “If only”.  How easy it is to get stuck in that rut! Right now in the Strayer household it is, “If only the house were done now.”  The funny thing is last year it was, “If only we were already married”.  Well, now we are married, but somehow that didn’t fix all our problems and give us complete satisfaction (don’t worry, we are happily married!). Deep down we know a home or anything else of this world won’t either. Yet, it is hard to rid ourselves of that mentality! We need to learn to be completely satisfied with God.

PRAYER

God, please teach us to be completely satisfied with You alone. Help us to trust in Your provision and not our own abilities. Help us recognize Your plan for our lives and move forward in faith. Please keep us from making anything other than You king in our lives, and thank You so much for wanting to be our king! AMEN

Friday, I Samuel Chapter 9

I Samuel 9

Verse 3

Matt Strayer

Verse 3:  Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father, Kish, were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys.” 

THOUGHT

In this chapter. Saul’s father loses his donkeys and sends Saul and a servant to look for them. Saul and the servant end up traveling much longer than they anticipated to find the donkeys. After traveling for three days, Saul suggests they go back as his father is probably beginning to worry more about them than the donkeys. The servant suggests they go to a nearby town to see the sear and ask if the sear can tell them where the donkeys are. The sear ends up being Samuel who then goes on to tell Saul he is the one God has chosen to become king of Israel.

When the donkeys were lost, Saul and his father were both probably of the mindset that this was a bad thing.  They were probably thinking about the loss of assets, the time they were going to spend looking for the donkeys, etc. I am also guessing neither of them knew what God was up to. God needed to orchestrate a meeting between Saul and Samuel, so God got creative. He had something unfortunate happen to Saul which led him straight to Samuel.

I am sure there have been times in our lives when God uses something bad for His good. We need to remember while encountering the difficult and annoying moments in life that God may have a purpose beyond our comprehension.

PRAYER

God, help us to relax and trust You when things do not go our way. We thank You for how You use the difficult situations we encounter to build character in us, protect us, and put us in the right position to do our will. Remind us of Saul searching for his donkeys for three days the next time we are in a bind. AMEN