160th Week I Samuel Chapters 10-14 (Click on Title for Video Introduction)

 Click on Title for Video Introduction

Monday, I Samuel Chapter 10

I Samuel l0

Verse 6

Matt Strayer

Verse 6:  The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.

THOUGHT

I am going to steal from the study notes in my Bible for this verse because it did such a great job of painting a picture of what happened. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s Spirit “came upon” a person temporarily so that God could use him or her for great acts. This was not always a permanent, abiding influence, but sometimes a temporary manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave the person power to do what God asked, but it did not always produce the other fruits of the Spirit, such as self-control. Saul, in his early years as king, was a different person as a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in him. But as Saul’s power grew, so did his pride. After a while he refused to seek God; the Spirit left him, and his good attitude melted away.

I think we all in some way can relate to this. We have felt “in the groove” so to speak with God. We are praying, listening to Him, and earnestly seeking Him. Things are going great, and His will is being done. Then we slowly get prideful and think this was our doing, and the human, sinful nature creeps in. God can, has and will empower us all. Let’s use this verse as a reminder of God’s ability to empower people, and not let our human pride stop His progress.

PRAYER

God, help us to seek You each and every day in our lives. We know the great things that You can accomplish through us if we just allow You to do so. Please remind us of our prideful ways and teach us to do our best not to behave this way.  AMEN

Tuesday, I Samuel Chapter 11

I Samuel 11

Verse 6

Matt Strayer

Verse 6:  When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.

THOUGHT

Anger is a powerful emotion. Often it may drive people to hurt others with words or physical violence. But anger directed at sin and the mistreatment of others is not wrong. Saul was angered by the Ammonites’ threat to humiliate and mistreat his fellow Israelites. The Holy Spirit used Saul’s anger to bring justice and freedom. When injustice or sin makes you angry, ask God how you can channel that anger in constructive ways to help bring about a positive change.

PRAYER

God, we ask that when we are filled with anger towards sin, You would show us how to use it to have a positive influence in the situation. Help us to only get angry at sin and injustice and to control our tempers in other situations. Also, please help us to throw off passivity. So many times, it is easier to ignore the problem. Help us be people of action in these situations.  AMEN

Wednesday, I Samuel Chapter 12

I Samuel 12

Verse 24

Mindy Strayer

Verse 24:  But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

THOUGHT

This verse is Godly advice. What a great teacher Samuel was for Israel. Samuel was stuck with these people whose hearts were full of sin and continued to teach and instruct them in the ways of the Lord. First he proves to Israel that he can be trusted to tell the truth. He reminds the Israelites of all the times when God delivered them from the hands of their enemies. He tells the people the sin they had committed against God when they asked for a king’s leadership and not God’s. And then to really get

their attention, to help them realize their sin, he calls on God to punish the people by sending the storm so that they would know how much their sin had angered God.

When the people realized what evil they had done, Samuel gave them the best advice you could give someone who had distanced themselves from the Lord by sinning. Samuel tells the people not to be afraid of rejection, for God does not reject His people when they seek Him with all their heart. He tells them not to turn away even further from God, but to serve the Lord with all of their hearts. In other words, he tells them to “Turn from their sin and get closer to God.”  Don’t say, “Well I’m a sinner, there is nothing I can do to change; I can’t please God.” That is the devil’s talk. God will not reject a pure and repented heart. Samuel tells them that he is going to continue to pray for them, and teach them to walk in the way that is good and right before God. In other words, he doesn’t abandon the

people who so need a man of God to lead and teach them in their faith. 

At the end of the chapter Samuel pleads with the people to be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all their hearts, and to consider what great things He has done for them. And then he gives them a much needed warning about the consequences of continuing to sin against God. He tells

them straight up that they would not live. It is clear that Samuel did not want the Israelites to perish but that they would know God and live in His ways.

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for the teachers of the faith that You have placed in our lives. We ask that You strengthen them daily so that they can continue to teach Your Word. Lord, we pray that we ourselves would be like Samuel who trusted teachers of the faith. Lord, as we look back at our lives, we just

say thank You for all of the countless blessings You have given to us. We thank You for the air that we breathe, for the jobs that You’ve provided to the family and friends You’ve placed in our lives. We especially thank You for Jesus, our Savior and the source of our hope. Lord, we pray that our heart’s desire be to serve You faithfully in whatever way You have called us to. In Jesus Name We Pray. AMEN

Thursday, I Samuel Chapter 13

Samuel 13

Verses 13-14

Mindy Strayer

Verses 13-14:  “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

THOUGHT

Ouch! No kingdom because Saul didn’t follow God’s commands. No reward because Saul didn’t follow God’s commands. Samuel told Saul that he acted foolishly. You know that Saul wasn’t thinking of God because in verse 12 he starts each sentence off with, “I thought.” and “I felt.” Both of these sentences were centered on Saul’s abilities and his emotions. Thinking about things relies on our brain power. Praying about things, however, relies on God’s power. Feelings are not a reliable source. If we all made decisions based on how we felt all the time, we would get ourselves into trouble more times than not. 

What was it that kept God from blessing Saul with a great kingdom that would endure? Acts 13:22 refers to I Samuel 13:14 and states; After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: “I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Saul was not after God’s heart.  He tried to hide his sin from God, but God sees through all. He sees our true selves and all of our motives. 

Think about who it was that came through the lineage of King David, Only Jesus Christ, God Himself, and the Savior of the World!!!!! Too bad Saul did not trust and obey the Lord. 

So the key things to pray about are: Where are the areas in our lives in which we are not trusting and obeying God? Are we ourselves like King David, a man after God’s heart?

PRAYER

Lord, we love You! We want to please You and follow Your commands. Help us to remember the story of Saul as well as the story of David whenever we get impatient with Your timing and Your plan for us. Help us, Lord, to remember to go to You in prayer for all of our needs, trusting that You will answer

us and will be with us through everything. Holy Spirit, would You move in our lives and expose the sins we are committing against God? Bring conviction on us so that we can repent and ask God for continued guidance.  AMEN

Friday, I Samuel Chapter 14

I Samuel 14

Mindy Strayer

THOUGHT

Chapter 14 shows us what a poor state Saul’s spiritual condition was in.  This had a negative impact on his ability to be an effective leader. Saul was described as having lots of raw materials to be a good leader; appearance, courage and action, but those qualities alone were not enough.  Saul was missing God’s leadership, and he made many bad decisions without God.

These are examples of Saul’s attempt at leadership which show that Saul did not have God first in his heart.

FIRST: Leaders need God’s guidance to be able to make good decisions. Saul did not have a history of going to God first for guidance and help, as a leader ought. This is evidenced in verse 35 where it says, 'Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this.'  He had been king of Israel for a couple of years already and had never built an altar to worship the Lord.

SECOND:  Saul wanted to act before consulting God on what action God wanted him to take. When Saul was about to act impulsively and attack the Philistines, the priest had to suggest to Saul in verse 36, “let us inquire of God here.” Essentially they were saying, “Hey Saul, let’s call on God and see what He has to say before we rush into this attack.”  God was an afterthought for Saul.

THIRD:  When he did go to God, he was not patient in waiting for God to answer. In verse 19 Saul tells the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” In other words, Saul wanted to do things his way, on his timing, not God’s. God’s timing didn’t fit into Saul’s personal agenda so he wrote God off.

FOURTH:  Saul allowed his arrogance and need to protect his image get in the way of doing what was right, and his son was almost killed because of this need to save face.

FIFTH:  Saul caused his people to suffer needlessly because of his selfishness and pride. Verse 24 says, "Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted food. Too many I’s and my’s in that last sentence. He should have been thinking about his soldiers’ welfare.

LESSONS LEARNED:  1.How many times in our lives do we essentially tell God to remove His hand?  We tell God to get on with things already because we have a life to live. We must not forget God, and try to run our lives ourselves.  We will never be able to run them better than God can.  2. Our spiritual decay has a negative effect on the people in our lives.

PRAYER

Lord God, help us to keep You first in our lives, so that we do not fall into spiritual decay. Lord, we acknowledge our dependence on You to lead us in our lives. Holy Spirit, would You minister to us daily so that we can follow the way of the Father. In Jesus Name we pray.  AMEN