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.
After Saul’s victory at Jabesh Gilead, Samuel addressed the people of Israel. He summed up the history of Israel from the Exodus to the then current time. He told them how when they cried out to God for rescue from oppression, God sent leaders to overthrow the oppressors. Yet time and again the people returned to worshiping idols, despite having seen the mighty works of God. Finally when threatened by Nahash, they asked for a king, even though God was already their king. God granted their request and gave them a king. Samuel went on to tell them that if they listened to God and obeyed His commands, all would be well with them under their new king (and his successors). But if they rebelled against God and refused to listen to Him, then God would bring judgment against them as He had against their ancestors.
Samuel then pointed out that it was the time of year when it did not thunder and rain before telling them that thunder and rain would come up to show how sinful they had been in asking for a king. Thunder and rain came at Samuel’s prayer. The people were frightened and asked Samuel to pray for them, they acknowledged their sin in asking for a king. Samuel told them not to be afraid, as long as they worshiped the Lord with all of their heart, and did not worship idols, God would not abandon them. But if they continued to sin, they would be swept away. When I read this passage, I see a warning to all peoples. If a nation of people listen to God and follow His commands, they will have a good government that looks after the interest of all of the people, no matter what form it takes. On the other hand, if they rebel against God and refuse to listen to His commands, they will have an oppressive government, not matter what form it takes. In either case, it does not matter if the government is a monarchy, a democracy, a dictatorship, or some other form of government. The key factor is whether the people listen to and obey God’s commands.
After this Saul kept approximately one percent of the men he had mustered to go against Jabesh Gilead (3,000 men) as his professional fighting force. Saul divided the force between himself and his son Jonathan. Shortly after this Jonathan took his force and attacked a Philistine garrison. The Philistines mobilized for war and Saul once more summoned the entire Israelite army. Saul was camped at Gilgal with the army, waiting for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices to God for their victory. On the seventh day, when Samuel had not yet arrived and men were slipping away from the encampment to go into hiding, Saul called for the sacrifices to be brought and offered them himself. Just as Saul completed the sacrifices, Samuel arrived. Samuel confronted Saul for what he had done. Saul explained to Samuel that the men were abandoning his army, he needed to make a sacrifice to God to bolster the morale of his army and Samuel had not yet come. Samuel told him that if he had kept God’s command in this, God would have established his throne over Israel for all time. But because he had violated God’s command, his kingdom would not endure and God would find Himself a more faithful servant to be king over Israel.
Here we see in clear light that Saul acted according to what he perceived as his political advantage. Just as when he invoked Samuel’s name when he mustered the Israelite army to battle against Nahash of the Ammonites, here he did what he thought he needed to do to bolster his power. In the first case, he did nothing wrong, he merely claimed the mantle of Samuel’s authority when Samuel was not actually involved. In this case, he did that which he knew was wrong in order to shore up his short term power. He offered the sacrifices in order to keep his army from deserting him and even there it failed. When he took a count of the men who were still with him, he was down to a force of 600. There is an important lesson here for us. we cannot accomplish God’s purpose, or advance His cause, by acting against His commands. When planning an activity, we must first ask what actions are within God’s will before we address the question of what will accomplish our goals. If we are start examining how to accomplish our goals before we have carefully examined what the parameters God calls us to operate in, Satan will get us to convince ourselves that the only way to accomplish our goals is something that goes against God’s commands. We will then convince ourselves that it does not go against God’s commands.
Jesus was traveling around Galilee and teaching there. He wanted to stay out of Judea because the Jewish leaders in Judea were looking for a way to kill Him. When the Jewish Festival of Shelters approached, Jesus’ brothers told Him that if He wanted to become known, He should go to Jerusalem for the Festival. Jesus replied that it was not time for Him to go, His brothers should go on without Him. When I read this passage, I get the impression that Jesus’ brothers wanted to bask in the reflected glory of being the brothers of this celebrated teacher. How often do we promote someone, not because we truly believe in what they do, but because we want to shine in the reflected glory of being the person to introduce others to them?
After His brothers had gone to the Festival, Jesus also went. But He went secretly and kept a low profile. The Jewish leaders were watching for Him, fully expecting that He would show up for such a high profile event. The crowds were buzzing with speculation about Him. Some people were saying that He was a good man, while others contended that He was a fraud and a deceiver. However, no one spoke publicly about Him because they were afraid of the religious leaders.
It was not until half way through the Festival that Jesus began to teach in the Temple. When people heard Him speak, they were amazed because by this time everyone knew that He had not studied under any of the religious teachers of the day. Jesus replied to this amazement by telling the people that His message was not His own, but came from God. He further told them that those who desired to do the will of God would know if His message was from God, or merely His own. He then gave us a tool we can use to determine if a teacher is preaching a message from God or from themselves. Those who speak from themselves want glory from preaching the message they bring. Those who are sent from God seek to honor God and the truth. I actually see two things we can use to test the message that someone preaches. First, do they attempt to use their message to gain glory for themselves? If so, their message is not from God. Second, do they avoid lies and deception and strive to speak only that which is true? If they do this, their message is from God. On the other hand, if their message contains deception and lies, no matter how much it seems to contain good elements, it is not from God.
Another uplifting psalm. “My heart is confident in you, O God;” Yes, yes it is. I will praise God among the people. I will not hide my love for God, nor my trust in Him. I will not reject human help, but it is only with God’s help that I, or anyone else, can accomplish great things. I pray that God will lead me to serve Him according to the gifts He has given me. May He use me to bring glory to His name over all of the earth (or just this corner and use someone else to bring glory to His name elsewhere).
I am not much of a singer, but this psalm makes me wonder if I should sing more as I work on these devotions.
If we speak gently and soothingly to those who are struggling we can bring life to them. Actually, I prefer the King James translation of this proverb. “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.” Let us strive to speak wholesome words and wholesome messages, so that we might bring life to those around us. And let us avoid perversion in our speech because that will cause a breach in our very own spirit and may crush the spirits of those around us. Speaking wholesomely brings life to ourselves and to others, speaking perversion splits apart our very spirit and damages those who hear it.
