Posts that reference the book of 1 Samuel

1 Sam

Listening

Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 1 Samuel 3:1

The word of the Lord was rare.
It’s not because God was reluctant to speak.
Or because He had nothing to say.

It was rare because no one was listening.
They went through all the routines of worship.
But … there were other gods who needed attention, too.

How rare is the word of the Lord in these days?
Are we listening?
Or are we going through all the routines
While we divide our attention?

Is the word of the Lord rare in my own life?
Am I listening?
Or am I just following a routine,
While my mind, my attention, my heart is somewhere else?

The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. And he was of the house of Caleb. 1 Samuel 25:3

It’s worth reading the whole chapter. The short version is that after David and his men had protected Nabal’s shepherds, Nabal refused to pay them and insulted them instead. David intended to exact bloody revenge on the entire household of Nabal.

Until his wife, Abigail, intervened.

She was a woman of good understanding. Wise, sensible, discerning.
Then she was decisive. (v.18)

She was tactful and humble in dealing with a crisis she did not create.
Then she diffused a volatile situation. (v.24)

She was devout, pointing David to God’s promises to him.
Then she prompted a change in David’s course of action. (v.32)

Conflict is common, maybe not on the scale of David and Nabal, but it is all around us.
We can be a rare voice of calm.
We can be peacemakers.

We can be like Abigail.

The Armorbearer

By Paula Wiseman

In 1 Samuel 14, there is a little-known story about a military victory by Saul’s son, Jonathan. However, there is another person in the account who plays an important role– Jonathan’s armorbearer. Although we’re not even given his name, we can learn a great lesson from him.

The Situation

Israel was at the mercy of Philistine raiders, and Saul’s inept and ineffective leadership caused a wholesale desertion from his army. He was left with only 600 men to face the thousands of hardened Philistine warriors, and in Saul’s entire force, only he and Jonathan had actual swords.

The Leader

For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few. 1 Samuel 14:6

Jonathan was everything Saul wasn’t. With the courage of a soldier and a deep abiding faith, he proposed to confront the closest contingent of Philistines. Jonathan had the vision and the boldness to undertake a mission that would have seemed foolhardy except for the hand of God. Jonathan knew there were no limitations on what God could do, and that He was more than capable of delivering Israel with just a few men as He was using a great army, because ultimately the victory was the Lord’s.

The Follower

The armorbearer’s reply? “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.” (1 Samuel 14:7) While we usually give Jonathan all the credit, verses 11-14 make it clear that both young men were equally involved in the victory. Reading the rest of the chapter, this act sparked a turnaround within the entire army of Israel resulting in a historic defeat of their Philistine enemies wrought by the hand of God.

So, what lessons can we learn from Jonathan’s armorbearer?

Leaders need followers.

I am with you, he said. As soon as he understood Jonathan was looking to God for the victory, the armorbearer was all in. He didn’t lay down conditions or argue with Jonathan about the details of the plan. If our leaders are committed to God and His kingdom work, we shouldn’t hesitate to follow.

Leaders need encouragement.

Go then, he said. The armorbearer didn’t second guess Jonathan. He didn’t point out the obvious fact that they were horribly outnumbered or that Israel’s army was utterly demoralized. His response was, “Let’s do it.”

Leaders need help.

In verses 13-14, the armorbearer was there with Jonathan, step for step, not standing back watching.
Following is not glamorous. It takes humility and sacrifice. But it means seeing the bigger picture and greater goal of God’s glory and the expansion of His kingdom.

What leaders do you follow? What help and encouragement can you offer them?

Revival: Throw Out Your Idols

By Paula Wiseman

A new year is a good time to take stock and evaluate where we are compared to where we need to be. Many people, unhappy with that evaluation will make resolutions, and it’s no secret most of those people will abandon those commitments within a few days. As believers, we may be less in need of a resolution and more in need of REVIVAL. We’re looking at some Biblical revivals to see what we may need in our lives. Last week we discussed the revival Israel experienced after their great sin in making the golden calf. This week, the prophet Samuel leads the nation to revival. His instructions begin with throw out your idols. Let’s set the scene.

Samuel was not just a prophet, but he was also the last judge over Israel. During the period of the judges, Israel fell into apostasy, then in judgment God allowed another nation to oppress Israel. The current oppressor was Philistia. They had a highly organized army and had iron implements of warfare, like shields and swords. This gave them a decided advantage.

In the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, the war with Philistia has heated up, with the loss of the Ark of the Covenant and the death of Eli, the priest. Because God is not like the pagan gods of the Philistines, He divinely protected His Ark and it wasn’t long before the Philistines returned it. When a group of men from Beth-Shemesh were killed for looking inside the Ark, the entire nation mourned that God had abandoned them.

That’s when the prophet speaks.

“If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:3)

He gave them four things to do. 1. Repent. 2. Throw out your idols, your foreign gods. 3. Direct your hearts to the LORD. 4. Serve Him alone.

This list still holds today. If we want revival, we must repent and get rid of our idols. While I doubt any of us have statues in our homes, it is easy to become idolaters. Think about what gives you peace, identity, comfort, purpose. If it is anything besides Christ, idolatry may be an issue.

Israel rejected their idols.

So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only. (1 Samuel 7:4)

Repentance is more than simply identifying sin. It’s more than even asking for forgiveness and being sorry for our actions. Repentance requires action, a change of direction. Israel took the action Samuel recommended, by throwing out their idols. We may need to action, even drastic action, to cut the idols from our hearts. It will no doubt be hard, but totally worth it.

God defended Israel.

But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. (1 Samuel 7:10)

Samuel said the reason Israel’s enemies were victorious was Israel’s heart problem, specifically a worship disorder. Rather than indignation and dismissal of the prophet’s words, Israel threw out their idols, and God worked in their nation. If we see the enemy gaining ground, it could be an indication that we also have a worship disorder. Rather than dismiss the very idea, if we respond in humility and with action, God can work in us and through us.

Samuel set up a memorial.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)

Samuel didn’t want Israel to forget their commitment to throw out the idols or God’s divine intervention. Likewise, we can memorialize milestones in our Christian life. They can encourage us to remain faithful. They can remind us that God does hear, He is with us, and He does act on our behalf. The name Ebenezer is probably best known from Dickens’s famous story, but it literally means “stone of the help.” The idea is that God had brought them that far, and would surely carry them forward. We have reminders, like our baptism, that confirm Christ has saved us and will bring us to eternity with Him.

Last week, Israel needed to recommit themselves to God’s Law. The first commandment in that Law is to have no other gods before the LORD. As we work toward our own revival, let’s make sure nothing has God’s spot in our hearts and lives. Next week we’ll see what David can teach us about revival.

A Study in Contrasts: Choosing a King

By Paula Wiseman

Study in contrasts choosing a king title graphic

You may remember from beginning grammar that conjunctions are words that connect words or ideas. “But” is the conjunction that joins contrasting ideas. When “but” appears in Scripture, it highlights something God wants us to notice, to learn from. We’re looking at some of these contrasts. Let’s consider choosing a king.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

In a familiar story in 1 Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel travels to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem because God has told him to anoint one of Jesse’s sons, the one God would choose, as the next king over Israel. So, when Jesse’s oldest, Eliab, was presented to the prophet, Samuel thought, “This must be the one!”

God stopped him, though with the words in verse 7. Man looks on the outward appearance BUT the LORD looks on the heart. In that simple statement, the Lord teaches us quite a bit about Himself, and about us. Let’s looks at some of those lessons.

We are limited. God is not.
Our knowledge is limited to what we can tease out with our physical senses. And we are dependent on being able to correctly interpret that data. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen forms during my early morning run that turned out to be trash cans or mailboxes once I got a little closer or got a better perspective. And I’m sure many of us can recall situations where we would have made a different choice if we had all the information available.

God is not limited in any way. His eyes don’t play tricks on Him. He doesn’t get foggy-headed when He lacks sleep. He doesn’t make rash decisions in the heat of the moment. Because of that, we can have complete confidence in Him and His leading.

God sees us for who we really are.
We can fool a lot of people, including ourselves, but God always sees our true selves. In some ways this is unsettling. No excuses. No cover-ups. But it can also be reassuring. He is privy to the absolute worst in us … and that hasn’t caused His love for us to waver the slightest bit.

God also knows our real intentions when someone else might get the wrong idea. He knows the burdens and pain we carry that maybe no one else does. Because of that, we can rest assured of His unfailing love for us and His care of us.

We need to learn from God’s example.
We can’t suddenly become mind-readers (or heart-readers, for that matter) but we can recognize that there is much more to the people we encounter than what we see on the outside. We can treat others with the compassion God demonstrates.

While we may never have to choose a king, we do make decisions about people all the time. (Note, that’s decisions, not judgments.) We choose who we do business with. We choose who to form relationships with. We choose who gets our vote. Like Samuel, we need to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us when we make those kinds of decisions rather than relying on the ‘eye test’.

In fact, James reminds us, we have that wisdom available to us.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-6

Here’s another post about choices: Q: Did I Not Choose?

Gilboa: Defeat

By Paula Wiseman

Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 1 Samuel 31:1

Mount Gilboa rises 1627 feet (496 m) above the Jezreel Valley. Jezreel was the site of numerous battles in Scripture and there is at least one more in its future.

In the last battle of King Saul’s long career as a warrior, Israel faced its longtime enemy, the Philistines. A few chapters earlier we see that the enemy was camped at Shunem (28:4) home of the widow Elijah will encounter several hundred years later. Shunem was in the heart of Israel and the Philistine army had been able to make its way there unchallenged.

While a long character study of Saul would be insightful, it is beyond the scope of this post. The bottom line is Saul had rejected God’s commands for most of his reign. Now in this critical moment, God did not hear Saul’s prayers for courage, for comfort, for deliverance from his enemies. Saul consulted with the witch at Endor whose dire predictions proved accurate.

So what happened at Gilboa?

Reckoning – Saul’s years of disobedience resulted in God rejecting him as king. Saul’s relentless fixation on David caused him to ignore the real threat to his kingdom. Now a huge Philistine army camped in the middle of his country. All the poor decisions he had that seemingly had no consequences manifested themselves on that mountain in that battle. His army fled, his sons were killed, and eventually Saul lost his own life. If we choose to live in rebellion, disobedience or even disregard toward God, we will face a reckoning as well.

Desperation – Saul was terrified. Frantic. Shaking with fear. Out of that fear, he did something desperate (and foolish). He left the camp and traveled seventeen miles, exposing himself to the Philistines and breaking the clear law of God to consult with a witch about the coming battle. Fear drives us to desperate, foolish things, too. Sometimes it prompts to look for help and advice from sources that are counter to God.

Defeat – It was no great surprise that the armies of Israel were routed that day. There was no confession and consecration. There was no reliance on God and His power. They fought the battle on their own merits, in their own strength and the results speak for themselves. It is also important to note that Israel placed its trust in a leader who had chosen to ignore the counsel of God. They paid a heavy price for that decision. We too, will fight battles in our own strength or follow bad leaders and end up suffering the consequences.

Mountains are usually associated with great things, with victories and with revelations. We’ll even look at a few more like that, but the lesson of Gilboa is that when the self overshadows God, bad things happen and in the case of this battle, others suffer along with us.

What didn’t happen at Gilboa was perhaps more significant than what did. Saul never recognized what was actually going on, that he was reaping the harvest of his rejection of God. He also never repented. Up until the very end, he tried to do things his own way. May we help redeem Saul’s story by learning from him.

Read all of the Mountains series