Category: Samuel

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Day 119 — II Samuel 5:1-10; I Chronicles 11 – 12

I wonder why the account of David’s mighty men is preserved in Scripture for us. What can you glean from these? If you have any ideas, please share them with me. Perhaps they are here to demonstrate to us what kind of leader David was, to sort of develop this character who was not only a giant of the Old Testament, but also one of the “Greats” of history. He inspired such loyalty from his men that three of them risked their lives to get a drink of water for him during a battle. However much he wanted the water, he did not want his men risking their lives for such a mission, and he showed that he meant what he said by pouring the water out rather than drinking it. He wasn’t demonstrating ungratefulness, but a great respect for their lives. He thus demonstrated that he was a leader who valued his subordinates as individuals and did not see himself as more important than them. He gave credit where credit was due by sharing the exploits of these men and identifying who were “the three” and who were part of “the thirty,” but note that Scripture does not give credit where credit wasn’t due. It was clear that some of these men were superior in might to others, and all received the recognition that they deserved.

This account also shows that David was not the kind of leader to recruit men out from under the king while he was not serving as king; these men came to him. He may have started out leading the rabble of society, but good men wanted to serve under him. Under God’s orchestration, the best of men came, in time, to serve under him.

By the time David was crowned king of all Israel, all of Israel were glad to accept him as their king. They acknowledged that this was God’s choice for their king, and they were wholehearted in their support for him. The result was that all of Israel was unified under David’s rule, and there was joy in the nation for it. There were no more reservations about David’s being the true king of Israel. This is an important fact to establish; David was neither a usurper of the throne, nor was he ever seen as a usurper.

The capturing of Jerusalem and establishment as Israel’s capital is another key event in this passage that we shouldn’t fail to note. David made his residence in the fortress within the city and called it the City of David.

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Day 110 — Psalms 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, & 21

These psalms highlight David’s making God his refuge and strength in times of trouble. If you are in a place to need refuge and strength, find help from this collection of psalms! If you’re not in that place now, file these for future reference when you do need refuge and strength.

In Psalm 6 David pours out his deep anguish. Can you relate to it? His soul is in such anguish that he is faint and feels bone-deep agony. He weeps all night, and his eyes grow weak with sorrow. Have you ever felt that way? Are you feeling that way now? It’s safe to say that if you never have experienced such sorrow, you will. David didn’t put a good face on it, nor did he try to cover it up with entertainments or hard work or other diversions; he gave it full expression, didn’t he? That’s a first step we can take from David’s example: he grieved. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” A treasured counselor once told me that if I want to get to the other side of grief, I have to go through it; there is no way around it.

But then, after pouring out his grief and wallowing in it for a while, he manned up, tightened his belt, and faced the truth: he had asked for God’s mercy, and he knew God had heard his prayer. He was so confident that God would extend mercy that he said, “Away from me” to the source of his grief. He was ready to move on.

Psalm 9 is another psalm that is a great help in offering praise to God. David starts with thanksgiving as he recounts God’s deeds on his behalf, then he moves on to praise God for who He is. Can you find anything in David’s recounting to give you reason to praise God? One thing that speaks to me is that He rules the world in righteousness. That is one of those truths that hasn’t yet happened, but is so certain that David speaks of it as if it were already done. The One who is sovereign over the nations will one day rule the world in righteousness. When you are confronted by evil in this world, isn’t it balm for your soul to anticipate the day when God will rule the world in righteousness? Doesn’t that make you love God all the more?

A key part of praise is to be glad and rejoice in God. Another is to sing. Another is to proclaim among the nations what God has done.

Do you suppose that God was truly standing far off in the midst of trouble as the writer of Psalm 10 complained? That is not what Scripture teaches us about God. The psalmist himself essentially acknowledged at the end of his psalm that God is near to the needy. Jesus told His disciples before He ascended to Heaven that He would never leave them or forsake them. Sometimes despite knowing the truth, we assume that God is far off, or we feel like He is. Just as offering praise at the time we don’t feel like praising God is a sacrifice, I’m guessing that drawing near to God when our enemy is trying to exploit our feelings to deceive us that He is far off, is an act of worship.

Know what God says in Psalm 14 about those who say there is no God – such a one is a fool. That’s not the world’s assessment, but the world doesn’t determine what is truth; God does. Ultimately their choice not to believe but instead to turn away from God, will overwhelm them with dread.

In Psalm 16, note how David describes his relationship with the Lord. This is a list-worthy exercise that I will leave for you to do on your own. Can you say like David, that God fills you with joy in His presence? If not, please confess that to God and ask Him to transform you so that it is so. And your part in that transformation is to do what that list shows you to do.

Psalm 19 is so rich to me that I have a hard time restricting my comments to a length appropriate for this post. I will limit myself to challenging you with the ideas that

  • God’s creation declares His glory: what does it tell you about Him?
  • God’s word is described here in the loveliest of terms; do you treasure it as such?
  • No one can discern their own errors; can you acknowledge that fact and offer the same humble petition that the psalmist did?

Psalm 21 presents a significant contrast between David and Saul. Despite his own exalted position among men, David credits God with the strength and victory that enabled him to succeed. Such does the man after God’s own heart; so if we want to be transformed into God’s image, we will seek His glory in all of our efforts and accomplishments. How freeing that it doesn’t have to be about us!

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Day 109 — II Samuel 1 – 4

Was David a hypocrite for mourning for Saul as he did, after having cried out to God for vindication against him? I don’t believe so. Recall that in the beginning of their relationship Saul loved David; perhaps that feeling was mutual. In any case, the nation of Israel had suffered a great defeat, with their king and his sons killed in battle. That would have given all the people reason to mourn; as a leader and a poet who felt such things deeply, David had all the more reason to mourn. Then there was Jonathan, whose soul was knit with David’s in friendship “more wonderful than (the love of) women” and by whom he had been strengthened in the Lord. His absence would doubtless be missed as David took over leadership of the nation.

Everyone seemed to understand that David was chosen by God to be the next king. The trouble between the commander of his army and that of Saul’s army demonstrated that assumption of leadership is not that easy. One can’t lead if the people refuse to follow. So David ruled as king of Judah alone for the first seven and a half years of his reign. Likely the situation was due in part to the habitual lawlessness that characterized the period of the judges. A nation doesn’t overcome that in the space of a generation with a weak leader such as Saul was. Do you see how precious a good leader is to a people? We have the luxury of taking that for granted in our nation, but it is a blessing from God. We should use the reminder in today’s reading to thank God for our leaders and pray for them.

Note David’s typical king-like behavior in taking four more wives (five if you count Michal) in the seven and a half years he ruled from Hebron. One of them was the daughter of the king of Geshur, which was a pagan king occupying land east of the Jordan River and adjacent to Israelite tribes living east of the Jordan. This was obviously a marriage designed as a political alliance. Such behavior might have been what a king was supposed to do in man’s eyes, but was not part of God’s plan for Israel’s king. These choices would cause him and the entire nation great heartache in the future. Even though he was a man after God’s own heart, David was not spared the consequences of his sinful choices. Let’s not be deceived into thinking that we could be spared the consequences of our sinful choices, either.

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Day 107 — I Samuel 28 – 31; Psalm 18

I don’t understand about the spirit world, and I don’t believe it is wise to delve into what God forbade His Old Testament people, so I have no insight about the ability of the medium to call Samuel.

Samuel told Saul that God had not only departed from him, but had become his adversary. Saul might not have minded at the time that God had departed from him, but he minded desperately now. He was a mess. Understand that this is what the outcome of sin and departure from God looks like: ultimately it leaves the forsaken a mess.

Imagine what a relief Saul’s death was for David. He had waited for God to take vengeance on Saul, and now could take the kingdom with a clean conscience. Isn’t that so much more satisfying than taking matters into his own hands? He had waited a long time to be relieved of the awful burdens of living in exile, lacking any safe place; and now he was not only free, he was king! No wonder Psalm 18 is such a happy psalm.

Psalm 18 doesn’t exaggerate the desperation of David’s predicament while Saul was alive. If it wasn’t Saul chasing him, it was the Philistine lords lurking to entrap him. God didn’t really shake the earth and smoke didn’t really come out of His nostrils when David cried to Him; this is David’s way of relating how wonderful he saw God’s response to his cry. Have you ever seen God respond to your cry in wonderful fashion? If not, I would suggest that you haven’t cried to Him in desperation, or else you haven’t cried to Him from a clean conscience, or you haven’t looked back with thankfulness and praise for what He has done. Is there an event in your own life for which you can offer your own psalm of praise today? I believe that God wants to be a hero to each one of us as He was to David. I believe that He has done heroic deeds on behalf of each one of us, if we will only make the effort to contemplate the matter prayerfully and acknowledge them joyfully as David did here.

Note in verses 20 to 24 the righteousness for which God had rewarded David. Did he leave any room for compromise in his description? If this is the kind of righteousness for which God rewarded David, would righteousness of a lower standard (is there such a thing?) receive such reward from God?

Perhaps one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart is that he relied on God so much. Look in verses 30 through 36 at David’s account of what God did for him. Or perhaps David relied on God so because he was a man after God’s own heart. In any case, to know God is to be like Him, and to be like Him, we’re going to have to rely on His help. If David knew God as these verses describe, might we know Him the same way? Only if we seek to do so. Seeking will certainly involve asking God for such a privilege and placing ourselves in the place to receive God’s graces, as Richard Foster describes it. But what wonderful rewards it brings! If you haven’t experienced reward in seeking God, please don’t give up seeking. As I heard in a powerful sermon this past Sunday, if you have sought God but aren’t satisfied in Him, you haven’t reached the end of the story.

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Day 105 — I Samuel 25 – 27

David didn’t have trouble waiting for God to take vengeance on Saul for his attempts on David’s life, but he lost his head with Nabal over a rude refusal to throw him a feast, and immediately took action to take vengeance. Likely the stress of living in exile under the conditions we saw in yesterday’s psalms had gotten to David. I take comfort in the man after God’s own heart, who had God’s Spirit living in him, succumbing to stress, because I can relate. However, we must also understand that the stress would not have excused him if he had indulged his impulse to take vengeance into his hands. God doesn’t excuse our indulgences in moments of stress, either. We need to welcome people like Abigail in our lives, who will be our accountability partners and voices of reason. And we need to be Abigails to others who need that voice of reason.

Twice David had the opportunity to take Saul’s life, twice he was encouraged by his companion to take the life that God had delivered into his hand. And this time he did have undeniable help from God. How did he know that he wasn’t the means by which God would strike Saul? He knew what was wrong and what was right, and he knew that circumstances don’t change wrong and right. We need to understand the same, and not be confused by what our postmodern culture tells us about right and wrong.

And then David lied to Achish for his own protection. I have no insight on that. Lying of course would be the only way he could live safely among the Philistines, but were the Philistines the only safe haven he had? Who couldn’t understand David’s lying to protect himself and his men and their families; who wouldn’t understand if he had taken vengeance? They are both understandable in the mind of men. In the word of God, however, if there was no excuse for taking vengeance against those who treat one wrongly, there was no excuse for lying. Sin is sin.

So we see that the man after God’s own heart was still a man. What a contrast he reveals between the man who scrupulously wouldn’t take vengeance, even the man who was pacified by Abigail’s voice of reason when he set out to take vengeance, and the one who lied for his own protection so that he could live an easier life among the Philistines. This is the contrast between the loveliness of following God’s way and the unlovely way of sin. Let us understand this from David’s actions: following God’s way bears lovely fruit, but following the way of sin bears rotten fruit.

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Day 102 – I Samuel 21 – 24

David certainly suffered, didn’t he? Could God have delayed Samuel’s anointing him as king until Saul was close to death? Could he have spared David all the wonderful success that brought him to Saul’s attention? Could God have kept the people who were faithful to Saul from knowing where David was, so that there would be no one to tell Saul where to find him? He could have done any of that or all of it to spare David the suffering; that He didn’t means that He had a use for the suffering. David must have understood that; remember in the psalm we read yesterday, he wrote, “The Lord tests the righteous.”

Job knew that suffering refined him. The New Testament gives us many references to the value of suffering. Check out Romans 5:3-5, II Corinthians 4:17, Hebrews 12:7-13, James 1:2-4, and I Peter 1:6-7. Suffering means that the lovely character qualities it produces are enjoyed by those who are worthy for having endured. James tells us to “count it all joy” when we suffer trials, and the reason we can do that is because we value what it produces in us. Do you value suffering so, or do you seek to avoid it?

Jonathan came and encouraged David in God. Talk about a handsome character; Jonathan was on the same plane as David. He loved David, and he must have loved God also . I base that conclusion on his actions in inciting a panic in the Philistine camp at Micmash and thus inciting Saul to action for a victory over them, and his helping David to find strength in God. He obviously had submitted to God’s rejection of Saul, even though he as Saul’s son seemed worthy of leading God’s people after his father. Further, he held no grudge against David, but encouraged him in God. What a friend. What a human being. What an encourager. He presents us with a worthy example.

David would not take vengeance on Saul, because God revealed in the Law that vengeance was for Him to take. He waited a long time for God to take it! In the meantime, he had to protect Saul’s life from his men. He passed up an apparently God-given opportunity to kill Saul; how did he know this wasn’t God’s vengeance? Although his men said that it was, he refused to harm God’s anointed. What a contrast to Saul, who always was persuaded by the people to do wrong. Think about what he did: he passed up a chance to have his sufferings ended and to take the throne God had designated for him. But if he had taken that easy way out of suffering, if he had sought only to make life easier for himself, he wouldn’t have been a man after God’s own heart. Being like God is not easy. Do you expect it to be?

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Day 101 — I Samuel 18 – 20, Psalms 11 & 59

These events don’t seem to take place in the chronology as they are presented. My guess is that what is presented as separate events were unfolding all together.

God had an interesting way of saving David from Saul’s henchmen, didn’t He? What can God not do to keep us safe? Further, who would ever think of that except God? So why do we tell God what to do when we pray?

God had told Saul that He was taking the kingdom from him and giving it to a man after His own heart. He reiterated that description of David after he was dead. So we can believe that David truly was a man after God’s own heart. The writings of the man after God’s own heart should reveal to us something about God’s heart, don’t you think? Let’s keep this in mind as we read the psalms of David.

Having said that, David was also a man. It isn’t always easy to discern how much of what he wrote was his thoughts and feelings, and how much revealed God’s heart. The difference won’t always be clear.

The fact that the psalms are poetry also affects our understanding of what they actually teach. Poetry conveys feelings, not facts, and sometimes the two are different. For example, the poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade” gives a much different account of the battle it described than a newspaper article would give. Or the song about September 11th that asks, “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?” The world didn’t actually stop turning; it is figurative language that conveys much about what the people affected by those events were feeling. It is the same with the psalms. They convey the writer’s deep feelings, which we know are not always consistent with fact.

So how do we reliably gain anything from the psalms? Some guidelines I use:

  • We don’t use psalms to teach doctrine; there are other types of literature in the Bible that are more useful for that, and we will plant our standard in that ground and not in the soft ground of the emotion-laden psalms.
  • Looking at “the whole counsel of Scripture” will help us sort through what is feeling and what is fact.
  • We will seek to understand the psalmist’s feelings and glean what insights we can from those.

With that, let’s dive into these first psalms of David. Here are some lessons I see:

  • David took refuge in the Lord. This valiant warrior, leader of a thousand men who succeeded in everything he did, needed a refuge. If he did, who doesn’t need a refuge? Further, he did not rely on his own resources, but took refuge in the Lord. If the Lord made him valiant and a capable fighter and leader and gave him success in everything he did, doesn’t the Lord seem like a good place to take refuge?
  • The one whose refuge is the Lord doesn’t always respond to situations as others think wise.
  • The Lord tests or examines the righteous, as contrasted to hating the wicked. Apparently David views the testing as showing love.
  • Does God really hate the wicked? In Psalm 145 David wrote twice that God is “loving toward all he has made.” Hate is offered here as a contrast to the feelings God has for the righteous. He may not actually hate the wicked, but He doesn’t have the same feelings for them that He has for the righteous.
  • David wanted to see God rain coals on the wicked, fire and sulfur…. Sounds like hell. Hell is a place God made, and intends it for His creatures who continue in their rebellion. For God is, after all, righteous, and cannot tolerate sin in His presence.

There are likely other observations that stand out to you. Why do they stand out to you? What insights can you glean from them? Ask God for insight and trust Him to reveal to you what He wants you to understand. This is a sure way for you to grow in your love for His word, to be taught by it directly. If you have questions, I am available for guidance as you learn to understand what Scripture is saying and to apply its truth to your life.

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Day 100 — I Samuel 15 – 17, Psalm 144

Day 100! Doesn’t that feel like an accomplishment?!

God regretted that He had made Saul king because Saul had turned back from following Him and had not performed His commandments. Further, because Saul rejected God’s word, God rejected him from being king. Unlike man, God doesn’t have to live with regret; He judges what causes Him regret. Isn’t regret a sad word for God to use with regard to one He had chosen? He doesn’t have anything to regret with regard to you, does He?

Saul claimed that he had performed God’s commandment and obeyed God’s voice by going on the mission which God had sent him and devoting to destruction the people he defeated. When he was confronted about the animals that had been saved from destruction, he placed the blame on the people and said that the animals were for sacrificing to God. We aren’t given enough information to know what truly was in Saul’s heart: did he really think he had obeyed God’s command, or was he justifying his actions? God didn’t buy it, and He won’t buy our excuses, either. If Saul was confused about the details of his mission, God didn’t buy it. If he believed that partial obedience, the going and destroying of the people, was good enough to call it obedience, God didn’t buy it. If he truly felt pressured by the people, God didn’t buy it. Failure to obey was called rebellion by God. Apparently God saw the sin of presumption in Saul’s actions, that he intended to ask forgiveness later for his actions, and expected to receive it after having done what he wanted instead of what God wanted. God didn’t extend that to him. What does God’s response to Saul lead you to expect from Him if you try the same?

Saul confessed that he had sinned – was it prompted by genuine remorse? Apparently it was just words, for he asked Samuel to pardon him, when the sin had been against God. And although he said he wanted to bow before the Lord, and did bow, he did not submit to God. We know that because Samuel had to be the one to kill the Amalekite king, and although Samuel had told Saul that God had taken the kingdom from him and given it to a more worthy man, Saul made no secret about his intention to kill Samuel if he anointed another king. Another hint about the condition of Saul’s heart was that he called God “the Lord your God.”

When God told Samuel that man looks on the outward appearance, I don’t think He was just thinking about the kind of things that made Saul stand out physically, but also a person’s actions. God is not fooled by our actions. Our service, our kind gestures, our pious demeanor, and our words may favorably impress other people, but God will never be fooled by them. And even if we try to convince ourselves that our motives are pure, that we’re “doing okay,” God is not fooled. We may actually fool ourselves, but we will never fool God. That is why David in Psalm 139 invited God to search him and try him. Since Saul’s example shows that even if we fool ourselves we will not be excused by God for our rebellion or presumption, we should regularly invite Him to reveal to us if there is anything in our hearts that has fooled us, so that we can make it right. God will not do that if we don’t invite Him to. Today is a good time for that, since our reading reminds us of it!

Several clues in today’s reading reveal that David was not highly regarded by his father or brothers. Can you imagine being left out of that important feast with the renowned Samuel, when everyone else in the family got to attend? He was so unimportant in his father’s eyes that Jesse didn’t even tell Samuel that there was another son until Samuel asked, and then Jesse was dismissive of the young man. Did the hurt that must have caused him shape David to be the man after God’s own heart? I believe those kinds of hurts are allowed by God to drive us to Him. Can we appreciate them for what they are, and allow Him to use them for His intended purpose?

The Philistines weren’t far into Judah’s territory when they gathered at Socoh, for Azekah was just on the Philistine side of the boundary between Philistia and Judah. Saul had made progress in his ongoing fight against the Philistines.

David was offended by Goliath’s taunts because he was defying the armies of the living God, and in so doing had defied God Himself. In a day when every people had multiple gods, and each people group respected the gods of any other people who enjoyed wealth or success in battle, Israel’s God would have been perceived as one of many. David was taking a stand first and foremost for God’s honor above all other gods. In doing so, he trusted God to deliver Goliath into his hand, so that “all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves….”

Goliath’s huge sword and spear and javelin meant nothing to the one who came in the name of the living God, the Lord of hosts. David must have looked tiny and naked next to Goliath in his bronze helmet, coat of mail, and greaves, protected behind his shield bearer. He must have expected that his bold words would provoke Goliath, but he spoke them unashamedly as he took his ridiculously vulnerable stand. He would have had a captive audience as he spoke them; what a witness! And God validated his witness, so that no one could deny that God saves,. God would have stood out above all other gods, not only because of David’s words, but God’s actions. What does David’s example teach you about your own witness for God? Does God want you to be jealous of His honor?

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Day 99 — I Samuel 13 – 14

The Philistine garrison at Geba was only about five miles north of Jerusalem (which I offer as a landmark because you may know where it is) and about four miles northeast of Saul’s home town of Gibeah. This was well into Saul’s kingdom. The move to Michmash drew them even closer to the center of Saul’s kingdom. This situation put pressure on the king. We will now see in action this monarchy that the people so wanted.

Note God’s criterion for the king, that he be a man after His own heart. That Saul failed to keep God’s command meant that he was not such a man. Was that fair to Saul, when he offered the sacrifice in the first place to seek God’s favor? All I can say is that he was not sensible to seek God’s favor in a way that violated His command. He failed to do so because he saw the battle as his and not God’s, and was pressured when his soldiers began abandoning his cause. Didn’t he recall Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites, when God severely whittled the Israelite army down so that the victory was clearly His? This king, impressive as he was physically, as promising as he initially seemed, cracked under pressure.

While Saul hung back well away from the enemy, possibly seeking guidance from God through the Urim and Thummim (which of course had proven unreliable in Judges 20), Jonathan took action. He didn’t need the ephod to seek God’s guidance. He stepped forward for service in the assumption that God might want His people to take a stand, knowing that this was God’s battle and He just needed a willing servant to take action. He trusted God to reveal what that action would be. He established as predetermined signs two reasonably likely situations, and defined what action should follow each one. If situation A happened, he would take it as God’s warning to hold back; if situation B was presented, then he would accept it as God’s encouragement to move forward. What a great way to seek God’s guidance! Sovereign God can certainly control the actions of His creatures in guiding His people to do His work. This is a great example for us to follow in seeking God’s guidance in our own lives.

In case you found the action difficult to follow, Jonathan and his armor bearer killed twenty men in the garrison, which triggered a frightened reaction among all of the Philistines not only in the garrison, but also in the camp of the army assembled for battle. Their response alerted Saul that this was an opportunity to strike the Philistines while they were vulnerable, and he led his army of 600 essentially unarmed foot soldiers into battle. That army was joined by Israelites who had defected to the Philistines, and those who were in hiding throughout the land, and they were able to put the innumerable Philistine army with its 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen to flight.

This was a great miracle that would have never happened if Jonathan hadn’t taken action under God’s guidance. In contrast, everything Saul did in his own wisdom seemed to hinder the efforts of the Israelites in achieving a great victory. Both lives are examples to us.

Based on what you’ve learned about the importance God places on the fulfillment of one’s vow, weighing in the rashness of Saul’s vow and foolish pronouncement of death, do you think Saul was right to allow the opinions of the people to keep him from fulfilling his vow to kill Jonathan? What does this teach you about your words?

How pleased should the people have been with this king they wanted in place of God? “These things happened to them as examples to us….”

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Day 98 – I Samuel 9 – 12

God regarded His people because their cry for a king had come to Him. What they were asking for was against God’s will for them, and further, was a way of by-passing God. Instead of relying on God, appealing to Him in times of crisis, they would be appealing to the king, as is demonstrated in chapter 11. Instead of their seeing a time of prosperity as a blessing from God, they would see it as the result of a good king’s administration. This teaches us to be careful in our praying. Is our heart’s desire anything other than to know God? Then what if He gives us our heart’s desire, and it interferes with our knowing Him? We need to pray as Jesus taught us to pray, and not simply for the desires of our hearts. If we can’t pray for God’s will to be done, we can ask for Him to change our hearts so that we can.

The people committed great wickedness in asking for a king, yet Samuel told them, “do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart…. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart.” They didn’t blow it by committing great wickedness! He didn’t mean that they should not be concerned about their wickedness in making this choice, but that they shouldn’t consider it the end of their relationship with God. They still had the opportunity to serve Him; their chances weren’t finished. They could still choose to serve Him if they would do so in truth and with all of their hearts! God gives the same message of hope to His New Testament people in I John 2:1. Do you need to take it to heart today, to find the resolve you need to make the choice to serve God in truth and with all of your heart? Do you need to share that message of hope with someone else who needs to hear it?

Note the characteristics of Saul that we see in these chapters, for they reveal why he was chosen by God to lead His people. What do you see? A good study habit is to list the characteristics you note.

God changed Saul’s heart in preparation for his being king. Think about that: God has the power to change a heart. It’s perhaps a truth we take for granted because we don’t contemplate it, but how profound it is. It has a couple implications:

  • Have you noticed evidence of God’s transforming power in you? If not, ask God to show you the work He has done, for sometimes it happens so gradually and quietly that we may doubt whether it has happened at all. If He has no change to reveal to you, then you should be wondering whether you have His Spirit in you, which should be a fearsome prospect. Take your concerns to God for answers! If you have no such concerns, praise God for His transforming power, and witness to others about it. For He deserves the praise, not you.
  • How does this truth affect your prayers for others?