Ok, I have had enough of you encourage me to Blog that I'm going to give it a try. One problem is that I never know what to say. So in an attempt to get more out of my Bible Study and to hopefully be an encouragement to those of you that happen to find my blog. I have decided to start by doing an online Journal/Biblestudy. I am going to base it upon the daily reading suggested at Powered by 4 from Back to the Bible - I would like to encourage you all to join me in getting into God's word on a regular basis - (At least 4 times a week - preferably every day).
Today's readying was 1 Samuel 12 and it is Samuel addressing the people of Israel. After much whining and complaining from the people of Israel, God has given in and allowed Samuel to anoint a King over Israel. Neither Samuel nor God thought that this was a very good idea.
I am struck by the ending of chapter 12.
"“As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be swept away.”" (1 Samuel 12:23-25, NLT)
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[1] Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.
A couple of thoughts come to mind - First, just because the people had demanded their own way, neither Samuel nor the Lord abandoned them. Second, just because God gave the people their own way, they were not free from the consequences of their decisions. God made it clear that if the people continued to sin and demand their own way, they and their new king would be destroyed.
I guess that leads me to a couple of questions. How often in life do we ignore the Lord's leading in life and demand our own way to the point where God gives it to us, even when it isn't what is best? What warnings does God give us in life that would lead us to change if we were to head them? And what is the Answer.
Well the answer is simply verse 25.
"Be sure to fear the Lord and sincerely worship him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you."
I'm Moving
12 years ago
3 comments:
Hi Mike! Thanks for the blog and for including me...you may regret giving me the opportunity to comment freely! LOL Your blog reminded me of a discussion that our group had last week. We have been wending our way through The Shack and the chapter we read last week commented about how when we left Eden it left a void in us. To fill that void women turned to relationships and men turned to themselves. We wanted so badly to be independant and though it must have broken his heart He let us choose independance which has led to no end of trouble and challenges. After generations of choosing independance how do we choose to become dependant?
Bout time you found your way onto the Internets. Now, tell me you're not just going to do Bible posts...not that there's anything wrong with that...
Oh, and you need to enable Name/URL commenting. So as your commenters don't have to have a Blogger account.
Alright, thanks for the comments.
I love the book, The Shack, it really makes you stop to think. It challenges some of our perceptions about God and what it means to love him and to trust him.
As to how we choose to be dependent on him after generations of being independent - unfortunately, it seems like all too often, the only answer comes when we find ourselves broken before him.
Thanks for the advice about comments, Seth, I'm still relatively new to this whole blogging thing. And yes, I hope to include stuff other than just bible study thoughts, but I do want to use this as a tool to help encourage people in my life to stay connected with each other, with God, and with His Word.
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