1 Samuel 3

 

I am deeply disturbed by Eli's response to God's words, "He is the Lord, let him do what is good in his eyes." In the message, there was the solution for dealing with God's judgment. God said the reason for judgment was Eli's lack of action, not his son's sins. When God says that sacrifice or offering won't make it right isn't saying that there is no way to stop this. The answer we can see is found in Psalm 51:16-17, "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." The solution for Eli was to repent (to stop and go in a new direction). It was for Eli to do something out of a repentant heart, but Eli instead says God's going to do what He wants. It is like a person whose doctor has prescribed a medication with the warning that if you don't take it, you will die, saying, "I guess I'm going to die." The difference is that Eli seems to be blaming God for what is coming.

Repentance often means we have to do something or stop doing something. Even if you do church work, God expects you to be faithful to him above all else, including family.

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Jeremiah 19

 This passage is very clear that the people will not be able to fix what God is breaking. The issue is, why is God breaking it? The answer can be found in the words “You have made this a foreign place.” The lives of the people had so changed the world they live in that what meant one thing now means, as it were, something else. The word gay in our world today is a literary example. At one time, it meant happy; now in the West, it usually means homosexuality. There are denominations that I would say if the founder of them came in today, they wouldn’t recognize them; they would call them foreign. God is saying this place, Jerusalem, isn’t now what it was supposed to be. The good news is that God can say the foreigner and the foreign (those away from God) if we are we will let Him.   

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1 Samuel 2

 

The themes in Hannah’s song are repeated in other places in Scripture. They can be seen in the Psalms and especially in Mary’s song of Praise. I find it interesting that it is a woman’s song that is copied by so many others. So much for God not wanting to use women. 

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1 Corinthians 16

There is a lot to be seen in this chapter, but I want to look at the end of the chapter where Paul says, "If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!" The King James uses the words "let him be Anathema Maranatha." The ideas here can be debated, but my own thoughts, and from studying others, this seems to say that if someone does not love Jesus that they are delieved to a curse, but by adding Come Lord it gives ultimate authority for that person in the hands of the Lord. There can also be seen in this the idea of turning someone over to be excommunicated by the church, but turning it over to Jesus. Ultimately, the proclamation is saying that Jesus' coming will deal with the person. For me, this is a reminder that though I may have to let a person go that it isn't my job to bring judgment but Jesus'. 

To leave on a more positive note, giving is seen in this chapter as something to be done with purpose and regularly. It is also to be handled by people under authority so as Paul says in other places, so that there can be no accusations of wrongdoing. 

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Psalm 77

 I was recently talking with people about this psalm, which we read with the Berean Standard Bible. In verses 3 and 6, it says “I mused,” meaning I meditated. One of the men in the group pointed out that the problem sometimes is that we to busy amusing ourselves rather than musing about the things of God. Yes, in the musing that the Psalmist is doing, he confesses that it seems that God isn’t helping, but instead of just looking at what is happening now, the Psalmist considers the past and God’s work in the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. As I considered this, I thought that for Christians today, when we meditate on our troubles, we should also consider our exodus from sin brought by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. These reflections can help put things into perspective. Perhaps when we look at the things we suffer in light of the cross, we can say like Paul, “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17).

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1 Samuel 1

 

Samuel means heard of God. God certainly heard and answered Hannah's prayer. Much could be said and has been of persistent heartfelt prayer, but that isn't what I want to look at; I want us to look at the vow Hannah made. We saw in Judges examples of foolish prayers, but this one isn't foolish. This vow requires that Hannah be the one to sacrifice, since God, we know God can take better care of a child even than its mother. A son for a woman at this time means security and safety in old age. There was no promise that she could have more, so letting go meant that she had to trust God, which is always right. For us, it is a picture of a good vow faithfully performed. 

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Judges 21

"Uninstructed zeal, even in the cause of righteousness, often goes beyond its proper limits" (Campbell, 1959). God never instructed Israel to make a vow to not give the Benjamites wives. God never instructed them on how to fix the problem of the vow. Israel came up with their own plan and went so far as to hijack a religious festival to "fix" their vow problem. However, God in the law gave a way for people to repent from a foolish vow. It first involved saying they were foolish, which they possibly weren't willing to do. It is also possible and probable that the nation has forgotten to study the Law to see how they are supposed to react. 

Another issue in this chapter is that they mourned over the loss of a tribe, and not over the sin that was in their midst. Sadly, they are mourning over the consequences and not the problem. 

Finally, Israel's problem wasn't that they didn't have a king, but they had forsaken God, who was supposed to be their king. 

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A note on the pictures: The pictures I post are my own, public domain images, or Creative Commons images. The images catch my attention and directly or indirectly comment on the chapter under discussion. This image reminds us of a vow God made. Thankfully, his are always good.