Check out all the previous David readings here.
David Reading | Week 1 | Day 3
Prayer
Take a moment to be silent and still. In order to be fully present in body and mind, take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Do this three times. Pray that God would open your eyes to wonderful things from His word today.
Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 12
Read these verses three times slowly.
Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lordand his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”
“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”
“He is witness,” they said.
Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt.Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.
“After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
“But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.
“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.
“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”
Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lordsent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.
The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil;yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
Reflection & Questions
By Pastor Dan Chapin
Samuel has served the people of Israel well, now it’s time for him to pass the mantle of leadership over to the new king. So what are Samuel’s parting words? Samuel decides to give them a history lesson of how rebellious the people of Israel have historically been toward their prophets, and to remind them of the ugly cycle that the people of Israel have with idols.
Throughout the history of the Old Testament the people of Israel go through very similar cycles that Samuel outlines in this chapter. First, Israel sins against God. Second, God disciplines Israel. Third, God raises a rescuer. Fourth, Israel is delivered. Finally, Israel serves God. This cycle is in the story of the Garden of Eden, the entire book of Judges with various different heroes, and Samuel warns them in this chapter to not fall prey to this same cycle.
So what does the wiser and older Samuel suggest the remedy is to this generational cycle? In verse 24, “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.” Samuel suggests that the people be sure to fear (or I like to say highly respect God’s power) God by making your heart dedicated to him and to focus on all the good things he has done for us. But that cycle and Samuel’s answer is the Old testament right? We don’t need to worry about that for us today?
If you think about it, we see this same cycle in our lives. Our sin separates us from God. Our sin leads us to self destruction and in need of discipline. God then sends a rescuer, Jesus, to save us from our sin. As we meet this rescuer, king Jesus, we are found back in the arms of God lovingly faithfully serving Him with our acts of obedience.
Samuel gives the people of Israel and us today a history lesson. And that lesson is as needed then as it is needed today.
- What area of your life do you see this cycle, playing out?
- How can you break this cycle in your life?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
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Questions?
Ed Applegate
