Tag: samuel

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We Are Too Quick to Judge by External Appearance and Thankfully God is Not

After King Saul rejects God’s ways Samuel is sent to anoint the one who would be the next king of Israel. Saul, the first king, was a man of great strength and stature. But God makes sure to instruct Samuel to look beyond those things. When Samuel goes to Jesse and searches among his sons and comes upon Eliab, God has specific instructions.

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 mans sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart”

We know we’re not supposed to judge by appearances. But we do, for as God says, “man looks on the outward appearance.” Too often appearances have significant influence in all sorts of areas–on who gets certain positions or how someone is treated in their role. Think about presidents, pastors, waiters or waitresses, spouses, friends, employees or employers. Can’t image dictate far too much?

We are too quick to judge books by their covers. And it’s hard to resist such a temptation. We (sinfully and lazily) prefer to make the easy judgments based on the externals: beauty, color, strength–even other external data like degrees, diction, or dress.

But what do we miss when we lean toward the external? Who have we overlooked? Do you feel that at times you’ve been overlooked? God sees beyond the superficial and sees the heart. And the good news is that even when God looks in our hearts and sees our sin, he still doesn’t treat us as we’d deserve. God is not swayed in judgment the way we are. He sees us for who we are and has a greater vision for our lives. God treats us differently from the ways of the world and differently from what we deserve and for that we can be thankful.

Knowing that is how he sees us, our prayer should be to have eyes like his. Our aim should be to see people as he does; to look more than skin deep and treat everyone with the dignity they deserve.

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Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

5-saul-attacking-david-guercino

We are now in week six and that means we’ve just crossed the halfway point in our reading plan.

We’ve read about the promises God has made to Abraham and how he has remained faithful to a people who are often faithless. God brought them out of slavery to a land that he had prepared for them. But they turn from him again and again. He still blesses them and while Israel has no problem enjoying the promised land, they fail to be a blessing to others.

We’ve also seen how God has has been their king leading through the judges that he has brought up in Israel in times of need, but Israel rejects God and wants an earthly king. They want to be like the other nations. But no leader can compare with God. In fact, the leaders that rise up often do more harm than good. Those who are entrusted to watch over Israel have oppressed the people.

This week we will look closely at those failure of leadership in Israel and see what God plans to do to about it.

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Deja Vu in 1 & 2 Chronicles

So we’re now into week eight, which means that we’re going through 1 & 2 Chronicles. Don’t worry if a) you’ve not quite finished everything from 1 & 2 Kings. As I said, the schedule has built in make up time next week and the week after. Also, don’t worry if b) you start to think much of Chronicles is oddly familiar. It is. Chronicles will take us back to the time of Saul and David, and really it takes us back in chapter one to Adam. 2 Chronicles then lines up quite a bit with Kings.

Saul and David

Ask yourself what differences you see between book like Samuel and Kings as they tell the same event with different emphases. What is the intent? What purpose do these books share in their writing, and what is unique?

With so many chapters to read, don’t waste your time this week. But don’t rush. I’d rather we all fall behind a bit than to pretend to read and understand these books. Next week is less than 20 chapters and after that is 5. Plan ahead and seek to find joy in reading God’s word.

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Making progress through Samuel and Romans

So we’ve finished the first half of 2 Samuel and it has read much like a soap opera. We have David’s contested rise to power, political maneuvers, adultery, murder, and high risk confrontations. And that’s just the first half. Hope you enjoy the second.

Prophet Nathan rebukes David for adultery with Bathsheba, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

I wanted to talk more about Nathan’s rebuke of David this past week, but I made a bit of a mistake. In writing a focus passage for next week, I misread the chapter breakdowns and focused in on chapter 12, which actually falls during this week. So week 8 of Year in the Bible will have a focus passage from week 7. My apologies. At least it will be easy to make sure you’ve read that part.

As I had mentioned yesterday, I’d love to hear any feedback about what we’ve been reading. Romans is a long letter that we’ll be finishing next week, but 1 & 2 Samuel taken together is another long block of that goes together. Given that we’ve spent so much time in them, I’d love to hear what is standing out most to you. Each week’s focus passage begins by asking what stands out to you. So I’m asking that in regards to four weeks. What has jumped out from Paul’s letter? What are you learning from 1 & 2 Samuel and seeing David become king? Whether you want to send me a reference to a verse, a few sentences, or a long essay as an answer, I’m open to it all.

I hope as you read you are taking something away from it.