Category: 1 Samuel

God never designed His followers to feel fulfilled while allowing them to be mediocre about following Him. Yet, it seems a constant temptation of followers of God to commit only part of their lives to Him. It is easier to take our delight in the works of God than from God Himself, but it is not His design. The ancient warning sign is still very important to heed! You may be excited and hopeful with change, but it won’t work unless it is the RIGHT CHANGE!

Caution #1) We jump too quickly! (12:1-2). Now you have what you want, but it comes with some issues (12:1). The new time has come, and my time as your leader has passed (12:2). Satisfaction Principle: Getting what you want brings a temporary satisfaction. It only lasts if it truly addresses the need.

Caution #2) We listen to the wrong voices! (12:3-5). I want you to publicly affirm that I have rules honestly in front of the new ruler (12:3). “You have dealt uprightly!” they affirmed (12:4). “Confirm aloud again, you have no cause against me before God!” Samuel cried out. “We have no cause!” the people confirmed. (12:5). Trust Principle: We should listen to those who know God and have consistently demonstrated obedience to His Word without self-interest motives.

Caution #3) We draw the wrong conclusions! (12:6-13). God redeemed you (not simply Moses and Aaron), and you are His! (12:6). Because of God’s redemption, remember what God has done for you. (12:7).

Look at the pattern: When you were lost in captivity and unable to escape, God sent leaders to pull you out of trouble (12:8). When they forsook God after their redemption, God brought pain and affliction (12:9). Through their pain they saw their sin and cried out in repentance, asking for deliverance anew (12:10). God’s response was to again send leaders to pull you out of the troubles (12:11). When the most recent troubles came, you expressed a need for a human ruler, though God was still at work before you (12:12). Here is the ruler God sent you (12:13). Misplaced Affection Principle: Real solutions are found in what God does, not simply the agents of His work.

Observe: The Word offers two principles concerning real choices

Principle #1) We are not victims in this world! (12:14-15). If you follow the Lord obediently and serve God, then you AND your king will walk obediently before God! (12:14). If you rebel against God’s Word, God will turn away from you as He did to those before you (12:15). Control Principle: When God’s people walk in profound obedience to Him, they take control of their history!

Principle #2) We must see the truth behind the obvious! (12:16-18). Step up and see what God has promised (12:16). Today is the harvest day. I will show you by calling for God to send a storm how powerful He is and how helpless you are. Do you truly think a king will solve a spiritual problem! (12:17). Samuel called on the Lord and the storms came heavily. The people feared Samuel (12:18). Misplaced Answer Principle: When we trust a physical solution to a spiritual problem, we deny the truth that God waits for us to acknowledge.

We must change –  not to earn His favor – but because of His love!

• We must agree with the diagnosis of what is truly wrong! The people cried to Samuel, “Ask God to preserve us, we have sinned by looking for another answer to our spiritual condition!” (12:19). Repentance Principle: We don’t begin to solve a problem until we admit that we have one, and agree with God about what it is!
• Repentance is a new beginning! Samuel called, “Stop being afraid! Yes, you are guilty. Yet, you can turn now to God and follow Him wholly!” (12:20). You must not chase after other solutions to your spiritual need, it won’t work! (12:21). Opportunity Principle: When we face the truth of our sin, we have an opportunity to begin a new and hopeful path!
• God takes the first step! Remember, God will not abandon you because of His promise (12:22). Relationship Principle: God doesn’t expect you to do right to find Him; He finds you and calls you to do right!
• God offers help! Beside, I will keep praying for you and keep instructing you in God’s ways (12:23). Remembrance Principle: God keeps His Word in front of His people when they really seek Him!

Face the warnings! Revere God, give Him your heart and hands, and recall what God has done for you (12:24). If you walk away in disobedience, you and all your solutions will be swept away (12:25). Warning Principle: God offers us opportunity to choose based on both warnings and experience.

Joy comes from following Him, not just chasing after the trail of His benefits!

We all want victory in our lives. We want rejoicing and happiness. We want unity and powerful impact on our world. We don’t want to be a relic, but rather one that is used of God. Saul had his moments of victory and they will become our model this morning. How is victory achieved in our lives? How do we see the victory over the adversaries that haunt us? If we CAN win, how DO we win?

Four Observations about the Times: (11:1-4)

1. It was set in a time of compromise by some of God’s people to God’s principles (11:1).

2. It was a time the people learned of the ruthlessness of their enemy (11:2).

3. It was a time of uncertainty and leadership instability (11:3).

4. It was a time of prayer-less focus on human limitations (11:4).

Seven Characteristics of the leader with God’s Heart: (11:5-15). What does the leader look like?

1. Big Ears: The leader was sensitive to the cry of the people (11:5).

2. Big Muscles: The leader was empowered to reflect God’s heart for unity and commitment (11:6-7).

3. Focused Eyes: The leader organized the answer to the problem (11:8-9,11).

4. A Warm Smile: The leader inspired confidence and trust (11:10).

5. A Small Head: The leader accepted that victory belonged to the Lord, and took no credit for it (11:12-13).

6. A Sharp Salute: The leader followed the direction of God’s Word (11:14).

7. A Hearty Laugh: The leader joined in the rejoicing with the others, and celebrated God’s victory! (11:15)

Key Principle: If we seek to lead, we must grow to be what God desires.

Hiding from the public in a pile of luggage was the first king of Israel. Already chosen and anointed, coronation day highlighted a critical flaw in his life, poor self confidence. Yet even in this story, God highlights how His Divine call works in an ordinary life. What does God want from me, and how will I know when He tells me? What does the call look like? Are there key marks we should see in the story that are consistent methods of God in our lives?

God has a reason for YOU on this planet. He has something he wants YOU to do. Here are ten steps to find out what it is:

1. Listen to God’s voice! The call comes through the voice of those that know God and His Word (9:25-26).

2. Understand it is a personal call! The call is personal, and must connect with YOU before anyone around you (9:27).

3. Be patient! The call is not instantaneous; it will require a process to fulfill. When we hear His call, we must act on it by obeying a step by step process. Let’s look at the steps of this process as revealed in our text (10:1-8):

• Clarity: The process begins when God makes it clear to us. Often it is found in a role we play, a job we have or a vision we must accomplish (10:1).
• Confirmation: God confirms the call through a series of teaching situations. Our text offers five things we must learn to do:

1. Integration: We will reconnect the vision to the place and roles that God has us in already (10:2).
2. Provision: We learn about God’s ability to provide for us as we follow Him (10:3-4).
3. Empowering: We must learn how to be empowered by God and His Spirit to do the work He assigns us (10:5-6).
4. Application: We must use the wisdom and perspective God has given us to move us along in the vision (10:7).
5. Timing: We must learn to wait on God’s timing to accomplish things. Faster is not better. Timing each move in accordance with God’s desires is a learned character trait! (10:8).

4. Be convinced inside! God confirms His call inside us if we are open to hearing Him (10:9).

5. Stand Out! When the call is engaged, people around us will see a change in us. We will be engaging God in a new way, and they will notice! (10:10-13).

6. Don’t shrink back! When we focus on our own ability to do well what God has called us to do, we miss the way God works. We become self-conscious and miss opportunities:

• We are often reluctant to share the call with those closest to us, but this is a mistake! (10:14-16).
• Because we grow increasingly unsure of our call, we hide from stepping out to do what God has told us we should do and have to be pushed to obedience (10:17-23).
• When we are thrust into the light of completion of the call, we will often find people affirming (10:24).

 7. Learn limitations! We must learn the boundaries of our call, and how to govern what God told us to do. We will find that Godly people who went before us are very helpful with that! (10:25).

8. Find a team! We need a team of people to accomplish what God wants us to do. He will place them at our shoulders, as we should thank God for them! (10:26).

 9. Expect skeptics! Some people to see YOU and not believe that God can do what He chooses through you. Their problem is they see you, but not what God chooses to do within you! (10:27a).

 10. Be quiet! Don’t react to those who don’t see what God is doing in you! (10:27b).

God’s call is the most important experience of our Christian life. We must be able to recognize that call and know when and how to follow Him in that call!

The story of the beginnings of the first King of Israel should be thrilling, as God brought Israel what they were asking for. Yet, the tale is one of a wandering man searching for his father’s donkeys. How prophetic! Saul was about to embark on a career with a people that would be as stubborn and wayward as the donkeys he set out to see. How did God launch Saul’s career as king? What does the story tell us about the way God brings together people and resources to make a vision become reality?

Five Ways God Draws us into Change:

1. God works preparations for needs before those who will be used to care for the need are even aware of the need (9:1-3). Note three ways God was preparing the scene:

• Generations of preparation: God may have you here for your great grandchild’s contribution to the Kingdom. Faithful transmission of the Word may be your greatest legacy! (9:1a).
• Pedigree of training: His dad was a “Mighty man of valor” (ish gibbor / chayil: from a dance term to twist; i.e. adept at making adjustment – 9:1b).
• Physical characteristics helpful to task: (“choice” man is “bawchur” – an outstandingly vigorous youth).

2. God orchestrates problems to bring people to the right place and time to meet His purposes (9:3).

 3. God uses a process that may well be a test to our character. The tests help us build stamina for the drudgery assignments of our coming position! (9:4-5)

 4. God plants people in our path to direct us to His Him when we are ready to fail (9:6-10). Note how this worked. People offered:

• Encouragement: When Saul was ready to give up on the task that would lead him to his appointment with God’s purposes, the servant called him to seek God’s message (9:6).
• Resources: God places us in a place of need to depend on others, and not our own abilities. (9:7-8).
• Opportunities to stretch: Asking directions has never been a male strength, but God gives us opportunities to move beyond ego. (9:9-14)

 5. God give prophetic truth to light the path of our lives. We don’t have to know how everything is going to work out. We need to know how to hear God’s Word and obey it (9:15-24). Note how God prepared the scene by His Word. The Word:

• Offered Forecasting: God gives us pictures of what will happen before it happens (9:15).
• Required Participation: God allows us to participate in the deliverance of people if we obey His commands and share what He has told us to! (9:16-17).
• Demonstrated Initiation: God doesn’t wait until the “lost one” sees what godliness looks like, but moves in while they are not aware of His love and promise for them (9:18-22).
• Exposed Revelation: God reveals how prepared He is for each of us, as we follow Him (9:23-24).

We are a heartbeat away from making a terrible mistake. It will not come in a dramatic way – it will come by default. Slowly we will replace the steady and zealous pursuit of God with the quicker fixes offered by the world. We will cool in our relationship and slip away from the Word. If that happens, those who come behind us will slip into a pattern of defection from relationship.

Key Principle: God wants our relationship with Him through His Word to alter all our priorities, and set the pattern for our desires.

How Defection Happens among God’s People (8:1-5)

1. The example of dynamic relationship fades in their midst (8:1).

2. The next generation picks up FORM and TRADITION without real walk with God (8:2-3a).

3. Without the relationship, they find it easy to turn from religious form to hypocrisy and sin (8:3b).

4. Sensing a crisis of reality – people seek a solution. Their reaction is predictable because of their pattern – not seeking God, but finding a solution in the world’s pattern (8:4-5). That is the definition of defection: Answering our needs with solutions that God didn’t offer, following priorities that didn’t issue from our relationship with Him!

What the faithful do in the midst of defection (8:6-18)

1. Watch them make the choice. People with a dynamic relationship with God will immediately see the problem with a solution from the world’s pattern – but they will watch unable to exert control (8:6).

2. Rightly diagnose the problem. Be careful, they may sense that it is a PERSONAL rejection of the way it had been done before. In fact, the real problem is the departure from a walk with God as the solution (8:7).

3. Remember their world. People with a walk with God often forget what it is like to walk without one and misunderstand the worldly solutions that are suggested (8:8).

4. Check God’s Word for His answer, and recognize the problems He discloses for those who refuse His way. Warnings are given for a reason! (8:9-10).

5. When given the opportunity, share graciously God’s warnings for defection. Tell them that following the world’s pattern will:

1. Create ungodly division, the important from the lowly (8:11).
2. Create a new set of priorities – serving ends God is not honored by (8:12).
3. Disrupt your families to offer service to these other objectives (8:13).
4. Redirect God’s property to other “important” functions (8:14-17).
5. Create short term gain and long term regret (8:18).
6. Distance us from God so that He withdraws His blessings (8:18b).

Two Outcomes of Defection (8:19-22)

1. Blending with the World: In spite of warning signs, short term gains were of greater importance. The hunger to be what the world was overpowered God’s command that they be a distinct people (8:19-20).

2. Prayerful bracing for impact: The godly will bow their head, slump their shoulders and watch them begin a walk on the wrong road! God will give them their desires, with all the fruits of them as well (8:21-22).

It doesn’t have to happen this way, but it so often does. One generation sees a move of God, but the next one sees only the form of their response. They look to add the self affirming elements of their “tradition” to a more wholistic view of their otherwise pagan philosophy, and keep God in a locked place on the schedule of their life. Without God’s answers, they seek other answers. The end is heartbreak! Is a vital and real relationship with God at the center of your life? Your schedule? Your decision making process?

God wants our relationship with Him through His Word to alter all our priorities, and set the pattern for our desires.

The Prudential commercial holds a dim candle to the rock of Ebenezer, where God showed up and defeated an enemy. How does a believer stand when the walls around him or her crumble and fall? What does it take to stand in victory?

Is there a Biblical model for Setting Up for Victory? Our text offers us a ten step process that offers encouragement and hope for the defeated:

Remember, the children of Israel were defeated, demoralized and ashamed. The funny thing is they were perfectly ready for God to work among them!

1. The Return of the Ark (7:1). The beginning of the return is the recognition of the value of that which was lost by those who lost it! When the people of God got back the memory box of a former time of God’s glory evident among them, they began to take seriously a relationship with God.

2. The Cry (nawhaw: wail) of the Broken (7:2). After recognition, there was a sense of loss that gave rise to a hunger for God. Without hunger people do not miss what they had before.

3. The Works of Repentance (7:3-4). It is not enough to cry about the past bitterly. There is a need to take the steps that show the real desire to change. In the model, there were three specific steps of work worthy of a truly repentant heart:

a) Return (shoob) to the Lord: Not the box, not the rewards, not the traditions – to the PERSON of the Lord.

b) Put away (soor: permanently abolish) idols: We can’t add God like an ingredient to our busy lives, we must reorder our priorities and realign our lives to allow God to revolutionize our whole way of thinking and living.

c) Direct (koon: build firm foundation) hearts to the Lord: Repentance begins a process of affirmatively building something solid to live on.

4. Obedience to Godly leaders (7:5). One of the ways we show that we are the people of God is to develop respect for the Word and People of God that have gone before us!

5. The Confession of God’s people (7:6). Recognizing what led to our defeat, and the hard heartedness of our self confident way is essential to being softened into a victory stance!

6. Dependence on God’s preservation (7:7-8). Personal defeat that leads to softness toward God and a total dependence on His will and His power is the total opposite of all we are trained to do; yet, God honors that yielded weakness above all!

7. The Intercession of Godly leaders (7:9). When God’s people called up Him to protect them, they did not presume, they prayed, worshipped and followed His Word!

8. Confidence from God’s Intervention (7:10-11). When the people saw God at work, they gained confidence in God’s power, and His desire to care for THEM!

9. Acknowledgement of God’s goodness by godly leaders (7:12-13). When God worked, the people rejoiced and did not try to receive credit for what God wanted to do. God resists the proud!

10. Restoration of the former losses (7:14-17). God added back the blessings of the former losses, because He could entrust the people to understand they were always the gift of a good God!

God’s people are strongest when they tremble before God’s throne, and not when they operate in self confident capability.

One of the strangest stories of the Bible is that of the journey of the Ark of the Covenant, the marker of God’s agreement with His people, to the land of Philistine conquerors. It was not just a box, it was represented something more… The Ark was a representation of God’s rules that were to govern a people that HAD A RELATIONSHIP with Him It was a box that contained the power to please God IF its contents were observed obediently.

The Process of Extraction:

1. The worldly people got the rules by enveloping the people of God and overwhelming them. People with the relationship still existed, but their voice was muted in defeat (5:1).

2. They tried to “incorporate” the rules into their pagan philosophies without the prerequisite of a relationship with God (5:2). They understood there was power in the rules, but had no idea what the power was.

3. The power of God reflected in the rules shatter ever other system, and increasingly made them uncomfortable with even keeping the memory of them in their thinking (5:3,4).

4. They turned power into superstition and that was retained in their culture for generations. It was not about God, nor the power retained in His Word, it was simply an old wives tale. (5:5).

5. Without a relationship, the rules became a condemning influence. (5:6).

The Tragedy of Substitution:

1. Because there was no relationship, and God’s people had been silent and unconvincing on the issue of relationship, the world sought every way to remove any vestige of the influence of the rules or their God (5:7).

2. Leaders work hard to become popular by ridding the world of the influence of the rules and the God they represent (5:8).

3. They will work harder and harder as their solutions don’t work, but make things worse! (5:9-10).

4. As the solutions only make things worse, people of the world asked that they simply isolate the rules and the people of God, and get them out of the influence of the larger society (5:11).

5. God sees the whole thing, but doesn’t answer! (5:12)

6. The world tries to appease God with things He didn’t ask for, can’t use and doesn’t want! (6:1-5). Why? Because they have learned the POWER of God without the LOVE of God. Instead of a GOOD GOD that wants a relationship, they are left with a MAD GOD that wants to extract appeasement! Apart from a relationship with God, His rules become a condemning, guilt producing curse.

Some babies are meant for the camera, while others, well… they have a face only their mother could love. The baby portrait we are going to look at today is not an ugly one…but a sad one! Let’s look at the portrait of the saddest baby ever entered into the portrait hall!

When does God finally decide to withdraw His blessing from a disobedient people? Note, these are people with a history of fathers that walked with God. They knew about God and His desire to have a relationship, but they didn’t build one of their own.

1. Verbal Warning: God offered a message of judgment before to those who listen to His Word (3:20-21).

2. God fires the starting gun: God’s speaker called on the people to do what God instructed (4:1).

3. Physical Warning: An initial defeat demoralized the people, leaving them asking questions (4:2)

4. Self Deception: Instead of calling on God and seeking Him – His people chose a solution that seemed religious and significant (4:3). They were led by those who did not know God, but knew religious practice and the history about God (4:4). People placed their hope and faith in the symbols of a relationship they did not try to have, even when the warning signs were there (4:5)

5. False Testimony: The pagan world saw the growth of confidence in God’s people and interpreted it just as God’s estranged people did – like the symbols and history could carry them through the new battle (4:6-8). They ordered hard battle and offered no choice (4:9).

6. Break Up and Defeat: A punishing defeat came to God’s estranged people – far worse than the earlier battle (4:10). Note that in the face of this defeat, each man isolated themselves and the cohesion broke apart in the ranks!

7. Plundered and Destroyed: The symbols of a relationship with God became mere relics, and were plundered (4:11). The dead in faith leaders were killed, as God had warned (4:12-18).

8. Lost Hope: As all hope slipped away, the sense that God had left the people became overwhelming (4:19-22).

Remember, the time between the warning and the execution of judgment is GRACE TIME, and the God of grace delights in seeing sinners repent! Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 19 ”  If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; 20 “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Consent (‘awbaw: to be willing) and obey (sh’mah: listen and respond)

Introduction: One of the saddest memories of the portrait hall of First Samuel is the priest Eli that ignored problems in hopes they would just fix themselves. It was a failed strategy, and this morning we will see the deception of convincing ourselves that “everything will work out fine”.

Eli Had a Great Deal Going for Him:

• His position and heritage (1:1-3): He was clearly a priest of the Most High, from a family of priests. The family was led by God, chosen by God and equipped to serve by God (1 Sam 2:27).

• His dedication to the work: He was on the job (1:9), attentive to the people (1:12-13), direct in dealing with the sin of people at the Tabernacle (1:14).

• His personality: He was encouraging to Hannah (1:17) and later to Elkanah (1 Sam 2:20).

• His example: He raised a godly young man in Samuel (1 Sam 1:25, 2:18-19, 26; 3:7).

A quick reading makes Eli look like a victim of wicked children:

• He calls them in to correct them (2:22) and tells them what he heard they were doing (2:22b).
• He asks them “Why?” (2:23) and tells them he heard the report circulating (2:24).
• He warns them of the trouble it was causing for all Israel (2:25).

Yet, Eli was not a victim, he was a participant in a sin that we easily overlook even today! 1 Samuel 2:29 shares two key issues Eli did not truly deal with:

1)       Choosing to reverse God’s priorities with those that seem good to us (1 Sam. 2:29a).

2)       Over-indulging and under-disciplining our lives and hearts before God (1 Sam. 2:29b).

Eli’s children reflected in excess what Eli did in a more moderate way.

• He was undisciplined at ate too much himself (1 Samuel 4:18).
• He was embarrassed at the reputation the boys gained (1 Sam. 2:23-24) but still cared more for his sons than for God’s standard in all their lives.

Look at what God told Him would happen (1 Sam. 2:30-36):

1)       God will keep His promises and not reverse them, but makes effective another principle that becomes operative in Eli’s life- the Weight Principle: I will place more honor on those who value what I value. If you want God to use you more effectively, you must choose to place your choices and values in line with what He says is most important (2:30).

2)       A second penalty was issued in the Fulfillment Principle: If you place your trust in something other than what I say you should, you will live to regret that choice. Your riches will not satisfy, your children will not remember you, your spouse will fail you, the job will pass you by (1 Sam 2:31-34).

3)       A third penalty – in the form of a redeeming promise – was also levied in the Blessing Principle: Because you know me and I have promised to bless my children, I will not cut off all your blessing. You will wish you had changed your priorities in that day, but you will not be destroyed (1 Sam. 2:35-36).

Compare that to what Paul taught the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 3:11-18.

Eli’s portrait should show us three lessons:

• Place your life’s emphasis on what God’s Word teaches will please the Lord!
• Decide to deliberately order the fulfillment of your life in what God’s Word teaches should be fulfilling.
• Decide now to build on to your salvation experience a walk that is worthy of your calling!

Remember: Problems don’t fix themselves, they are opportunities God grants for US to work with HIM to fix things, and learn from the process.

There is an old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!”. The truth it expresses is Biblical, you can’t always see reality when you look on the surface. God calls us to look more deeply! THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR!

I.   Hannah looked like:

     A. A LOSER to Penninah (1:6).

     B. A CRYBABY to Elkanah (1:8).

     C. A DRUNK to Eli the Priest (1:14).

II. Eli and His “holy family” appeared:

     A. Priests of the Most High God (1:3).

     B. Righteous judges (1:16).

     C. Representatives of God (1:17).

III. Hannah knew and walked with God. He pain was real, and yet she worshipped:

A. Her worship (2:1-10). Look at what she learned about God:

1. God rescues me (1).
2. God is distinctly different (unmoved by exterior appearances – 2).
3. God is my defense (2b).
4. God discerns the real truth (3).
5. God gives me the strength to go in (4).
6. God levels the field for the righteous (5).
7. God controls life and death (6).
8. God rewards as He sees fit (7).
9. God exalts and honors (8a.)
10. God created and has the power to hold it all together (8b).
11. God guards the way of His people – wicked walk by sight (9).
12. God is the judge (10).

B. Her sacrifice in truth (2:11).

A couple of lessons:

In her celebration of God’s faithfulness, she shows her focus was on knowing God, not simply ideas about Him!

Her words were matched by action, giving up the child God gave her!

IV. Eli and His Sons:

     A. Hophni and Phinehas’s Sin:

1. Didn’t know the Lord (12).

2. Didn’t follow the Lord in their actions:

a. Focused on self indulgence: took too much of God’s sacrifice(13,14)

b. Didn’t feel the rules applied to them: took too soon (15)

c. Relationship with those who God put in their lives became increasingly less important: violent threats (16)

3. Didn’t follow the Lord’s appointed authorities in their life: disobedient to father (2:25)

B. Eli’s Sin:

1. Dad out of touch (2:22-25).

2. Dad out of control (3:13,14).

Application: Things are not always as they appear! The Godly and the religious aren’t always the same.