Quiet Time Ramblings -
I’ve been doing the study of “Daniel” by Beth Moore. The first part of the study introduces a key character and some key history: Samuel. Because the study is focused upon David, there are parts of Samuel’s life that Beth Moore skips, but out of curiosity, I have decided to read through these parts on my own.
The Bible is a funny thing. Actually, it’s not.. I’m just a funny person. Sometimes I see the Bible as a book you read at church. I mean, of course it’s the Word of Life – but is it really that interesting? Answer: YES!!! When choosing "quiet time" material, we have been encouraged to find a topic or a character that interests us… and study it through. I've always found the character of David to be interesting - and so I decided to study him. As I have read even the story of Samuel – I find myself cracking up over the tiniest details. Did you know how Eli (the priest that raised Samuel in the temple) died? A messenger came to tell him that his sons died in battle and upon hearing the news he fell backwards out of his chair and broke his neck. To say that is funny is stretching it, I know… but can you just imagine?! I have to admit I giggled a little bit. There is a similar story in the new testament I believe where someone who came to hear Jesus falls out of the window.
Anyways: today I had to do a little studying on my own because Beth Moore jumps from 1 Samuel 6 to 1 Samuel 16. There has to be a lot in 10 chapters that I will miss… so I started in Chapter 7 today and only seemed to make it through the first 5 verses:
In verse 2 it says, “and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord.” 20 years have passed since the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to the Israelites. Why in the world are they mourning? Verse 19 in chapter 6 says that they were mourning because of the heavy blow that the Lord had dealt them whenever he killed 70 men because they turned the Ark into an idol. Were they still mourning 20 years later?!It says in that verse that they sought after the Lord, but in verse three Samuel tells them, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only.” After seeing what happened to the 70 people who worshipped the Ark as an idol… something that God himself told Bezalel through the words of Moses to build..why in the world are they still worshipping idols? After all that we have seen the Lord do for us – why do we still worship idols? Hm…
The people were hurting. They thought God had forsaken them. Had he? NO! God was there all along. It was not God that moved… it was the Israelites. Samuel says in verse 3 “If you are returning to the Lord” which implies that they left. To return somewhere you have to leave it first. We do this all the time, don’t we? We start to stray away from the Word, we live our own life and do our own thing – and when calamity strikes, we start shouting curses at God asking him where the heck he is. God never leaves us. Ever. We are the ones that leave. Not him.
Moving on: The people were seeking after God, yet they were still worshipping false gods. Can this happen? NO! God is a very jealous God and he says that we must choose. In Revelation 3 he tells the church of Laodicia that because they were neither hot nor cold – because they were lukewarm that he was going to spit them out of his mouth. He was sick and tired of their wavering. It disgusted him. When we constantly run to things of the world to satisfy us – God is disgusted. We cant chase after our idols and chase God too. We have to choose. Just as Samuel told his people, we must “commit ourselves to God and serve Him only.”That means: we don’t chase after earthly treasures and possessions. We chase after God. We don’t chase our dreams. We chase his. We aren’t focused on our agenda. We are focused on His. We don’t focus on what We can do or how WE can make a difference [pride], we focus on God. He wants all… or nothing.
Rev 2:4-5 is one of the greatest verses in the bible to me. It says, “Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…” The church Paul was writing to in Ephesus was doing great things! They were working hard and were persevering. They didn’t put up with any crap and they endured suffering for the name of Jesus. BUT they lost sight of their first love.. that is, the love of Christ. I can remember when I was first saved, the joy and fire that came with being a new believer. Where is that fire? Does it fade with age? I don’t think so… It’s so easy to forget where we have come from. Verse 5 says “remember the heights from which you have fallen.” Where has God brought me since I was first saved? He has redeemed my soul: rescued me from the grave… and more than that (though, I don’t think there can be any greater gift) – look at what he has done over the past ... however many years... in me! Wow. God, may I never forget.
1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” I saw this modeled in Eli’s life. A prophet came and warned him, “those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” God was serious… hence: the death of his 2 sons and his own death. What if we actually believed God & took him at his word. Would it change the way we lived? What if He sent prophets and messengers to tell us things like He did Eli – would we believe Him or heed to his words? Because God does. He warns us and he sends messages to us all the time – through His word and through the Holy Spirit. Why don’t we believe Him? What if we actually took God at his word. Would it make a difference?
Answer: Yes.
The Bible is a funny thing. Actually, it’s not.. I’m just a funny person. Sometimes I see the Bible as a book you read at church. I mean, of course it’s the Word of Life – but is it really that interesting? Answer: YES!!! When choosing "quiet time" material, we have been encouraged to find a topic or a character that interests us… and study it through. I've always found the character of David to be interesting - and so I decided to study him. As I have read even the story of Samuel – I find myself cracking up over the tiniest details. Did you know how Eli (the priest that raised Samuel in the temple) died? A messenger came to tell him that his sons died in battle and upon hearing the news he fell backwards out of his chair and broke his neck. To say that is funny is stretching it, I know… but can you just imagine?! I have to admit I giggled a little bit. There is a similar story in the new testament I believe where someone who came to hear Jesus falls out of the window.
Anyways: today I had to do a little studying on my own because Beth Moore jumps from 1 Samuel 6 to 1 Samuel 16. There has to be a lot in 10 chapters that I will miss… so I started in Chapter 7 today and only seemed to make it through the first 5 verses:
In verse 2 it says, “and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord.” 20 years have passed since the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to the Israelites. Why in the world are they mourning? Verse 19 in chapter 6 says that they were mourning because of the heavy blow that the Lord had dealt them whenever he killed 70 men because they turned the Ark into an idol. Were they still mourning 20 years later?!It says in that verse that they sought after the Lord, but in verse three Samuel tells them, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only.” After seeing what happened to the 70 people who worshipped the Ark as an idol… something that God himself told Bezalel through the words of Moses to build..why in the world are they still worshipping idols? After all that we have seen the Lord do for us – why do we still worship idols? Hm…
The people were hurting. They thought God had forsaken them. Had he? NO! God was there all along. It was not God that moved… it was the Israelites. Samuel says in verse 3 “If you are returning to the Lord” which implies that they left. To return somewhere you have to leave it first. We do this all the time, don’t we? We start to stray away from the Word, we live our own life and do our own thing – and when calamity strikes, we start shouting curses at God asking him where the heck he is. God never leaves us. Ever. We are the ones that leave. Not him.
Moving on: The people were seeking after God, yet they were still worshipping false gods. Can this happen? NO! God is a very jealous God and he says that we must choose. In Revelation 3 he tells the church of Laodicia that because they were neither hot nor cold – because they were lukewarm that he was going to spit them out of his mouth. He was sick and tired of their wavering. It disgusted him. When we constantly run to things of the world to satisfy us – God is disgusted. We cant chase after our idols and chase God too. We have to choose. Just as Samuel told his people, we must “commit ourselves to God and serve Him only.”That means: we don’t chase after earthly treasures and possessions. We chase after God. We don’t chase our dreams. We chase his. We aren’t focused on our agenda. We are focused on His. We don’t focus on what We can do or how WE can make a difference [pride], we focus on God. He wants all… or nothing.
Rev 2:4-5 is one of the greatest verses in the bible to me. It says, “Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…” The church Paul was writing to in Ephesus was doing great things! They were working hard and were persevering. They didn’t put up with any crap and they endured suffering for the name of Jesus. BUT they lost sight of their first love.. that is, the love of Christ. I can remember when I was first saved, the joy and fire that came with being a new believer. Where is that fire? Does it fade with age? I don’t think so… It’s so easy to forget where we have come from. Verse 5 says “remember the heights from which you have fallen.” Where has God brought me since I was first saved? He has redeemed my soul: rescued me from the grave… and more than that (though, I don’t think there can be any greater gift) – look at what he has done over the past ... however many years... in me! Wow. God, may I never forget.
1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” I saw this modeled in Eli’s life. A prophet came and warned him, “those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” God was serious… hence: the death of his 2 sons and his own death. What if we actually believed God & took him at his word. Would it change the way we lived? What if He sent prophets and messengers to tell us things like He did Eli – would we believe Him or heed to his words? Because God does. He warns us and he sends messages to us all the time – through His word and through the Holy Spirit. Why don’t we believe Him? What if we actually took God at his word. Would it make a difference?
Answer: Yes.
Comments
Post a Comment