Our God loves to give us second changes! In this week’s passage, God offers King Saul a second chance to honor Him and obey His word. Yet Saul fails to take hold of the opportunity. In his failure to follow God’s instructions, we learn a valuable lesson about the need for obedience and the cost […]
Sometimes we rush into things. In a panic, in moments of the unknown, we can find ourselves doing something…anything…just to feel like we’re taking matters into our own hands. When it feels like everything is falling apart, we tend to have an urging to simply do something to say that we tried. That’s where we […]
The day has finally arrived! Israel has a new king. He’s been announced and proclaimed not one, not two, but three different ways and times. As he steps onto his throne, his predecessor Samuel steps down from leadership. In these moments of transition, Samuel shares some final thoughts with the nation and calls them to […]
Whether you use Snapchat or not, you may be familiar with the fleeting nature of the pictures people send using the app. The images are only visible for a brief period of time and then they are gone. As we open 1 Samuel 11 today, we find a biblical sort of Snapchat. As Saul steps […]
When you face a hard day, when things are not going your way, when if feels like you’ve wandered far from God – how do you find your way back? What reminders, what arrows, do you have to point the way back to God? In other words, what Ebenezers have you placed in your life? […]
When your day seems darkest, when all hope seems lost, when everything is falling apart… Where do you turn? The nation of Israel found themselves facing one of the darkest days as 1 Samuel chapter 4 came to a close. The glory had departed the nation. God was gone, essentially. Where do you go from there? […]
The nation of Israel, throughout the Old Testament, often found themselves in the position of looking for God and trying to remember where they “put” Him last. Essentially, they would turn to Him in their times of need but then when they were through, they would simply try to tuck Him away in their pockets […]
Sunday mornings were always the same growing up. Get up, eat breakfast, go to church. Without fail, this was the schedule 100% of the time. There were no deviations, no exceptions. Even when away on vacation, we’d get up, eat, and find a local church. It was very easy as a child to feel like […]
“It was the best of time, it was the worst of times…” Even as Charles Dickens starts his famous book “A Tale of Two Cities,” the book of 1 Samuel could start with the same words. For the nation of Israel, it was indeed both the best and worst of times. There was no king […]
God can speak through anything. He can take the smallest item, the most random experience, and use it to teach us something about Him. Today, we spend some time looking at the relationship between Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and ourselves and what two seemingly random things help us to understand more of what our relationship […]