Category: Uncategorized

1 Kings 18:17-18

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you the one who is troubling Israel?” Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but rather you and the house of your father, in that you forsook the Lord your God and followed after the Baals.”

Personal Challenge

Isn’t this how things often play out in our personal lives? We do something that we know is wrong. Then someone points it out to us and we blame them or everyone else for the wrong that we have done. In this story, we find that King Ahab has abandoned God and chosen to follow the false gods of the people around them. God sent Elijah to the people of Israel to remind them of their true God, the God of Israel. He was a prophet and his actions and prophecies were making Ahab pretty uncomfortable. Rather than accept the responsibility for his behaviors, Ahab blamed Elijah for the consequences that were being manifested from the choice to follow false gods. Elijah reminded Ahab that it was he who abandoned God and because of that choice was bringing the consequences upon himself and his people. So who really is causing the trouble in our lives when we choose to do wrong? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 Kings 8:22-24

You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth, and fulfilled it with Your hand, as today. Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your people guard and keep their ways to walk before Me, as you walked before Me.’ So now, O Lord God of Israel, let the word be confirmed You spoke to Your servant David my father.

Encouraging Words

One of the encouraging things that come from reading the Old Testament scriptures is how much God keeps His promises to His people. He never breaks an agreement or forgets a promise. We also see how often we, the recipients of His promises, stay away from Him, not keeping our part of the deal, and yet He remains faithful until we come back to Him. He loves us and desires the best for us. He remains constant and stead­fast in His relationship with us, even when we don’t. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

2 Samuel 24:24

Then the king said to Orna, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with something that costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Personal Challenge

When it came time for King David to build an altar to God, Orna offered David a place to build it for free. David refused the offer and purchased the threshing-floor. Why would he do that? He knew that giving of ourselves and our resources costs us something. If there is no cost, then there is really no appreciation. God wants us to give of ourselves, what we own, and who we are to Him with a sacrificial mindset. If there is no cost, there is no commitment. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

2 Samuel 22:2-3

And he sang:
“O Lord, my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
My God will be my guardian, in whom I will trust;
My defender and the horn of my salvation,
My protector and the refuge of my salvation;
You will save me from unrighteousness.”

Encouraging Words

David had just escaped an attempt on his life by the king and his armies. His response is not one that is typical of so many of us. He chose to proclaim the glory of his God, our God. God is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our guardian. We can trust Him, trust Him for our life and our every need. God is our defender, our salvation, our protector, and our refuge. He and only He will save us from the unrighteousness around us. Glory be to God!

1 Samuel 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Have no regard for his outward appearance, nor for the maturity of his stature, because I have refused him. For man does not see as God sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord sees into the heart.”

Personal Challenge

Samuel had been given the task of selecting the next king of Israel. He was directed toward the family of Jesse who had eight sons. Samuel started by selecting the son that he thought looked like the most kingly material. He did like so many of us do with people in our lives. He looked at the outward appearance of this young man. But God had other plans. God knew that David, the youngest of the brothers and a mere shepherd boy was the one who should be the next king. God was looking at his heart and not his external appearances. The challenge for us here is to strive to see the heart of those around us and not just their external appearances. Glory be to God!

1 Samuel 15:22

Then Samuel said, “If only the desired whole burnt offerings and desired sacrifices were equal to the Lord, as compared to one who heeds the voice of the Lord! Behold! Hearing is better than a good sacrifice and obedience than the fat of rams.”

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to get caught up in rituals and traditions and then forget the entire reason for doing them. In the day of Samuel they had sacrifices and offerings. In the day of Jesus, they still had these rituals but they also had a myriad of other rituals piled on top of that. Today we have our celebratory worships, our liturgies, our fasting, our Bible study times, and the list goes on and on. What we end up doing, all too often, is doing the ritual for the sake of the ritual and then living our lives as if God does not exist. Samuel reminds us that God wants our hearts, our minds, and our souls to be poured into Him, loving Him, and loving our neighbor. He wants our hearts more than He wants us practicing rituals about Him in our lives. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 Samuel 2:1-2

And she said:

“My heart is strengthened in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in my God.
I smile at my enemies;
I rejoice in Your salvation.
Because no one is holy like the Lord,
No one is righteous like our God,
No one is holy but You.”

Encouraging Words

Hannah is another one of the special characters in the Old Testament. Like many of the other women in the Old Testament for their great faith, she went late into her life with no children. Then God answered her prayers and gave her a son, Samuel. Samuel, who would later become a great profit. Samuel, the man that this book is named after. In her exuberance and joy, she prayed the prayer that these two verses start. We too should pray prayers of jubilation when we see God’s mighty hand at work in our lives. Glory be to God!

Judges 16:20

And Delilah said, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” So he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as before, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Personal Challenge

We are so blessed to live in the new covenant where Jesus has promised to never leave us or forsake us. However, it is still possible for us to harden our hearts toward Him to a point where we no longer see or feel His presence in our lives. The story of Samson shows us the process that we can go through to get to this point where it looks like God has departed from us. Sampson was set apart for God. He had lived a life where he was extremely blessed by God and did great and wonderful things for Him. But then he started acting as if he had done these things on his own and began to leave God out of the equation. That was the first step. Then he fell in love with Delilah, a woman that was an enemy of God. We do this by falling in love with things of the world that are contrary to God. It could be a person. It could be stuff. It could be a cause. But if it is not of God, it is against Him. Finally, he gave his heart, his allegiance to Delilah and turned his heart away from his first love, God. When he did this, and when we do this, God is no longer there with us or better stated, we are no longer there with Him. That is when disaster ensues. The answer to this is to constantly be running back to God and seeking His presence in our lives. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Judges 7:9-11

On that same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. Listen to what they shall say, and afterward your hands shall be strong and you shall then go down into the camp.” And he went down with Purah his servant to the edge of the camp of the fifty.

Encouraging Words

The story of Gideon continues as God tries to convince him that He will guide him and his army to victory over the Midianite oppressors. But once again, God does not do this as we, mankind, would expect. Gideon calls for volunteers to join his army and 32,000 men step up. But God says, “No! This is too many.” They go through a process of elimination and end up with 300 men. However, the text says that the Midian army was as many as the sands of the sea. This is a large enemy. Why would God do this? He did this so that all of the credit would go to Him and not to any man or group of people. And of course, Gideon was still skeptical, so God told him to sneak down to the enemies camp and see for himself, why he had nothing to fear. The rest is… His story. Glory be to God!