Conforming to God's Image - I Samuel 24:1 - 31:13

I started teaching school in 1948 and through necessity I obtained a vital interest in the local school board race each year. I learned early that a vast majority of the candidates run for a position on the School Board simply because they have a personal agenda and for no other reason. When I say this is true a vast majority of the time, I really mean that it must be as high as ninety percent of the time.

Only honest, God fearing people that live by the golden rule should ever run for the board and surely they are the only ones that should ever win a seat on the board. There is only one acceptable agenda and it could be labeled God’s Agenda. A personal agenda is never acceptable. Here are just a few examples of personal agendas. 1. My taxes are too high and I will work hard to get them lowered; and guarantee there will be no new taxes. 2. I do not trust the Superintendent, the board had a much better applicant and they failed to hire the right man. [ There can be many reasons listed why they will see that the present man is fired. 3. The foot ball coach should be replaced and I will see that it happens—because: a. He has no game plan…passes when he has no competent receiver…runs the ball when the team is far behind and even when the best ball carrier is injured…b. he does not know a good player when he sees one, c. my son would be excellent at…d. and he has only played in three downs this whole season. In this list b, c, and d is the heart of the personal agenda. The number one agenda is: I will get rid of what or whom I don’t like.

There is only one acceptable agenda. You could word it better than I, but the meaning would be the same, and would look something like this. We have an excellent school system; I am truly proud of it and I willingly offer my abilities, knowledge and expertise to help it grow even stronger. Then list your knowledge and experience that would be helpful to a successful school operation. You must be able to truthfully say: “My only agenda is a growing desire to help provide an educational system that will be best suited for each and every student enrolled.” On behalf of the students attending your district I pray that you will not run for the board because of your personal agenda. But, please do run if you are willing and able to help make things better for students and teachers. I believe this same philosophy would apply at any level; from city council to Mayor, from state representative to Governor and on to President of the USA.

There are some life experiences that seem to make lasting impressions simply because many of these experiences cut across the grain. I was a free spirited teenager in December of 1942, facing a sure draft into the army after graduation from high school in May of 1943. I volunteered for the Air Corps and was turned down for medical reasons in January 1943. While I was in classification 4-F, Juanita and I got married, and just a four months later I passed the medical exam and was inducted into the Army as an Infantryman. I wanted the Air Corps and got the infantry instead and was never really a happy camper. This must have been God’s agenda, because it surely was not mine. This is only one of several incidents in my life where I truly believe that God has a plan for each one of us. Finding our purpose in life is probably the most important discovery we will ever make.

It is imperative that we not lose our train of thought, so I will pause here for a moment and let you know that this lesson today gives an excellent comparison to two men with different agendas. Saul represents the one with a personal agenda, while David was willing to be guided by God’s agenda and had refused to harm anyone else in order to promote his own agenda. David waited for God’s time and intent to be in force and in full charge.

There is a bit of a problem here that is hard for me to understand and it seems that it might be impossible for these two kings to understand. However it is easy to see which one was willing to allow God to have his will and way in making the change. First—Saul was a man sought out by Samuel and anointed king at God’s command. When Saul fell into disfavor because of his disobedience, God chose the same man, Samuel who found Saul, to seek, find and anoint a new king. Samuel chose David, through God’s guidance when he went to the house of Jessie and picked his last and youngest son who was out on the farm tending his sheep.

David was anointed, king and put into service soon as a member of the army that killed the Philistine giant and ended that war. Now we have two kings. Nothing has been said as to the exact time that Saul will step down and David will take over. David is willing to let God’s agenda guide this change of command. Saul became angry, vengeful, and even lost his mind thinking about this young, inexperienced sheep herder moving in over his head.

There are about twelve chapters beginning with chapter 20 and extending on to chapter thirty-two that covers a series of wars waged against the Israelites by several different countries. When David was first introduced to Saul, he was accepted and even became Saul’s private musician. Saul was known for his ability to protect his country but on several occasions when he got into trouble David and his army successfully defended against the enemy. One would think that David had proven himself as a patriot and even a supporter of Saul—but Saul never accepted him—and spent much of his time hunting for David with his explicit intention to kill him.

By having the friendship of his faithful buddy, Jonathan, David was always able to dodge the close encounters. On one occasion these two enemies were in a cave together and Saul did not know it. David was able to cut and keep a piece of Saul’s robe as proof that he was close enough to him to have killed him if he had desired. On another occasion David took Saul’s sword to taunt him and to prove again that he was not trying to kill Saul.

It seems that there was a lot of unnecessary feuding between these two kings. However God always has a reason…he had an agenda in this situation. Saul was being let out because of his repeated disobedience to the Lord. But David was young, and needed experience. He did not take over as king until he was thirty years old, so there were several years here where he had his own army and was getting experience in the offensive field, while at the same time he had to stay on the move to avoid being killed by his own king. David was being tried, and proven to be the man that God could depend upon when times were hard.

Cultivate Godly Friendships - I Samuel 18 - 24

One of the saddest charges against the American family today is that there are very few families that have developed and maintained a group of Godly friends. Many parents are working four regular jobs. Most of the time the man works his regular job or profession for eight hours and then goes to his second choice work place while his wife arises early and helps the family get off to work and school and then she goes to her Dolly Parton secular job from nine to five. She returns home and finishes her sixteen hour day keeping the home presentable, cleaning, and doing a hundred tasks over and over week after week. The family is lucky if there is three or four hours each week when they can be friends with each other.

There are very few parents that realize that children go through three or four specific periods of psychological change when they are in desperate need of parental friendship and adult guidance. Many parents do not feel that the problems that children encounter are of any significance and that they will just go away. The truth is that even though childish problems seem of little importance to the adult—they are sometimes a matter of life and death to the teenager. Mom, Dad…their problems are pretty serious to them and all they want is for you to act like you care and want the best for them. It is so very important for young people to choose Godly friendships that parents should feel proud when their children are willing to confide in them. Far too often they feel forced to seek friendships outside of the home. The most valuable quality of a friendship is personal loyalty and one can not always be sure that a new friend will continue being loyal through rough times.

To my knowledge there is no better example of two Godly friends that got together by chance than that of David and Jonathan. Jonathan was loyal to his father Saul, who was serving as king but had really not been the type of loving and caring father that always was there for his son. Jonathan had gone outside of this royal home and found David, son of Jessie whom he appreciated and befriended often. He found himself caught up in the conflict between his father and David and proved that by acting Godly he could be a friend to both.

The story of David is probably one of the best known that is written in the Bible. And the bond between these two young men forever set a pattern for all of us to live by if we propose to be a neighbor and friend to man kind.

Many have wondered why God chose to list David as a man after His own heart considering the fact that he had sinned often and that his sins include even murder and adultery. I have searched for an explicit answer and found none. The one thing that stands out is that David knew when he did wrong and he immediately repented and asked for forgiveness. He proved the immediate and constant necessity for a Christian to practice obedience, and confirmed the fact that God is always willing to forgive us when we seek forgiveness and remain loyal to Him.

The Old Testament is a book of conflicts that arose between Satan and God in the Garden of Eden and will finally close with the fighting of the battle of Armageddon. Saul became the first king and found that there were already two or three nations set and ready to attack him. One of these conflicts included the Giant of the Philistines who was taunted as a super-man. Well known is the fact that David had been chosen by God to be the next king, and that God used this incident to introduce the young man David, to the world of war and conflict.

Saul watched the fight when and where David slew the giant, and he inquired as to who he was. In the last verses of chapter 19, we read about their first meeting. Then the lesson for today begins in chapter 18 with the story of how Saul respected David and did not let him return to his father. There is no doubt that Jonathan saw something great in this man David, because they became very good friends. In fact there indication that Jonathan and David became more than just friends… there was a Christian love that blossomed that first day and neither man ever broke that brotherly bond.

The killing of the giant was the key to their bonding but it also was the inspiration for a song that was written that was the beginning of their problems that would grow worse very soon. The new song indicated that Saul was a great war hero who had killed thousands; but it also implied that David would be greater and would kill millions. Saul was adamant and outraged and because of his jealously he began to plot ways that he could get rid of David.

The lesson today has a total of five chapters included in it and deals with several years of struggles in battle after battle and many incidences that proved that David was superior to Saul. Saul had actually begun to lose his mind, and his hatred for David had obsessed him.

These chapters contain a running history of daily happenings. Saul was continually finding new reasons why David had to be dealt with. Saul ordered that David be killed, and he also attempted to do it himself. There are several occasions when Jonathan met with his dad and pleaded for him to allow David to exist since there was no reason for him to be killed. Then there were also several occasions when Jonathan met with David and cautioned him when his dad was about to be successful in destroying David.

There are very few of us who work together in the church where there is no danger to our livelihoods that will ever be able to develop a brotherly love for each other as did Jonathan for David and David for Jonathan. There is no doubt that God led Samuel to tell the story about these two young men to show the world how important friends can really be.

One of the greatest applications that can be made of this lesson that regards the importance of close friends is recommended to the young people that are making life changes. The change from elementary to junior high school or to high school, and finally those that are entering college will be meeting and making new friends. Would you like to be just like the one you have chosen? The closer one gets to another person, the more apt you are to immolate or adopt his/her way of doing things or living life. Take a good look first and ask yourself if you really want to look and act like your new friend.

There is a second side to this coin. As you start living your new life among new friends, are you carefully choosing and living your life in a way that it will set the right example for someone that may like you and pattern their ways after you. Do you want to be the bad example that leads some soul astray? Do you realize that there is a penalty for misleading people? The Bible says that it would be better for you to have a millstone tied about your neck and be cast into the sea than for you to intentionally lead some little one astray.

One more caution! It is also dangerous for you to allow someone else to choose you as their friend if they have ulterior motives in doing so. It is so easy for one to make this fatal mistake…evaluate them real good.

Trusting in the Lord Alone - 1 Samuel 4: 1b - 7: 17

For thirty-four years it was my privilege to sit in one of the VIP chairs in the auditorium, gym or on a foot ball field, on a day in late spring, and watch several thousand graduating seniors march by to receive their diplomas. There are always exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking these young people had trusted parents to love, feed and clothe them; the police system to protect them and the educational system to educate them; and this had proven to be successful. They have been right for eighteen years and they feel sure of themselves. Few, if any, realize that a Higher Power has been at work giving cause for their success.

If you ask them what they plan to do about half will tell you that they plan to get a job, make money, and buy the things they want and go and do what they desire to do. The other half will say they intend to attend college first and then do the same kind of things. They are trusting in their education, their abilities, and worldly things to make the wonderful life possible. To be more specific—they have put their trust in money and things to help them be what they want to be. There are very few of these young people that have realized that God has a purpose in mind for each of them individually and that their success depends upon whether or not they find his will and walk in it. To place your trust in making life’s important decisions based upon people and things is a sure path to failure. Absolute trust can only be and must be in THE LORD ALONE.

I submit to you that these young graduates from high schools all over America represent, in a symbolic way, the mighty army of the Israelites that declared war on the Philistines in the early verses of chapter four. Eli had failed to teach his people that their dependence must be totally in God and instead they were depending upon their superiority in training and numbers to defeat the Philistines. The Israelites were defeated and 4000 died on the battlefield. They decided that they would go to Shiloh, retrieve the Ark and bring it back so that it would assure their success.

The two evil sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were at Shiloh guarding the Ark. They allowed the Israelites to take the Ark, knowing that it should not be. There was a great celebration in the Israelite camp, and when the Philistines learned that they now had the Ark, they were greatly disturbed. They remembered that this was the God that had won in Egypt and that he had protected these people for forty years in the desert. They charged the army to be brave and fight as never before or they would too be destroyed. So they attacked the Israelites and defeated them. This time the Israelites lost 30,000 foot soldiers. The Philistines captured the Ark and took it with them, and to fulfill Samuels prophesy, Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas died.

From a religious standpoint, the people in our lesson today had placed their total trust in the Ark of the Covenant; a man made box covered with gold that contained the ten-commandments and a rod that had always led the Children of Israel. They either had not learned or had forgotten that this Ark was a symbol, a reminder of who God is and what he can do. They were to respect it as God had taught them to do…but they were not to worship it as God and they were not to depend on the Ark to win their battles, when that power lies only in the hand of Jehovah God.

A carrier hurried back to Eli and told him what had happened. The 98 year old blind weak, fat priest fell out of his chair and broke his neck, ending his forty year reign. His daughter-in-law, wife of Phinehas, died as she was giving birth to the son she named Ichabod, which meant that God had departed from them.

Chapter five tells the story of the woes that came upon the Philistines for as long as they kept the Ark. They moved it from town to town and in each setting their people developed tumors and died. They placed the Ark near their main god, Dagon and the next day they found Dagon had fallen and broken to pieces. The people cried out for fear all would die, and the Ark was sent back to the Israelites. They prepared a special new cart, pulled by two cows with young calves, and also sent with it a piece offering of gold rats and gold tumors.

The Ark arrived at the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and placed on a large rock that is a witness to this day. Still, the Israelites had not learned their lesson, they opened the Ark and as a result God struck seventy men to death because they had been told not to touch the Ark. They too, wanted to get rid of the Ark and they sent messengers to Kiriath Jearim asking him to take it back to his place. He complied. And now we go to chapter seven for an explanation and the meat of our lesson for today.
Chapter seven says that Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the Ark of the Lord. The Ark remained there twenty years. During this period, God’s people were made to believe, and they sought after the Lord. Samuel observed the change in his people, and told them that if they were sincere, and would turn to God only and put away their other Gods [Baals and Ashtoreths] that God would deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines.

The people were sincere. Thy repented and turned to God only, and as a result they were successful in defeating the Philistines. They regained control of the towns from Ekron to Gath and all the neighboring territory, and peace returned to His people. Samuel continued to judge over the people the rest of his life.

The summary and heart of this lesson follows. Why wasn’t the Ark taken back to Shiloh and placed in the tabernacle? No one knows for sure, but think that it had been destroyed during the war. Shiloh is not mentioned again in the history books of the OT. Samuel made Ramah his home for the rest of his life. The people mourned for 20 years while the Ark was hidden away, and God seemed to have forsaken them,

Samuel, now a grown man, used some means [maybe he preached to them] to arouse them to action in God. They listened. They repented. They acted.
Maybe God is giving the coastal areas of the southern states twenty years of one hurricane after another to cause them to wonder if he has forsaken them. Or, just may be that he is giving California a few years of wild fires, floods and mud slides, and earthquakes to get their attention. Several states along the Mississippi flood plains have been flooded out more than once…just this year alone…maybe it is for a reason. How easy it is for us to complain about our problems. It is the state’s fault. It is the government’s fault. And we even complain to God, while we refuse to act for ourselves and do what he has commanded that we do.

Do you personally ever feel that God has abandoned you? Check the Good Book and see if you are carrying out the charges he has made on your life. I doubt seriously that God will give us the opportunities to do other things that we want to do until we have been obedient regarding what he has already directed us to do. One thing for sure if there is something in your life that is more important to you than God, it is your idol. Idols have to go. He alone is worthy of our service. The Ark was not an idol; but man made it an idol when they depended upon the Ark to protect them. There was nothing wrong with the Ark, it was being used wrongly. There is nothing wrong with wealth until it is used wrongly, in a selfish way or even as an idol.

I will close out the lesson today by reminding us that Samuel was really an outstanding person from birth to death. He really defied all of the rules of life that seem essential to parents today. He was given away by his earthly parent at an early age. His mother did not abandon him—but dedicated him to God. He was brought up in the tabernacle of an honest and sincere priest who was actually weak in his faith and ability to follow God’s will. We wonder where he obtained and maintained his total trust in God. It could only have been because of the prayers of his mother. God heard her prayers. Have you prayed that your son who has left home, or is associating with bad company [at least associations that are weak] –have you prayed that he might become like Samuel.

The most of the examples that were being set around this boy had to do with two evil sons that were outside of God’s will. Would you have been strong enough in your faith to have survived in his surroundings and still be faithful? His peer pressure was not good. The peer pressure that surrounds your children or grandchildren is usually not good, either. Will they be able to survive, and become as great in their field and he was as the best Judge Israel ever had? What is your responsibility in this matter? Are you taking your responsibility seriously and are you making positive moves to carry them out? You ask: “How can I be sure?” There is only one way and that is by: TRUSTING IN THE LORD ALONE.

This is not just an abstract thought! It will show up in a positive way when you read your bible often, pray without ceasing, deal with others fairly and honestly, attend your church, and work in its ministry, TRUST AND OBEY.

Serving the Lord Faithfully - I Samuel 2 - 4

Is there anything wrong with fishing or playing golf on Sunday? I will leave the answer to you. Should a Christian have a priority system by which he determines when, where and to what he dedicates his life? Our answer should be a resounding yes! Christians ultimately spend their time, money, energy and resources doing the things that mean the most to them. Some claim loyalty to God but their calendars [including the hours in the day] and their canceled checks betray a more worldly focus. Serving the Lord faithfully is a 24-7 commitment and it includes our work, rest and recreation, as well as our worship and praise time. There is a personal challenge in this lesson that is as relevant to us as it was to Samuel. We are to compare the selfish, wicked lives of Eli’s sons to the life that Samuel lived.

The first ten verses of chapter two is a lengthy prayer offered to God by a Godly mother, Hannah, who has kept her promise to God in exchange for His answered prayer. She was an older barren lady who prayed for a son and God heard her prayer. She promised God in her prayers that she would dedicate the son to Him, and now the time has arrived. She took Samuel when he was about three or four years old to Eli the priest, and left him at the temple to be trained in the priest hood.

This prayer praised God for his answer to her previous prayer for a son. It is a poetic prayer stating her complete confidence in God and thanking Him for what he will do through her son Samuel. This is a model prayer, in that Mary modeled her own praise song called the Magnificat after Hannah’s prayer. {It is important that you turn now to Luke 1: 46-56 and read and compare the prayers of these two ladies.}

Hannah and Mary were confident of God’s ultimate control over the events in their lives and they told him so in a meaningful way. This is a prime example for each one of us today. We must realize that God is in control over our lives and we must tell him so. He expects us to offer our prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings he affords us each day of our lives. We must make sure that our prayer life has a balance—first thanking God for what we have and will receive, and then intercessory pleas for others, as well as the requests we have for further blessings. Our ability to talk to God and know he is listening is one of our most precious gifts—and should never be neglected.

Hannah praised God for being a Rock, firm and strong and unchanging. Can you name me one other thing or person that can be described this way? We dedicate our lives to a profession only to find that circumstance change so severely that we are no longer happy or even feel needed. We dedicate our lives to achievements, causes, or possessions that have as their security that which is finite and changeable; here today and gone tomorrow. All of our plans fail because something unforeseen changes. We work our lives away for family, home, and possessions only to loose our love ones and see our possessions diminish. Only God remains always present, and our hope in him will never fail us. To Him is all the Glory. Be happy in Him only.

In chapter three the lord calls Samuel. Three times God spoke to Samuel while Samuel was young and unlearned, and he thought that it was Eli calling. And then Eli told him that the call was from God and that he should recognize His voice and let Him speak to him. The fourth time, Samuel answered God and told him he was listening. It appears to me that God would have spoken to Eli, because of his life experiences, work and dedication. There is too little time to explain all the reasons, but Eli had been faithful in every way except that he had allowed his sons to become his downfall; and he showed extreme weakness when he failed to discipline his sons for their terrible sins.

There are very few lessons in God’s word that are more explicit than this one that proclaims that parents are responsible for the beliefs and actions of their children. Parents are responsible for ascertaining the right way and practicing their beliefs and insisting that their offspring to follow them. Some may ask who these wicked sons were, and what did they do, to bring God’s judgment against Eli?

Eli was in his latter years and was high priest at Samuel’s birth; however according to Jewish law, he was not legally qualified to be a high priest. Even so, he had judged Israel for the last forty years. There is a genealogical table listed in 1 Chronicles that tells us that Eli was a descendant of Aaron, but not Eleazar, who was the oldest son, and therefore was not eligible to become high priest. He was what we might call a good hearted man, but was a weak leader. He must have desired to be a Godly ruler, and tried in his own way, but just did not have strong leadership ability. It seems almost unfair to say so, but a weak leader in a big job is in some ways a curse. America needs to remember this fact when they vote to elect the next President. Diplomats that are trying to rule fairly and well will tell you that a blunder {bad decision} is sometimes worse than a crime. At the time of this lesson Eli was 98 years old and almost blind.

Because of his age and blindness, Eli allowed his two sons Hophni and Phinehas to act for him. Some of their decisions actually degraded the worship of God. There were incriminating reports that came to Eli telling him about the infamous, non-Christian character and deeds of his Sons who were being allowed to degrade this holy office that belonged to God. Even though Eli knew about their sinful ways, he did not take a stand to prevent it from happening. The bible says that his only action was a weak statement—“My sons, it is not a good report that I hear about you” and that is all he said or did to them. God was not pleased with Eli’s weak response.

If you will study the last part of chapter two, beginning with verse 27, you can find that God sent a man who reprimanded Eli, and told him that his sons would both die on the same day, and that He would raise up a faithful priest who will do according to what is in the heart of God.

In Chapter 3, when God called Samuel the fourth time, He told Samuel what would happen to Eli and Samuel did not want to tell him. However, Eli insisted that Samuel tell him what the voice had told him. Samuel reluctantly told Eli what God had said. It could not have been a surprise, for he already knew God was unhappy with him. Eli accepted the message as being what God decided to do to him.

It is easy to see that though Samuel was only a young boy in training, this experience caused him to grow into a young man in authority in a very short time. Verses 19 through 21 state that Samuel grew up and people listened when he spoke. All through out Israel, from the north to the south, people understood and accepted Samuel as God’s new messenger to His people.

In my mind’s eye I can see the plight of Eli taking place in many of the homes in America today. Eli had spent his entire life in service to God. As high priest his responsibility was to oversee the worship in the country of Israel. He took the job seriously and proudly and spent all of his time dedicated to the task. He was a proud man and wanted to be successful—so much so that—he neglected the responsibilities he had in his own home and to these two boys that had not been disciplined to also live a dedicated life. This is a personal message to all fathers and grandfathers that tells you that you can not become so dedicated to your job, business, or profession that you neglect your responsibilities to your family. It even says to me and you that we cannot let our desire to do God’s work cause us to neglect our family. Eli did this very thing, and his family suffered the consequences of Eli’s neglect.

It is an interesting thought when we realize that Samuel grew up with Eli in charge of the tabernacle, which was a precedent of the Holy Temple. It had a room set aside where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was the Holy of Holies, and only the priest could enter once each year—just as it was to be later in the Temple. There was an area set aside where the priest lived. Samuel probably had a bedroom somewhere close by; it may have been only a few feet from the Ark, and he may have known of some of the desecration that was taking place there.

This reminds us that we are to be in the world but not a part of the world. We may live next door to a place where sin is taking place, but we do not have to be a part of it. Samuel, even though very young, lived near the sons of Eli and probably knew some of the sins they were committing, but he did not allow their ways to become his ways. As the title of this lesson charges each of us…WE ARE TO SERVE THE LORD FAITHFULLY.