Day 9

"If we want a life other than mere biology, we must deal with God. There is no alternate way....The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, "Live into this, this is what it looks like to be human, this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings." We do violence to the biblical revelation when we "use " it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of "boutique spirituality"-God as decoration, God as enhancement."
-Eugene Peterson


I started 1st Samuel today. Samuel's parents were Hannah and Elkanah. Hannah was barren for so long and when she had Samuel, she dedicated him to God. He stayed with Eli, the priest at Shiloh. Hannah and Elkanah went on to have 3 more sons and 2 daughters. Meanwhile, Eli's own sons were doing terrible things and not honoring God. A holy man was sent by God to Eli warning him of his family demise. Samuel was anointed as priest and God appeared to him.

The Israelites tried defeating the Philistines but lost terribly. Eli's sons, Hophi and Phinehas, had the bright idea to take the Chest of the Covenant of God into camp thinking it would help them in battle. Big mistake! The chest was taken from the Israelites, Eli's sons were killed along with 30,000 more Israelites. When Eli, who was old and fat, heard this news, fell off his stool, broke his neck and died. So once again God is carrying out His word and Phinehas' wife dies after childbirth. Her son was named Ichabod (Glory's Gone).

The Philistines mocked God by putting the Chest of the Covenant next to their idol of Dagon (the fish god). The next morning Dagon was face down in front of the chest. The morning after that, the Philistines found him the same way but his head was broken off along with his arms. God hit the town of Ashdod as well as surrounding cities with tumors. He also released rats on the people. The Philistines moved the chest to Gath, but God came down on them as well. The chest went to Ekron, but the people protested because they heard what was going on. The chest was in the Philistines possession for 7 months. Religious professionals, priests, and experts on the supernatural (phonies go way back) suggested taking the chest back to Israel and also making five gold tumor and rat replicas as compensation. They hitched a cart to cows and sent them to Beth Shemesh and their route wasn't diverted. The people of Beth Shemesh made a sacrifice to God and the Levites took back the possession of the chest. Unfortunately, 7 people were curious about the chest and looked inside...God killed them. Samuel addressed the people of Israel and they came clean with God. They sacrificed and fasted.

Samuel's sons didn't follow in his footsteps. Their names were Joel and Abijah. Elders gathered and asked Samuel for a king...not acknowledging God as their king. They rejected Him once again. God told Samuel to warn the people the havoc a king would bring but they were in denial. Saul, a Benjaminite, was made prince over the people.

Saul waited 7 days for Samuel at Gilgal but he got impatient. Many of Saul's soldiers left so Saul made a burnt peace offering. Samuel showed up and asked what was happening. Saul learned from Samuel that if he would've kept the appt God commanded, God would've set a firm foundation under Saul's rule in Israel, but he was now going to be replaced.

Pastor Mark addressed divine appts in this week of 5 Lies of the Devil. Coincidence? I don't think so :) God has divine appts w/ people planned out for us ahead of time, we just need to be sensitive and listen to the holy spirit.