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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
1 Sam. 12
In asking for a king, the people essentially said that Samuel’s leadership and, more importantly, God’s leadership were not enough. Boy did they ever buy into a lie! What a grievous thing, to tell God that He is not enough. Yet it is a thing we all do from time to time. That’s why Samuel’s words at the end of his speech are so encouraging. In spite of all the evil we do and how far we fall short, we can still come back to God. At any time we can make the choice to repent – to turn away from the worthless things we pursue and give our whole hearts to God. “The LORD will not abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to make you His own people.” (1 Sam. 12:22).
1 Sam. 13-14
The Bible is vague about a lot of details, to say the least. Like times and ages. This story is a great example of this. It specifically states that Saul was thirty when he became king and reigned until he was 72, for forty-two years. Which begs the question, when in his reign did this story take place? I have to think it was several years in for many reasons. First, it does take time to move a man from the humble state of Saul when he was first introduced (see my thoughts from yesterday) to the proud state we find him in here. Second, his son, Jonathan, was old enough to fight with him, and seems to have been doing so for some time at this point. And third, we later learn that David was likewise thirty when he took over the throne at Saul’s death.
My point in saying this is that we need to be careful not to miss the point. While God has given us more than enough evidence to show that He is all that He says He is, He always leaves room for doubt. He leaves stumbling blocks all over the place to test the focus of our hearts. Will we get tripped up over the doubt caused by confusing and seemingly conflicting details? Or will we trust that God’s word is true, even when we don’t fully understand it? Because the fact is that the details that tend to trip us up – like times and ages, among others – aren’t really the point. If we knew the answers to any of the questions raised by vague details, they would not change the certain truths.
So, while I believe curiosity and seeking answers are good things, we need to be careful. We can’t let what we don’t know turn us away from what we know. As they say, we need to keep the main thing the main thing. We need to not sweat the small stuff. And, as Paul admonished, “don’t argue about disputed matters.” (Rom. 14:1).