Here is the reading plan for this week:
* Weekend: Judges 13-16
* Monday: Judges 17-21
* Tuesday: Ruth
* Wednesday: 1 Samuel 1-3
* Thursday: 1 Samuel 4-8
* Friday: 1 Samuel 9-12
This should be a very enjoyable week of reading! We start with the very familiar story of Samson, the strongest man in the world. Samson uses his strength to achieve many great feats, but he also uses his strength to push his own personal agenda, which comes at a great cost...
The nation of Israel has no king...
The story of Ruth is a story of love, but it is also a story of commitment, of compassion and of honor. These qualities are the legacy of the family that will one day rule the nation of Israel, as Ruth is the Great Grandmother of King David.
The nation of Israel has no king...
As we begin reading 1 Samuel, the themes of commitment and honor continue. The spiritual state of affairs in Israel are corrupt, and the people are desperate for a king to lead them. A king is not the solution, but another symptom of the nation wanting to rely on men rather than God to be the leader in their lives. God raises up Saul, Samuel anoints him, and the nation of Israel follows...
The nation of Israel has a king!
Have a great week of reading, remember to set your clocks forward tonight and we look forward to your comments!
-Mike
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The story of Samson has always been a strange one. On the one hand, it goes against many of the ways I think that God deals with us, and on the other hand, it shows how God can use us even in the midst of our great weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting about Samson is that he appears to be ruled by his passions over everything else. But God uses this against the Philistines. He falls in love easily, visits prostitutes, is self-centered and generally does what he wants. Even his final, apparently selfless, act is still self-centered. He is looking for revenge for his eyes, not trying to save his people. In fact he is one of the most famous judges and he never really is looking out for the people of Israel, just for himself.
I can't take this story as a way to live life before God, but I can take comfort in that God embraces my passionate self, even when I am way off track.
I have two thoughts about Samson.
ReplyDeleteFirst, because of Samson's fits of rage and lack of strategy for judging Israel, he is almost like the "nuclear option" for God. There really is no strategy in deploying a nuclear weapon, just mass destruction and fear. Samson kills Israel's enemies by the thousands and wipes out crops with equal force. He is unstoppable when he is bent on destroying his foes.
Secondly, Samson's issue is an issue that is on my mind from time-to-time... Samson knows God and understands that his strength is God-given, but it appears that he is neither submissive or relational with the Lord. It's like the church-going moral man who lives according to a certain code of conduct, but has no passion for God and doesn't even make the time to pray. At times I find myself falling into patterns of living "morally" and "politically correct" because that is the reputation I want to present. But, as the sermon yesterday taught us, we eventually are convicted by truth- Biblical Truth- and we make a course correction. The result of that correction is a restoration of Character as opposed to reputation.
Steve, I think you are spot-on in your estimation of Samson's story. God will use us, even if we have a terrible habit of "getting in our own way." The prime example is Saul/Paul, who in the beginning had a passion to exterminate the Christian movement, but yet had the same passion to grow the Church once exposed to the Truth...
Great thoughts- any more??? Please share!
-Mike
Alright, who's falling asleep at the wheel? Where's the new reading list? I can guess but I would rather not.
ReplyDeleteI'll post the reading ASAP- we'll not back the bus over anyone this week :)!
ReplyDelete