God's Transforming Power

Reading:  1 Samuel 9, 10, 11
My Verse:  "Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you mightily, and you will show yourself to be a prophet with them; and you will be turned into another man" (10:6).

  I love how this story of Saul illustrates Your transforming power, LORD God!  This is what You continue to do in our lives even today!  We should not be amazed because You are God after all but still it is fun, exciting, inspirational and yes, amazing to see people's lives transformed by Your loving grace and power.

Saul was someone who had a rather humble background and he was well aware of that.  "And Saul said.  Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?  And is not  my family the least of all the families of the clans of Benjamin?  Why then do you speak this way to me" (9:21)?  This was his response to Samuel when Samuel treated him as though he were someone very special. "Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons" (9:22).

I am intrigued by Saul's attitude.  Yes, he did have a humble background as he pointed out.  Yet, his family was wealthy. "There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish . . . a man of wealth" (9:1)  This was his father.  Saul was also apparently very handsome.  "There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he.  From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people" (9:2). So Saul did stand out.  And yet here he is looking for some lost donkeys.  They go quite a ways looking for these donkeys and Saul is finally ready to give up.  However, his helper tells him about Samuel, "Behold there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true.  So now let us go there.  Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go" (9:6).  Saul is reluctant but lets his servant talk him into seeking out Samuel.  Again, this shows how humble Saul is that he is willing to listen to a lowly servant.

It is always so interesting how You operate, LORD God.  You often take the lowliest person and use them for Your awesome purposes.  Other wonderful examples of this are Moses, Ruth,  and Gideon.    

Samuel then tells Saul what You, LORD God had ordained..  "Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel?  And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies" (10:1). I like too how You, LORD God provide Saul with something tangible to help him to believe that what Samuel said will indeed come to pass.  "When  you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you. The donkeys that you went to seek are found" (10:2).

And it all came to pass.  You, LORD God, gave Saul "another heart" (10:9).  You, LORD God enabled him to prophesy.  "and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them" (10:10).

Yet even after this Saul was still reluctant and afraid to take on what You ordained for him.  When it was made public that he was indeed the chosen one to rule, Saul hid away.  "But when they sought him, he could not be found. He (Saul) had hidden himself among the baggage" (10:22).  It is a scary thing to suddenly be thrust into the limelight as a leader, to have so much expected of you.  And so it is understandable Saul's hesitation.  Yet, You LORD God empowered him to do all that You expected of him!  And so You continue to do in our lives today.

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

Thank You, LORD God for this story of Saul and how You can empower us to be what You would have us to be!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Wrong Desires!

Reading:  I Samuel 7, 8
My Verse:  "Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations" (8:4b).

This seemed like a simple and harmless request.  After all, all the nations around had a king. Yet, when the Israelites demanded this of Samuel he was upset because he knew this was a wrong thing that the people wanted. "But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us."  Samuel asked his LORD God for guidance and You, LORD God told him to do as the people wished!  Even though this was not as You wanted!  What the people were asking was not a wrong thing in and of itself.  It was simply wrong for them.  It was not Your best for them. 

I like that first of all You were thoughtful of Samuel and told him that it wasn't him that the people were rejecting but You.  "for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them" (8:7).

So sad those words, LORD God, that the people were rejecting You after all that You had done for them.  And yet that is the very thing that we do, isn't it?  We seek after the wrong things.  We beg You for things You know would not be best for us. We reject Your wise ways and love. We turn our backs to You for immediate gratification of our wrong desires.

Here the Israelites want to be like the nations around them, "like all the nations."  How often do we compromise ourselves to be like those around us?  How often do we insist that we need something that isn't good for us so we could fit in?

I also like that You give a warning about this wrong desire.  You instruct Samuel to "solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."

Oh, LORD God, it seems odd but this little verse, this story of the people of Israel rejecting You gives me some hope.  It shows how even though we tend to mess things up,  even though we insist on having our way, You LORD God will keep loving us.  You may end up giving us what we want.  We will then suffer the bad consequences of that but You don't give up on us.  You will when we relent and return to You make things aright again.  Yes, it gives me hope as I see so much going wrong around me.  It gives me hope that You can use the bad things that happen for Your purposes.  And those purposes are good and perfect.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Help me, LORD God to allow You to lead and guide me even when I don't understand the why of things happening. Help me to trust myself and my loved ones to You in all things.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Do Not Harden Your Heart!

Reading:  1 Samuel 5 - 6

My Verse:  "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharoah hardened their hearts?  When He had done wonders and made a mock of them, did they not let the people go and they departed" (6:6)?

This is a rather fascinating statement!  Especially, because the persons that said it were not followers of You, LORD God, they were the "diviners and priests" of the Philistines.  Yet, here they saw Your hand in what was happening.  They knew the history of what You had done to the Egyptians when they would not do what You had asked them to do and that was to let the Israelites go free.  They, these "diviners and priests" recognized You as the all powerful God.  They knew what needed to be done. 

These "diviners and priests" knew that ignoring You and "hardening their hearts" was not the answer and could lead to more disaster.  Often we try to get out of doing the right thing and end up paying for it.  These "diviners and priests"  pointed this out by stating.  "When He had done wonders and made a mock of them, did they not let the people go and they departed?"  Yes, the Egyptians paid dearly for "hardening" their hearts against You, LORD God. They paid dearly and ended doing what You demanded despite their attempts to disobey You.

This has always been a hard thing for me to understand - that there are people out there who recognize You for Who You are and yet still refuse to submit to You.  They simply will not allow You, LORD God,  supremacy over their lives.  And oh how they pay for it, not only in their own personal life but this stubborn disobedience affects all the people in their lives, especially their loved ones.

The lyrics to a song keep coming to me, "just believing in living is a hard way to go."  I do not understand how anyone could be satisfied with "just living." I do not understand how one shuts You out.  How one turns their mind off to You.  Hardening ones heart is most dangerous. It is a very slippery slope that simply gets more slippery and the slope steepens as one continues to shut You out, LORD God.  You show this throughout the Bible, how when people harden their hearts You will come to a point where You make it harder for them to turn to You, as You did with Pharaoh.  "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses" (Exodus 9:12).

Oh, LORD God, thank you for drawing me to You.  Thank You for enabling me to see You as Truth!  I pray for those about me who continue to turn their back to You.  Help me to be the kind of person that would help them to see YOU!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Do Not Mock God's Promises and Gifts!

Reading:  1 Samuel 1 - 4
My Verse:  "“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, I did promise that your house and that of your father [forefather Aaron] should go in and out before Me forever. But now the Lord says, Be it far from Me. For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed" (2:30).

This is a fascinating thing.  God made promises and God will keep his promises, but . . .we have a part in those promises.  He will not be mocked!

"And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it" (Jeremiah 18: 9,10).  He will not follow through on His promises if we do not abide by his precepts, if we scorn his gifts he will in turn scorn us!

Eli, was the high priest and his two sons were priests but they, the sons, Hophni and Phineas were evil.  "Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD" (1 Sam. 2:12).  "Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt"(3:17).  Eli knew that his sons were doing bad things, "he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel", but he did not stop them and so was to be punished as well.  "And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them" (3:13).  It is also interesting that God gave Eli two warnings, first through another man of God then through the boy Samuel.  I like that You, LORD God are so tender and caring that You give us the opportunity whenever possible to turn and correct ourselves.

This is fascinating not only that God's promises are so dependent on how we respond to them  but that we have such a vital role in the way things play out.  It shows how very dynamic life here on earth is. It is fascinating and yet so very sad.  You, LORD God love us so much and want to bless us in so many ways.  We on the other hand are so careless, we too often turn our backs on  Your precious gifts.

I am thinking of the many ways this happens. You bless us with special abilities, friends, families and we in turn turn our backs to those special gifts.  As a result there is so much brokenness in this world - broken lives, broken friendships, broken families.  I tried to watch a movie with my family and ended up walking out.  I could now bear the awful things that people are capable of doing to each other. How I long for Your ultimate healing of all that we have broken here on earth!

Help me, LORD God, to be thankful for what You have given me, to be thankful and make the most of those gifts and promises that You have blessed me with.

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!