This evening I read 1 Kings 9 where God answers Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple. In 1 Kings 9:8 God tells Solomon that the Temple will become a heap of ruins if Israel and her kings go after other gods and serve them. The thought struck me this evening that the Temple, as […]
High Places and Alliances – 1 Kings 3
1 Kings 3:1, 3 (ESV) 1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the […]
Touching the Lord’s Anointed
1 Samuel 24:6 (ESV) 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” As I read this, i thought of Romans 13:1-2 where Paul informs us that our leaders are […]
Jonathan Gets a Clue
In our never-take-no-for-an-answer, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture, perhaps it is difficult to understand Jonathan’s actions in 1 Samuel 20:12-17. We live in a world where self-promotion is expected; encouragement to “look out for #1” is covertly or overtly stated in almost every advertisement. We often look for validation in job titles, paychecks, hit counts and followers. Jonathan […]
Lions and Bears as Training Aids
When David volunteered to confront Goliath to take away the reproach of Israel, Saul questioned David’s preparation for this task. David responds by informing Saul of times when he protected his sheep by killing a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-36). This story triggered two thoughts as I read it today. First, David was […]
Abandoned by God – 1 Samuel 15:35
1 Samuel 15:35 (ESV) 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Saul had abandoned God and as a result, God abandons Saul. Someone once said that we have two options which […]
