1 Samuel 31 - A Sad Ending

What does the world conclude when a church closes? Or when missionaries are expelled from a country? Or when there’s a scandal and a church leader steps down in shame? Or when a government outlaws Christianity driving the church underground or claiming it’s successful extinction? It either claims that it proves God does not exist, or simply shrugs its shoulders and concludes that God is irrelevant or too weak or incompetent to do anything about it. 

But what about us? What should we conclude? How are we supposed to think about such things? How are we supposed to react to them? Is God defeated? Is God unable to act? I guess we’d say no, so how are we supposed to react do we shrug our shoulders and carry on as normal because we know God is sovereign? Do we simply ignore such things and carry on as if it doesn’t affect us at all? Or do we react differently?

Is God defeated?

Ch31 of 1 Samuel is bleak. It’s just a few short hours after Saul went to see the medium at Endor at the end of ch28, the morning after his final meal. Look at (1)“Now the Philistines fought against Israel” That in itself wasn’t a problem, in fact Saul was made king to defeat the Philistines, he’d done it before, defeating the Philistines was the norm during his reign. He’d done it, his soldiers had done it, David had done it on his behalf. Except this time its different, this time “the Israelites fled before them and many fell dead.” The three F’s of verse one sum up the situation; fight, flee, fall.

We get more details of the scale of the defeat in the verses that follow, Israel don’t just lose a battle they are routed. Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-shuh, Saul’s three sons are all killed. Saul is fatally wounded and knows there is no hope of victory. It is inevitable that the Philistines will overrun Saul take him captive and torture and mutilate him, so he asks for death, and when that is refused falls on his own sword. The defeat is total(6), Israel are left without leadership – no king and all his sons are dead - and flee, (7)and those around about see the scale of the defeat and thousands become refugees of the war and run. Whole towns are terrified and can see nothing but defeat in their future and so they run. The Philistines occupy Israel.

The defeat is so comprehensive, so cowed and afraid are the Israelites that no-one tries to rescue the bodies from the battlefield. Saul’s and his sons along are looted and decapitated.

But that’s not all that happens(8-9) where do the Philistines particularly proclaim news of their victory? In the temple of their idols. Where do they put Saul’s armour on display? In the temple of the Ashtoreths. The Philistines see Saul’s defeat as Yahweh’s defeat, they see their victory as their gods victory. It’s not |just Saul and Israel who they proclaim as defeated but Yahweh. As the news is proclaimed and the boasting begins as the trophies are mounted on the walls the spiritual conclusions are drawn. The gods win Yahweh loses.

We need to not be surprised when the world crows about what it sees as its victory. We must not be surprised at claims that a churches failure or a leaders lapse or a countries laws prove that God is dead, that he is past it. Claims of God’s demise just like of those of God’s kingdom have always been made. God is not defeated God is faithful.

In Genesis 3 it looks like God’s plans are defeated, as if God is defeated but he sustains as godly line, in Judges we’ve seen it again and again, here we see it again. In places like 1 Kings when Ahab rules, supremely at the cross we see it again – when God looks most defeated he is working his most glorious rescue ever. In the early church as they are arrested and persecuted and scattered God is at work to scatter the seeds of the gospel with his scattered people.

We see it today in places like China where state persecution led the church to thrive. We see it in North Korea. We mustn’t listen to the lies that God is defeated, we mustn’t allow it to make us defeatist.

Bring it down to the life of our church. When people leave we will feel the pain but God is not defeated. When people come and reject the gospel God is not defeated.

God is faithful

Perspective matters when we view events, sometimes we’re tempted into a kneejerk reaction rather than viewing things in the light of who we know God to be. In an ever changing world we forget to focus on the one person who never changes – God.

Perspective matters too when we read the narrative events of the bible, context helps us view things rightly. If you were just to read 1 Samuel 31 you might conclude that God is defeated. But context teaches us God is faithful and sovereign even over these calamitous and disastrous events.

Turn back to 1 Samuel 2 and Hannah’s prayer. This prayer is the primer for the book of Samuel. (3)Reminds us not to arrogantly presume to take God on because he knows and weighs every action, that God is the God of reversals humbling the proud and exalting the lowly. (9)That he guards the feet of his faithful servants but (10)judges those who oppose him. That he will strengthen his king.

God isn’t defeated he is sovereignly keeping his word. Saul has been opposed to God, repeatedly choosing his word and ways above God’s and now he is weighed and broken. Turn to 1 Samuel 28:19 God has done exactly what he said. Israel and Saul have been delivered into the hands of the Philistines and Saul and his sons are dead. God’s words of warning must be taken seriously

God is keeping his word about kingship in Israel too. Turn to Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Saul rejects God’s law, God’s word to him and so his reign is cut short. But the fact that God is faithfully keeping his word does not remove the sense of tragedy, God is not dead or defeated but Saul and his people are. God’s warnings have been ignored and the outcome is tragic. Israel and even David (2 Samuel 1) still mourned Saul. The writer still records this overwhelming defeat to evoke our compassion. We are not to be hardened to it because Saul deserved it and God was keeping his word.

That is so helpful. We can sometimes find ourselves being compassionless when we hear of tragedy and struggle. This week has seen God’s church in Nigeria attacked again and again, church burnt down and worse. How do we react? We mustn’t brush these things off as if they don’t affect us. We must be compassionate for God’s people just as David is for Jonathan – God’s faithful servant and his friend.

But we must also have the same compassion for those who reject God, just as David mourned Saul who had sought to kill him. God is not defeated, God is sovereign and faithful, but that does not make us compassionless towards those involved. 

Secondly we are to see that events don’t challenge our trust in God and his rule but we are also to be warned that a promising beginning can have a tragic end. We are to beware of putting our word in place of God’s, we’re to pray for those we know of in danger of doing so, and be ready to warn them.

God is not defeated, God is faithful to his word, Jesus has secured the victory, the outcome of the battle is not in doubt God will build his kingdom and nothing will stop it. That ought not to make us cold but it should move us to be compassionate and reach out to those who are in danger of ignoring God’s word of warning.

God gives his people hope

Amidst all the darkness of this chapter there is a tiny spark of hope at the end of the chapter. The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead, in a scene reminiscent of something from lord of the Rings, stealthily march through the night over 15 miles of enemy occupied territory just to get the bodies of Saul and his sons. Jabesh Gilead is the town Saul rescued from the Ammonites in his first act as King of Israel. Now in gratitude and faithfulness they end the desecration and gloating as they retrieve the bodies. There’s a glimmer here that God is not done with his people, they have been beaten but their defeat is not permanent.

But there are also other signs of light all around this chapter. Hannah’s prayer promises that “God will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed” well we know Saul is no longer God’s anointed king, we’ve been waiting for David to take the throne. And ch31 makes us long for the coming of God’s chosen king. He is Israel’s hope. We tend to read 1 Samuel then take a break and look at 2 Samuel, but in the Hebrew bible it’s all one book, this isn’t the last chapter, it’s simply part of David’s rise to the throne. It is sandwiched between ch30 where God strengthens David and wins an amazing victory over the Amalekites and David’s anguish at these events and his coronation as king in what becomes Israel’s golden age as God strengthens and exalts his king who follows his law.

Hannah’s prayer at the start of 1 Samuel looks forward to God’s coming king and David at the end of 2 Samuel looks back and sings of God’s salvation. Israel’s hope is the coming king, not the king who is like the nations in rejecting God but the one who God has anointed.

God’s perspective is long term, his kingdom plans are long term. If we just read 1 Samuel 31 we might despair and conclude God is defeated. But God’s perspective and plan are long term, he will keep his word and bring about his kingdom.

So what? We need to learn to avoid knee jerk instant reactions to events. We need to learn patience and to wait on God trusting that he is faithful and he is building his kingdom.

When we hear of a church shutting we are to be saddened by the conclusions others draw about God from that. We are to be compassionately concerned about those affected by it but we are not to be defeated. When we hear of court rulings that go against God’s word or restrict God’s people, we’re not to react in a alarmist ways decrying the end of Christian Britain, we pray, we bring our concern to God and recognise that he’s faithful, it is just what he said would happen in the last days and that God is still building his church, that he is sovereign. We are to patiently take the long term view and long for the return of his king – Jesus - and the coming of his kingdom when everyone will see that God reigns.

1 Samuel 23

Here are the notes from Lighthouse:

David is God’s anointed king, but he is on the run. Saul is determined to kill him and David and his band of men are left running from place to place seeking safety. Humanly speaking the situation looks unpromising, the future looking purely at the circumstances is uncertain. The bookies wouldn’t offer great odds on David living very long let alone on his becoming king. But this chapter focuses on the rock solid certainty of God’s word in the midst of the swirling uncertainty of events. But it does more than just that, God doesn’t leave David alone to make do and live by his wits until he is king, God guides David, God calls and encourages David to trust him, and God rescues and protects David.

God Guides(1-13)
There is a growing contrast in these chapters between David and Saul. In the previous chapter Saul puts a whole town to death here David saves a town and then is concerned to protect them from Saul’s murderous anger. David is concerned to be guided by God whereas Saul has repeatedly ignored God’s word and has set himself in opposition to God and his plans. As you read each successive chapter it becomes clearer and clearer that Saul is a king like all the other nations had and David is a king for the people of God.

The chapter opens with a report to David that Keilah is in trouble, it’s being attacked by the Philistines. David wants to rescue the town and when he asks God(2) is told to go. However his men are less certain, they are aware that they’re already under threat and to attack the Philistines could be potentially disastrous. David asks again(4-5) and is assured that God will give them victory. And so they go down and rescue Keilah.

(6)Seems like a bit of an aside, it’s at Keilah that Abiathar (the son of Ahimelek who has escaped Saul and Doeg) joins up with them. The verse even tells us he brings the ephod with him. But it’s not an aside, there have just been questions raised by David’s men about God’s guidance. This is God’s answer - the ephod contains the Urrim and Thummim – God’s given means of guiding his people in making decisions. Now when David seeks God’s will there will be no doubt from the people.

The contrast is immediately made with Saul – David has God’s means of guidance and has been guided by God. But Saul does not and has not. In fact Saul is left to speculate on what an event might means and he gets it badly wrong, blindly assuming God is giving david into his hand when he is not. God isn’t handing David over but will again guide him to safety because he keeps his word.

(9-13)Straight away we see the value of Abiathar and the ephod as David seeks God’s guidance. He asks two questions; will Saul come and destroy the town because of David? And will the people hand him over? The answer is yes to both, and so they leave and keep on moving. God guides David and keeps him safe.

We aren’t God’s anointed king but we are his people and are promised God’s guidance. We don’t need an ephod or the Urim and Thummim we have God’s word and his Spirit. We know God as our loving heavenly Father and trust in his sovereignty and goodness as we listen to him and make decisions based on who we know him to be.

God Encourages (14-18)
These verse are the meat in a betrayal sandwich. (1-13)We see the potential betrayal of the people of Keilah, (19-24)we see the actual betrayal of David by the people of Ziph. And in between we have this little story of Jonathan strengthening David, don’t skip over it because who knows where David would have been had it not been for this God given encouragement.

Firstly God encourages David in Saul’s being unable to find him, God keeps David and his men safe. But God also directly sends encouragement in the form of Jonathan who although his father can’t find David appears to know exactly where to go. Jonathan’s friendship and presence would have been an encouragement to David in itself. But physical presence is not encouragement enough, what distinctively marks out this encouragement is he “helped him to find strength in God.” Isn’t that a fantastic description of what Jonathan does for David.

David is on the run for his life for crimes he didn’t commit. He’s been driven out and he’s on the run, harried and hunted from place to place. Even his good deeds are met not with gratitude but potential betrayal. It would so easy for David to despair or begin to doubt God’s promises as one thing piles on top of another. But God sends Jonathan not just to be an encouragement by being there but to strengthen his hand in God.

How does Jonathan do that? (17)He calls on him not to be afraid, not to let the circumstances drown out God’s promises and sap his certainty in God’s word, but instead to trust in his safety from Saul and that he will be king. Jonathan calls David to remember God’s promises and character and to live in the light of them, and leaves with their covenant of friendship renewed.

God sends Jonathan to encourage David, to strengthen him, to help him remember. God’s grace and love is seen in guidance and rescue but also in the sending of a friend to encourage his embattled servant and stir him to continue living out his faith.

Don’t you long both to know Jonathan’s and be a Jonathan? Aren’t there times in life when we need a Jonathan who gets alongside us and encourages us in God? Someone who strengthens our faith by their presence and their commitment to us but also by reminding us of the promises of God and the wonder of the salvation that is ours.

Hebrews 3:12-13 is just one of many verses that call us to be Jonathan’s to one another in the church. “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness.”

Do you see the danger, it is that circumstances lead us to become hardened bit by bit until we turn away from the living God. How do we ensure that doesn’t happen? We encourage one another daily. We encourage each other by our physical presence together be it meeting up for coffee, gospel groups, or on Sundays. We encourage one another not just by our presence but by God’s word and reminding one another of the gospel and its application for our lives and our hope.

What will this look like? It might mean phoning someone who is struggling, meeting up with them, modelling God’s grace when they can’t see it for themselves. It might mean offering to pick someone up in order to get someone to church or gospel group when they just don’t feel like it. It will mean listening, it will mean praying for and with people, it will means reading God’s word together appropriately and over time. This doesn’t happen instantly. Jonathan is not a new person on the scene, he’s someone with a track record of committed godly love for David. We need to cultivate these relationships, because the danger of not doing is too terrible to contemplate.

Whose hand this week can you strengthen in God by calling, by seeing, by sharing an encouragement? By praying for them?

God Sustains and Rescues(19-29)
After Jonathan leaves notice that the situation doesn’t get better, in fact it gets worse. Now it’s not potential betrayal its actual betrayal. And by(26) it looks like the end, David and his men are trapped and the net is closing in. It’s like the chase scene in the movie where capture is inevitable as they try to escape but are surrounded on the mountain.

But then in another of God’s great ironic twists David is rescued. Not by something David does, not by Jonathan, not by any Israelite, but by the Philistines(27-28). The Philistines who David defeated when he slew Goliath, who he has just fought (1-5) are God’s means of saving David from Saul. This isn’t coincidence, fate, karma or luck it is God again taking the evil purposes of those who oppose him and working them for the rescue of his people and his plan.

Turn to Psalm 54 where we see David’s reflections on this betrayal. David’s prayer is for salvation and vindication as he is under attack and his life is under threat. What hope is there when the godly are persecuted, when they are harried and harassed by those who oppose God?

(4)“Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.., You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.”(7)

What is our confidence when opposed, when under attack, when persecuted, when the plans and promises of God look uncertain? It is that God is our help and Saviour. He sustains through his guidance, through the encouragement of his people and reflection on the truth that he is sovereign and ultimately judge. Our future is secure and we entrust ourselves to him, not just when it looks that way but even more so when it does not.

God is the one who sustains us as we face struggle, persecution, when we come to the end of our strength God sustains. God’s plan will not be thwarted, God will build his kingdom. The question is will we trust him as he does so? Will we trust in his word, his sovereignty and his reign and rule?

1 Samuel 22:6-23

Here are my notes and discussion questions from Lighthouse on Sunday night, looking at 1 Samuel 22.

Where do you expect to experience opposition to God, and what form do you expect it to take?
This chapter is one of the bibles nasties, it’s one of those stories where after the first reading you find yourself thinking what on earth is this teaching me about God? Because in it everything seems to be going wrong, and God seems absent. David is on the run from Saul who is determined to kill him, why? Not because of anything David has done, in fact David has done nothing but treat Saul well, a point Ahimalek makes (14) as he lists David’s loyalty and good service. Yet he is a fugitive. And Abiathar finds himself in the same boat all he has done is fulfil the role of priest and been loyal to Saul(15). And yet his whole family and everyone in the town are butchered despite their innocence, and he is on the run.

What are we to make of this chapter? How do we get our bearings in it? Turn back to 1 Samuel 2. Hannah’s prayer sets out at the start of the book who God is and who he will be revealed to be in the chapters that follow. It is the primer that helps us understand the rest of the book and the events it records and what is happening in them. In (10-11)Hannah’s prayer expresses a hope for rescue from God’s king who he will raise up and the kingdom he will bring about. But it also tells us that this kingdom will come about in the face of opposition. Now Saul is Israel’s first king but he is a king in the mould of all the other nations, and therefore as one who opposes God he will be broken. But God is at work to exalt a king to the throne who will bring about a kingdom and be a picture of the ultimate king – the Messiah.

Opposition to God is a realityFrom chapter 15 onwards reading about Saul’s kingship is like watching the slow motion replay of a car crash. He proves to be exactly what Israel asked for; a king “such as all the nations have”(8:5). And that is seen as he increasingly opposes God and rules less and less like a king of Israel should. It begins gradually with his making the burnt offering himself, then in compromising and not wiping out the Amalekites, their flocks and herds. Bit by bit he has become more and more focused on his retaining power so that by ch22 Saul is set on a course that is totally opposed to God.

He’s determined to secure the throne for himself and kill God’s anointed. He’s been told that the throne has been taken from him and given to another but he won’t have it, he won’t accept it, he will fight God. That’s what he is doing as he hurls the spear at David, as he yells at Jonathan, and he hunts David. This isn’t a personal dislike of David, it’s not a matter of politics or securing the succession this is Saul at war with God and God’s anointed. This is Saul opposing God’s plans and purposes.

The scene opens with Saul ruling over Israel(6) and the paranoia that his opposition to David and God is causing as he flings out accusation against his men, his son and David himself as he tries to justify his actions(6-8). None of the accusations Saul makes in this chapter are true, but he does not care. Reality and evidence do not matter, Saul has fixed his own reality and David must die!

Throughout the chapter Saul is isolated in his opposition to God. Only one man supports him in his actions, Doeg. And what is emphasized three times about Doeg? He is an Edomite (9, 19, 22). He is not one of God’s people, he’s of a line that has stood opposed to God right from Esau who despised his birthright and lost the blessing. Saul and the Edomite stand side by side in their bloody and determined opposition to God.

(11-19)As he summons the priests again reality and evidence don’t matter, despite Ahimelek’s evidence that David is loyal and not plotting and that he himself is faithful to Saul decrees that all the priests must die. Saul effectively institutes the ban – total destruction – on the priests and the town of Nob. That is shocking Saul the King of Israel, who Deut 17 tells us is supposed to read and know the law so he reveres God, carries out the ban – reserved only for removing sinful Canaanites from the Promised Land - against the Lord’s priests. And even when his loyal Israelite men will not do such a thing because it should not be done he ignores their implicit rebuke and simply finds someone who will do it. Doeg the Edomite. Saul’s opposition to God is so great that the only person who will enact his will is an Edomite from a nation who have opposed God’s people throughout history. But even that fact will not draw Saul up short.

We see here is Saul that opposition to God is not reasoned, or calm, rational or on the basis of evidence. It is based on a determination to reject God and his word and will and moulds its reality around that desire. And it is directed at God’s people. Hunting David and striking out at Ahimelek his family and the town are Saul’s way of striking out at God. Opposition to God is a reality we cannot ignore it or expect to avoid it. And we must learn that God’s people will be the focus for opposition to God, we must expect it.

It is what Jesus tells Saul in Acts 9. Saul has been persecuting the church, but Jesus says persecution of his people is persecution of him. Persecuting God’s people is to persecute God and people will try to attack God by attacking his people. It must not surprise us, Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour as he rails against God by attacking his people.

So how should we react? How do we prepare ourselves? What do we cling to in the face of opposition?

God’s love and kingdom are the ultimate realityYou can’t help but see the repeated pattern of the Bible’s narrative here as (20) one son of Ahimelek escapes. Saul’s opposition to God sees him try to wipe out the priests but one survives. Just as Pharaoh’s attempt to restrict and stop Israel becoming too numerous sees one boy, Moses, survive. Just as Athaliah tries to destroy the royal household only for Josiah to survive, and just as centuries later Herod would oppose God and try to kill the Messiah, only for Jesus to flee to Egypt and return to bring the kingdom.

Opposition to God and his kingdom is the norm. But God’s kingdom will not die. In fact Saul and Doeg’s actions, evil though they are and accountable as they will stand for them, simply serve to fulfil God’s words and play a part in the rise of God’s anointed, in the strengthening of David’s kingdom. As Saul murders the priests of Nob, he partially fulfils God’s word of judgement against Eli and his family (2:31-33), not that that is his intention, but even God’s opponents can’t stop God fulfilling his word.

But Saul also drives Abiathar to who? To David. Abiathar runs from a king seeking to take his life to one who promises safety and security. And as he does so he strengthens David. David who at the end of ch20 is a lone man on the run from a king who is hunting him, now has a band of men around him, and Gad the prophet with him, and due to Saul and Doeg’s actions and God’s protection and provision a priest with him through whom David can enquire of the Lord his will.

Every act of opposition and evil will be judged but God takes and uses them to give strength to his king, to exalt his anointed. They do not challenge God’s rule they only confirm it. But it doesn’t make the pain any less real for Abiathar or the struggle any less real for David. But they can trust in the God who always keeps his will, whose kingdom is un-existinguishable, and he gracious encourages each of them in each other.

David knows that even these events are not outside of God’s steadfast, reliable love. Turn to Psalm 52. David trusts in God’s love and his word and that enables him to wait for God to act.

And that is another repeated pattern in the Bible. It is a truth we cannot just trust in but bank our lives upon. Turn over to Acts 2 Peter reminds us that we see that supremely in Jesus, the ultimate king to who David points, who is the one to whom we come and find not just safety and security now but for eternity. “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

And again in Acts 4 as the church is threatened and opposed by more Jewish rulers. “ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

God is so sovereign that he works opposition and acts of evil for his purposes to advance his kingdom. God doesn’t promise that we will never die for his kingdom but he does promise that his kingdom will never die.

We need to live expecting opposition, aware that throughout the Bible God and his people are opposed and that that opposition is often unjust and irrational and bloody and fiercely determined. And that it may come from places we do not expect it.

But we must also resolve in the face of it to live trusting that our God who loves us with a unbreakable love will enable us to meet it. That we are secure in God’s love for us in Jesus forever and that God will work all things for the growth of his kingdom. That even in that act of opposition God is working to advance his kingdom in ways we do not yet see.

“I trust in God’s unfailing love, forever and ever.”

1. What stops us expecting opposition? Why is this dangerous for us? 

2. What truths about God do we need to learn and prove before and during facing opposition? 

3. How can we best help one another prepare for facing opposition and when facing opposition to stand trusting in God?

1 Samuel 20

Here are the notes and questions from Sunday's LightHouse:

Over the last few chapters we have seen that David is God’s anointed king and God is at work to ensure that he comes to the throne despite the opposition of Saul. But David isn’t immune from hardship and struggles but he is protected in the midst of them. That protection by God has come in various forms, dodging Saul’s unusually off target spears, military victories against the odds, Jonathan’s passionate defence plea, Michal’s lies and cover up using an idol, and God’s direct intervention as Saul’s posse all prophesy before Saul himself prophesies. But David is not safe yet, as ch20 opens David is still on the run from Saul.

So where he runs to is a bit of a surprise in one sense. As he flees Naioth you’d expect him to get away, get far away from Saul and his family. But David runs to Jonathan. But in another sense if we know the story it is not a surprise because we know the friendship and covenant between the two. This passage shows us the marks of covenant friendship and the hearts of two men on fire for God.

The faithfulness of a covenant friend seeks out sin (1-10).
Back in 18:1-5 Jonathan recognises David as God’s anointed king and enters into a covenant with him. They are kindred spirits, both love and are devoted to God and his kingdom, both have fought for it, both have risked for it, both live by faith and that unites them, that shared passion for God’s name, glory and kingdom. It is no surprise that David goes back to Jonathan.

What is a surprise is what David ask Jonathan, he wants to know what he has done to deserve Saul’s animosity, has he sinned that he is under pain of death(1-2, 8). Jonathan says that he has done nothing and that his father doesn’t want to kill David, the last Jonathan knew was 19v6-7 where Saul and David were reconciled after Jonathan’s mediation. So he undertakes to find out what has happened.

What binds David and Jonathan is a covenant, a solemn binding agreement built on love and lives lived for God and his kingdom. David can come confidently to Jonathan because his friend will treat him with “kindness”, that word is ‘hesed’ it means a loyal love, a devotion to the good of a friend. Their friendship is not flaky, its not changeable, it is committed, it is reliable, and it is focused on the heart. It is not about appearance but about reality. So David exhorts Jonathan to find out if he has sinned(8), and Jonathan agrees to do so(9).

What strikes you here is firstly David’s concern that he has sinned. How do we react when someone treats us wrongly? Do we assume it may be because of sin on our part or because of sin on theirs? When a relationship breaks down do we examine ourselves or quickly shift the blame onto others? Do we act indignant or are we concerned to find out if we have sinned without knowing it?

David could have reacted proudly and simply left, but he is concerned to see the relationship repaired is he has caused the breach. He will not let pride stop him and so he goes to Jonathan and asks him to examine the situation and determine the wrong. He lays his heart open to Jonathan’s scrutiny.

The faithfulness of a covenant friend exposes sin. It means we will be willing to invite another to examine our lives, our hearts and our motives. At the very least this should apply to our marriages, but it also ought to apply to our friendships in Christ, not every relationship will be able to take this weight, but we need some that go this deep. Where we can entrust ourselves and ask others to examine us because we know they are for us, they are loyal and faithful and love God’s kingdom.

Faithful friendship strengthens others in God (11-17)
Jonathan now takes the initiative, he acts and plans and trusts God. He undertakes to discover what is wrong, if David has sinned and if he is in danger. But he does so much more than that he strengthens David’s trust in God.

(13-16)Jonathan trusts God’s word to David; he trusts that God is with David, that David will become king, that David’s enemies will be cut off by God – even if one of them is his father, and asks David as king elect to treat him and his family with ‘hesed’ when he is king – not if!

That is faithful friendship; that is friendship like Gods. (17)Ends by telling us why Jonathan showed such friendship to David, because he loved him as he loved himself. Again remember 1 Samuel is a former prophet book – each event looks back to the law. Here Jonathan is fulfilling the law, showing us what a faithful Israelite looks like. Leviticus 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.” Jonathan is a faithful Israelite treating David as he should, as God would. Showing him kindness just as God is kind, and love just as God loves.

This sort of friendship is founded in faith, it is counter cultural. Culture would have Jonathan wipe out a threat to his kingship, cultural wisdom would have David wipe out Jonathans family when he comes to the throne so there is no one for any opposition to rally round with a legitimate claim to the throne. But faith in God, a concern for God’s kingdom, covenantal faithfulness conquers culture.

Covenant commitment ought to mark our friendships with other believers and our commitment to church. A love for one another than is committed, that is determined to resolve, to reconcile, to forgive, to repent readily rather than sulk in pride. That is determined to help one another expose sin but also to deliberately strengthen one another’s faith in God. That is counter cultural – our cultures idea of love is liquid, it comes and goes, it is no more permanent that a sandcastle on a beach. But our friendship with one another in faith is to be of a different nature all together. People from outside the church should look at the church and marvel at our love for and commitment to one another. Our service and practical care for one another, our willingness to forgive, our grace filled words, our love for one another even when we disagree should be amazing the watching world. David and Jonathan don’t jack it in when it gets hard. Their love and friendship is just like God’s. And it is aimed at strengthening one another’s trust in and living for God and his kingdom.

A Faithfulness the world can’t understand(24-34)
What did Jonathan dream of as he grew up? What had he been trained for his whole life? What did people ask him if he was looking forward to? Being king of Israel. Yet what is amazing is that he is prepared to give it all up for God’s kingdom. Jonathan is not all words, he acts too. He goes to the feast and observes his dad, and faces the fury of his father when he says he has given permission to David not to be there. Then he confronts his Dad’s sin because David has done nothing wrong and yet Saul wants him dead. And Jonathan’s anger (34)is not because his dad threw a spear at him but because of the injustice done to David and Saul’s sin.

Jonathan’s righteous anger is in contrast with Saul’s angry explosion; how can Jonathan choose David over his family, choose David over dynasty. But the issue is that he is not just choosing David, he is choosing God and God’s king and kingdom over his own kingdom. And Saul cannot understand how Jonathan can give up.

Jonathan seeks God’s kingdom and that liberates him to give up his rights and his rule. You can’t help but see the parallel with Jesus, who gives up his rights to pursue God’s kingdom, to win us for God’s kingdom. It becomes the pattern of discipleship, seen in Jesus to seek first God’s kingdom, to carry our cross, to deny ourselves. It may be the call to give up a promotion in order to keep on serving in church, in may be a call to not have the things culture says we need in order to be a stay at home mum, it may be a call to give generously rather than live in luxury, it may be a call to be excluded and set apart for our concern for God’s kingdom and his word on marriage or family or faith or salvation, or the call to forgive someone who has hurt us and love those who are opposed to us.

And we are to expect people outside the church not to understand just as Saul didn’t get why Jonathan would give up his kingdom and rights in pursuit of God’s kingdom. We are to expect opposition when we do even from our family as we see here. But we are to be faithful.

A Faithfulness that trusts God for the future(35-42)
David’s words to Jonathan seem a bit incongruous don’t they? He reports everything and David is now on the run, a hunted man. There is great sadness as they part, the tears flow, but there is also a steely faith and confidence in God(42). “Go in peace” is not what you expect Jonathan to say given what he has just told David, but there is peace between David and Jonathan, there is friendship between them because of the covenant and their mutual love for God. They part entrusting one another to God. This peace is not a vague, hopeless, wish for peace and quiet, but a steely eyed sense of right relationship with God and one another even amidst the turmoil. Enjoying God’s favour, seeking God’s kingdom places you at the eye of the storm even as it rages around you.

The future may be bleak but they act now in the light of who they know God to be. The future is in God’s hands Saul will not stop it, David will be king and Jonathan will live in the present in the light of God’s future. As David goes and Jonathan heads back to town to the worlds eyes the future looks uncertain but in David and Jonathan’s hearts God’s kingdom will come and there is no doubt because of God’s character.

They leave having strengthened one another’s faith in God, with their hearts lifted by the reminder of God’s faithfulness, that the kingdom is in God’s hands along with their futures, and there is no safer place for them to be.

Notice that this is not a commiserating friendship, it is not a vague “there, there it will all be ok” friendship. This is a committed covenant friendship based on the character of God, it is a robust friendship, a Godward focused friendship, a kingdom fixated friendship. Trust in God is the glue that binds, the passion that fires this friendship.

There is security in the covenant, the promises made, not to each other but based upon the character of God and one another’s love for God. For us our security is in the new covenant, made in Christ. But it is a security that then is to flow out into our other relationships our friendships of faith. As we show others the committed, sin exposing, faith building, love of God which the world cannot understand, because that is how God in Christ loved us.

1. How is Christian friendship different to the cultures view of friendship? What stops us building those relationships?

2. How many of those things we listed as things which stop us building them are excuses for laziness? How can you practically facilitate the building of such relationships?

3. What other things are you tempted to trust in for security? Why will they fail? How can we better point one another to Jesus and the new covenant as our security?

1 Samuel 18 - Enjoying God's presence

Here are the notes and questions we discussed from 1 Samuel 18 in last night's LightHouse on 1 Samuel 18.

Who is your favourite Bible character and why?

What, if anything, marks out friendship between disciples as opposed to other friendships?

I wonder if you spotted the repeated words and phrases as we read through the chapter together. There are lots of people who love David, there is Saul’s fear of David, David’s success, and God’s presence with David.

It is through the repeated words and phrases that the author of 1 Samuel brings our attention to the big lesson he has for Israel and for us to learn. Behind all Saul’s plotting and scheming and military, political and marital traps we see that he is not fighting against David. But he is opposing God himself, that is who he is fighting against and that is why he cannot win. But before we get there the writer sets up a deliberate contrast between Saul’s reaction to David and Jonathan’s reaction to David.

Seeking God’s Kingdom costs (1-5)
We all have favourite Bible characters, yet relatively few of us would name Jonathan as one of them, and if we do we often think of him as Saul’s son. But Jonathan is one of the quiet heroes of faith in the Bible. His actions stand throughout in contrast to Saul’s; he loves God and takes God at his word living by faith and wanting Israel to do likewise. His actions are godly throughout.

And here what strikes you is that David is as big a threat to Jonathan as he is to Saul. Jonathan is the heir to the throne of Israel, Jonathan has previously been the hero and darling of the Israelite army and people and now David threatens all that. It is not that Jonathan doesn’t know what is going on, he does as we will see but here in his welcome love and recognition of David we see Jonathan’s humble faith in God. A faith that makes him willing to become lesser so God’s anointed is exalted and rules.

Jonathan recognises in David a kindred spirit; both are young warriors who have guts and faith to lead men into battle against the odds, both love God and act and live by faith, both contend for God’s people. They share the same passions and loves, and are of one mind and so Jonathan makes a covenant with David and gives him phenomenally significant gifts.

What is it that Jonathan gives David? His robe, tunic, sword, bow, and belt. That act is incredibly significant. He takes off the clothing of a prince and the apparel of the heir to the throne and the kingdom and gives them to David. Jonathan’s faith is such that he doesn’t see David as a threat he recognises him as God’s anointed, he is prepared to give up his throne, his rule, his kingdom for David because he recognises him as God’s anointed. Jonathan trusts God even when it is costly to himself, laying aside his rights for God’s king and his kingdom.

Jonathan stands as a model of one who accepts God’s king and kingdom even at cost to himself. He is not concerned about his prestige, his standing, what it will cost him. One who is prepared to become lesser so that God’s kingdom comes, so that God’s king rules. It is another pattern we see in the kingdom; John the Baptist who when asked (John 3:38-30)about Jesus ministry which is drawing more followers says this “You yourselves can testify that I said, “I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.” He must become greater; I must become less.” In fact John says there is joy in that.

Or Paul who says the priority is that Christ is preached not that he does the preaching, that he can rejoice in that.

That is the humble attitude of the kingdom, it is counter cultural. We naturally want to be made much of, to be recognised, to have our place. The gospel calls us to seek first the kingdom. It calls us to not pursue significance in world terms, but to serve Christ’s kingdom. To become lesser – and Jonathan and we are enabled to do that when we understand that we are loved by God and called to place our role in his kingdom.

Jonathan seeks first God’s kingdom and that means he can become lesser because his focus is on the kingdom not his prestige, his honour and fame. What about us, how does God call us to be lesser? Is it in pursuing the call of motherhood over career? Is it in turning down the chance of a promotion to ensure we can still serve in church? Is it in turning down a bigger church ministry to labour in a small but gospel needy church? Is it in ministry to the marginalised rather than the big and spectacular?

Opposing God’s anointed is opposing God and it is pointlessThe contrast between Saul and Jonathan couldn’t be more stark.  Saul cuts an increasingly isolated figure as the chapter goes on. Everyone else loves David – Jonathan(1), the troops and officers(5), the people(16), Saul’s Daughter(20). Saul alone is against David because he alone sees David as a threat. (8)“What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that day on Saul kept a close eye on David.”

And so begins the battle, which looks - at least on the surface - like a battle between Saul and David as he tries first of all to pin him to the wall(11), then sets him up as a military commander trusting that the law of averages will see the Philistines kill him(13), and then scheming to set up a two-fold threat through Michal. The first threat is the task he sets David, **what is it? He must kill 100 Philistines and cut off their foreskins.

The second is Michal herself, notice what Saul says in(21), he uses her as a **what? “snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines might be against him.” It is a two stage trap, step one is the task of the foreskins but the second is a spiritual trap. That word is significant and is used elsewhere to warn of the danger of idolatry. Turn to Exodus 23:33 “Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their God’s will be a snare to you.” That same phrase is used to describe idolatry in Exodus 34:12, and Deuteronomy 7:16. And if you look over to 19v13 what does Michal hide in the bed; an idol.

Yet for every trap which Saul sets David doesn’t just avoid it he positive triumphs through it, he succeeds becoming ever more popular, more loved, and even more suited to being Israel’s king. He eludes the spear not once but twice, he leads the troops so successfully that they and the people love David for his military successes, he gathers not 100 foreskins but 200 without injury, and even Michals’ idolatry will be used to successfully protect David from Saul in the next chapter. By the end of the chapter David is clothed in the apparel of an heir, is a loved military commander, and is married to Saul’s daughter.

Everything Saul does to bring David down, to end the threat, leads to David being more loved, more in line to the throne, and more the kind of King Israel needed.

But the author leaves us in no doubt that this is not because David is clever, or cunning, or tactically brilliant. It is because Yahweh is with him, he is God’s anointed and God will keep his word and establish his kingdom. Saul is not just trying to eliminate a pretender to the throne he is trying to kill God’s anointed king.

And(12) it is deliberate “Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.” Saul knows God is with David and yet he still keeps fighting, plotting, planning. He thinks he can defeat God’s plans, purposes, and promises. But at every step God shows that he is sovereign, that he will build his kingdom and opposition is pointless.

It is a theme which David picks up in Psalm 2. Turn to it.

Jonathan kisses the son, he recognises God’s anointed and relates rightly to him, not rebelling against him but joyfully serving him. Saul opposes God and experiences the futility of trying to defeat God’s plans and purposes. What an encouragement for Israel as they read this chapter, God reign and rules, his plans and promises will not be derailed or defeated, his kingdom will not fail. No matter what plots or plans man hatches, what schemes he creates God’s anointed will reign and God’s kingdom will come.

That is not just the message of 1 Samuel 18, it is the message of the Bible, as Jesus goes to the cross what looks like defeat is a glorious victory, God’s king will be anointed and reign and his kingdom will come. In Acts 4 as the early church is threatened they pray for boldness because God’s kingdom will come, his King rules now. And in Revelation John is given this great message which looks at the history of the world, all its opposition to God and his king Jesus and his kingdom and concludes ‘The Lamb Wins’.

That is the perspective we need to have. We need to expect opposition to God’s king and his kingdom, we mustn’t be naive about that. And notice here David is not immune from difficulty, threat and struggle. He doesn’t live his life inside a little protective God bubble. He has spears thrown at him, he has to go into battle, he is sinned against and plotted against, and persecuted and he feels all those things as we’ll see in his conversation with Jonathan in the next chapter. The threat is very real, but God protects because he will build his kingdom.

Jesus doesn’t call us to a sanitised life of safety and security with never a worry or a care. He calls us to be soldiers in the advance of the kingdom which will be opposed and fought against but which will not fail because he builds it.

That ought to give us boldness, we are called to be part of God building his eternal kingdom and his purposes will not fail. It ought to lead us to boldness in prayer and a faithfulness in our living.

How and where might God be calling you as an individual to become lesser? What will stop us doing so?

Where might God be calling us as a church to become lesser as we pursue his kingdom first and foremost?

What encouragement is there here for us as we struggle with viewing church as significant and when we face struggles and opposition both corporately and individually?

1 Samuel 17 - A Man Concerned for God's Glory

Here are teh notes from last night's LightHouse with the discussion questions.

How does the world around us defy God?

How do we respond to that and why? How ought we to respond to that and why?

Ch1-8 of 1 Samuel focus on Samuel’s rule as Judge of Israel, ch9-15 concentrate on Saul’s reign as Israel’s first king and his failure to love God and therefore be the King God’s people needed. From ch16 onwards the focus is on David as a man after God’s own heart and God’s anointed in waiting. Throughout the rest of the book there contrasts are made between David and Saul as the book focus on God establishing his kingdom through his king. We also see the faithfulness and sovereignty of God in keeping his promises and protecting David in bringing him to be king.

There are three central characters in the story, Goliath who defies God, Saul who rules without God and therefore rules poorly, and David whose words and actions are those of the true king and reveal him to be a man after God’s own heart. It is David’s words which provide the teaching points of this chapter because he alone trusts God and brings what he knows of God to bear on the situation Israel faces.

1. Don’t judge by appearance God saves!
Back in ch16v7 we saw in David’s anointing that “People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” Samuel thought Eliab would be a good king **why? Because he looked impressive, but God doesn’t look on the outside God looks at the heart. This chapter following straight after that teaching shows us what it means for the people of God to live that out.

The chapter opens(1-10) with descriptions of the physically imposing appearance of the Philistine armies and especially of Goliath. As the narrator piles up the descriptions of Goliath you can’t help but feel overwhelmed and afraid of him. He is a champion – one who fought in one on one combat to the death as a representative for the people - 9 foot 6 inches tall, encased in thick, heavy armour from head to foot, and armed to the teeth. Everything about his appearance is designed to strike fear into his enemies hearts, he looks unbeatable, and then Goliath roars his challenge to Saul and the Israelites, defying Israel, heaping shame on them.

How do Israel and Saul react(11)? “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” And for 40 days they remain terrified as morning and evening day after day this Philistine hulk shouts out his defiance of Israel, and the Israelites hide in fear. So in awe and terrified of Goliath are Saul and the Israelites that even Saul’s inducements of a royal wife, wealth and family tax exemption aren’t enough to prompt anyone to fight Goliath.

But the key thing here is that the appearance of Goliath has so terrified Saul and the Israelites that God has been driven from their hearts and minds.

The writer highlights the contrast between Goliath and David and it couldn’t be more stark, telling us David is too young to be a solider, he just takes the rations to his brothers, he is a shepherd, Saul calls him “little more than a boy”, a phrase repeated as he faces Goliath(42) and emphasised in Goliaths words. A book maker would have refused to take any more bets on this fight. This looks like a total mismatch, so much so that Saul even tries to help David look a bit more like a warrior(38-39).

David alone weighs his actions based on a trust in God rather than in what he sees(37). David counts God as bigger than Goliath, his vision of God puts Goliath into perspective. God is a rescuing and delivering God and so David will not judge by appearance but by theology.  His theology determines his reality not the other way round.

We are all prone to Goliath vision, where a situation, problem or person looms so large in our view that it dominates it and drives thoughts of God from our thinking. We need to learn to judge situations in the light of who we know God to be, not the other way round.

David knows God is worth trusting, he knows God is faithful, he has tested God and proven him in the past. He knows that God saves through weakness, it is his pattern. And David’s overcoming of Goliath is not a one off, it sets a kingdom pattern. Which reaches its crescendo at the cross; where God the Son, having taken on weak frail human flesh, dies, seemingly slain by his Goliath and yet he rises again having defeated sin to save us.

Turn to Romans 8 we don’t look back to our killing of a bear or a lion, we look back to the cross. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

We don’t judge situations by appearance we judge them in the light of who we know God to be, the fact we are his loved and redeemed children in his fatherly care. David did not know the outcome as he went to fight Goliath but he trusted God and viewed reality in the light of the God he knew and acted accordingly. David is revealing himself to be the king Israel needs, a king after God’s own heart.

We see two other things about David here. Two more things which mark him out as a king after God’s own heart.

2. A Concern for God’s name
David makes a vital connection here which no one else seems to have made, in defying Israel Goliath is defying God, in heaping shame on Israel he is heaping shame on Yahweh and the rest of the world will see it and God’s name will be dishonoured. We see it in his description of Israel’s armies in (26)David doesn’t call them Saul’s armies but **what? “the armies of the living God?”. And (45-46) as he confronts Goliath “but I come at you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands... and the whole world will know there is a God is Israel.”

David acts, he fights, because God’s name and honour is at stake. In defying God’s people Goliath is defying God. David wants the world to know what he knows that God and he is a great deliverer, he wants God’s glory to be known his fame to be spread, the world to know Israel has a Saviour.

David is a man and a king after God’s own heart to whom God’s honour matters. In this we see that David’s kingship gives us another glimpse of the kingdom values we see in Jesus kingship. David’s priorities are Jesus priorities, kingdom priorities. God’s honour, God’s name and what the world thinks of God matters. As Jesus enters the temple and drives out the money changers and sacrifice sellers his concern is God’s name, he is zealous for God to be known and be worshipped. He is zealous for the world to know God.

How seriously do we take God’s name? We may naturally think about it in terms of challenging blasphemy from neighbours or work mates and it is right I think that we challenge that. But a concern for God’s name goes wider than that, we need to be those who contend for God’s glory, for his name. Who share that kingdom passion for God’s rescue to be known and people to trsut in God’s Saviour.

3. A Concern for God’s people
But there is another concern which David has which marks him out as a king after God’s own heart, and gives us a glimpse of God’s kingdom DNA. He is concerned for God’s people, not just in terms of whether they are defeated or not but in terms of whether they trust in God or not.

(32)In speaking to Saul David says “Let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Israel are in danger of losing heart in part because of Goliath but also because of Saul. Saul will not lead, he ought to have been the one fighting for Israel against Goliath.

But Saul doesn’t, why?

Turn to Deut 20:1-4 here God gives instructions for Israel for when they go out to war. And Saul has done none of these, he is not leading the people because he has lost access to God’s word and Samuel will no longer see him because he has continually rejected God’s word. Back in ch13 before the battle Saul intends to keep Deuteronomy 20, that is why he sends for Samuel. But now Samuel isn’t sent for and Israel are fainthearted, afraid and panic because they have not had their eyes fixed on the faithfulness of Yahweh who fights for them. Saul has not led as a king after God’s own heart, keeping God’s word, loving his law, leading as an under-shepherd of Israel’s true king.

Saul’s failure highlights all the more David’s right and kingly actions. He is concerned for the people, he doesn’t want them to be disheartened and lose faith, he wants them to trust God who saves. His faith in God leads to actions and his actions have a purpose, look at (47)“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

In David’s actions and heart we see a glimpse of the values of the kingdom, the values of God’s king. Turn to John 17:20-26 where we see Jesus concern for his people. Isn’t that astounding to think that as Jesus prayed immediately before his crucifixion his thoughts are for God to be glorified in him and for his followers, not just his immediate followers, but you and I, that we would be united and live out our faith in him for God’s glory. And then he gives himself for us on the cross to defeat the enemy we could never face, in our place as our champion.

God’s heart is for his people. To understand God’s gospel love is to find ourselves filled with an overflowing grace fuelled love for others. A love that drives us to pray for one another, but also to act when we see one another discouraged or disheartened, to point one another again to Jesus who wins the battles for us, and promises us he has delivered us and done everything we need.

David trusts God, he knows God, he is concerned for God’s name and for God’s people and he stands as Israel’s champion fighting for them to win the battle they could not win. He is the King Israel’s needs and which God has blessed them with. But he points us to Jesus, to his heart, because this is the DNA of the kingdom.

Discuss
As we face up to living as exiles in a world which defies God does this passage help us encourage one another and spur each other on?

What will it look like practically for us to be concerned for God’s name?

What will it look like practically for us to be concerned for God’s people?

1 Samuel 16 - A King after God's Heart

Here are the notes from last night's LightHouse:

What amazes you, what surprises you, and what questions does this chapter raise?

Chapter 15 ends in tragedy. God’s people are now led by a king who no longer has access to God’s word because he has consistently rejected it. And that tragedy is highlighted in Samuel’s mourning and God’s regret over Saul. Chapter 16 opens with Samuel still mourning over Saul, still sorrowful about one who began well but fell away, who rejected God.

And it is not wrong for Samuel to grieve over Saul, just as it is not wrong for us to grieve over those who start well and fall away. But this chapter shows us that God’s sovereignty means that he will keep his promises, he is not indifferent to Saul and his sin and the tragedy which that is, but neither is God hamstrung by it. God is so sovereign that he works even through the mess and mourning over Saul.

1. One Man’s Sin doesn’t derail God’s plan to save (1-5)
Samuel’s mourning is cut short by God, because Saul’s rebellion and hard heartedness whilst a tragedy won’t derail God’s plan of salvation. God and his plan is at the forefront of this chapter, God takes the initiative, he is anointing his King to lead his people(1). And so begins this shell game, Samuel’s fears are well founded; you can imagine that Saul’s spies were keeping a beady on Samuel. After all Samuel had declared 15:28 that the LORD has taken the kingdom from Saul and given it to someone else, and who would anoint that person? Who was God’s kingmaker – it was Samuel. If Samuel went somewhere unusual then it would be of great interest to Saul. You can understand both Samuel’s fear and that of the elders of Bethlehem.

What if Saul finds out? But God again takes the initiative, providing Samuel’s cover – a heifer for a sacrifice. God is moving forward his plan of salvation but he does so in a way which cares for his servants and individuals, which is wise not naive.

**What surprises you in v3? God keeps Samuel in the dark about who he is to anoint. It is emphasised that God alone knows, Samuel knows where he has to go, he knows he is to invite Jesse, he knows he will make a sacrifice, but not who he will anoint. God alone is in control of and driving events, and as Jesse’s sons gather God alone knows and is bringing about his salvation plan.

And it is a plan which is so much wider than just this chapter, turn back to Genesis 38 there we see this bizarre, soap opera like incident between Tamar and Judah which leads to the birth of twins one of whom is called Perez and as you read the chapter you think why on earth is this here! Why does God record this mess? Turn to Ruth chapter 4 and Ruth, a Moabitess, bears a son - Obed, in the line of Perez, to Boaz who is the granddad of Jesse, and David’s great great granddad. Turn to Matthew 1 and we see Judah and Tamar and Perez(3), Ruth, Boaz, and Obed(5), and Jesse and King David(6) are all part of God’s plan to bring about the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.

Very simply that ought to cause us to be amazed at the sovereignty of God who works all things to fulfil his plans. God worked through the sin and slop, the wrong motives and loves of people to bring about his plan to save a people for himself. It ought to give us great comfort and security as well as humble us and lead to us to praise God. When it looks at its bleakest God is already working to save, keeping his promises and plans. God is sovereign and nothing will stop him fulfilling his promises and plan.

We need that confidence that God is at work even as we see Christianity increasingly on the back foot in the UK. We need to reckon with the sovereignty of God so that we do not become disillusioned or long only for the big and powerful, but trust God when things are bleak.

2. God’s wisdom confounds ours
This chapter continues to call us to marvel at the sovereignty and wisdom of God as we see who God chooses as king. I wonder who you think you would have picked as king?

The surprising thing in this chapter is who Samuel thinks will be the next king. **Who does he think it will be and why? (6-7)Eliab, and it is because of his height and appearance. Even Samuel, God’s prophet thinks humanly, just as we would have done.

It’s the way we work, “People look at the outward appearance.” Not much has changed has it, just think back a few years ago to when Susan Boyle stepped onto the stage of Britain’s Got Talent. Everyone wrote her off because of her appearance. We judge by what we see, with the eye. 

Even Samuel is guilty of that, and you would think that he having just been in mourning for a physically impressive king just like all the other nations had would not be ready to repeat that again. Israel have just had a king who had all the right worldly criteria for kingship but who has failed God’s test, his heart. And yet when Samuel sees Eliab he is getting the anointing horn and oil ready until God rejects Eliab who seems to be Saul version 2.0.

“So not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

God doesn’t focus on the external but the internal, the heart. It’s important to stress that it is not that God is opposed to or anti- attractive or physically impressive people as his choice in David makes clear. But external appearance is unimportant, what God looks at is the heart. And what is it in particular that God looks for, (13:14) “the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart...” A man who loves God, who knows God is good and loving and worth trusting and who will listen to his word and serve him.

No one but God, not Samuel, not Jesse, not his brothers thinks it will be David, but God sees the heart, and David isn’t picked because he is a ready-made king, because he has charisma, or is battle hardened, or is theologically sorted. But God (13)pours out his Spirit on David to empower and equip him because his heart is right, his longings and desires and listening are right.

It’s one of the themes we’ve seen again and again in 1 Samuel God raises the unlikely and humbles the proud and powerful; Hannah, little Samuel, David. God works through the unlikely for his glory, but they are all those who listen to his word and love him.

It is not just in 1 Samuel, think of Isaac, Jacob, Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Rahab, or Tamar, unlikely key players in God’s plan to save. We see it in Jesus; not powerful in worldly terms, born in a backwater town in shame, insignificant in political terms, an outsider, rejected, crucified on a cross and yet God the Son, the Saviour of the world.

It continues to be God’s MO with us. God’s kingdom is like the mustard seed small yet growing, God sovereignly works to bring about his plans and purposes through his people, people who the world does not rate as powerful or significant but who love him and listen to his word. We need to recognise that this is how God works, so that we don’t become disillusioned when we see the church as insignificant.

It also needs to affect the way we look for leaders in the church. God’s priority in his king was someone who had a heart like his. When you read the descriptions of those who are to be appointed as leaders within God’s church they are character descriptions, they are the marks of a heart after God’s own heart. We must not look for leaders as the world looks for leaders, for an Eliab or a Saul who is outwardly impressive, or whose CV would impressive a top 100 company CEO. We look at the heart, at the convictions and character which shape and determine actions.

3. God’s grace to Saul and training of David
Chapter 16 sets up a direct contrast between Saul and David, especially in (13-14). David is now God’s anointed, he has access to the word of God through Samuel, and he is empowered by the Spirit. Saul is a lame duck king, Samuel will not see him or give him God’s word and Saul doesn’t seek it, and God’s Spirit has departed from him. Which king would you want ruling God’s people? It’s a no contest.

But v14 throws up another question; how and why does God send an evil spirit to torment Saul? Firstly it reminds us that God is sovereign not just over his plan of salvation or who he will have as king but even over evil. Secondly I don’t think we are to equate this with demon possession in the New Testment, the word for evil here can equally mean harmful or injurious, and it is calmed with music which runs counter to the New Testament descriptions of demon possession. It is a spirit which causes Saul to be afraid, terrified and overwhelmed and it is an act of judgement by God on a king who has consistently rejected his rule. Saul will not know peace or contentment whilst he sits on the throne.

But God is also sovereign and gracious to Saul in that David is the very source of calming Saul when the spirit comes on him, because the LORD was with David. And in God’s sovereignty David is chosen and loved by Saul and lives out his life in the court learning about Kingship and life as king. But more importantly this will be the proving ground for David’s faith, here he will learn to trust in God and his promises no matter what. Whilst(21) it looks like happy families here by chapter 18 Saul is jealous of David and trying to pin him to the wall with a spear. Yet God remains faithful to David, protecting him, providing for him, teaching him, protecting him and teaching him to trust God who is sovereign over all and will work out his plan to save. David learns that God is with him and that is enough.

God is sovereign over the big plan of salvation, working even sinful actions to his purposes, and over the little events in life like the appointment of a harpist to the court of the king. God is not passive God is actively bringing about his kingdom.

Yet outwardly things in Israel are bleak, yet God is at work raising up his king to save his people from their enemies, and to rule them as he ought to under the authority of the true King.

This passage calls us to see God afresh in all his glory, majesty and sovereignty and to respond in praise. And trusting in him to live as those the LORD is with, in the world. Standing out from it and yet bringing grace into it.

1. What are the characteristics we are to look for in leaders? How does that contrast with what we are moulded by the world to value?

2. How will recognising ‘God is with us’ change our approach to the ups and downs of life?

3. What knocks your confidence that God is working out his plan of salvation? How can we help one another refocus on that truth and live out of it?

1 Samuel 15 - The Real King of Israel

Here are the notes and discussion questions from LightHouse last night:

1. What is worship and what does it look like for us to worship God? What’s the connection between worship, heart and obedience?

2. Someone says to you ‘I can’t read the Old Testament, the God I see there is a vengeful monster. I much prefer the God I see in the New Testament in Jesus.’ What would you say to them?

There are a number of questions which jump out as we read this passage; does God make mistakes? Is God just or harsh? We will look at those as we go through but I think this chapter shows us a contrast between the two kings of Israel; God the ultimate King and Saul his anointed regent. In Ch12 Samuel tells Saul that he is to rule Israel by obeying God here we see again that he doesn’t. God keeps his word but Saul will not follow God’s word and then we see the contrast between God’s heart and Saul’s heart.

1. A God of justice or a vengeful monster?
(1-3)Confront us with God commanding Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites, we find(3) particularly unappetising as he is told to wipe out men, women, children, infants and animals. War is one thing but children and animals, to decree total destruction, how can that be just? In our day if perpetrated by a president or king we would want to see them on trial for war crimes. So what is going on?

(2)Gives us a potted history, this is punishment for a previous evil. Turn to Exodus 17:8-16, there we see an embryonic Israel freshly redeemed from slavery in Egypt and setting out to Sinai. When suddenly the vultures are circling looking for plunder, and the vultures are the Amalekites who see Israel as easy pickings and attack. Israel win the battle but God promises that one day the Amalekites will pay for their attack. Because it isn’t just a case of one nation attacking another it is opposition to God’s people and therefore to God and his promises, plans and purposes.

Now 300 years later God will keep his word and Saul is his chosen instrument to do so. I guess another objection might be; ‘these aren’t the same people, it is unfair to wipe them out’. The Amalekites are Israel’s enemies throughout history, Exodus 17 isn’t a one off, they keep on attacking Israel in Numbers 14:45, Judges 3:13, Judges 6:3, and 10:12 and here. And they haven’t changed, look at how they are described (18)they are a wicked people and (33)Agag their king is a ruthless butcher. God is just in dealing with those who oppose him, keeping his word to judge.

(6)Provides a counterpoint which reinforces God’s justice. **Why are the Kenites spared? Because they showed kindness to the Israelites when they left Egypt. God doesn’t forget kindness to his people either.

God is just and we mustn’t be afraid of boldly contending for God’s justice. If God didn’t punish sin then he would be a monster, who would want a God like that. But God is holy and just and keeps his word not only of judgement but also his promise to bring salvation and only in that is there hope for sinners.

2. How do you spell worship? O-B-E-Y
Listening and obedience are repeated themes in this chapter. (1)Saul is called to listen, (11)God’s regret is because Saul hasn’t listened and obeyed, (13)Saul claims he obeyed, (14, 19)Samuel challenges that claim to obedience, (20)again Saul claims he obeyed, (22)Samuel pronounces God’s delight in obedience, until finally Saul recognises that he didn’t obey(24).

**How do you think of obedience? Restrictive, limiting, etc... Our society has a negative view of obedience, viewing it as slavish, joyless, drudgery, something you have to do but don’t enjoy.

But obedience in the Bible is never slavish drudgery, it’s never mechanistic, it is always a response to the love, grace and work of God, and obedience or disobedience is always a window into the heart and relationship with God. Even for Saul here he is king only because God made him king, God raised him up, empowered and equipped him to rule. His response to such amazing grace and love ought to be a heart that loves God and is keen to obey because he trusts God. As we see his actions and response to God’s word we see his heart.

God’s instructions were clear, everyone and everything was to be destroyed, yet twice in(7, 8) it is emphasized that Saul took Agag alive, and the “But”(9) highlights the partial obedience of Saul. His obedience went so far but no further and **what do they destroy and keep? They destroy whatever is despised and weak but keep whatever is best. The things it is easy to destroy they do, the things it would be costly to destroy they don’t.

Saul’s actions reveal his heart and God through Samuel confronts Saul with exactly what it reveals. Disobedience isn’t just disobedience. So what do Saul’s actions show about his heart? (11)He has turned away from God, and we know that there is never a worship vacuum, we always worship something, something always causes our actions and reactions. If it is not God that he loves, what is it?

I guess it would be tempting to conclude that it is fear of man, that after all is what Saul confesses later on, but God through Samuel takes us even deeper. (12)Gives us a clue, **what does Saul do immediately after the battle? He sets up a monument in his own honour and then goes to Gilgal to make offerings to God. That is fascinating and very deliberately recorded, he claims the offerings were for God but first stops to build a monument to his own glory.

And when Samuel confronts Saul he is quick to cut through the bluster and excuses Saul makes to get to the heart of the issue. (22-23)He contrasts God’s heart and Saul’s. God delights in obedience not external rituals, why? Because real obedience is a window to the heart whereas ritual and sacrifice can just be external actions. God delights in those who trust him and therefore obey his word because they have experienced his grace and mercy and live depending on him and his word.

(23)Is the scalpel that brutally pulls back the layers of Saul’s heart, cutting through the bluster and excuses, the claims of obedience and smug contentment with partial obedience. Partial obedience is rebellion and it is not trivial; divination is seeking to know what to do apart from God’s word and carried the death penalty! And arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. Saul in determining what is right and wrong for himself, in picking and choosing which of God’s words he would obey has revealed his heart, and God is not enthroned there Saul is. God’s word doesn’t rule Saul’s heart Saul’s word does. Saul’s heart is laid bare and exposed. He loves and worships himself that is what partial obedience shows.

What does our reaction to God’s word reveal about our hearts, about who rules, about our idols? Our obedience or disobedience is a window into our hearts never simply a reaction.

Turn to Romans 12:1-2. Here we see again this connection between obedience being a result of an awareness of God’s mercy and what he has done for us fleshed out in our everyday lives lived in light of God’s will. We don’t live life to earn mercy, we live worshipping because we have received mercy. It is not a slavish obedience but the result of living out what he has done for us and made us in Jesus. We live out our sonship, by living as loved sons who love a loving Father.

3. Beware superficial repentance
Back to 1 Samuel and it looks as if this heart surgery has worked, Saul looks to be repenting, but is he? Idols are rarely things which are torn down in a moment. Samuel’s intransigence seems unfair in(26) until we see Saul’s real motives(27-30). This is not genuine repentance his concern is his reputation and standing before the elders and people, appearance matters. Saul’s idol is still firmly in place.

And the chapter ends in tragedy, not the tragedy of Agag’s death, the real tragedy is(35). Samuel leaves and Saul never sees him again. Saul the king of Israel, God’s people, is no longer God’s king and is left without God’s word. He really is just what the people wanted a king like all the other nations, because the thing which distinguished him from them was his access to God’s word, without it he is a king just like all the other nations.

Real repentance is costly, it is not a quick decision made in a moment. Saul warns us not to pursue superficial repentance because there is no such thing, it is dangerous for us to ignore God’s word doing its surgery in our hearts. Saul’s heart is hard and it ought to be a warning us, Saul starts so well yet ends so badly – rejecting God’s word and rejected by God.

But maybe as we read this we recognise this in ourselves, those sins, those idols we seem to fight the same battle with over and over again. We hear God’s word and are convicted by it but despite trying to battle it we find ourselves committing the same sin, ripping out the same idol over and over again. Saul’s issue here is that he doesn’t listen, he pays no attention to what God’s word reveals. We do fight a battle with sin, with idols, and as God’s word comes to us and highlights it again and again the question is ‘what will we do with it?’ We need to run to Jesus. The Bible recognises this ongoing battle and doesn’t condemn us for it but exhorts us to run to Jesus and find in him all we need. Turn to Romans 7:25 Paul writes “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” He then goes on to expound what is ours in ch8, we are not condemned because of Jesus, we are given the Spirit in Jesus and he gives us life and enables us to realise that we are sons freed from slavery to sin. It is not inevitable that we sin and we need to reassert our new identity in Christ whenever we sin. When we sin, when an idol is revealed we allow God’s word to do its work in convicting us of our sin, thanking God for his new grace and mercy to us, so that we run to Jesus and repent and pray, depending on him, living by the Spirit being changed and transformed and yet not crushed but secure, thankful and joyful in him.

4. A God worth praising or one who makes mistakes?
There is an elephant in the room with this chapter. We could skip it but it’s vital we don’t. We see that Saul doesn’t repent even though he makes loads of mistakes. But we also see a God who regrets, it’s veiled in most translations because they translate the same word in(11, 29, 35) different ways. The word regret and changed his mind is the same word. So how can it be that God regrets what he has done, and yet Samuel says God doesn’t change his mind or regret?

(29)Makes the point that God’s regret is not like ours and it is in context of God’s judgement in removing the kingship from Saul, he will not regret it and change his mind, his word stands. That is emphasized by the way God is described “The glory of Israel” a title that speaks of God’s power and eternal nature. God isn’t like us and therefore even his regret isn’t like ours. God won’t change his mind about his promise and his word.

But the bigger question is has God made a mistake in making Saul king, does God get things wrong, does he have regret like we do, or is he sovereign?

That word takes us back to Genesis 6:6 “The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” We need to keep in mind God isn’t like us so his regret isn’t like ours. God doesn’t make mistakes but he does grieve over sin and what it does to his creation and his people. I think that ought to lead us to praise God, he is not indifferent to sin, what kind of God would he be if he was. His heart is deeply troubled by sin, here in 1 Samuel God is grieved over Saul’s decision to rebel and its consequences. Saul isn’t merely a pawn God moves unfeelingly around. God grieves over it but is not impotent in the face of sin, Saul’s rebellion will not derail God’s salvation plan, God doesn’t have to go to plan B, God is so sovereign that he will work through the rebellion and sin of Saul to bring another king to the throne from whom will come the Messiah who will end sin’s reign. Even as God is grieved over Saul’s sin and rebellion and its effect on his people he is at work through it to bring about an end to sin.

God doesn’t make mistakes, that ought to cause us to praise him, but he does not make us robots. That is liberating because it means if we sin we are not stepping out of God’s plan A. But it also ought to warm our hearts because God doesn’t lie or change his mind, his word stands we can trust it and live by it, God’s word is like the pole star which you can navigate life by, yet he is not indifferent to sin and its effects.

Do you see the contrast? Do you see the glory of God magnified all the more by the failings of Saul? God keeps his word and mourns sin, God will deal with sin in compassion and even in the midst of the failings and sin of his people works all things so that in Jesus sin will be decisively conquered.

1. Where are you tempted to partial obedience to God?  

2. How can we ensure that God’s word does its work as a scalpel with our hearts and the sin there? How might we try to blunt its effects?

3. What is there simply to praise God for in this passage?

1 Samuel 13 Rejected King

Here are the questions and notes from last night's LightHouse on 1 Samuel 13:

1. Read through the passage what surprises you, what amazes you, what don’t you understand?

2. What excuses might someone make for doing what we want rather than what God wants?

There are times when it is easier to live out your faith than others. When at a conference or camp, or when surrounded by other believers it’s easy to sing or make bold protestations about standing for God, giving our all, or wholehearted obedience. It’s much harder in a stressed out workplace or amongst an antagonistic family, or when facing a crisis.

Ch12 ends with Israel on a spiritual high, if you’d interviewed them as they left the assembly and asked if God was good and their deliverer they would have readily agreed. If you’d asked them if they and their king would serve God wholeheartedly they would have been fired up and quick to say yes. God was their good and gracious king, their deliverer and they were privileged to be his people living under his rule and the rule of his King. Ch12 and the promising beginning Saul has made is why Ch13 is such an unpleasant jolt to our expectations.

Even the initial skirmishes look promising, prince Jonathan leads the way and Saul looks set to deliver Israel under God, and the people respond to the summons to fight for God and King and rid the land of the Philistines, their oppressors.

But then(5-7) the test of that faith comes, is their faith real, is their concept of God big enough, is their heart wholly devoted and trusting God, do they really understand who he is and what he has promised them? Will they serve and trust him? As 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers and numerous soldiers in Philistine colours appear armed tooth and nail, and Israel face them with their ploughshares, axes and sickles, can God really deliver?

Tragically Israel’s trust in God melts away into the caves and thickets just as they do, even those who have the guts to stand with Saul do so with their knees knocking. What will Israel’s king do? How will Saul lead the people? Will he be a king like the people or the king the people need?

1. The Real Battle is fought in our Hearts
You can picture the scene in (8)can’t you, you can feel the mounting pressure as Saul waits for 7 days, on the seventh day finally the waiting is over there is expectancy among the troops. Samuel will come make the offerings and give us God’s word as we go into battle. The troops are restless and afraid and as the hours tick on the men begin to scatter. **What does logic say to do? Logic says do something to make them stay, lead the people. Logic says (9)“Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offers the burnt offering up himself.

You can imagine as Saul turns round the smell of smoke on his clothes and sees Samuel coming into the camp. Remember the significance of ch12, Saul is God’s king ruling under God’s authority, Samuel is God’s prophet who brings God’s word to the king. You can imagine how Saul feels and he does exactly what we’d do in that situation he starts making excuses(13). The men were scattering, you didn’t come, the Philistines were amassing ready to attack and we hadn’t sought God’s favour, we hadn’t made the offerings. Notice who Saul blames; everyone else, other people, circumstances, enemies, anything but recognise and take responsibility for his actions. It’s a pattern established in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve, and one which finds us out too. But all those excuses are shown up for what they are – Saul trying to earn God’s favour by disobeying God’s word.

It isn’t simply the mechanics of making an offering that are the issue here, it’s the heart behind the offering. Look back at 12:20, 24, it was all about the heart. The offerings weren’t a means of currying divine favour but a means of showing your wholehearted devotion to God. The burnt offering was made in recognition of the need to atone for sin, and the offerer identified with the offering being made in his place. The burnt offering was a means of atoning for God’s wrath against sin. The fellowship offering was either a thanksgiving offering, or the result of a vow or a freewill offering, either way it was a means of recognising dependence on God and was a sign of love and devotion to God.

It wasn’t the offering itself but the heart behind them that mattered, they were meant to be offered as an expression of love, devotion and covenant faithfulness. Saul is more concerned about performing the outward act than serving God with all his heart. That is made clear in (14)as the contrast is made with Saul and the king who will replace him who will be “a man after God’s own heart...”

God looks at the heart not the outward action. Saul starts so well but when the pressure is on his true heart is revealed. Pressure doesn’t make him someone he isn’t it just reveals who he really is. The excuses reveal what he loves and fears more than God.

God isn’t concerned about externals but about our hearts. Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking that if the externals are OK then we are OK, this warns us against that. We can be going to church, even be leading something and we kid ourselves into thinking if I’m doing that then my heart must be ok. God has not saved us for religious rigmarole but for a relationship of enjoying and loving living under his good rule.

It also, helpful, tells us that our excuses for failing to serve God reveal and diagnose our hearts. At root everyone one of Saul’s excuses diagnose a heart not serving and loving God, not trusting in God’s rescue and wanting to rule his kingdom in his way in his time not God’s. Our excuses will do the same.

What excuses have you made this week, or month or year, for doing what you want when you want rather than waiting for God or obeying his word? Each of those excuses reveal our hearts, what we fear and treasure more than God and what we at root think about God. Imagine the individual who decides they have waited long enough for God to provide a believing husband so she starts dating the non-Christian guy in the office. The excuse is ‘but I have waited so long and there is no one, all my friends are getting married and having children’. What does that say about them – ‘I am not whole in Christ I need a relationship.’ What does it say about God? ‘I can’t trust him because he hasn’t provided what I know I need’. What does it say about a relationship? ‘It will provide fulfilment.’

For every choice we make our excuses reveal our hearts.

We mustn’t kid ourselves, the real battle is not fought with externals it is fought in our hearts.

2. It is dangerous to dismiss God’s word
Turn to the person you are sat with, what did you learn from this morning’s Bible talk and what difference will it make to you this week?  What did you learn from last week’s Bible talk and what difference has it made to you in the week since?

We will come back to that in just a few minutes. The issue in this chapter is Saul’s heart and his desire to serve God, but you can’t serve God if you won’t listen to his word, and that’s the issue which Samuel picks out in his responses to Saul. Just look at (13-14)**What does Samuel highlight twice? “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you...because you have not kept the LORD’s command.”

Loving God is a heart issue but it’s out working is seen in valuing, listening to and keeping his word.

Now the question here is which command has Saul failed to keep. Some say(8) and failing to wait 7 days at Gilgal links to 10:8 when Samuel initially calls Saul and tells him to wait 7 days at Gilgal before Samuel comes to him and Saul here is failing to obey that command. That is possible. but I think unlikely, because that command is given before he is made king and is connected with his anointing, in ch10 Saul is described as a young man, whereas here he has a grown son, old enough to command a portion of the troops. I think it’s better to see 10:8 fulfilled in 11:14 where Israel assemble with Saul at Gilgal to renew the kingship.

So what is the command Saul here has not obeyed? The command is ch12’s call for both people and king to serve God(20-25) as Samuel teaches them the way that is good and right and they respond by fearing God and serving him faithfully. So when Samuel instructs Saul again to wait for him at Gilgal(4) Saul initially obeys God’s command through Samuel to gather at Gilgal and he waits so long, but he does not keep God’s word. Samuel was a prophet he taught Israel God’s word, when he is coming to Gilgal he comes as the prophet, not just to make the offerings but to bring God’s word.

Saul’s actions show contempt for God’s word, he will not wait as instructed. In the face of an emergency God’s word is dispensable and disposable. It’s all the more lamentable given the history Samuel rehearsed in ch12 of God saving through deliverers who listened to and acted upon his words in order to bring about God’s deliverance.

And the consequences are devastating. The kingdom will now not pass on down Saul’s family line. You can’t lead God’s people unless you listen to the word of the real king. And the chapter ends with Israel in a hopeless situation; no swords bar 2, no blacksmith to make more, facing a well armed hoard. The people are scattering and hiding terrified, the Philistines are raiding at will, and most tragically Samuel leaves – there is no hope of hearing God’s word. Saul has shown he views it as dispensable and so Samuel leaves Israel and their king without the word of God.

Serving God with all your heart isn’t about religious rigmarole but about treasuring God’s word, trusting waiting, loving obedience because you know God is in control and you need his guidance. It’s about relationship, in relationships we treasure the words of others, they matter to us, we seek to understand them and through those words to know the other person and we act on what they reveal.

God’s word is an instrument to shape and mould our minds and character to be like Jesus, it’s not a series of instant fixes arranged by alphabetical topical index. As it unfolds to us the character of God and we are swept up into his plan of salvation and see how much we are loved and are given we come to love and enjoy God and entrust ourselves to him because we know he will never do us wrong. We come to wait listening expectantly because we know he is working for a greater purpose than our comfort, we come to rejoice in him because of a growing confidence in his power and love.

How is your listening? How do you approach listening to the sermon or bible talk? What do you do to maximise the talk? How have you trained yourself to make the most out of it? Have you trained yourself to listen well? Is your listening active or passive? Have you recognised what stops you listening and how you can counter that?

What would it be like if people preached in the same style in which we often people listen, rather than being active and passionate, imploring and explaining, the preacher would be passive and inattentive. Except, we wouldn't put up with it because preaching is a serious thing, presenting the word or God, imploring God's people to hear and respond is a joyful task. So why if we wouldn't accept that from a preacher do we accept it in our listening?

The Bible doesn't just say that those who preach will be held accountable but also those who listen, that’s striking. So how could you train yourself to listen better, here are a few ways:

- Read the passage before you come, note down questions and see if they get answered.
- Pray before you come asking God to make you expectant and open your eyes, ears and heart.
- Have your Bible open and keep checking out what’s being said.
- Follow cross references and look them up.
- Take notes - we do it for anything else we want to retain or reference again, why not for God's word which is the very word of eternal life!
- Agree with some friends or family that you will discuss the questions or talk over lunch afterwards.
- Create the expectation that you will revisit the talk with others at some point in the week.
- Be self controlled - stop yourself when distracted by the fly or the background or your week ahead.
- Pray afterwards asking God to help you weigh up what you have heard and respond to it.

Responding to God's word is what living enjoying our relationship with him looks like.

1. How do those excuses reveal what we think about other? What we think about God? What we think about ourselves? And what we think will really bring us fulfilment?

2. What stops you listening to God’s word and acting on it? How can we improve our listening and make God’s word active?