Thursday, May 10, 2018

Thurs.’s Devo - We Want a King

Read: 1 Samuel 8:1-9:27; John 6:22-42; Psalm 106:32-48; Proverbs 14:34-35
Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah did the same thing that Eli’s sons did. They perverted the worship of God by accepting bribes and perverting justice. The knew that when Samuel died it would be the end of righteous leadership so they asked for a king. Samuel was devastated because he knew this was not God’s perfect will. But God assured Samuel that the people had not rejected him but God. He told Samuel to warn them of what they were asking for and if they still wanted a king, then to give them one. So Samuel laid out the cost of getting a king. The cost would be theirs and they and their posterity would pay heavily to have a king. They couldn’t see so they agreed.
Meanwhile, there was a man from the tribe of Benjamin named Saul. Saul means “asked for, or people’s choice”. He was sent be his father to find his missing donkeys. When he couldn’t find them he went to ask the seer. Instead of finding the donkeys, God found him. God sent Samuel to the city and told him he would meet Saul from the tribe of Benjamin and he was the one the people had asked for to be their king.
Saul ate with Samuel and thirty men then was taken on the roof and told to meet Samuel when they got ready to leave.
In John, the people realized that the disciples had left in the boat but they knew Jesus wasn’t with them. They went searching for him and realized he was on the other side of the lake. They asked Jesus when he got there but the real question was “how” did he get there. Jesus was translated from one place to another so many times which just kept the people wondering.
Jesus knew that these people came to him for another meal but what they needed was so much more than a temporary fix. They needed him, the bread of life from heaven.
Lord, help us to hunger for more than the temporary things of this world.

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