Mon.’s Devo - Finding a King

Read: 1 Samuel 8:1-9:27; John 6:22-42; Psalm 106:32-48; Proverbs 14:34-35 Sadly, Samuel’s sons were no better than Eli’s sons. They took bribes and distorted justice. The people complained to Samuel because he was getting old and they didn’t want his sons being their judges. They demanded a king like the other nations. They wanted someone who would lead them into battle and judge them. Samuel explained to them the downfalls to a king. He would take away their best fields and a tenth of their harvests. The would take their sons and daughters as slaves and their animals for his own use. The people would become his slaves. One day they would wake up and beg for God to rescue them from the king, but he would not help them. The people heard all that Samuel said and still wanted a king. Samuel told the Lord and the Lord said to do what they wanted and give them a king. Samuel told that to the people and sent them home. There was a wealthy man named Kish which means “a snare.” He had a son named Saul which means “people’s choice.” Saul was the most handsome man in Israel and taller than anyone. One day Kish’s donkeys escaped and he sent Saul and some men to find them. They looked all through the hills of Ephraim and couldn’t find them. Saul was ready to give up and go home when his servant remembered that there was a seer nearby and told him they should ask him. In the meantime, God had told Samuel that he would meet the man who was to be king that day. When he saw Saul, God told him he was the man. He invited Saul to eat with him that night. He also said that his donkeys had been found and that he and his family were the focus of all Israel’s hopes. Saul didn’t see how that could happen since he and his family were the least of the tribes. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel brought Saul to the feast and gave him the place of honor. Samuel told his cook to bring Saul the finest cut of meat that had been set apart for him. After they ate, Samuel took Saul to his own house and set him in a room on the roof. Everything he was doing was showing Saul and the people that this was the man chosen above all others. The next morning he walked to the edge of the town and told Saul’s servant to go on ahead because he had something to say to Saul. We will read what he said tomorrow. In John, the night before, Jesus had taken to walking on the water get to the other side. The next morning, the people were in wonder of how Jesus got to the other side when they had seen that he didn’t get in the boat with the disciples. They went looking for him. When they found Jesus they asked about it. Jesus told them that they were following him because he fed them but he told them to seek him for deeper meanings. Natural bread is so temporal. God gave the children of Israel bread from heaven as a type and shadow of his true bread he had now sent down. He was that bread. And He could give them eternal life. The people had a hard time with this because they knew that he didn’t come down from heaven, he had been born of Mary. They let their brains get in the way of their spirit. God can not be figured out with carnal reasoning. We only see what is in front of our eyes, but there is a bigger picture happening in the spiritual realm that we might not understand till we get to heaven. We are just asked to believe and have faith in what we cannot see. Lord, help us to open our hearts to have more and more faith. Increase our understanding and may we walk with our heart and not our head.