Sat.’s Devo - Israel’s First King -

Read: 1 Samuel 10:1-11:15; John 6:43-71; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 15:1-3 Samuel anointed Saul with a flask of olive oil and told him God had appointed him to be the ruler over Israel. Then he gave him a list of things that would happen on his way home to prove that what he was saying was true. All of them happened just as Samuel said they would. *** When Saul arrived at home, his uncle asked him where he had been. Saul told him they had inquired of Samuel where the donkeys were and he told them they had been found so they came home. He didn’t tell his uncle what Samuel had said about him and the kingdom. *** Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet at Mizpah before the Lord. Samuel told them that because they had rejected the Lord, he had given them a king. Then he chose lots of all the tribes and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. Then the family of the Matrites were chosen and finally, Saul was chosen. When they went to find Saul, he was hiding. They brought him out and shouted, “Long live the king.” *** Samuel read him all the rights and duties of the king and wrote them in a scroll. He then sent the people home. *** A group of men followed Saul, but others rejected him. *** About a month later, the Ammonites came to Jabesh-gilead and told the citizens there that they would make a treaty of peace and the terms would be that they would let them gouge out their right eye as a disgrace to all Israel. *** The men of Jabesh-gilead asked for 7 days to see if Israel would come to their rescue. When Saul found out about it he took two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent them with messengers to say that this would happen to the oxen of these who don’t come to fight. Three hundred thousand came from Israel and 30,000 from Judah to fight the Ammonites. Saul sent a message to Jabesh-gilead that they were coming to their rescue. *** The men of Jabesh-gilead told the Ammonites that they would surrender to them the next day, but instead, Israel launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites and Israel got a great victory. *** The people wanted to kill the people who had opposed Saul becoming king but Saul wouldn’t let that happen. He proclaimed it a day to celebrate instead. They all went to Gilgal to worship the Lord and thank him. *** In John, Jesus told them to stop complaining that he had said he was the bread of life. No one can come to him unless the Father draws them to him and He will raise them up in the last day. They are the ones who will be taught by God, although he was the only one who had ever seen the Father. Anyone who believes in him has eternal life. *** Jesus continued saying God gave them manna in the wilderness and they all died, but anyone who eats this bread, speaking of his flesh, will never die. *** The people had a hard time with this concept. *** Jesus went further and told them that not only did they need to eat his flesh, but drink his blood to have eternal life. Even the disciples had a hard time understanding what he meant. *** Jesus told his disciples that if they had a hard time with this then they would really have a hard time when they saw the Son of Man ascend to heaven. Only the Sprit can give eternal life. Only the ones who believed in Spirit could come to the Lord. Many turned away from him at that time. *** Jesus asked his twelve if they would desert him also but Peter answered that there was no where else to go to receive eternal life. Peter said that they believed he was the Holy One of God. Jesus answered that one of them didn’t believe because he was a devil, speaking of Judas Iscariot. *** Lord, may we understand spiritually who you are and how your kingdom works.