Sat.’s Devo - The Light That Leads to Life

Read: 1 Samuel 15:1-16:23; John 8:1-20; Psalm 110:1-7; Provers 15:8-10 Samuel went to Saul with a command from the Lord for him. God was ready to take vengeance on the Amelekites who attacked Israel when they first came out of Egypt. He was to completely destroy the entire nation and their animals. Saul mobilized his army of 210,000. First he warned the Kenites who lived around the Amelekites to flee if they didn’t want to be killed. The Kenites were the ones who tricked Israel into making a covenant of peace with them. They packed up and left. Instead of killing all the Amelekites, Saul captured the king, Agag and let him men keep anything of value along with the best of the cattle. Samuel found out what Saul had done and went looking for him. He was up on Mt. Carmel Samuel asked him why he had let the animals and the king live and his answer was he had kept the best animals to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel told him that God was not impressed with sacrifices of disobedience. Killing all the people and leaving the king alive was like casting out the demons and leaving the principality. Agag’s name means “I will overtop.” He would have done just that if Samuel hadn’t killed him. Saul was desperate for Samuel’s approval and begged him to stay and go up and worship with him so the people could see that he had the honor of the prophet. Samuel pitied Saul and stayed for the sacrifice. When Samuel had finished, he returned the Ramah and never saw Saul again. After a while, the Lord spoke to Samuel and told him it was time to stop mourning for Saul and anoint the king God had chosen. He gave him instructions and told him to take a lamb for a sacrifice so Saul wouldn’t suspect anything. He called Jesse to the sacrifice and performed purification rites for Jesse and his sons. When Samuel saw Eliab, the oldest son he thought for sure he was the one God had chosen, but God told him not to look on the outside of man. Saul had looked like a king on the outside but he was not a king on the inside. When Samuel worked his way through all his sons, God hadn’t chosen any of them. Samuel was baffled and asked Jesse if he had any more sons. Jesse admitted he had another son, David. David was out tending sheep and hadn’t been invited or ritually made clean. When Samuel saw him, God said that he was the one. Samuel anointed him with oil and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. The Spirit of the Lord left Saul and was replaced with a tormenting spirit. His advisors suggested they find a person who could play the harp to calm him down. They found David who came to the palace to play when Saul was upset. Saul so loved David that he made him his armor bearer and came and lived with Saul in the palace. In John, it was the day after the Feast of Tabernacles was over. This was a celebration day also called Simbat Torah where they would celebrate the Torah and begin reading the creation story in Genesis. They would also read the portion at the end of Deuteronomy. They brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery to Jesus to see what he would do. He asked them what Moses said to do and they said to stone her. In Deuteronomy at the end of the book it talks about what to do if a MAN is caught in the act of adultery. Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die. In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil.” Jesus stopped and wrote in the dust like the finger of God that wrote the law. I wonder if he wrote this verse. When they demanded an answer, he stood and said, “all right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” They started leaving the oldest to the youngest. When they were all gone, he stood and asked her where her accusers were. Then he told her to go and sin no more. During the Feast of Tabernacles they would light these huge bowls of oil that were 70 feet high. The young priests would climb the pole with oil and light the wicks at night. Being up on a hill, the light went out for miles and miles. They called Jerusalem “The light of the world” during this festival. Jesus told them that he was the light of the world and those who follow him won’t walk in darkness because they would have the light that leads to life. Lord, thank you for your light that illuminates our path and leads us to life.

Fri.’s Devo - Living Water

Read: 1 Samuel 14:1-52; John 7:31-53; Psalm 109:1-31; Proverbs 15:5-7 Jonathan was the only shining light in Saul’s heritage. Saul’s father was Kish which means “a snare” and Saul means “requested”. So by the people’s request for a king, they got a snare. Jonathan means “Jehovah is giver” and he gave his life over and over for Israel’s victory. Today we read where Jonathan took his armor bearer to an outpost of the Philistines. He understood that God could deliver with one or many, it didn’t matter. He stood between two cliffs Bozez which means “surpassing white: glistening” and Seneh which means “thorn”. He was standing between the blessing and the curse. Michmash was behind Bozez which was where the outpost of the Philistines were. Jonathan decided that if they asked them to come up and fight this would be God’s sign he was going to give them victory. That was just what happened and Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed 20 Philistines. Then God shook the earth with an earthquake and caused great panic in the Philistine camp and all of their outposts. Saul’s army watched as they saw the Philistines running for their lives in every direction. To find out what happened he did a roll call and found that the only soldier missing was his own son, Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Saul started to ask God what to do but everything happened so fast he just told his men to go and fight. Many Israelites who had defected to the Philistine’s army came back to fight with Saul. Many who had been hiding in the hills and had not been a part of the fighting joined to save Israel that day. Saul, in fear and desperation, had proclaimed a curse on anyone who ate that day. Jonathan had not been there to hear the curse so when he saw some honey, he ate it. Saul’s men also saw honey and refused to eat it because of the curse. When Jonathan heard about his father’s curse he said that his father’s curse had brought trouble to Israel and kept them from a greater victory. The army was so exausted and hungry by the end of the day that when the fast was lifted they ate animals with blood still in them. This was a sin against the Lord. Saul offered a sacrifice to the Lord and wanted to continue fighting during the night. He asked the priest what God wanted them to do but God was not answering. They knew they had offended the Lord. By lot Jonathan was chosen and it was made known that he ate honey and because of the curse Saul had given, God was not speaking. Instead of going to the Lord and interceding for Jonathan’s life like Moses would have done, Saul declared that Jonathan must die. The army disagreed and they stood up for Jonathan and saved his life. They saw the injustice of Saul’s curse. The Philistines were Saul’s enemy during his reign so whenever he saw a strong man he would draft them into his army. Saul ran his kingdom with force and demand. In John, many believed Jesus was the Messiah because of all the miracles he did. When the Pharisees realized the people believed Jesus was the Messiah, they wanted even more to arrest him. Jesus told the Pharisees that he was leaving soon and they wouldn’t be able to find him. He was going back to the one who sent him. They were confused by this. On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles they would do a water libation where the priests would bring water in pitchers from the Siloam springs up to the altar. While this was being done the people would sing, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation,” As they were doing this Jesus stood up and said if anyone was thirsty they could come to him and drink. His waters were rivers of living water that flow from the heart. Jesus was speaking of the Spirit which would be given at Pentecost. The crowd was divided. Some thought Jesus was The Prophet they were waiting for; some thought the Messiah and some wanted him arrested. The Pharisees sent men to arrest him but they couldn’t because no one spoke like Jesus. They had the fear of God on them. The Pharisees mocked anyone who defended Jesus, even Nicodemus who was a leader in the Pharisee sect. Lord, thank you for giving us the living waters of your Spirit. Thank you for the wells of salvation.

Thurs.’s Devo - Saul’s Impatience

Read: 1 Samuel 12:1-13:23; John 7:1-30; Psalm 108:1-13; Proverbs 15:4 Samuel stood before the people and proclaimed his own innocence. They had chosen a king and God would give them a king. Samuel took Israel through their history of rebellion against the Lord and told them to fear and worship the Lord and stop rebelling. Samuel told them that God was going to manifest his disapproval of what they were doing by asking for a king by sending rain and thunder during their wheat harvest when it usually didn’t rain. It terrified the people to where they cried out in fear but Samuel told them not to be afraid. They had done wrong but God would not abandon them. He warned them against returning to their idol worship and promised to pray for them as long as he had breath. Saul was thirty years old when he became king. He ruled for 42 years. Saul took 2,000 warriors with him to fight the Philistines in the north and gave his son, Jonathan 1,000 warriors to fight in the south. As the war got heavier Saul petitioned for more men to fight with him. The Philistines came out in hordes with chariots and scared the Israelites into caves. Saul had gone to Gilgal where Samuel had told him to wait for him 7 days. His men were frightened and leaving him. When the seventh day came and Samuel hadn’t showed up, out of desperation, Saul offered the sacrifice himself. As soon as he had finished, Samuel appeared and was very upset with what Saul had done. He told him that if he had waited, God would have established his kingdom forever but since he didn’t, God had already chosen his replacement. He would be a man after God’s own heart. Saul left with his troops though 600 had defected out of fear. The Philistines sent out three raiding parties to the north, west and south. The Philistines had made sure there were no blacksmiths in Israel so that they had to go to the Philistines to have any of their plows or instruments sharpened. It cost them so much they couldn’t afford weapons. Only Saul and Jonathan had weapons. How do you fight without weapons? In John, Jesus stayed in Galilee and avoided going to Judea where they were plotting his death. The Feast of Tabernacles was coming and everyone would be going to Judea. Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him and told them he would come later. He came secretly and stayed hidden till the middle of the festival when he went to the Temple and began teaching. The ones listening were surprised that he wasn’t a teacher of the synagogue and yet he knew so much about God. Jesus told them that he was speaking God’s words and not his own. The people who want to know God’s will will hear his words and believe they came from God. Those who don’t only speak for themselves and want all the glory for themselves. He told them that Moses gave them the Law, but none of them obeyed or they wouldn’t be wanting to kill him. The people wouldn’t believe that anyone wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus went on to explain that they would circumcise their sons on the eighth day, even if the day fell on the Sabbath and yet they condemned him for healing on the Sabbath. The people had a hard time believing he was the Messiah because of their preconceived ideas about the Messiah. Jesus was trying to get them to discern spiritually what the truth was, not with their heads. The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus but God didn’t allow them to succeed because it was not the right time. Lord, help us to discern spiritually instead of trying to understand spiritual things with our heads.

Wed.’s Devo - Saul Becomes King

Read: 1 Samuel 10:1-11:15; John 6:43-71; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 15:1-3 Samuel had walked with Saul to the outskirts of town where no one could see him. He took a flask of oil and poured it over Saul’s head and kissed him. He told them that because God had chosen him to rule Israel, he was also God’s chosen possession. He then told him three signs that would happen at strategic places along his way home. The last one was that he would prophecy and get a new heart. God fulfilled every sign and he did give Saul a new heart. Samuel also told him after all these things happened he was to meet Samuel in Gilgal where he would offer sacrifices. Saul would have to wait seven days for him to come. When Saul began prophesying the people wondered how someone who was not a prophet could prophecy. Saul called all the people of Israel to Mizpah to show Israel who their king was but when he went to present Saul he was hiding among the baggage. They found him and stood him before the people. He was head and shoulders above anyone else. The people rejoiced and Saul wrote down his duties as king on a scroll and placed it before the Lord. All the people went home. Some of the men followed Saul but others doubted his authority and refused to give him gifts. Saul chose to ignore them. Meanwhile, Nahash the king of the Ammornites was oppressing the tribes east of the Jordan. He gouged out the right eye of the Israelites. Seven hundred of them had escaped and gone to Jabesh-gilead. When Nahash came to them they begged for a peace treaty. The only way Nahash would give it to them was if they let them gouge out their right eye. Jabesh-gilead sent news to Gibeah where Saul was to ask if they would help them. Saul got so angry, he took his two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent the pieces to all Israel saying this is what would happen to their oxen if they didn’t come help. They came, all 330,000 of them. Saul sent word to the people of Mizpah that they would rescue them by noontime tomorrow. They were so happy. They sent word to the Ammonites to come and do whatever they wanted to them. Saul’s army arrived early that next morning and were ready for the Ammonites. They killed them all morning. Saul had a great victory. Samuel called them all to Gilgal where they would anoint Saul as king. In John, Jesus continued to teach about the bread that came from heaven as being himself. They were having a hard time with this so he threw in the kicker: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But none who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.” Even his disciples had a hard time with this teaching. He had already said that no one could come to him except the Father draws them. Jesus knew the ones who would accept them and the ones who wouldn’t. He wasn’t afraid of offending people. He was exposing their hearts. Lord, help us not to be offended in You and what you choose to do in our lives. We trust that you way is better than ours.

Tues.’s Devo - Israel's King

Samuel made his sons judges in Israel. His two oldest sons, Joel and Abijah held court in Beersheba but they were not like Samuel. They took bribes and perverted justice. The people complained to Samuel about it. They knew that Samuel was getting old and they didn’t want his sons to be left in charge. The wanted a king like all the other nations had. Samuel was displeased with their desire and went to the Lord about it. God said that they were not rejecting Samuel, but they were rejecting the Lord as their king. Samuel told them all the consequences of having a king. He would control their money, their land and their very lives. They wouldn’t listen, they still wanted a king. So God told Samuel to give them a king. God had always known he would give them a king, but he was raising up one. They wanted one now, so they got what they wanted. They got Saul, the people’s choice. David was God’s choice. Saul was from an influential and wealthy family. He was tall and handsome and looked like a king…just what the people wanted. One day, his father lost some donkeys and sent Saul and his servant to look for them. He ended up in the land of Benjamin. They were about to give up and go home when the servant remembered that Samuel lived there. He suggested they ask him since he was a seer. They would pay him for using his gift. That morning, God had told Samuel that he was sending him the man that would be the king. Saul walked right up to him to ask him if he knew where the seer was. God told Samuel that this was the one who would be king.. He told him his donkeys had been found and he and his family were the focus of all Israel’s hopes. Saul complained that he had his family were from the smallest tribe of Benjamin and that his family was the least important of all the families in that tribe. This was not true, but Saul clearly didn’t want the responsibility that Samuel was putting on him. Samuel invited Saul to a special meal with him. He also invited thirty guests and honored Saul above them all. The next morning he walked Samuel to the edge of town then told Saul more about what God had in store for Saul in his future. In John, Jesus had gone to Capernaum during the night by walking on the water. His disciples crossed in their boat. When the people realized where he was, they came also. They had all missed the significance of what Jesus did when he fed the 5,000 the bread and fish. They kept wanting to see a sign like the miracles in Moses’ time, so he gave them the sign. It was the bread he multiplied. It came from heaven just like the manna did in Moses’ time, but they all missed it. He explained that he was the bread sent down from heaven and his bread would bring them eternal life. Lord, help us not to miss the everyday miracles you do for us over and over. Thank you that you are the bread of life that sustains us and gives us life.

Mon.’s Devo - God’s Presence Restored

Read: 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17; John 6:1-21; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 14:32-33 The Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant and placed it in their Temple of Dagon in Ashdod. Dagon means “little fish” and is the statue of a fish with man’s hands and head. It was the official god of the Philistines. In the morning they found the statue of Dagon face down before the Ark. They stood him up but the next morning they found him on his face before the Ark and his hands and his head broken off lying at the threshold. The people of Ashdod and its surrounding towns were overran with rats and the men started getting tumors. Ashdod means “I will spoil.” God was spoiling the town without a fight. The elders of the towns got together and decided that their curse came the day the Ark came so they decided to send it to Gath. Gath means “a winepress”. They were about to be pressed through God’s grate also. The people of Gath experienced the same curse and panicked. They sent the Ark to Ekron. Ekron means “uprooting”. They were about to experience that. They begged the Philistine rulers to send the Ark back to Israel or it would kill them all. God had unleashed a deadly plague and land were dying. After the Ark had been in Philistia for 7 months they called their priests and sorcerers to ask them how they should send the Ark back. They told them that they had to send a guilt offering with it. Each of the five rulers should put a golden rat and a golden tumor in a chest and construct a cart to carry them and the Ark. They should take a mother cow who had just had a calf to pull the cart while the baby was locked in a barn. Naturally the mother calf would hav knocked down the barn to get to her calf, but this was a supernatural act. Then they were to just watch and see where the cows took the cart. They did all of this and watched as the cows took the ark to the land of the Israelites. It went to the border of Beth-shemesh where the people were harvesting wheat. They rejoiced when they saw it coming. It came into the field of Joshua and stopped at a large rock. The people took the wood of the cart and made a fire, killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord. Several Levites lifted the Ark of the Lord along with the golden objects and placed them on the rock. The five Philistine rulers watched from afar, then returned to Ekron. God killed 70 men from Beth-shemesh who looked into the Ark. This made them afraid to have the Ark. They sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jerim and told them to come and get it. The men of Kiriath-jerarim came and took the Ark to the home of Abinadab, a Levite. They ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. It remained there for 20 years. Samuel addressed the people and told them that if they wanted to return to the Lord, they needed to get rid of their idols and rid their nation of the images of Baal and Ashroreth. They could only worship the Lord. They did this, so Samuel told them to meet him in Mizpah and he would pray for them. They fasted all day and confessed their sins to the Lord. The Philistines found out they were meeting in Mizpah and set out to attack them. They arrived just as Samuel was offering the sacrifice to the Lord. God thundered down his response to the Philistines which threw them into such confusion that the Israelites were able to defeat them. Samuel took a huge stone, the stone that had been named Ebenezer when they lost the Ark and set it upright and renamed it Ebenezer “a stone of help”. Ekron and Gath and the rest of the territory the Philistines had taken was restored to Judah. Samuel judged Israel from Ramah but traveled to other towns to judge them also. The Ark was returned during the season of Pentecost which represents God giving his Spirit to man. The return of God’s presence was a fulfillment of this feast. He fulfilled it again on the Pentecost in Acts when the Holy Spirit came down and rested upon man once again. In John, Jesus had been teacher by the Sea of Galilee. Over 5,000 people had come to listen. Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed them all. Phillip couldn’t fathom the cost of feeding all of them. Andrew spoke up and said he had found a boy with a lunch of five barley loaves and two fishes. That was all Jesus needed. He told his disciples to have them all sit down. He took the loaves and fish and blessed them and gave thanks to God. Then he distributed them to the people. They all ate and there were twelve baskets full. When the people realized what had happened, they wanted to make Jesus their king right then and there. Jesus slipped away into the hills. The disciple couldn’t find Jesus so they got into their boat and sailed for Capernaum. A storm blew up while they were out in the middle of the lake. They looked up to see Jesus walking across the water. He told them not to be afraid. They helped him into the boat and the storm immediately died. Thank you for your presence that is always with us. We need never be afraid.

Sun.’s Devo - Ichabod - The Ark Was Taken

Read: 1 Samuel 2:22-4:22; John 5:24-47; Psalm 106:1-12; Proverbs 1:12 Eli’s sons were not only taking the Lord’s portion of the sacrifice for themselves but they were also seducing the young women who served at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. Eli knew about this and rebuked them but didn’t discipline them or punish them for it. God sent a prophet to tell Eli that God had chosen him and his family to serve him but He was removing that from them because they refused to honor Him. All the members of his family would die prematurely. Some would be blind, their hearts would break and their children would die a violent death. Hophni and Phineas would die on the same day. God would raise up a faithful priest who would serve God and do what he desires. His family would be established and Eli’s family would bow before him, begging for money and food. They will beg to be priests again so they could eat. Meanwhile Samuel grew up with Eli and served the Lord. One night, God began speaking to Samuel, but he kept thinking it was Eli. When he had woken Eli up three times, Eli realized it was God speaking and told him it was the Lord so he just needed to listen. In the morning Eli threatened Samuel with his life if he didn’t tell him everything God had said to him. So Samuel did. God said that He was going to bring his judgment upon Eli’s family because of their sins. No amount of sacrifices could stop what God was going to do. Israel was at war with the Philistines and were camped near Ebenezer. The Philistines attacked and killed 4,000 Israelites. The elders met and thought if they brought the Ark of the Covenant with them into war they would surely win. They sent for the Ark and Hophi and Phineas came with it. The warriors in the camp shouted so loud when the Ark came that the Philistines could hear it. It frightened the Philistines, but instead of making them weaker with fear, it made them more determined than ever to fight so they wouldn’t be made to serve the Israelites. The next day the Philistines killed 30,000 Israelites, Hopni and Phineas were killed, and the Ark was taken. Eli had been anxiously awaiting to hear what would happen to the Ark and when a man from the battle told him, he fell back off his seat, broke his neck and died. He was 98 years old and had judged Israel for 40 years. Phineas’ wife had been pregnant and about to deliver. When she heard the news, she went into labor and died. She had named the child Ichabod meaning “where is the glory”. The glory had departed from Israel. In John, Jesus said that all who believe in him will never be condemn of their sins but they have already passed from death to life. One day even the dead would hear Jesus voice and be able to believe. Jesus made it clear that his words were not his words alone, but God’s. Heaven and earth testified who Jesus was. John the Baptist was the witness on earth and God was the witness in heaven. The words that Jesus brought were more powerful than John’s because he spoke as a man and Jesus spoke as God. All the scriptures pointed to Jesus but the ones who knew them so well, refused to see. Moses would testify against them. Since they couldn’t believe what Moses wrote, how could they believe by what Jesus said. They loved the honor of man more than the honor of God. Lord, may we rejoice that your glory can never be taken from us. We believe and therefore have life and are justified in You. Thank you for life - here and in heaven.