Category: 1 Year Bible Reading Plan

1 Samuel 12 presents us with Samuel’s farewell speech to the people of Israel. The speech contains three main points: 1) I have been faithful and cheated no one; 2) you have forgotten the LORD’s leadership, which has been with you since you were slaves in Egypt by choosing a king; and 3) Nevertheless, if you are obedient to the LORD and the king, God will continue to be with you. Samuel concluded his speech with a miraculous demonstration of the LORD’s power by calling for rain in the dry season. The rain came.

The people recognized that in points two and three they had turned against the LORD’s will and purpose, and they said as much to Samuel. Samuel reminded them again the LORD would be with them, as long as they demonstrated obedience, and Samuel promised to pray for them. In our lives, God’s presence is not contingent on our obedience, but our obedience brings blessing. We’ve seen that principle demonstrated over and over again in the Old Testament, and the clearest statement of it in the New Testament comes from Jesus’ own words in John 13 where He told the disciples if they knew His commandments, they would be blessed if they did them (or obeyed them.) As fallen people, even redeemed fallen people, we have a “bent” toward sin, toward disobedience. Thankfully, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can bend the other way, back to God and His will for our lives. The key is not only to be able to do that, but to do it!

1 Samuel 13-14 offers us the beginning of the end for King Saul’s reign over Israel. Even though we’re told Saul reigned over Israel forty-two years, nearly from the outset the reign was condemned, because of Saul’s disobedience to the commands of the LORD. The first example comes in 1 Samuel 13, when Saul took the work of a priest into his hands, because Samuel didn’t show up “in time” to offer a sacrifice before the Israelites went to battle against the Ammonites. Samuel had said he would come at an appointed time, but Saul grew impatient, because Samuel didn’t come. He offered the sacrifice. As a result when Samuel showed up shortly afterwards, Samuel told Saul the kingdom would be taken from him. Saul made excuses, but it was too late. The future had been established, and Saul’s family would not reign over Israel for more than one generation.

That didn’t mean Saul’s son, Jonathan, wouldn’t have an impact on Israel. Indeed, as we see in the remainder of chapter 13-14, Jonathan was a brave man, who led a charge against the Philistines that resulted in a major victory for Israel. The problem was King Saul had hamstrung Israel’s soldiers by telling them they couldn’t eat anything before nightfall. Fighting takes energy and the soldiers became weaker as the day moved forward. Jonathan hadn’t heard the command and ate some wild honey that was all over the land where the battle took place. He was strengthened by it, but when the battle was over, Saul knew someone had disobeyed him. Through a process of discernment, it was determined Jonathan was the one who had eaten the honey. Saul was determined to kill Jonathan on the spot. The will of the army prevailed, though, and Jonathan’s life was spared. In these two chapters we see many reasons why Saul was eliminated as the leader of Israel. Again, it would take forty-two years, before God replaced him, and much more negative leadership would come forth from Saul, but we learn in these two chapters, or I should say, we are reminded once again: obedience is the key to blessing when it comes to matters of the LORD.

As we return to Mark 2, the two main events that took place were the healing of the paralytic and the calling of Levi. Both involved the Pharisees being outraged at Jesus, because He claimed the ability to forgive sins, and He associated with sinners. Jesus’ actions show us we must follow God’s will and purpose, even if “good” people tell us we are in the wrong. Jesus’ unswerving commitment to overcome sin, sickness, and the works of the devil brought Him into conflict with those in the religious establishment, who were more concerned with maintaining an appearance of good, than with overcoming evil. We must never confuse the two as we serve Jesus!

1 Samuel 8 marks a major turning point in Israel’s history. Samuel was a great judge and prophet over Israel, but his sons weren’t like him. They were dishonest and greedy. The people came to Samuel and asked him to appoint a king over them, so they would be like the other nations that surrounded them. When Samuel took the matter to the LORD, Samuel was upset. He knew the people ought to serve the LORD, who was their true king. The LORD told Samuel to do as they asked, because they weren’t rejecting Samuel–They were rejecting the LORD. Samuel warned the people of the burdens a king would place on them, but they wanted to be like everyone else, so Samuel agreed to give them a king. Before we move to chapter 9, lets think about this for a minute. How many times have we wanted something that we saw someone else had? We had to have it, because it seemed like a good thing for a friend, or a neighbor, or even a stranger. Add to that all the advertising that flashes in front of our eyes and rings in our ears. We fear missing out, or being the last one to have the latest gadget. Times change, but people all too often don’t. It’s important for us to recognize ourselves in the accounts we read from 1 Samuel, because while we might never ask for a king, we have often asked for something we see someone else have that we don’t.

1 Samuel 9-11 records the implementation of the people’s request for a king. The LORD chose Saul a Benjamite to be the first king. If we remember back to the Book of Judges and what the Benjamites did, and how they were nearly wiped out as a tribe, we see again that God doesn’t hold a grudge. The account of Saul’s selection, anointing and becoming king, is filled with interesting twists and turns that show us God works in the lives of people. His Spirit can change us drastically. If you have read the Bible before, you know Saul’s faithfulness to the LORD is short-lived, and his reign as king will be marred with disobedience, and desperation. But it started off well. Even with such a brief sampling, we can see an important truth: Just because the LORD selects a person to serve Him, doesn’t mean the person will remain true to God’s course and purpose. As we read through the next days in 1 Samuel, let’s keep our eyes open for the aspects of Saul’s life that led to his downfall, and be warned to avoid such actions in our own lives.

Today, we return to the Gospel of Mark for a third time. Over these next sixteen days, we will read again of Mark’s presentation of Jesus’ life, ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection. If you’re wondering why we don’t move on to Matthew or Luke, because we’ve already read Mark and John twice, the short answer is: Repetition is the mother of learning! As we continue to read through Mark a total of five times during the year, his account will become more and more fixed in our minds. Ultimately, the goal is for it to move from our minds to our hearts, but until we have God’s truth in our minds, it cannot move to our hearts. In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul told us not to be conformed or molded to the systems of this world, but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. As we read Mark’s gospel again, the information will enter our mind again. The truth there will work renewal in our minds, which will bring transformation to our lives.

Mark 1, as we know by know offers us a great deal of information about the start of Jesus’ ministry. It offers a brief background of John the Baptist’s preparatory ministry, of Jesus’ baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the first portion of His ministry in Galilee. We read of His calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. We read briefly of His teaching in a synagogue and the amazing authority His teaching held. We read of many healing miracles, and of the clarity of Jesus’ purpose. Eventually, each of us will have an “outline” of Mark 1 in our minds, and the truths it contains will be available to us in our daily living. Remember, the purpose of this year-long reading plan is not simply so we will read through the whole Bible, but so we will know more and more of God’s word, and apply it daily.

1 Samuel 4-7 records the Philistines’ attack on Israel, their victory over Israel, their capturing of the Ark of the Lord, their ultimate return of it, and the Israelites eventual defeat of the Philistines with Samuel as their leader. As we read the events that took place, we find God’s promises always come true, and His power is amazingly great. First, God had promised Eli that his sons would die, and that his descendants would never live to old age. After the Philistines had defeated the Israelites a first time, the Israelites decided to take the Ark of the Lord into battle. The Philistines were terrified when they heard that news. They realized the ark represented the God of Israel who had sent plagues on Egypt and delivered the Israelites from bondage there. Their terror turned to resolve and they defeated the Israelites, killed 30,000 troops, along with Eli’s two sons and captured the Ark of the Lord.

They soon found the Ark contained power. When they placed it in the Temple of Dagon, one of their gods, they returned the next day to find the idol had toppled over. They stood it up again, but the next day the idol had fallen again and its arms had broken off, and it’s head as well. The symbolism can’t be missed. The LORD is powerful, more powerful than any idol. Next the Philistine people started to experience a plague. The Ark was moved from once city to another and everywhere it went the Philistines experienced the plague. Eventually, they decided to return the Ark. When it was back among the Israelites, seventy of the men of Israel looked into the Ark and died. God is holy. The Ark represented Him and was only to be handled by priests from the tribe of Levi. The Israelites’ disobedience was judged, just as the Philistines had been judged for assuming their gods were “bigger” than the LORD. Eventually, the Ark was moved to Kiriath-jearim and Samuel organized the army of Israel to go against the Philistines. He called on the LORD for help and the LORD provided victory over them for many years.

While our modern sensibilities may be offended by some of these events, the lesson is once again: The LORD is holy. We must never assume we serve a weak God. God’s love is never weak.  God’s wrath is real. Jesus came to redeem us from sin and death, to restore us from God’s wrath, but short of a relationship with Him, we stand condemned, and will one day be separated from our holy God forever. Thank God He loves us so much, He has made a way for us to experience His salvation rather than His wrath!

As we return to John 21, we again read of Jesus’ “reinstatement” of Peter, as it is called. Peter had denied Jesus three times, in a moment when Jesus needed him most. Yet after enduring the crucifixion and rising from the dead, Jesus’ goal was to restore Peter to his place of leadership among the apostles. Jesus never holds a grudge. Jesus never gets even with us. Jesus always offers us forgiveness and restoration. That’s what His life, teaching, death and resurrection emphasize from beginning to end. I once had a young father whose child had been born with multiple birth defects ask me, “Do you think God ever gets even?” I asked him what he meant. He said he had lived a sinful life in his younger years, and turned his back on God many times. He wanted to know if his daughter’s condition was God’s getting even with him.

It wasn’t a moment for platitudes. I told him all our actions have consequences. His drug use in his early years could potentially have had an impact on his daughter. But that was not God “getting even.” God’s desire was for him and his daughter to experience His truth, love, and salvation. Over the next several months, as I visited the man and his wife, and his daughter’s condition worsened, he came to a realization that it was God who was giving him the strength to face the situation. Romans 8:28 assures us, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” We all make sinful choices and commit sinful actions. God’s purpose is to redeem us from those. That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross tells us. It’s what Jesus’ meeting with Peter on that early morning by the Sea of Galilee show us. God has promised never to leave us, nor to forsake us, and all His promises are true.

Today we move to 1 Samuel. The next six books we encounter: 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles, take us through the life and times of Israel from the days just prior to the establishment of the monarchy, through the fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel), and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). These books are historical narrative. 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles offer much of the same material, but there are differences in details. 1 & 2 Samuel starts with the life of Samuel, one of the greatest prophets in the history of Israel. As we will see, Samuel was called by God to select the first and second kings of Israel: Saul and David. King David became the greatest king in the nation’s history, and the one everyone used as a point of comparison for the Messiah. The Messiah was often referred to as “The Son of David,” even though he was in the same sense “The Son of Solomon,” “The Son of Rehoboam,” and so on. Let’s turn now to the first three chapters of 1 Samuel.

In 1 Samuel 1,  we read the account of Elkanah, Hannah, and Peninnah. Elkanah was the husband of both Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children and Hannah did not. That led Peninnah to ridicule Hannah, because in that culture not having a child, and a son in particular, was cause for ridicule. Hannah took her barren condition to the Lord. Her prayer was so desperate that Eli, the priest at Shiloh, thought she was drunk. She was sobbing and praying with her lips moving, but not making any sound. He started to ridicule her as well for being drunk, but Hannah told him she was crying out to the LORD for a son. Eli offered a blessing over her, that her prayer would be answered. It was! Hannah bore a son, and she named him Samuel, which means “The LORD hears.” What an appropriate and powerful name. As part of her prayer to the LORD for a son, Hannah had promised to dedicate the child to the LORD. She kept the promise and when Samuel had been weaned she took him back to Eli, so Eli could bring him up as a priest. It’s hard to imagine making a vow to dedicate one’s child to the LORD at such a young age. Yet, it shows us Hannah’s trust in Him and Hannah’s obedience. At the moment, she had no idea how important her son would be to Israel. The only thing she knew was the LORD could answer her prayers, and as He did, she would respond by trusting her son to Him.

The first half of 1 Samuel 2, records the beautiful prayer of Hannah. The words in it recount God’s faithfulness, and how He cares for those who are downtrodden. About a thousand years later, another young woman of Israel would recite her own prayer, that would incorporate some of Hannah’s words and ideas, because of God giving her a son. That woman would be named Mary, and her son’s name would be Jesus! In the remainder of the chapter, we read about Eli’s sons and their unfaithfulness in their work as priests. They desecrated the sacrifices of people, and they seduced some of the young women who came to worship. Meanwhile, Samuel served Eli faithfully, At the close of the chapter a man of God came along and pronounced a curse on Eli and his family. While Eli was faithful, he did nothing to stop his sons from serving wickedly before the LORD. Because of that, Eli’s family would no longer be priests and all would die an untimely death. The curse is harsh, but remember, God was establishing a holy people, and those serving in the priesthood must be faithful.  The lesson we learn from this passage is we are called to call our children to faithfulness. If they are not faithful, we cannot permit them to continue in positions of prominence in the LORD’s work. This passage hits so close to home for me, because our two daughters are not following the LORD at this time. We continue to pray for them, and we continue to call them to return to the Lord. We also continue to love them and to stay in relationship with them. We do not even consider giving them the opportunity to serve in any kind of leadership in the church–not that they would want to do so right now.

1 Samuel 3 records the first encounter Samuel had with the LORD. It’s a bit amusing if you step back from it and think about it. Samuel was still quite young, and we’re told the word of the LORD wasn’t common in those days. In other words, the LORD didn’t often speak to people directly. But one night as Samuel was sleeping the LORD called out to him, “Samuel.” Samuel had no idea it was the LORD. How would he? The LORD had never spoken to him. He made a reasonable assumption: Eli is calling me. So, he went to Eli and asked what he wanted. Eli said he hadn’t called Samuel, and told him to go back to bed. This happened again, with the same result. Then it happened again and Eli realized it was the LORD. He told Samuel if he heard the voice again to say, “Speak LORD, your servant listens.” What a powerful statement. Often in my prayer times, when I want to simply listen to the LORD, I will say the same thing, “Speak LORD, your servant listens.” The LORD did speak to Samuel. He gave Samuel the same message of the bleak future Eli’s family would experience. Their judgment was coming.

The next morning Eli asked Samuel if the LORD had spoken, and if so, what He had said. Eli also warned him to tell the truth, so Samuel did. From that moment forward the LORD spoke to Samuel often, and gave Samuel credibility not only with the people who came to Shiloh, but eventually with all of Israel.

In John 20, we have the joy of rereading the account of Jesus’ resurrection! To me the most poignant moment in John’s account of the resurrection is when Mary Magdalene sees Jesus and thinks He is the gardener. She asks Him where they have taken the body, so she may go and bring it back. Jesus speak to Mary. He only says one word, but that one word show Mary who it is. The word was, “Mary.” Jesus spoke her name, and Mary recognized Jesus. She knew the sound of compassion that had led her back from prostitution and demon possession. Can you imagine what that must have been like? In our own lives, Jesus speaks our names. He knows each of us by name. He calls each of us by name. People often say, “If you were the only person who needed to be saved, Jesus would have died for you.” That statement is true, and one day, those of us who have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, will stand before Him and hear Him call our name. Mary had a glimpse of that moment on the first resurrection morning. May we live our lives in such a way that when we face Jesus it will be the greatest moment of our eternity!

Today’s Old Testament reading includes the entire book of Ruth. The account of Ruth shows us how God can use anyone, even a foreign woman (which in that day would have been seen as a nearly impossible scenario) to accomplish His purposes.  The back story of Ruth is a Israelite family from Bethlehem (Bethlehem means “House of Bread”) left God’s provision during a time of famine to travel to the foreign land of Moab. While there the two sons married Moabite women. Then first, the father dies, and then the two sons, leaving Naomi, the mother, and Orpah and Ruth, the two Moab daughters-in-law. Naomi decides to return to her homeland and tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their families. In those days, unmarried women were low on the societal and economic scales. Their futures were bleak, and Naomi assumed at least if the women went back to their families they might not starve.

Both Orpah and Ruth told Naomi they would go with her, but after Naomi pointed out there was no future for them in Israel, Orpah agreed to return home, but Ruth showed her character by how she responded. She told Naomi she was going back to Israel with her. In a beautiful statement of commitment, as well as Ruth’s change of heart (She would have worshiped the pagan gods of Moab, but must have come to faith in the LORD while part of Naomi’s family.), Ruth said, ¹⁶But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  ¹⁷Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” Ruth 1:16-17 (NLT) Ruth’s pleading convinced Naomi and they both returned to Israel.

Once back home, Ruth demonstrated her character again by going out to the fields to glean grain.  She showed her willingness to work to support both Naomi and herself. She “happened” to end up in the field of a man named Boaz. Boaz was impressed by Ruth’s commitment to Naomi. He extended courtesy to her, then protection, then he made certain she would gather enough grain for her and Naomi. Once Naomi saw what Boaz did, she came up with what seems to us an absurd plan: Ruth was to go to the threshing floor in the middle of the night, and lie at Boaz’s feet. She was to do this after Boaz had finished threshing the grain, and had lain down to sleep. Naomi told Ruth to uncover Boaz’s feet, and when he woke up, he would tell Ruth what to do. Can you imagine putting a woman you cared about in that position? Sleeping at the feet of a relative stranger, and leaving her well-being in the hand of the man? Obviously, cultural mores dictated what an honorable man would do in that situation. Boaz was an honorable man. When he woke up and realized what was happening, he committed to marry Ruth. Show his integrity once again, Boaz gave Ruth grain and sent her home while it was still dark. That way no one would be able to make any accusations about Ruth’s behavior.

One problem stood in the way of the storybook scenario. According to custom, a closer relative than Boaz had a right to redeem Naomi’s land. Boaz went to the the elders of the town the next morning, and brought the situation to everyone’s attention. The nearer kinsman, agreed to redeem the land, until he learned the “deal” included marrying Ruth, the Moabitess. At that point Boaz redeemed the land, married Ruth, and the account ends by telling us about the male descendants of Boaz and Ruth for three generations: Obed who was the father of Jesse, and Jesse’s son was David, who became the greatest king in Israel’s history. He was also an ancestor of Jesus! Ruth’s faithfulness led to God using her to be a progenitor of the line of Jesus.

While we can’t cover every important detail in this brief summary, one more point about Ruth comes out in the townswomen’s comment about her to Naomi:  ¹⁴Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the LORD, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. ¹⁵May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!” Ruth 4:14-15 (NLT) The statement “…has been better to you than seven sons!” is incredible. Daughters, let alone daughters-in-law, were nearly always seen as a burden, and sons a blessing. But Ruth was better than seven sons. That might be the greatest compliment anyone was ever given in the pages of the Bible.  Of this we can be sure: Ruth is a role model for all of us. May we demonstrate the same commitment to God, our families and our community as she.

As we review John 19, we’re reminded of Pilate’s cowardice. He succumbed to the pressure of the people to crucify Jesus, even though he determined Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. As we read about Jesus’ crucifixion and death we note John recorded Jesus’ last words as “It is finished.” That did not mean “I’m done, or “It’s over,” but “I have completed what I came to do.” Jesus’ willingness to endure not only the pain of the crucifixion, but much more painful for Him, enduring the weight of human sin, that separated Him from His heavenly Father. As we read it again, let’s pause and thank God for His great grace and mercy to us in this incredible event!

Judges 20-21 offers us the pathetic story of how Israel judged the tribe of Benjamin for their heinous crime against the Levite’s concubine. All Israel went out in battle against Benjamin and nearly wiped the tribe from the face of the earth, but not until the Benjamites had killed thousands of Israelites from the other tribes. When the fighting had ended, only 600 men of Benjamin remained. The Israelites wept that one of the tribes had been eliminated from Israel. The people had vowed not to give any of their daughters as husbands to the men of Benjamin, so it did look as if the tribe would perish. Then a plan was developed that provided 400 young women from Jabesh Gilead as wives. The remaining 200 men were given permission to “take” wives from Shiloh. This didn’t break their vow not to “give” their daughters in marriage to Benjamites, but it treated their daughters with little respect. At the end of chapter 21, we read once again that there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That statement is so accurate. As we reflect on the Book of Judges we see how over and over again, the Israelites abandoned God, turned to worship false gods, found themselves enslaved by the people of the land, cried out to God and received deliverance. But they never learned from the experiences. They fought with each other. They abandoned God, and they received the punishment of their actions. This illustrates what it’s like to do what is right in our own eyes. We have all experienced this rebellion and its results in our lives, whether when we were non-believers, or when we reject God’s leadership in our lives. As we move from Judges, let us learn the lesson the book teaches us: Those who turn away from God will bear the consequence of rejecting Him, and it will never be better when we’re in active rebellion against Him.

As we return to John 18 once again, we remember Jesus’ arrest, His examination by the priests and Pilate and Peter’s denial of Him. We’ve now read these accounts twice in Mark and twice in John, yet the impact of how easily the people of Israel found it to reject the Son of the living God of the universe might not yet have set it. Every time I read these passages, I think, “How could they not have see what they were doing? How could Pilate have gone along with the crowds when he knew Jesus was innocent? The short answer to every question we could ask about this terrible time at the end of Jesus’ live is: God planned for Jesus to die for us. He was going to die. It was the time for Him to die. Nevertheless, it always seems to me it shouldn’t have been so hard for everyone to see who Jesus was, to repent and turn to Him. The religious leaders of all people ought to have recognized Jesus. But they were more concerned with their own short-term “salvation,” than they were about their long-term salvation. As we go about our days living on the resurrection side of Easter, let’s not fall into the same trap of putting our selfish desires before faithfulness to Jesus. His condemnation, death, and resurrection were God’s means of saving us from sin and death. They are therefore, the greatest opportunity for us to remember how much God loves us, and to live into our relationship with Him in Jesus’ name and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Judges 17-19 we read two accounts that are summed up by the words we read in Judges 17:6: ⁶In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Judges 17:6 (NLT) In the first account, we read of Micah, a man who stole more than 1,000 pieces of silver from his own mother. When he confessed his sin to her, she blessed him and had a silver ephod made out of the silver.  Micah started to worship the ephod, and later when a Levite came to his home, he offered the Levite the opportunity to be his personal priest. We can find many things wrong with that picture, but the picture soon got worse.

Some men from the tribe of Dan came to Micah’s house, and eventually stole Micah’s “gods” and bargained with the Levite to become their priest, rather than Micah’s It was bad enough that one man was worshiping a silver ephod, but now hundreds from the tribe of Dan worshiped it. The Levite’s willingness to leave Micah’s service, because he would be able to have a  bigger “congregation,” and undoubtedly better pay, makes it clear he wasn’t serving the LORD, but rather his own personal benefit and gain. As we look at this account, we are reminded what happens when people have no godly vision or leadership. The men from Dan had a vision, but it wasn’t godly. They turned from God to worship the silver ephod. The Levite wasn’t serving God either. He looked for his own gain rather than serving the LORD and the people.

In Chapter 19, we read the first half of an account, which we’ll finish tomorrow. In it a man from the tribe of Levi had a concubine, who left him and returned to her father. He went after her, and eventually was welcomed by the woman’s father when he came to the father’s house. After a couple days of partying, provided by the father-in-law, the Levite decided it was time to go home. He left in the afternoon, which meant he couldn’t make it home before nightfall. He decided to stay in Gibeah, a city settled by the tribe of Benjamin. No one welcomed the man into their home for the night, until eventually an older man of the town, offered him and his concubine a place to stay. We’re told some “troublemakers” from the town gathered and demanded to have the Levite sent out so they could have sex with him. The man offered to have his virgin daughter and the man’s concubine go out, but the men refused. Apparently, during the argument the Levite shoved his concubine out of the house and closed the door.  The men raped the woman all night long. In the morning, when the Levite went out to get her, he found her outside the house. She was dead. This horrendous story, ends even more horrendously as we will see tomorrow. No excuse can be made for what happened. According to Mosaic Law, the “appropriate” response was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. While that seems extreme to us, tomorrow we’ll see the response of the Levite and the nation of Israel was even more extreme The response starts at the end of chapter 19, when the Levite cuts his concubine into twelve pieces and sends a piece to each of the tribes of Israel. The response of the entire nation was to ask, “What are we going to do?”  Remember, there was no king to decide, so they would decide the matter corporately, and as we’ll see tomorrow, they did.

As we return to John 17, and Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” let’s focus on one statement. Jesus said, “They (that is Jesus’ followers-including us) don’t belong to the world anymore than I do.” What a powerful statement. It’s easy to see why Jesus would say He didn’t belong to the world. After all, He is the Son of God. He came from heaven, to live His life on earth. We did not. Yet, after we’re born again, we become citizens of heaven. The Apostle Paul would pick up on that them, and use it extensively in his letters. Sometimes he used the term explicitly and at other times implicitly. The key is: we are bound for heaven. We are going to live our lives here for days, weeks, months, years, or decades, but we will live for eternity with Jesus. Always remember that. When we go through the loss of loved ones, which is always painful and difficult, we can remember that for those who trust Jesus, the pain, suffering, and even death are a short-term reality. I don’t say that lightly, or flippantly. I have lost many who were close to me: our first child, through a miscarriage; my Mom died what seemed to be far too soon to me; my Dad; Jim, my oldest brother; and most recently Cheryl Marshall, my sister-in-law. At those times the pain is eased when we know we will see our loved one again.

As we go about this day, let’s live as those whose first citizenship is in heaven. That doesn’t mean we won’t be good citizens of the United States of America, or of whatever nation we are a citizen. It means, we will always serve Jesus first, and be ambassadors for Him to the world. When we live fully as citizens of God’s Kingdom, we will make the best citizens of whatever earthly nation or kingdom we call home!

Judges 13 stars off with the people of Israel turning against the LORD and being subjected to the Philistines for forty years. This is nothing new to us, because the pattern continues to repeat itself. We know what’s coming: a new judge. Yes, and this is perhaps the most infamous of all Israel’s judges: Samson. I use the term infamous, rather than famous, because Samson had everything he needed to bring the LORD glory and honor and to go down as one of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history. Instead, as we will see, he took the blessings of the LORD and used them for his own, selfish purposes. The LORD’s gifts and selfishness never go well together. As we will see. But let’s not get ahead of the story. In chapter 13, the future parents of Samson, who are childless at the outset, are visited by the angel of the LORD and told they will have a son, who will become a nazarite.  The son was born. They named him Samson, which means “sun” or “brightness.” What a hopeful start to the story of Samson’s life!

As we turn to Judges 14, we see the beginning of the end, and Samson is a young man. First, Samson chose a wife from the Philistines. His parents were concerned, but the woman seemed “right” to Samson. We’re told God was going to use the situation against the Philistines, but Samson’s motives weren’t to overcome the Philistines. He just wanted what he wanted. In his book Fight, Craig Groeschel tells us Samson displayed a common set of claims that would ultimately destroy his life. He would say, “I want it. I deserve it. I can handle it.” Samson wanted the woman from Timnah. He thought he deserved it, because she seemed right to him. He thought he could handle being married to a Philistine woman, because he was a nazarite.  He was wrong on all three counts. He ought to have used this set of claims:  I want God. I deserve to burn in hell, but I get to be on the LORD’s side, and I can’t handle anything without the Spirit’s power in my life.

Samson demonstrated another example of I want it. I deserve it. I can handle it, when it came to killing the lion and then eating honey from a honey comb that bees built inside the lion’s carcass. Nazarite weren’t supposed to touch anything dead. No Israelite was to do so, or they would be unclean for the day. Samson saw the honey in the lion caracass and wanted some. He deserved it–after all, he had killed the lion. He knew he could handle it, and he gave some to his parents without telling them, because, of course, he knew better than they did how to do things.

One result of Samson eating the honey was he developed a riddle concerning it that he shared at his wedding reception. He didn’t just share the riddle, but turned it into a bet with a number of the guest. The result of that was the guests threatened to burn down the house of his wife and father-in-law, if she didn’t tell them the answer. She got Samson to reveal the answer and the result was Samson killed thirty Philistines in another town and gave their clothes to pay off the bet. We see Samson making one fifteen-minute decision after another. This pattern will ultimately lead to his death and to his falling far short of His potential in serving the LORD. In the short-term, it cost him his new wife.

Judges 15 offers us an example of Samson’s amazing strength, when he returned to Timnah to get his wife, her father told him she was given to the best man at the wedding, because he didn’t think Samson was coming back. He offered Samson his younger daughter, but Samson destroyed some of the Philistines’ fields in revenge. This caused the Philistines to kill Samson’s wife and father-in-law. We see how revenge could escalate in those dates. Eventually, it led to the Philistines retaliating against the Israelites. That led the Israelites to turn Samson over to the Philistines. While in custody, the Spirit of the LORD came upon Samson, he freed himself and killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Samson was parched with thirst after this and he cried out to the LORD. The Lord provided water from a rock, which shows us the LORD’s hand was with Samson. We would hope this would be a turning point, and Samson would take his role as leader and judge in Israel seriously. We would be disappointed…

In Judges 16 Samson the tragic story of Samson ends. First, he returns to the  land of the Philistines to spend time with a prostitute. Then he returns and meets Delilah. Delilah turned out to be the cause of Samson’s demise. The Philistines bribed her to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. Even after she demonstrated repeatedly her goal in finding it was to turn him over to the Philistines, Samson revealed it was in his long hair. As a nazarite, his hair had never been cut. While Samson slept Delilah had men come and cut his hair, and then she woke him, telling him the Philistines were there. Samson woke up, but his strength was gone. The Philistines bound Samson, gouged out his eyes and put him to work as if he were an ox, grinding grain.

Eventually, Samson’s hair regrew, and he called on the LORD to give him strength one last time. He was brought out as entertainment at a large gathering of Philistines. He got his guard to position him between two pillars holding up the building where they were, and the LORD gave him strength to push them over. 3,000 Philistines died, along with Samson. We’re told at the end of the chapter: Samson judged Israel twenty years. Did he? Not really. Samson occasionally killed a few or many Philistines, but most of the time he indulged his own desires. Samson had all the potential in the world, but he wasted most of it. The LORD gave him unique strength, but he used it primarily for himself. What do we learn from Samson? We learn at least this:  When we’re inclined to think: I want it. I deserve it. I can handle it, we need to remember where that line of thinking led Samson. Remember: I want GOD.  I deserve death, but God is so gracious.  I can’t handle anything without God.  Samson shows us what happens when we forget these realities and pursue our own ends.

As we return to John 16, we return to Jesus’ reminders to the disciples that His death, and His return to heaven would be to their advantage, because He would send the Spirit. I have often thought of that promise: It is better that I go, so you can have the Holy Spirit. If you and I were part of the original group of disciples, could we have believed we would be better off without Jesus? I can’t imagine how amazing life would have been with Jesus. Listening to Him teach, watching Him heal and cast out demons, even walk on water, and calm storms. How could His leaving be “better”? The truth is the way it’s better is the disciples would be empowered by the Holy Spirit, so they could heal sick people, and cast out demons. They would be different in a good and powerful way when Jesus left them. Even so, it must have been hard to believe it would be “better.” That would have been especially true later than night when Jesus was arrested, and the next day as they watched Him be crucified and die.

We live on the resurrection side of all those statements of Jesus. We know He was telling the truth. We also have the Holy Spirit in our lives as we trust Him as Savior and Lord. Yet, I think often of the time when we will get to see Jesus, to be with Him. That day is coming. It will be better than now. The truth is Jesus was right that it is better for us that He left. It is also true it will be better once again when He returns. That puts us in an enviable win-win situation as Jesus followers. That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

 

Judges 10 starts by telling us of two judges: Tola and Jair. Each of them judged Israel for a little longer than twenty years. We aren’t given much detail about them, but after their leadership ended, we read a familiar account: After Jair died the people of Israel turned from the LORD and worship the Baals and Ashtaroth. They lived according the to customs of the indigenous peoples, and broke from following the Lord’s command. Once again, the LORD gave them over to their desires and they ended up enslaved to the Philistines and the Ammonites. By the middle of the chapter the Israelites cry out to the LORD, and promise to return to following Him. Once again, God agrees to deliver them.

In Judges 11-12 we read the tragic account of Jepthah. He was the son of Gilead, but he was not born of Giliead’s wife. We’re told his mother was a prostitute. That led to Jephthah’s rejection by his family, but in Israel’s time of need they turned to him to be their leader. He agreed. He made a terrible decision as he led the people off to battle against the Ammonites: he vowed he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of the door of his house when he returned, if the LORD would give him victory in battle. The vow seems strange, because would you think what would come out of the door of your house would be one of your family members? In 21st century America we would think that, but in Jephthah’s time, chickens and other animals would be kept in homes, so that was what he must have been thinking. The LORD gave Jephthah and his troops victory, but when he returned home the first “thing” that came out of his house was his daughter.

Think about that: you have vowed to the LORD if He gives you victory in battle you will sacrifice the first thing out the door of your house when you come home, and the first thing is your daughter. What would you do? Jephthah upheld his vow. He sacrificed his daughter. I have thought about this one dozens of times over the year. Having two daughters of my own, and now three additional girls who are part of our family, what would I have done? I would not have kept my vow. Yes, the culture is different. Yes, a vow is a vow. But, and this is an important but: the LORD is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He didn’t give Jephthah victory because of his rash vow. He gave Jephthah victory, because He loves His people. I would have counted on that love for the people to include my daughter, and I would have repented before the Lord of making a foolish vow, asked forgiveness, and taken whatever consequences came with that.

Jephthah ended up in a battle with some of the other tribespeople of Israel, because he didn’t include them in the battle against the Ammonites. Jephthah made it clear the people knew about the battle and they would have been welcomed had they come, but they didn’t. It’s always easy to claim we have been subjected to injustice, but Jephthah pointed out an important truth. We don’t have to wait to be asked to do the right thing. We ought to be like the old Nike commercials, and “Just do it!”

As we return to John 15, we review Jesus analogy of Him being the vine, and we being the branches. The illustration offers us a powerful picture of how vital our relationship with Jesus is. After all, a branch of a grapevine that is cut off from the main vine dies. Our relationship with Jesus isn’t dependent on us, but on Him. We can’t sustain ourselves as spiritual beings, without a connection to Jesus, who is the source of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. As we go about the day, let’s remember Jesus is the source for everything we need today. As we abide in Him the result will be “fruit,” “more fruit,” or “much fruit” in our lives. We exist to glorify God and to enjoy His presence. As we do that the “fruit” we produce will be the fruit of the Spirit, which the Apostle Paul identified in Galatians 5, and other people’s lives turning to Jesus and trusting Him as Savior and Lord.

Judges 7 reminds us the LORD was always the one who won the battles the Israelites fought against their enemies. As we read the account Gideon gathers an army to go agains Midian, but the LORD tells Gideon he has too many men–32,000 to be exact. When they defeat Midian, they will take the credit for the victory. The LORD shrinks the army by having Gideon tell everyone who was afraid to go home. 22,000 men went home. Now, with 10,000 men, Gideon was ready to face Midian, but the LORD told him the army was still too big. He had Gideon divide the group by the way they drank water from a stream. It turned out 9,700 of them did it one way, while 300 did it another. The LORD chose the 300 and sent the 9,700 home. Now, with only 300 soldiers, everyone would know any victory won over the mighty Midianites would be the LORD’s. That’s precisely what happened. God used the 300, and He defeated the Midianites. What a powerful reminder to us, that whatever the LORD is in doesn’t require large numbers of “troops” to be successful. We’re also reminded to rely on the LORD and not on ourselves. How easy we forget both of those powerful truths.

Judges 8-9 show us once again how quickly the people of Israel could turn back from following the LORD. Even though, the LORD was the obvious victor over the Midianites, the people immediately turned away from Him. They worshiped the Baals. They worshiped a golden ephod Gideon made from the spoils of the battle with the Midianites. They battled against each other, especially after Gideon died. Gideon’s son by one of his concubines, Abimelech convince the people to make him king. He killed 70 of Gideon’s sons, his step-brothers, to ensure the people would continue to follow him. Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, escaped and told a parable that made clear to everyone, they had backed the wrong leader, in choosing Abimelech. Eventually, Abimelech killed many of those who turned against him, and a woman in one of the cities besieged by Abimelech threw an upper millstone from a tower. It struck Abimelech and would have killed him, but he had his armor bearer kill him first, so a woman wouldn’t get the credit for killing him. In the end the people of Israel were in disarray, and following false gods once again. This picture repeated itself over and over again through the period of the judges. The details changed, but the picture remained the same: God delivered the people from suffering and slavery. The people rejoiced, and perhaps momentarily followed Him. Then they rejected Him again, and God turned them over to their enemies once again. The people cried out, and God would once again deliver them. Hopefully, we can learn from these cycles of rejecting God, being enslaved, crying out to God, and being redeemed, that the best part of the cycle is being redeemed by God, and remember our redemption in Jesus. Then we can live in victory over sin instead of permitting it to enslave us.

As we return to John 14, we return to Jesus’ conversation with the disciples on the night before He was crucified. John 14 makes it so clear to us that this life is not all there is, and those who follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, will experience the next life with Him. Jesus makes several promises to the disciples during this talk with them. The most powerful of the promises is we will do greater things than He did, because He was returning to His heavenly Father. The thought of doing greater things than healing the sick, casting demons out of people, and raising the dead is hard to imagine. But the scope of the technology in our time, makes Jesus’ words so easy to fulfill. As we rely on Him, we can take His good news of salvation virtually anywhere in the world. We can feed thousands of people with the resource we have. We can preach to tens of thousands of people at one time. The key is putting Jesus first. As we do that, we can and will do the greater things He promised we will do in His name!