May 17, 2010, 10:25 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Fear the Lord
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Samuel 12:12-19
Message
of the verses: “ 12 "When you saw that
Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ’No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the LORD your God was your king. 13 "Now therefore, here is the king whom
you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the LORD has set a king
over you. 14 "If you will fear the
LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command
of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the
LORD your God. 15 "If you will not
listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD,
then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
“16 ¶ "Even now, take your stand and see this
great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes. 17 "Is it not the wheat harvest today? I
will call to the LORD, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know
and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the
LORD by asking for yourselves a king." 18
So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that
day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. 19 Then all the people said to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for
we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.’”
In
this section Samuel goes on to tell the children of Israel that they had made a
great mistake in asking for a king, a mere man, to rule over them instead of
having the Lord rule over them. He even
asked the Lord to send a thunder storm in the dry season to show the power of
the Lord to the people, something that a king could not perform as the Lord
did.
This
is just my opinion about the children of Israel asking for a king. I believe that if the elders of Israel and
the Levites, who knew the Law, would have come to Samuel and expressed to him
that they would like the Lord to pick a king to rule over the nation of Israel
as was written about in the Law then the Lord would have granted their request
and given them David to be their first king, a man after God’s own heart. After all when
Samuel told Saul that the Lord had chosen another man to rule over Israel
because he had not obeyed the Lord, God then chose David and it was through
David’s line that Jesus Christ came
into this world as the Messiah, so it was in the heart of God all along to make
David Israel’s king.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Dr.
Wiersbe in his commentary on this section believes that there was not a true
repentance by the children of Israel for asking for a king. They were probably sorry for asking for a
sin, but it is doubtful that they actually believed that this was a great sin
on their part. I must learn for their
mistake and not just be sorrowful when asking for forgiveness, but truly
repentant when asking for forgiveness, because when I sin, I am sinning against
the Lord and this is very serious business.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. I believe that the last two verses of Psalm
139 should be my steps of faith for today:
“23 Search me, O God! and know my heart: Examine
me and know my thoughts. 24 And know whether the way of wickedness be in
me, And lead me in the way of this life.”
May 17, 2010, 10:55 AM
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