May 18, 2010, 10:24 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Obey the Lord
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Samuel 12:20-25
Message
of the verses: “ 20 Samuel said to the people,
"Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from
following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 "You must not turn aside, for then you
would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are
futile. 22 "For the LORD will
not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has
been pleased to make you a people for Himself. 23 "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me
that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will
instruct you in the good and right way. 24
‘Only fear the LORD and serve
Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done
for you. 25 ‘But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.’”
The
theme of this section of Scripture seems to be change, and yet the change was
due to the unfaithfulness of the children of Israel, for they had asked Samuel
to ask the Lord to give them a king, and this meant that the Lord would give
them a king to rule over them, yet in asking for this king they had actually
turned away for the Lord leading the people.
At the end of this section Samuel tells the people that if they and
their king would sin then both they and their king would be disciplined by the
Lord, something that as Warren Wiersbe pointed out was written in the Law of
Moses: “The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation
unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood
and stone (Deu. 28:36). This is part of
the unconditional portion of the Law in which the Lord told Israel that if they
disobeyed they would be cursed, and if they obeyed they would be blessed. In either way the Lord would be blessed by
His Word.
Samuel
tells the people that they had done wrong in asking for a king, but if they
still began again to trust the Lord they He would continue to bless them, but
if not they the curses would come and eventually Israel would be deported to
Babylon many years down the road.
The
heart of Samuel was broken because of the unbelief of Israel, and yet Samuel
would continue to teach the children of Israel the Word of God and he would
continue to pray for them, something that goes together as seen in the
Word. Examples are in Acts 6:4; John
15:7; Eph. 6:17-18.
In
Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this section
he goes into how this message applies to the church and other ministries today,
and one of the things that he writes about is that when changes come that there
needs to be a person around like a Samuel who makes sure that the changes are
in accord with the Word of God, and that there should be much prayer given to
the leaders, especially those who lead in a church.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I
reflect on all of the changes that have gone on at GBC I am wondering if there
was a “Samuel” who was present when all of these changes were made, and if there was
were all of these changes that were made in accordance with the Word of God? I can plainly say that I need to pray more
for the leaders of our church even though many of the changes were not to my
liking. God is the Head of the Church
and He will be faithful to His Word and to His children, but again they need to
call upon the name of the Lord and seek Him to act on the things that are near
and dear to His heart when it comes to our church.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Begin to pray for the leaders in our church.
2. Make sure that the changes that were made in
our church are not violating what the Word of God has to say.
3. Trust the Lord to do according to what is best for GBC.
May 18, 2010, 11:07 AM
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