Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / January 18 - 1 Samuel 15

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January 18 - 1 Samuel 15 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, It is shown here. Thank you for pressing on play.
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  Thank you for bringing me into your day.
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  It's it's a little bit tricky trying to work out well, how
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  much do people really want to hear about Sean waffling on
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  about Sean? But how am I going?
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  I'm going really well. It is this tricky thing, isn't
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  it, when you have a family. I have three boys, three teenage
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  boys, and my eldest has just got his first car and he's driven
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  off for a week of camp. And you farewell these kids that
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  you love, but they're not kids anymore and they're all grown up
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  and ah, life is just a whole series of moments of letting go,
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  isn't it? And so I don't know whether I'm
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  getting better at letting go, but I'm getting more practise at
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  letting go. So today we let go, don't we,
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  friends? We try not to hold on too
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  tightly to things in our lives. And that is a good parallel to
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  our reading as today we will continue to read the story where
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  things will go a little awry and well, Samuel and God just have
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  to not hold too tightly to what kingship might look like.
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  And the fact that, oh, these human kings are going to make a
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  mess of things. So we see how that starts to
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  play out today. So join me, friends, as we put
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  down our lives. Our letting goes for a moment
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  and we come before our living God and we hear what he has to
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  share with us in First Samuel chapter 15.
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  One day, Samuel said to Saul, it was the Lord who told me to
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  anoint you as the king of his people, Israel.
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  Now listen to this message from the Lord.
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  This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies has declared.
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  I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of
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  Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt.
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  Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation.
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  Men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels and
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  donkeys. So Saul mobilised his army at
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  Tulam. There were 200,000 soldiers from
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  Israel and 10,000 men from Judah.
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  Then Saul and his army went to a town of the Amalekites and lay
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  in wait in the valley. Soul sent this warning to the
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  Kenites. Move away from where the
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  Amalekites live, or you will die with them.
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  For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they
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  came up from Egypt. So the Kenites packed up and
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  left. Then Saul slaughtered the
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  Amalekites from Havilah all the way to shore east of Egypt.
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  He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed
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  everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag's
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  life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the
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  fat calves and the lambs, everything in fact that appealed
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  to them. They destroyed only what was
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  worthless or of poor quality. Then the Lord said to Samuel, I
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  am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal
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  to me and has refused to obey my command.
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  Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out
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  to the Lord all night. Early the next morning, Samuel
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  went to find Saul. Someone told him Saul went to
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  the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself.
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  Then he went on to Gilgal. When Samuel finally found him,
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  Saul greeted him cheerfully. May the Lord bless you, he said.
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  I've carried out the Lord's command.
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  Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the loving
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  of Catali here? Samuel demanded.
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  It's true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats and
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  cattle, Saw admitted. But they are going to sacrifice
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  them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything
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  else then Samuel said to Saul. Stop.
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  Listen to what the Lord told me last night.
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  What did he tell you? Sol asked, and Samuel told him.
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  Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader
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  of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you, King
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  of Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and told you go and
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  completely destroy the Sinners, the Amalekites, until they are
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  all dead. Why haven't you obeyed the Lord?
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  Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the
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  Lord's sight? But I did obey the Lord, Saul
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  insisted. I carried out the mission he
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  gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I
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  destroyed everyone else. Then my troops brought in the
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  best of the sheep, goats, cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the
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  Lord your God in Gilgal. But Sammy replied, what is more
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  pleasing to the Lord? Your burnt offerings and
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  sacrifices, or your obedience to His voice.
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  Listen. Obedience is better than
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  sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of
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  Rams. Rebellion is as sinful as
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  witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshipping idols.
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  So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has
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  rejected you as King. Then Saul admitted to Samuel.
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  Yes, I have sinned. I've disobeyed your instructions
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  and the Lord's command. For I was afraid of the people
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  and what they demanded. But now please forgive my sin
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  and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord.
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  But Samuel replied, I will not go back with you since you have
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  rejected the Lord's command. He has rejected you as king of
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  Israel. As Samuel turned to go, Saul
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  tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe.
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  And Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the Kingdom of Israel
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  from you today, and has given it to someone else, one who is
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  better than you. And he who was the glory of
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  Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, For he is not
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  human that he should change his mind.
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  Then Saul pleaded again. I know I have sinned, but please
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  at least honour me before the elders of my people and before
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  Israel by coming back with me so that I may worship the Lord your
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  God. So Samuel finally agreed and
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  went back with him, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
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  Then Samuel said, Bring King Agag to me.
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  A gag full of hope. For he thought, Surely the worst
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  is over, and I have been spared. But Samuel said, as your sword
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  has killed the sons of many mothers, now your mother will be
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  childless. And Samuel cut a gag to pieces
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  before the Lord at Gilgal. And Samuel went home to Rama,
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  and Saul returned to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
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  Samuel never went to meet with Saul again, but he mourned
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  constantly for him, And the Lord was sorry he had ever made Saul
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  king of Israel. Lord has read this story.
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  So much of it doesn't make sense to our modern ears.
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  But in the midst of it all, we hear Samuel and his prayer that
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  you want our obedience more than what we sacrificed to you, and
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  that you call for us to have hearts in submission to you
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  rather than any other gift we could give.
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  Salary come to you, we submit to you.
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  We offer our hearts to you that you would shape us so that we
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  would live lives of obedience to what you call us to do.
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  Lord, may we be your humble and faithful servants as we go about
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  today. Lord, continue to mould us in
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  just the way you want us to be. Continue to use us to shape and
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  to extend your Kingdom so that your interests are always at the
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  forefront of our minds and our motivations.
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  Thank you that you choose to engage with this world and
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  engage here with us, your people.
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  We are humbled and amazed that you, the unchanging God of the
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  universe, comes to us and engages with us.
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  So we offer ourselves to you as that sacrifice, all in the name
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  of Jesus. I'm in.