The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – 1 Samuel 16:5-13 (day six)

Messiah is the English transliteration of the Hebrew word that means “anointed one.” That’s what Samuel did to David in 1 Samuel 16; he became an anointed one. A messiah was one who was devoted to God for a particular purpose; to serve as a “bridge between heaven and earth.” (Tim Mackee, bibleproject.com).

When Greek scholars translated the same Hebrew word, it became christos, or christ in English. Jesus Christ literally means “Jesus, the anointed one.” David was a precursor to Jesus’ eternal rule as the anointed king.

In Antioch, after the birth of the early church, followers of Jesus were called “Christians,” which means “little Christs,” or “little anointed ones.” That’s us. We are little anointed ones, like King David before us. We are heirs with David, called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be God’s “bridge between heaven on earth” until the eternal King returns.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Samuel 16:5-13 (day five)  “And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.”
God was already  preparing David to be His King. Amazingly, David’s best training and preparation came in a pasture not a palace. The gifts, skills, attitudes, and perspectives that were needed to be King were being developed and honed as a child in the field. Care, courage, faithfulness, determination were some of the lessons David was learning while tending the sheep (remember Jesus’ words to Peter).
There were no robe fittings yet. There were no interviews or press releases. Samuel goes to Ramah and David goes back to the sheep.
What lessons and insights are God teaching in the ordinary and routine things of life? (great opportunity for parents and grandparents to help children sense and see God at work)

Re:Verse passage – 1 Samuel 16:5-13 (day four)

At first, David wasn’t even brought into the room when Samuel came to his family’s house. He wasn’t just last on the list for who might be anointed as king, he wasn’t on the list at all. Over and over again throughout Scripture, we see God choosing the person that the world would never even consider. That concept is woven into our Savior’s DNA. God intentionally made his Son’s family tree full of people that the world had counted out.

But when this occurs in our own life, we still get surprised by it, don’t we? We might even become angry when we see God moving through someone that we hadn’t considered worthy. It gives us some cognitive dissonance when God works through someone with opposite political opinions, someone who’s culture we don’t understand, or someone who rubs us the wrong way. Our human nature wants to count people out, but God wants to count people in.

Who have you counted out lately? The Lord is most likely doing a work to count them in.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Samuel 16:5-13 (day three)

“[Samuel] said, ‘In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’”

There’s a reason Samuel took time to speak of peace when he arrived in Bethlehem. Saul had turned the nation into an extension of his paranoid patterns of thinking and acting. Surveilling the populace, using informants, exterminating people on trumped up charges of disloyalty – these tactics had given rise to an ethos of suspicion and distrust that blanketed Israel with fear. Into that dark night came Samuel with the sober, steady promise of a new day – one which would prove hard-fought, but which would nonetheless provide Israel with a glimpse of what a Savior would one day do for a world cloaked in fear. David would become a metaphor by which believers would understand the Christ’s office of King of kings. The peace of Samuel anticipated the Prince of peace.

Re:Verse passage – 1 Samuel 16:5-13 (day two)  

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” vs. 11a

We often talk about the sibling rivalry found among Joseph and his brothers. He was favored among the rest, and it cost him. David’s family dynamic was the opposite. He wasn’t included among the rest of his brothers as they were brought before Samuel to be consecrated. He didn’t even rate an introduction until the prophet asked if there were any other sons. Small, young, and insignificant is how he was portrayed. Hopefully, this isn’t a lesson in how to treat your children better, but there are likely some areas of our lives where we give little thought. Things, relationships, priorities that receive no attention when we consider Kingdom things. Perhaps we need to take some time to re-evaluate. Why has the Lord placed an insignificant matter in the corner of my life? Is this an opportunity to be led in a direction you have never considered before?

Re:Verse passage – Judges 16:15-21 (day six)  

Samson represents two simultaneous truths, the total moral collapse of the tribes of Israel and the total committedness of God to his people. God chose the twelve tribes, yet they had grown comfortable with Philistine idolatry and sexual immorality; they had forgotten God. God also chose Samson, but even under a Nazarite vow, he lived as if God didn’t exist.

YET, despite how far they had fallen, God used Samson to preserve his people once again. Samson’s story (in fact, the entire book of Judges) foretells a desperate need for a righteous king to rule God’s people and God’s committedness to make it a reality.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

 

Re:Verse passage – Judges 16:15-21 (day five)  

Samson’s story is tragic to say the least. Yet, he is listed in the “Hall of Faith” found in Hebrews 11 (vs 32). Wait? Wasn’t Samson faithless?  Well, he believed the prophesy and promise of God. Samson knew his strength came from God. He trusted that God would provide that strength when he needed it. Every act Samson did could have been seen as an act of faith. But in the midst of his faith, Samson began to think more highly of himself than of God. So what was missing??  I believe it was love. “And if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭2‬  Samson didn’t have a love for God, which produces the fruit of obedience.

I close with a quote from Jon Bloom, “So let Samson’s faith soberly remind us that our spiritual or talent gifts are not God’s endorsement of us, that faithful obedience is better than impressive giftedness.” And that faith must be governed and balanced by a vibrant and deep love for the Lord.

Re:Verse passage – Judges 16:15-21 (day four)

Samson is a truly unique character. We know that the Lord is with him, but he seems to have an ego and a careless attitude. You almost don’t want to root for him. If nothing else, though, he’s relatable. I’ve always gotten a chuckle out of v. 16, “his soul was annoyed to death.” We’ve all been there!

But his biggest mistake is even more relatable: he didn’t take the holiness of God seriously. Samson made a vow with the God, but he broke that vow over and over again. Here in his exchange with Delilah, he put his trust in his own wit and his own strength, forgetting that God was the source of his strength all along. It didn’t go well for him. How often do we do the same? When we rely on our own strength, we always come up short.

Contrast this with the apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Let us commit to this way of living: “Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”