Welcome back to 1 Samuel! Every Wednesday and Friday, I post my thoughts from one chapter of 1 Samuel – today is chapter 11. Take a few minutes to read 1 Samuel 11 for yourself, take notes, and compare what you hear from God with what I see and hear. God’s Word is alive and active. We don’t need to see the same things!
If you’ve missed any of the past posts of earlier chapters, you can find them all HERE.
If you are new to reading the Bible, I encourage you to read my post, How to Understand the Bible. It gives you 5 tools to read the Bible, so you understand it. You can also go back and read through the story of Joseph and his family and all of Luke with me.
So let’s go ahead and jump in!
Emotions: Feelings for a Reason
God has given you emotions for a reason. He wants you to feel things, so you know what is happening around you at a gut level. We can’t always let our emotions drive us, but we can use them as an indicator of what’s happening, how I feel, and how I should respond.
This is true of Saul when he hears of the tyranny the people of Jabesh Gilead were living under,
“Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he became very angry.”
1 Samuel 11:6
Saul goes on to cut up his oxen as a warning to anyone who won’t help this town. It reminds me of the righteous anger Jesus displayed on Holy Week. Jesus entered the temple, and saw it being treated like a flea market along with corruption of the priests. Jesus upended tables and empties the market out.
The anger they felt was a sign from God, and both Saul and Jesus listened to what their emotions were saying. Then they both made calculated decisions on what to do with that anger. Both led to change.
What are your emotions telling you? Don’t ignore them!
You don’t want to be ruled by your emotions, but you do want to pay attention to them. You need to stop, analyze your emotions, and ask yourself, “What is this telling me about myself, my world, God?” Then act.
The action may be to go on with life as normal, but it is just as likely to mean making a change, confronting evil or injustice, speaking encouragement to yourself or others, or one of any other things.
What are you emotions telling you?
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