Welcome back to 1 Samuel! Every Wednesday and Friday, I post my thoughts from one chapter of 1 Samuel – today is chapter 12. Read 1 Samuel 12 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!
Wrong but Humble
Have you ever watched a favorite team win their game, but lose one of their best players to injury during the game? You get that feeling of winning the battle but possibly losing the war in the process. That’s the feeling Israel had when they met Samuel in this chapter.
They had literally just won a battle against their most bitter enemy, the Philistines. When they return home, the prophet Samuel meets them with a lecture, including this:
“But when you were afraid of Nahash, the king of Ammon, you came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you, even though the Lord your God was already your king.”
1 Samuel 12:12
Israel got it’s king but at what cost? They won the battle, but what will happen in the war?
Thankfully, God is gracious. In spite of rejecting God and choosing a king, He forgives them. God is willing to lead this people if they are willing to follow – king included.
This is a picture of how God operates still today. He does have an ideal for us, but He is willing to work with us through our mistakes…if we are humble. Israel humbled themselves that day, and God accepts them again. He vows to continue to care and love His people.
Where do you need to humble yourself before God? What mistakes have you made that you need to turn back to Him?
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