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Editor’s Note: We continue our series of blogs for those who are reading the Bible with us cover-to-cover this year. Interspersed with our thoughts on our daily reading, we want to provide some tips about reading the Bible in general.
Judge Samuel’s Sensitivity To God Exalts Him In Israel (1 Samuel 5-7)
In this section we see the “cause and effect” principle at work in both Israel, and among their enemies. Pay close attention to …
- Because of the failure of the judge Eli in parenting his adult sons, the Philistines capture the Ark of God, which contains the ten commandments. (5)
- Because the Philistines keep the ark of God, the Lord brings a plague upon every city the ark resides in. (5)
- Because of the plague, the Philistines return the ark of God to Israel, offering a trespass offering to acknowledge that they had trespassed across the command of God by taking the ark. (6)
- Because of the call of Samuel, the Israelites returned to the Lord, albeit twenty years later, and Samuel became the judge of Israel all the days of his life. (7)
It is important to watch for the cause and effect principle as we study. One of the things we realize is this: God is in charge – period. Whether one is a follower of His or not, God is still all-powerful and has His way, no matter your belief or lack of it. It is our hope that this background information helps a bit as you read on in the Bible. For daily insights into the passage we are reading together each day, you can follow Dr. Smith on Twitter and on Facebook. You can obtain more help from the FREE Bible reading schedule on our resource page. In His Image is a daily devotional that also follows our reading schedule and expresses the Biblical truth: “God Created You to Love You.” You can find this resource on the side bar of our website. Check out the latest review of Growing Missional Leaders by Dr. Tom Cocklereece!
BOOK REVIEW: GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS
Imagine how fast God’s kingdom would grow if people in every church, regardless of denomination, determined to accomplish the Great Commission in their community in their lifetime. This is not a proposal to take away from missionary endeavors around the world but it is a plan to increase local missional ministry understanding that it is an investment into the overall missionary effort. In other words, by being missional locally churches will become more evangelistic and soon able to do more in missions further away. The purpose of Dr. Matthew Lee Smith’s book is to motivate leaders to do just that. Dr. Smith and this author agree that … READ MORE
