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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.
Israel Rejects God’s Reign, Establishing Saul as King of Israel (1 Samuel 8-15)
As the nation prepares for the death of Samuel, we notice that Samuel has failed to prepare for the future leadership of the nation after he passes from the scene. His failure to provide the next generation with leadership leads them to make a horrible mistake. Follow along as we see that …
- Although Samuel was a great judge, he was also a bad father, not inspiring confidence in the abilities of his children to lead Israel after his death. (8)
- Although the nation of Israel had followed judges for over 400 years, they had done little to accomplish the mission of God, so the elders requested a King. (8)
- Although the nation requested a King from Samuel, in reality they had rejected the Lord as the King of their lives. (8)
- Although Samuel warns the nation of the consequences of a King, the nation is persistent and God chooses Saul as the first anointed King of Israel. (9-10)
- Although Saul is effective at first, and the nation follows him, he quickly disobeys God and is rejected by the Lord. (11-13)
- Although Saul remains King in position and title, he continues to lead poorly and disobediently to the point that the Lord promises his kingdom will be torn away from Him. (14-15)
We learn from this section of 1 Samuel that it is essential to think of the future every day of your present. Providing for the leadership of the next generation is essential to being a great leader.
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
