February 21, 2010
Scripture:
Scripture:
Ministry:
I want to bring a couple of thoughts in connection with what we’ve had here this morning.
Luke 22:42. Here, the Lord addresses God as “Father”.
Matthew 27:45-46. Between the sixth hour and the ninth hour, I believe that the Lord was bearing the punishment for our sins. Here, He addresses God as, “My God”. Why the difference? It’s similar to the way those of us who are parents relate to our children. We love them; but if they do something wrong, God tells us to correct them. Man has disobeyed God. Not only in the Garden of Eden, but also all through time. God didn’t punish us; instead, He decided to punish His holy Son. Jesus died on that cross all alone, bearing our sins. God is holy, so He must punish sin. He cannot look upon sin, so He had to turn His back on Jesus while He bore our sins. Jesus took that punishment so that we could be forgiven.
Luke 23:46. Now that the punishment is past He can call God His Father, and can give Mary that wonderful message. We, who were sinners, can call God our Father too.
It’s precious that in the garden He calls God “Father”; while bearing our sins He calls Him “My God”, after all is done He can say, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit”, and then after He is risen can say that God is our Father as well. May these thoughts touch us.
Hymn 360 - We are little children, very young indeed
Prayer
We go on to chapter 9 in 1 Samuel today. Last time, we saw how the children of Israel asked for a king. God told Samuel to give them a king, and here in chapter 9 is where we meet him.
Now, sometimes we make plans that don’t go right. We might say, “We’ll go to the zoo tomorrow if it’s sunny”, and then it rains and we can’t go. Or we might be disappointed if we get stuck in traffic, and are late for a train or plane, but God uses these things to accomplish His will.
Vv.1-2. Saul was head-and-shoulders taller than everybody else in Israel. God is giving the people a man that they like for a king.
V3. Sometimes we make to-do lists, and it tells us what we have to do. Saul had a to-do list, but he didn’t know that God also had a to-do list and was working to get it done. The lists might have looked like this:
Saul’s To-Do List God’s To-Do List for Saul’s Life
1. Find the Asses 1. Have Saul meet Samuel
Sometimes God has different plans for us too. Proverbs 16:9. We are supposed to plan our day so that we use the time wisely, but God sometimes overrules our plans, and has us do something else. James 4:15. We should say, “If the Lord wills, then I’ll do this”. But we don’t know when the Lord is going to direct us to do something else.
V4. We might think this is an easy job; how far could the asses go? But they aren’t able to find them. V5. After they had been out there all that time, Saul thinks that they had better go home, because his father would start to worry about them. V6. But the servant knew that the city where the prophet lived was near, and he thought that they should go there and ask the prophet to tell them where the asses were. V7. But Saul said, “What will we give the man? We don’t have anything.” V8. God allowed the servant to have a bit of money with him and he said, “I’ll give this to the prophet.” V9. A Seer is a prophet. V10.So they go to the city of the prophet. Vv.11-12 It seems like Samuel had just come to the city. If they had come earlier, they wouldn’t have found him. God had them look for the asses for just the right amount of time, because God wants Saul to meet Samuel. V14. So they go into the city and they meet Samuel. V15. God had told Samuel a day before, “I will send you a man that you are supposed to make king.” Vv.16-20. God used the lost asses to bring Saul and Samuel together for this important meeting.
1 Thessalonians 5:18. Even when things go wrong we are to give thanks. Saul might have been upset and said, “We can’t find these asses, let’s just go home.” But if things aren’t working out, maybe God is showing us that we are supposed to do something else. If we seek to do His will, He will direct us; and tells us to give thanks.
We saw that vv. 27 & 28 are talking about the times of the judges. In that time, it seemed that God’s hand of judgement for Israel was their enemies. The nations around them would take over and bring them to the point of seeking the Lord’s blessing. There are similar enemies in our own lives and they often try our faithfulness. We need to be on guard; we can’t rationalize our wrongdoings as Israel often did. We need to seek God’s “to do list” of our lives and not want to follow our own wills. Israel followed their own desires, and then turned to God in trouble. We should realize that we need God every day, and not just during trials.
The children of Israel went often through this cycle “many times” (v.
Remember that what we are reading is the prayer of a remnant; they didn’t try to paint the picture more nicely. They realized that they had forsaken God, but He had not forsaken them. Even in their captivity, they had a king who would let them return and even sponsor their Jerusalem project. He is a mighty and awesome God (v. 32, NASB). They had all experienced the difficulties of their rebellion, and they had all seen God’s mercy.
V. 33: They realized that, in it all, God was just. He had done what was right, and they had done what was wrong, often. We can see their humility in these words.
Hymn 283 - What cheering words are these!
Prayer