August 22, 2010
Scripture:
Prayer
Hymn 350 - Fishers of Men
Prayer
1 Samuel 14:47-52. So we’ve seen Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines, and now Saul overcomes the rest of his enemies, and is gathering a bigger army. However, the Philistines are always a problem.
1 Samuel 15:1-4
Samuel comes to Saul and reminds him that he must obey God, because God made him king. He then goes on and reminds Saul how the Amalekites laid wait for the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. They came up behind Israel and smote the weak people. Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
Now, I’d like to make a comparison between Amalek and Israel. Amalek had Esau as his father, while Israel had Jacob. Esau was the first-born, and Jacob was the second born. We can see this as showing us the fact that we have a first birth, our natural birth into this world. But we also need a second birth. Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again. From our first birth we get our flesh, the thing inside us that makes us want to do wrong. But from our second birth, we get a spiritual life that makes us want to serve the Lord.
Amalek Israel
Esau Jacob 1st born 2nd born Natural Birth Second Birth Fleshly desires Spiritual desires
Our flesh is our enemy, just like Amalek was Israel’s enemy. Amalek came and killed the weak Israelites that were trailing behind, like a pack of wolves might do. Our flesh wants to make us weak, so that it can get us. It tries to make us disobey, or say unkind things. This makes us weak. But things like reading the Bible and going to meeting will keep us strong.
God wanted the Amalekites totally destroyed. Not just a part of them, but all of them; verse three tells us. Now, in this life, our flesh will never be destroyed. But we are to have victory over it, and not allow it to control us. Our Spiritual life must be stronger.
I trust that Amalek and Israel can be an example to us.
We’ve seen the many areas in which the Jews—in this chapter, the priests specifically—had been unfaithful to God. Now, in the last verse of chapter 2, they are again giving their reply “Wherein?” The Lord was weary of the things they were saying; compare with Isaiah 40:28. God will never weary in His goodness, but He did get weary of the way his people were treating Him. It’s similar to the English expression “sick and tired.” Read Isaiah 29:13. This is what the people of Israel were doing. They weren’t neglecting the temple, but they were just going through the motions. God wants it to come from the heart. We can do the same: do we pray, or just say prayers? When we come to meeting, are we just going through the motions, too? Even though these are things he wants us to do, we will weary Him if we don’t do them with sincerity.
God was wearied of the Jews misrepresenting Him. They were saying that evil-doers were good in the sight of God; they were asking “Where is the God of judgement?” Many people ask the same question; God is just, but He is also merciful, and gives time for repentance.
ch 3:1—The first messenger spoken of here is John the Baptist; he came to prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord is the second one, the messenger (or angel, Darby) of the covenant. This gave the hope and anticipation of the Lord, whom the Jews should have been looking for. It’s interesting to see how even the Lord was heralded by another (in this case, John the Baptist).
Hymn 333 - Come to the Saviour, make no delay
Prayer