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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, August 10, 2023
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Saul Disobeys Bible Verse:1 Samuel 15:1-23 (abridged) (ESV) "Samuel said to Saul, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs; everything that was good. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, and told him that the Lord was angry at his disobedience. Saul pleaded that he had taken cattle and sheep as plunder, in order to sacrifice to the Lord at Gilgal. But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” " Message:
Chapter 15 of Samuel, much abbreviated here, challenges two notions that many Christians hold in the back of their mind, but which need to be examined. First, the inherent sanctity of human life, which we will examine today; and second, the idea that democracy is somehow ordained by God, or a Christian form of government, which we will examine in our next installment.
The Amalekites are special enemies of Israel. In Exodus 17, they attacked the Hebrews coming out of Sinai, and God swore blood vengeance on them: “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
Sodom, Corot
Burning of Sodom (detail), Corot
This explains the Lord’s unusual command, that every living Amalekite creature be destroyed. Note that the slaughter of infants would be murder, forbidden by the Fifth Commandment, except that the order comes from God Himself. There is no inherent sanctity to human life. Only God is sacred, and every other holy or sacred thing becomes so only by God’s will. As Christians, we do hold human life sacred, but only by God’s commandment. To hold the sanctity of human life above God’s will is the error of humanism.
God has and will destroy human life. One need only think of Noah, where the entire population of earth was wiped out, save Noah and his family. Even a person who does not take the story of Noah literally must admit the meaning: humanity is subject to God’s judgment. And the New Testament tells us, without any wiggle room, that those who do not avail themselves of God’s (freely given) grace will suffer eternal destruction. The Bible does not tell us God might judge us; it tells us that God will judge us.
One sees this dichotomy in the logic of the humanist statement: “I do not believe in God; how could a good God allow so much suffering?” To say this, one must see oneself, or at least human beings, as the ultimate good in the universe. But when we understand that good is God — our Creator, not ourselves — we turn the question on its head: “Why is God so loving and good, that He will relieve the suffering and death that nature (including human nature) inflicts upon us?”
Meditation : Prayer : Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made me one with your saints in heaven and on earth. Grant that in my earthly pilgrimage I may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know myself to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy. I ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ever and ever...Amen |
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