1 Samuel 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Neglect or Rescue?
“God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit” (Acts 10:28 CEV).

Life is so much easier without this command. Categorizing others creates distance and gives us a convenient exit strategy for avoiding involvement. Jesus took an entirely different approach. He was all about including people, not excluding them. “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14 MSG).

Racism couldn’t keep him from the Samaritan woman; demons couldn’t keep him from the demoniac. Jesus spent thirty-three years walking in the mess of this world.

In our lifetimes you and I are going to come across some discarded people. Sometimes tossed out by a church. And we get to choose. Neglect or rescue? Label or love? We know Jesus’ choice. After all, look at what he did with us.

1 Samuel 3

“Speak, God. I’m Ready to Listen”

 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli’s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad—he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested.

4-5 Then God called out, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Yes? I’m here.” Then he ran to Eli saying, “I heard you call. Here I am.”

Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” And so he did.

6-7 God called again, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel got up and went to Eli, “I heard you call. Here I am.”

Again Eli said, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” (This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)

8-9 God called again, “Samuel!”—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, “Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am.”

That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, “Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ‘Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’” Samuel returned to his bed.

10 Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen.”

11-14 God said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention. The time has come for me to bring down on Eli’s family everything I warned him of, every last word of it. I’m letting him know that the time’s up. I’m bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them. This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering.”

15 Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then rose early and went about his duties, opening the doors of the sanctuary, but he dreaded having to tell the vision to Eli.

16 But then Eli summoned Samuel: “Samuel, my son!”

Samuel came running: “Yes? What can I do for you?”

17 “What did he say? Tell it to me, all of it. Don’t suppress or soften one word, as God is your judge! I want it all, word for word as he said it to you.”

18 So Samuel told him, word for word. He held back nothing.

Eli said, “He is God. Let him do whatever he thinks best.”

19-21 Samuel grew up. God was with him, and Samuel’s prophetic record was flawless. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing—a true prophet of God. God continued to show up at Shiloh, revealed through his word to Samuel at Shiloh.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, June 09, 2022

Today's Scripture
Mark 7:6–13

Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:

These people make a big show of saying the right thing,

but their heart isn’t in it.

They act like they are worshiping me,

but they don’t mean it.

They just use me as a cover

for teaching whatever suits their fancy,

Ditching God’s command

and taking up the latest fads.”

9–13     He went on, “Well, good for you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions! Moses said, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel out of that by saying that it’s perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, ‘Gift! What I owed you I’ve given as a gift to God,’ thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother. You scratch out God’s Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this.”

Insight

The weight of Jesus’ indictment of the religious leaders (Mark 7:1, 5), the Pharisees and scribes, becomes even more striking when we explore the words He used. He called them “hypocrites” (hypokrites, v. 6). These religious leaders appeared to be something that they weren’t. They had “let go of the commands of God and [were] holding on to human traditions” (v. 8). The word translated “let go of” (aphiemi) is widely used in the New Testament and includes the idea of “sending away” or “releasing.” Though they had “let go” of God’s authoritative commands, they were “holding on to” (krateo) their traditions. Another word that brings the error of the religious gatekeepers into focus is “nullify” (akyroo, a legal term for “to invalidate,” v. 13). Adherents to any system where “tradition” trumps God’s “truth” are ripe for rebuke.

Learn more about hypocrisy in the church.  By: Arthur Jackson

Rejecting Rationalization

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.
Mark 7:8

An Atlanta police officer asked a driver if she knew why he’d stopped her. “No idea!” she said in bewilderment. “Ma’am, you were texting while driving,” the officer gently told her. “No, no!” she protested, holding up her cell phone as evidence. “It’s an email.”

Using a cell phone to send an email doesn’t grant us a loophole from a law that prohibits texting while driving! The point of the law isn’t to prevent texting; it’s to prevent distracted driving.

Jesus accused the religious leaders of His day of creating far worse loopholes. “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God,” He said, quoting the command to “Honor your father and mother” as evidence (Mark 7:9–10). Under the hypocritical cloak of religious devotion, these wealthy leaders were neglecting their families. They simply declared their money as “devoted to God,” and voila, no need to help Mom and Dad in their old age. Jesus quickly got to the heart of the problem. “You nullify the word of God by your tradition,” He said (v. 13). They weren’t honoring God; they were dishonoring their parents.

Rationalization can be so subtle. With it we avoid responsibilities, explain away selfish behavior, and reject God’s direct commands. If that describes our behavior, we’re merely deceiving ourselves. Jesus offers us the opportunity to exchange our selfish tendencies for the guidance of the Spirit behind His Father’s good instructions. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

In what areas of your life do you find yourself rationalizing? How do these rationalizations square with the wisdom of the Bible?

God, I need Your wise discernment. Rescue me from my denial of my own guilt. Help me live in step with Your Spirit.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 09, 2022

Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10

Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.

“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (see Matthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.

“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself.  The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 32-33; John 18:19-40

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 09, 2022
Getting Ready for God's Final Exam - #9239

Comedian Jerry Lewis actually made a little cinema history years ago when he filmed the movie "The Bellboy." It would be no big deal today, but back then it was a first. Jerry Lewis had each scene of the movie videotaped so he could look at it and see if it had come out like he wanted it. If he didn't like it, they went right back and they got it right. I know, "good old days." But it was actually a smart idea. Kind of sort of is today.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Ready for God's Final Exam."

It's definitely a good idea to stand back, see what's wrong, and fix it before it goes to the final print. Especially if the audience for the final print is God Himself, as He looks at how you've been living and passes judgment on it. In a sense, He's given us some ways to look at how we're doing, to see what you're doing wrong and to fix it before it goes to the final print.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes in the context of some early believers who were trivializing sacred things and they were, according to the Bible, "weak and sick" as a result. Some had even died as a result. Then, in 1 Corinthians 11:31, Paul says, "But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment." Take care of it yourself so God doesn't have to take care of it! God's response to the sin that we've neglected may come in discipline that He administers to us, or at the Judgment Seat of Christ where eternal rewards will either be given or withheld based on how we've lived. But in either case, it's far better for you to deal with it now than for God to deal with it then.

You may be living in that window right now where God is saying, "I'm giving you this time to deal with this yourself. But if you don't, I will." It may be the lies you're telling, the people you're hurting, the compromises you're making, that sin you're playing with. Maybe God's trying to get you to do something about your pride, or your hypocrisy, your anger, or that - you know - secret sin.

And He's given you the "videos," shall we say, that show what you're really doing. He'll speak to you through His words in the Bible, sometimes making them feel like an arrow right to the heart of your sin. Or God may be trying to speak to you through some of the people in your life; you know, some people who love you. Maybe people who are just critical of you. But God put them there to be a mirror for you, showing you what needs to be changed. Now maybe you're stoning the messenger, but that doesn't change the truth of what they see in you, and what God's trying to get you to see.

It isn't smart to flirt with the discipline of Almighty God; the judgment of Almighty God. He just loves you too much to let you keep doing what's going to damage your life, and probably other lives. And maybe right now He's giving you that time - this window right now - to deal with it yourself; to confess it to Jesus, the One who died for that very sin. He's giving you right now an opportunity to repent and turn your back on it, to restore what you need to restore, to apologize to that person you should have apologized to a long time ago, to fix what's broken, to take whatever steps you need to take to get what's wrong out of your life.

Believe me, no matter how hard it may be for you to judge that sin yourself, it's always easier than forcing God to judge it because you wouldn't. Right now He's giving you a chance to fix it before it goes to the final print.