1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.[a] 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.
LORD will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”
The Israelites wanted God, but they also wanted an earthly king. We see this all the time in our world today. People say they are a Christian, yet they think other people need to run the country. I realize that the world and countries need someone who is the head honcho, but they don't necessarily need to be a king. If this was a perfect world, we wouldn't worry about who was going to lead us into battle or if we were like the other "coutries." Unfortunately, the world isn't. People want a "king" and that is where the problem is. People don't want to stand out or be different. Everyone is guilty of it at some point. They want to be accepted and want people to like them. I am guilty of this, but I feel that I am not as much as others can be. I see myself more like Samuel in this passage, but I don't use it well like he did. I feel like I am in a world where I am pressured to do and be what I know is wrong. It is so hard to be the best person you can when you are constantly being pressured in this world. My solution, is to block it out and not accept anyone associated with it. I see all the wrong in this world and judge it and get angry. I see all the wrong that people do and get mad and judge. Which now, I see that it is completely wrong. Jesus accepted everyone; the lepers, the tax collectors, and the prisoners. God was enough for Jesus, and we have to keep in mind the sacrifice they both gave for us. We are so unworthy. He gave everything. How is that not enough?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Until the Whole World Hears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln0T26aTXJE&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
This song is by Casting Crowns who is one of my favorite bands. Their song "Until the Whole World Hears" came to my mind recently. I decided I was going to take a break from Facebook. I was getting behind on my devotionals and I was feeling really convicted. At first I thought I would try my "Facebook Fast" for a month, but after talking it over with Christina, I decided I would go two weeks and see how it was going. This was going to have me off Facebook until Thanksgiving Day. So I went home and changed my status to,"On a Facebook fast, see ya in two weeks, if you need anything text me!" then I deleted the app off my phone. Since then, I have kept tract of how many times I have wanted to update my status, and right now on November 14th at 10:31 p.m, 2 days after I have been on my fast, I have thought about updating my status 14 times. That is a little outrageous. Anyways...the next night I went to a Chrysalis Gathering and we were having a group discussion on what we were struggling with in the past month. I stood up and shared about how my time with God was being filled with other things and how I was taking myself away from Facebook. Someone else stood up later and said how she had taken to posting her devotionals on Facebook and how she had also wanted to take a break from Facebook because she felt it was taking too much of her time. She said when she did, she had people who were begging her not to because they looked forward to reading her notes every morning and that she had no idea how much it affected them. That got me thinking on the whole, "You may be the only God they ever see" saying. So I decided I was going to make the best out of the Facebook situation. I was going to start posting about my devotionals. Its going to be like what I do on here, but I'm going to try to post everyday. I think this will keep me more in a routine because every time I am on Facebook I will think about how I need to do my devotional. And that is what leads me to the song. In the chorus it says, "We'll sing until the whole world hears." We need to reach out and tell about God and put Him in every aspect of our lives. So that is what I'm going to do.. on Facebook.
This song is by Casting Crowns who is one of my favorite bands. Their song "Until the Whole World Hears" came to my mind recently. I decided I was going to take a break from Facebook. I was getting behind on my devotionals and I was feeling really convicted. At first I thought I would try my "Facebook Fast" for a month, but after talking it over with Christina, I decided I would go two weeks and see how it was going. This was going to have me off Facebook until Thanksgiving Day. So I went home and changed my status to,"On a Facebook fast, see ya in two weeks, if you need anything text me!" then I deleted the app off my phone. Since then, I have kept tract of how many times I have wanted to update my status, and right now on November 14th at 10:31 p.m, 2 days after I have been on my fast, I have thought about updating my status 14 times. That is a little outrageous. Anyways...the next night I went to a Chrysalis Gathering and we were having a group discussion on what we were struggling with in the past month. I stood up and shared about how my time with God was being filled with other things and how I was taking myself away from Facebook. Someone else stood up later and said how she had taken to posting her devotionals on Facebook and how she had also wanted to take a break from Facebook because she felt it was taking too much of her time. She said when she did, she had people who were begging her not to because they looked forward to reading her notes every morning and that she had no idea how much it affected them. That got me thinking on the whole, "You may be the only God they ever see" saying. So I decided I was going to make the best out of the Facebook situation. I was going to start posting about my devotionals. Its going to be like what I do on here, but I'm going to try to post everyday. I think this will keep me more in a routine because every time I am on Facebook I will think about how I need to do my devotional. And that is what leads me to the song. In the chorus it says, "We'll sing until the whole world hears." We need to reach out and tell about God and put Him in every aspect of our lives. So that is what I'm going to do.. on Facebook.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)