Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 1 Samuel 12:13-25
Set – 1 Samuel 12; 2 Corinthians 11
Go! – 1 Samuel 11-12; 1 Chronicles 1; 2 Corinthians 11
1 Samuel 12:13-25
13 So now, look: here is the king you chose, the king for whom you asked. The Eternal has indeed set a king to rule over you.14 If you will revere and serve the Eternal, if you listen to His voice and do not disobey His commands, then you and this king who rules over you will follow the Eternal One, your True God, and all will go well with you.
15 But if you ignore His voice, if you disobey the commands of the Eternal, then His mighty hand of judgment will be raised against you and against your ancestors.
16 Stand ready, for the Eternal One is going to show you a great sight. 17 It is the wheat harvest now, and is this not the time after the early rains? But I will call upon the Eternal to send thunder and rain so you will realize the depths of your sin before God because you demanded a king to rule over you.
18 Samuel prayed to the Eternal. He sent thunder and rain to pelt the fields that day, and the people were afraid of Him and of Samuel.
People (to Samuel): 19 Pray to the Eternal One your God on behalf of your servants so we will not die for adding to all the weight of our sin the evil of demanding our own king.
Samuel: 20 Don’t be frightened. It is true that you have done evil, but never stop following the Eternal One. Serve Him completely, 21 and do not follow empty things that do not have the power to benefit or save you. They are worthless. 22 For the sake of His reputation, He will not cast away His chosen people. Before you ever chose Him, the Eternal One chose you as His own because it pleased Him.
23 As for me, the last thing I would ever do is to stop praying for you. That would be a sin against the Eternal One on my part. I will always try to teach you to live and act in a way that is good and proper in His eyes. 24 Make this your one purpose: to revere Him and serve Him faithfully with complete devotion because He has done great things for you. 25 But if you continue in your evil ways against Him, you and your king will be swept off the face of the earth.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Politics in Samuel’s day was not so different from politics today. One group wanted the judges I chose to stay in power and for the country to remain as a theocracy. Another group wanted left alone and the tribe leaders to manage the activities within the borders of the property inherited within the promised land I gave them. Yet another side cried for a king to unite the tribes as protection against the strength of the neighboring nations.
The voices for those clambering for a king won out. I still chose the first king, but one thing I want you to notice about Samuel and the group of prophets he led. He counted it a sin against Me if he ever failed to pray for the king of his nation. Saul needed his prayers. The people needed him to pray for the king.
Today in your country it’s party politics. You think things are different with your democratic government, but they’re not, really. One group wants their party in power and spends inordinate amounts of money to do so that could be used to really help people. Another group does the same, and yet another group does the same. When all the dust settles after your elections, nothing changes. Solomon said it well in the treatise you call Ecclesiastes. “It’s all vanity.”
One thing is certain, though. Whoever holds the political power in any nation needs the prayers of his or her people. Prayer works. Solomon said it. The chroniclers reiterated it. “When My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face, I will hear from heaven, and heal their land.”
I look at what goes on around you and see the corruption in your politics just as I saw the corruption among the kings who ruled in ancient Israel. I sent My people into exile because of their failure to obey Me. Their leaders led them down paths I never intended them to go – worshiping pagan gods. Making treaties with neighboring nations and adopting their worship rituals and idols. Substituting material riches and opulence for justice and care for the poor, the widows, orphans, and foreigners barely surviving in their cities.
When your leaders begin to care more about keeping their political positions or their party in power than meeting the needs of the people they serve, it’s past time for you to fall on your knees in prayer. Select your leaders carefully. Then pray for whoever holds the authority in the nations of the world. Whether they follow Me or reign as despots, the people they serve are influenced and impacted by their decisions. Samuel and his group of prophets should not be the only ones with the deep cry from their hearts that it would be a sin against Me to fail to pray for his king.
Pray for your leaders, they could use it…every day!
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