Do I Hear Sheep?
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 15 – 16
(Second Milers also read Matthew 3 – 4; Proverbs 2; Psalms 6 – 10)
Scripture Memory for April – 1 Corinthians 13
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 3:1
“And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” – (1 Samuel 15:14 )
“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” – (1 Samuel 15:22)
The story in 1 Samuel 15 goes like this: God wanted Saul and the people of Israel to go and utterly destroy the Amelekites, and all that belonged to them, from off the face of the earth. It is not often that God gave a commandment like this, but it is important to know that when He did, He had a good reason. We may not completely understand why God would want something like this to happen, but we know that God is God, and He knows what is best. Saul obeyed much of what God commanded him to do. He wiped out all of the Amelekites, except the king, Agag. Saul also spared the sheep, because he justified that the sheep could be used for a sacrifice. However, God was not pleased with Saul’s partial obedience; and He was not interested in Saul’s sacrifice. God wanted total obedience, which is “better than sacrifice”.
If we look carefully at the text, we can figure out why Saul did not completely obey God. Consider these verses from the passage:
“And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?” – (1 Samuel 15:17)
“And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” – (1 Samuel 15:24)
“Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.” – (1 Samuel 15:30)
It is apparent from these verses that Saul had a problem with pride. I guess we can all relate to that, can’t we? He was more concerned about pleasing the people, and being elevated in their sight, than he was about obeying and pleasing the Lord. How many times have we compromised our obedience in order to appease the people around us?
So it was Saul’s pride that caused him to disobey.But what causes you (or me) to disobey? Is it pride like Saul? Is it covetousness? Is it laziness? We all have something in our lives that puts the pressure on us to not do what God commands us to do. God wants a total surrender though. He wants complete obedience, and He does not accept our excuses for disobedience.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Sweeter Than Honey
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 12 – 14
(Second Milers also read – Mathew 1 – 2; Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1)
Scripture Memory for April – 1 Corinthians 13
LIsten to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 Timothy 1:17
“Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.” – (1 Samuel 14:29)
“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” – (Psalm 19:9-10)
“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” – (Psalm 119:103)
In chapter 14 of 1 Samuel we see a great victory for Israel against their enemies, the Philistines. It all started when Saul’s son, Jonathon, and his armour bearer decide that they are going to trust God to bring a great victory. This is a very similar situation to the account of David and Goliath. Here, the massive army of the Philistines is encamped near the much smaller army of Israel. Saul, Israel’s king, is not really taking any action; so Jonathon decides to do something. Him and his armourbearer go up to where the Philistines are, and God goes with them, and gives them a great victory. This starts a chain reaction where the Philistines start running for their lives, and even fighting each other. Saul is watching this from a great distance, and is not sure what is happening, but soon realizes that his enemy is leaving. Now he decides to get involved. The rest of the people of Israel, along with Saul, join the chase, and attempt to kill all of the Philistines before they completely escape out of Israel. Saul then does something dumb. He tells all of his people that they are not to eat anything until the battle is completely over. Anybody who violates this command will be put to death. The people don’t eat, but Jonathon does. He come upon a little honey in the woods as he is chasing the Philistine army, and he eats it. Now Jonathon did not know about Saul’s order. However, the Bible says that his “eyes were enlightened”. By the way, if the rest of Israel was allowed to have a little of that honey, they would have had a lot more energy to continue in the battle. In fact, they are so famished that when it does come time to eat, they don’t even cook their meat; they eat it raw, which was forbidden by God.
There is a wonderful picture here regarding the honey. The honey is a picture of the Word of God. Notice the other verses above that compare honey to the Word. As Christians, we are supposed to be in a battle; and we need to recharge our spiritually batteries often throughout the battle. We need to take time to open the Bible, and allow God’s Word to “enlighten our eyes”, giving us the wisdom and strength that we need to face the battles that will come our way. Have you eaten your honey today? Don’t let the Saul’s of this world keep you from tasting the sweet Word of God.
By the way, have you noticed that Saul has a rather insecure and obsessive personality. Why would he come up with such a rule anyway. He wants total control over the people. He didn’t want their eyes to be enlightened. Religion can be like that today. They frown upon the people tasting of the heavenly honey themselves, because they want to control completely what spiritual nutrition the people receive.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Restored – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
On a museum tour, the guide told us, “That chair goes back to Louis the 16th.” That’s nothing, I have a couch that goes back to Sears on the 15th.
In driving all over south Jersey, going to work, I see a lot of furniture sitting near the street, waiting to picked up by the garbage trucks. When a piece of furniture is worn out or damaged, it appears that the majority of people will throw it away and buy a new one to replace it. I wonder how many people considered restoration? Maybe they think the old, worn item is not worth the trouble. It is just not worth the effort. We should be glad that God isn’t like that. He is in the restoration business. But God does not make things ‘like new’, He makes them new!
John saw it in Revelation 21:1-7: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
And in 2Corinthians 5:17, the Bible says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
In this morning’s schedule, we also read about this happening to Saul. Samuel had told Saul in 1Samuel 10:5-6, “After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”
In verse 22 we catch a glimpse of the old Saul. When Samuel was going to introduce Saul as Israel’s new king, they could not find him. They had to ask the Lord to show them where Saul was. “And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.”
But in chapter 11, Saul went from fear to freedom. God gave Saul boldness as he went up against the Ammonites. “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days’ respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. [God took away the fear.] And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.” (1Samuel 11:1-11).
God is not finished with us yet. It takes time for us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Samuel told Saul that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and he would become a new man. As we yield more to the Holy Spirit, and less to ourselves, the new man that God wants us to be is going to shine through.
Peace. (Galatians 6:15-16)
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
A Good Luck Charm
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 4 – 7
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 15 – 18; Proverbs 30; Psalms 141 – 150)
Scripture Memory for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Ephesians 4:32
Read last year’s post on this passage – “Get It Out”
“And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” – (1 Samuel 4:3)
Do you notice anything strange in the above verse? Look at the word “it” in the last phrase. The Israelites, referring to the ark of the covenant, said, “it may save us out of the hand of our enemies”. I believe it is clear from their statement here that the Israelites were not trusting in the God that “dwelleth between the cherubims” on the ark; but rather they were trusting in the ark itself as some kind of good luck charm, sort of like the rabbit foot pictured above.
Notice also that the Philistines, a heathen people, had a different attitude about the ark entering into the battle against them:
“And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.” – (1 Samuel 4:6 & 7)
The Philistines weren’t afraid of the ark, which was just a wooden box overlaid with gold. They were afraid of the God of the ark. They knew that the ark represented the presence of God, and they also knew that if God was fighting against them, they were finished. The interesting thing is, however, that God did not help the Israelites, because they did not have the right attitude about the God of the ark. If anything, God actually helped the Philistines.
Is God just a good luck charm to you? Is He perhaps a cross on a chain that you wear wherever you go? Don’t reduce the living, omnipotent God of the universe to a mere “it”, a symbol that may or may not help you when you’re in a jam. He is God. He is the sovereign Lord; the King of Kings. He deserves your worship, He demands your obedience, and He desires your fellowship.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Samuel by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Eli Didn’t Correct His Children
Today’s Passage – 1 Samuel 1 – 3
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 11 – 14; Proverbs 29; Psalms 136 – 140)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Ephesians 4:32
“Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.” – (1 Samuel 2:17)
“For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” – (1 Samuel 3:13)
In these beginning chapters of 1st Samuel, we see the miraculous birth of Samuel; and the downfall of Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Often, when I reflect on this portion of Scripture, I am drawn to the subject of Samuel and how God answered the prayer of Hannah (his mother) by giving her a child. However, this morning I am thinking about the two evil sons of Eli – Hophni and Phinehas. The first reference above tells us that the sin of these men was “very great before the Lord”, because it actually caused the people of God to hate coming to the Temple to give their offerings. These priests were not only corrupt in their handling of the offerings of the people, but they were also immoral with women who came to the Temple. These men had to go. God’s patience with them was running out. God was further angered by this situation because their father, Eli, the high priest, knew about what was going on, and he didn’t do anything to stop it.
This passage of Scripture admonishes me in two areas. First, I must remember that as a leader in God’s service, I bear a tremendous responsibility to deport myself well. My actions will affect others. If I become corrupt or immoral I will not just be impacting my own relationship with God, but I will become a big stumbling block for others. This idea is especially important for people who are leaders in the church, but it applies to all Christians. People are watching us. We must be careful that we are not leading them astray. We have an obligation to “adorn the gospel”, which basically means we are to make God look good.
My second thought from this passage regards parenting. We are to restrain our children, which must begin when they are very young. If we can instill in them the fear of God at a young age it will not depart from them when they are old. It is obvious from this passage that Eli did not discipline his boys when they were young. Again, this applies to every parent, but it is especially important for preachers, deacons, and other leaders who are commanded to have their houses in order. Parents need to stop trying to be their children’s “buddy”, and they need to start being parents; and parenting involves love, instruction, and correction.
“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” – (Proverbs 13:24)
“Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” – (Proverbs 19:18)
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – (Proverbs 22:6)
“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” – (Proverbs 23:13-14)
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” – (Proverbs 29:15)
“Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” – (Proverbs 29:17)
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Thing Are Looking Up
Today’s Reading – Ruth 1 – 4
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 7 – 10; Proverbs 28; Psalms 131 – 135)
Scripture Memory for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Matthew 6:33
“And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?” – (Ruth 1:20-21)
“And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.” – (Ruth 4:14 & 15)
Did you ever have a day like the man in the picture is having. Nothing seems to go as you wanted it to. Sometimes life is that way, and often it may be more than just a day that goes poorly; it may be many days, even years. But hang in there. Stay faithful. Don’t lose hope. God may just turn things around.
I have read this story of Ruth and Naomi many times, but every time I have written or preached on the subject my focus would either be on Ruth or Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. However, this morning I got to thinking about Naomi. Naomi was a great lady, who in many ways was a victim of circumstance. Things just didn’t work out for her in life as she had probably hoped and dreamed they would. I can relate to that. Sometimes I reflect on my own life and wish that I could re-do some things; perhaps make some better choices. Hindsight always reveals the wisdom of our choices. Anyway, Naomi left the land of Canaan with her husband and two sons many years prior to the time of our text. They intended only to sojourn in the land of Moab for a short time, until the famine was over in their homeland. I appears that they stayed a lot longer than they intended. While living in Moab, her two sons marry women from Moab, which was also not according to God’s perfect plan because these women were not worshippers of the God of Israel. To make matters worse, her husband, and both of her sons die while she is there. Now she is left in a strange land with two daughters-in-law that were in many ways still strangers to her.
Naomi is faced with a decision. Life is not working out for her in Moab, and she realizes she needs to get back to her people; to the worship of her God. Good decision. But what was she to do with her daughters-in-law? She understands that feel obligated to her, and in a very real way, both of them had become very attached to her. She must have demonstrated much love toward them, because both of them loved her; and one of them (Ruth) was willing to forsake her own happiness in order to go with Naomi. In facy, Ruth was willing to become a worshipper of Naomi’s God. It appears that Naomi represented her God very well.
The point of all of this is that though Naomi didn’t not make all of the right decisions through the years; and although things did not work out for her as she would have hoped; God still was very gracious to her, and was willing to use her still. She left Canaan full: full of dreams and full of hope. She left Moab empty: empty of a husband, empty of her sons, and empty of material possessions; but she did have Ruth. God had graciously given her a wonderful daughter-in-law in Ruth who proved to be more of a blessing to her than her sons ever were. I bet if there were another chapter to the Book of Ruth we would heae Naomi say, “change my name back to Naomi, I was ‘Mara’ for a while, but things are looking up.
Can you notice a pattern here that you and I can relate to? Life sometimes starts with hopes, dreams, and ambitions. They rarely work out the way we want them to. We make many mistakes along the way that further complicate things. But, God just may turn our lives around before it’s all over. We may find that delight (Naomi means delight) after all; and it may just come through an unexpected source. Don’t lose hope. Keep following God. Better days are coming.
Posted in Thoughts from Ruth by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Right In Their Own Eyes
Today’s Passage – Judges 20 – 21
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 4 – 6; Proverbs 27; Psalm 126 – 130)
Scripture Memory for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Micah 6:8
“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” – (Judges 21:25)
I hope that you are taking the time to carefully read these chapters in the Book of Judges. If you have, then you have noticed that there certainly is a lot of wierd stuff going on here in these passages; and you may be wondering if God is putting His stamp of approval on all that was happening. He certainly is not. The Bible here is merely recording honestly the condition of God’s people as they really were in this time period. They have certainly gone a long way away from the will of God. The concluding verse (above) to the Book of Judges seems to sum it all up: “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. They could have sang the Frank Sinatra song, “I Did It My Way”. There was no earthly king, but the real problem was that they stopped submitting to the kingship of God. Israel was in a mess morally, and they had forsaken the system of worship that God had instituted for them as they wandered in the wilderness.
We can see this same problem in our country today. Our nation used to instill Biblical principles into the lives of her citizens. A lost heathen of 100 years ago knew more about the Bible, and could quote more verses than the average Christian can today. We are a Bible illiterate society, and the dearth of the Word of God is manifesting itself in every area of our society. We are in a mess here in America. We call “right” wrong, and “wrong” right. We tolerate, condone, and even support the vilest immorality imaginable; and it is getting worse by the day. As a nation, we know precious little about the Person of God, let alone the Principles of His Word. We need to have an awakening like the children of Israel had in these chapters in the Book of Judges. Maybe God will have to shake our world a little bit more in judgment in order to get us to wake up.
I hate to say this, but the problem is also huge within our fundamental churches. It amazes me that people will come to church; listen to the Word of God as it is preached, and sometimes even nod their heads or say “Amen” in agreement; and then go out into their lives, and do the opposite of what God just instructed. And the crazy thing is, they don’t even realize that they are doing it. We need to wake up. We need God to shake us back into an awareness of our utter dependence upon Him. We need to follow the Word of God wholly, and allow the Spirit of God to guide us into all truth.
The nation of Israel entered into the land of Canaan with full intention to live according to the will of God for the rest of their existence. If you were to somehow show them how far away they would get, they would think it absurd; but slowly, and very gradually they moved further and further away from the truth. Christians, we are doing the same thing; and it is happening so gradually that we do not even notice it. Let’s get back to the basics of loving God, winning souls, and living in and by His Word.
Posted in Thoughts from Judges by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Speak Your Minds
Today’s Passage – Judges 18 – 19
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 1 – 3; Proverbs 26; Psalms 120 – 125)
Scripture Memorization for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 51:11
“And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” – (Judges 19:30)
Judges 19 contains one of the strangest and saddest stories in all of the Bible. In this account we learn of a man from the tribe of Levi that was travelling through Israel with his concubine. In polygamous society a concubine was a woman that was married to a man, but did not have the same status as the man’s wife or wives. At any rate this man and his wife were looking for a place to stay for the night while they were travelling through the city of Gibeah, which was occupied by the Israelite tribe of Benjamin. For a long time no one would offer them lodging for the night, until suddenly an old man who was also a sojourner in the city offered them food, and lodging at his house. During the night, the men of the city attempted force entry into this older man’s home so that they could “know” the man that was visiting. In this case the word “know” meant that the men of the city wanted to have sexual relations with the man. What happened to this man in this story is very similar to what was attempted on the two angels who visited Lot in Sodom (see Genesis 19). The men of the city are finally content to take the man’s concubine. They abuse her all night long until she ultimately dies from the abuse. The travelling man then takes the body of his wife and cuts it up into pieces, and sends a piece of her body to each of the tribes of Israel. I realize that this is a strange story, but that’s what happened in a nutshell.
My attention is drawn to the statement made to the reader in verse 30. We are instructed to “consider of it, take advice, and speak [our] minds”. Why did God tell us to do this after reading this portion of Scripture. I believe the reason is because the wickedness committed by these people from the tribe of Benjamin in the city of Gibeah was so heinous, that God did not want it to be justwept under the rug or spassed by. He wants us to think about it; to get mad about it; and to do something about it. By the way, we will read tomorrow in chapter 20 what the rest of Israel does to punish this sin. I won’t spoil the story, but let me assure you that the people of Israel pay a great price for allowing this kind of wickedness to take place in the Land of Promise.
I believe that the advice given by God to the israelites of that day is good for us today. He wants us to get mad about sin, and then do something about it. We are to speak our minds as well when it comes to condemning sin. This world ought to have no doubt in their minds about where we stand regarding the sin that is taking place in our land; and we ought to go beyond just condemning it with our mouths; we ought also to take action against it.
“Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” – (1 Timothy 5:20)
“This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;” – (Titus 1:13)
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” – (2 Timothy 4:2)
Let’s not turn our heads to sin, but rather let’s speak the truth in love, and stand against it.
Posted in Thoughts from Judges by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Permissive Parents
Today’s Passage – Judges 14 – 17
(Second Milers also read –2 John, 3 John, Jude; Proverbs 25; Psalm 119)
Scripture Memorization for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 40:31
“And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” – (Judges 14:1-3)
Years ago, my wife and I were at the boardwalk with Phil and Melissa who were, I think, around 6 and 5 at the time. As they were getting out of the “moon bounce”, there was another small child there that did not want to get out when the time was up. His grandfather pleaded with him to no avail, until finally he ad to go in after the little boy. He grabbed the child and began to drag him out, and the kid started kicking and screaming, and finally spit right in his grandfather’s face. The grandfather just kept sweet-talking and pleading with the child, promising him other rides and ice-cream, cotton candy, etc. just to get the kid to want to come out. I remember thinking at that moment that I would have liked to be that kid’s dad for just 5 minutes. I would have let him have his little temper tantrum, and then I would have had my big one.
We can see from our passage today that Samson’s parents were far too permissive. They appeased Samson by giving him whatever he wanted. Samson was a spoiled brat. Notice in vv. 1 – 3 of Judges 14 that Samson twice orders his parents to “get” this woman from Timnath for him “to wife”. Now this woman was not an Israelite, and did not share the same beliefs that Samson’s family did. The Old Testament Law was clear that an Israelite could only marry a woman that worshipped Jehovah God. Yet, the parents reluctantly gave Samson what he wanted. What a shame. Parents are supposed to be the ones who know what is best for their children.
The Bible has a lot to say about discipline and child-rearing. I will list a few of the verses here:
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – (Proverbs 22:6)
“Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” – (Proverbs 19:18)
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” – (Proverbs 22:15)
“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” – (Proverbs 23:13-14)
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” – (Proverbs 29:15)
When we read these verses, we might think that God wants us to be mean and abusive to our children, which is absolutely not the case. I have only had to spank my children a couple of times each in their lives. That is all that was necessary in order for them to understand that Mom and Dad are in charge, and that the children are to submit their wills to parents. We love our children, and they love us. We have a lot of fun together, and spend a lot of time with each of them individually as well as corporately as a family, but we are their parents, not their buddies. Three of our children are now grown, and our relationships with them have changes somewhat. We are now more like counselors to them, but there is still a great deal of love and respect showed to us by our grown children.
Parents, don’t buy into this modern philosophy regarding the rearing of children. Go to the Word of God. Biblical love and discipline your child before you produce a grown spoiled brat like Samson.
Posted in Thoughts from Judges by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Eternal Life – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
Today’s Passage – Judges 11 – 13
(Second Milers also read – 1 John 1 – 5; Proverbs 24; Psalms 116 – 118)
Scripture Memory for March – Psalm 1
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Proverbs 27:15
Good morning. What a week. My wife, Camille, had chest pains late Saturday night. I took her to the emergency room, and waited with her till they found out what was wrong. They moved her into a regular room Sunday morning around 4:30 am. They found out that she had suffered a heart attack. She is in need of a triple bypass. After several postponed operations, she came home, and we are now trying to get her into Deborah Heart and Lung. It has been very stressful, starting with the death of Melissa. The devil will use any device he can to destroy God’s people. Depression is just one of the many resources that he uses against us. When you are in deep sorrow, you lose focus in the grief and despair. It doesn’t matter that Melissa was saved. It doesn’t matter that she has no more pain. It doesn’t matter that she has a mansion that is probably larger than both of ours. What matters is a mother grieving for her daughter. Only someone who has lost a son or a daughter can understand that. Is it okay to grieve? Jesus wept. Eventually, in God’s timing, the pain will ease, and the Holy Spirit will comfort. I don’t understand how an unsaved person could ever get through this time. Praise the Lord, we have His Word and His Spirit to get us through. Because of 1John 5:11 thru 13 we know that one day we’ll be reunited again…
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1John 5:11-13).
Peace. (3John 1:14)
Posted in Guest Posts by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.