In this episode, we delve into 1 Samuel 7 and explore the pivotal role of Samuel as a spiritual leader who guides Israel back to the Lord. With personal reflections and insights from journal entries dating back to the early 1980s, we witness how Samuel’s directive to renounce idolatry leads to Israel’s victory over the Philistines, emphasizing the enduring power of obedience to God. Join us as we reflect on the lessons of faith, prayer, and transformation, inspired by this powerful scripture passage.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today brings us to 1 Samuel 7, which will be read by our guest reader, Senior Vice President of Faith Comes by Hearing, Morgan Jackson.
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1 Samuel 7 And the men of Kiriath-jerim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jerim, a long time passed. some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. Then Samuel said, Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you. So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the people of Israel said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines. So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them as far as below Beth-kar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer. For he said, Till now the Lord has helped us. So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. And Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there. And there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord.
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Well, today we begin with that quick summary of my journal back in 1983, that first journal I ever wrote while I was doing my Bible reading. 1 Samuel 7 I wrote, Samuel assumes leadership as judge, intercedes with prayer for Israel, honors God by building altars. I guess there was some value in the brevity of a 28-year-old, huh? At 52 years old in 2007, I had a lot more to say. So let me read the journal entry from that year. Come back, come back. I quoted a verse there, verse 73. If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So they did. Obedience. Not the Ark of the Covenant brought blessings back to Israel. Elimination of idolatry and reinstituting sacrifices to God brought God’s help back to Israel. One man made a difference. Samuel. Now we haven’t heard anything from Samuel since chapter 4. So 20 years have gone by between then and now. And Samuel gives three commands to Israel in verses 3 and 4. And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, Then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only. So the three commandments from Samuel, to return to the Lord, to put away idol worship, to direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only. And for once the Israelites listened to Samuel. They listened to the Lord. And so Samuel gathers them all together and prays for them in verse 9. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. Now, I don’t know what’s facing you today in your life, but maybe you need to hear those directives. One, turn away from idolatry. Turn away from the things in your life that are keeping you from the Lord. Secondly, direct your heart to the Lord. And thirdly, serve him and him alone. And then sometime today, maybe go to prayer. Pray to the Lord about those things. And as you cry out to the Lord, maybe just like in this chapter, the Lord will hear you and answer you. Now my journal in 2002 sort of goes along with this very thought. I wrote, return to the Lord with all your hearts. And we need to do this today. We have many distractions from God. But when we turn back to God, he defeats our enemies. He confuses the Philistines and overcomes them, restoring all the land back to Israel in Samuel’s day. So again, in your life, this is a plea. A plea to you to come back to the Lord. Set aside those distractions. those idols that keep us away from God. And when we do these things, God gets back in our lives. Look what happened in this chapter. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offerings, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel. So again, 1 Samuel 7 is a plea to Israel and a plea to us to set aside those idols that keep us from God, turn your heart back to the Lord, and commit to serve Him and Him alone. And now for the personal update in the situation with mom. I had a one-line journal entry in that year. Shannon is in Charlotte. Mom is slightly better. That’s it. So my daughter and my wife arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina to reposition Shannon into a new life there in Charlotte, and mom still lies there in intensive care in the hospital. As we turn to prayer, let’s think about the lessons in this chapter. Father, help us to set aside those things that keep us from you, to turn our hearts back to you completely, and commit to serve you and serve you alone, and bathe these commitments in prayer like Samuel did. And then watch you miraculously work as you did in this chapter as you defeated the Philistines. It doesn’t say Israel defeated the Philistines. It says you did. And you can help us in our own lives. Restore some of the things that we may have lost because we’ve been away from you. Return us, O Lord, to you. Bless us once again. In the name of the Lord we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to AdBible. Though the Bible can be read at the speed I’m speaking in about 78 hours, surveys show we don’t read it. How many of you have ever read the Bible cover to cover? How many have tried and failed? I want to encourage you to try it again. I want to share with you what I call the Triple I Doctrine and some powerful reasons to stay in your Bible daily. I begin with a verse from 2 Peter 1.21. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That’s how we got the Bible. The Holy Spirit moved holy men of God to write it, all of it. Because he did, we can now look at the Triple I Doctrine, the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. What do these terms mean? Inspired means God-breathed. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. What does infallible mean? It means no potential or ability to err. Totally reliable. It cannot contradict itself. And Hebrews 6.18 says, It is impossible for God to lie. And the last one is inerrant. What does that mean? It means it’s technically correct. It’s free from falsehood and deceit. Wholly true. It’s doctrine. It’s history. It’s science. It’s geography. And Matthew 5.18 says, For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. And Revelation 22, 18 and 19 say, For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. So the Triple I Doctrine is reason enough to be in God’s Word each day. But in case you need more encouragement, here are three more thoughts. First, improve your spiritual maturity. According to Barna Research, of the seven dimensions in which Americans were asked to rate their faith maturity, Bible knowledge ranked dead last. So if you want to improve your spiritual maturity, stay in God’s Word daily. Number two is develop a dynamic relationship with God. Dr. Woodrow Kroll, former president of Back to the Bible, wrote a book called Taking Back the Good Book. He said, When people tire of reading the Bible, it’s because they read it for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way. They read the Bible to gain knowledge, store facts, or pick up a few principles to live by. When you see the Bible as a means to a dynamic relationship with God, you can’t get enough of it because you can’t get enough of Him. And the third thought is to be transformed. Don’t read the Bible to be informed. Read it to be transformed. And I’m going to share a fun little story with you about being transformed by the Word of God. It’s about an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early, sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old, worn-out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, Papa, I try to read the Bible, just like you, but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do? The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water. The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, you’ll have to move a little faster next time and send him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, I don’t want a bucket of water. I want a basket of water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough. And he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, See, Papa, it’s useless. So you think it’s useless, the old man said. Look at the basket. The boy looked at the basket, and for the first time, he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, But when you read it, it will change you from the inside out. So read the Bible so you can improve your spiritual maturity, develop a dynamic relationship with God, and be transformed, not informed. The Bible came to us from the Holy Spirit, directed by holy men of God. The triple I doctrine reminds us it’s inspired, God-breathed, infallible, without error, and inerrant, technically correct, and wholly true. Read it to grow spiritually, develop a dynamic relationship with God, and be transformed.
