July 5 & 6, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 1 Samuel and Mark? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Samuel 13 (NIV)
Samuel Rebukes Saul
1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty- two years.
2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.…..Continue Reading
Saul is in a tough spot waiting for Samuel for sure but unfortunately, call it impatience, fear, or worry but it got the best of him and he disobeyed God’s orders to wait for Samuel before doing the burnt offerings. Often times we have trouble waiting for God, trusting His timing can be challenging especially when we feel some sense of urgency for our situation to change. This is when we really need to dig deep and trust and Saul could not do that. Now he knows that he will finish as king but it will stop with him and he will not see his sons and grandsons take the throne like the norm. It makes me think of generational curses, things we do that have a ripple effect on our families and how even more important that makes hearing and obeying the truth of God in our lives.
Isn’t it good that the Bible gives such details to know that God is dealing with real people and real circumstances. At first take, it doesn’t appear wise to provoke an enemy without the proper supplies, especially with no explicit direction from God to do so. But even worse is for a leader to look at what is happening and make decisions because of that and because of fear rather than based in the will and direction of God. And Saul’s impatience in the presence of all that is his downfall. It was inappropriate for a king to sacrifice an offering. That was the role of the priest and God did not want those to mix, except in Jesus who is prophet, priest and King! But what this most revealed is what was in Saul’s heart. He was living to himself and what he wanted, rather than what God wanted. He could have had what David had, but he didn’t honor God with His heart. And it is the heart that God looks at, not the outward appearance.
1 Samuel 13
1 Samuel 13
1 Samuel 13
Saul’s pride starts out small. Taking credit for Jonathan defeat of the philistines. His pride grew to a point that it destroyed him His family. And almost wiped out a nation. Wonder what I would have done as Saul is waiting for Samuel. For a sacrifice to God. Such great correlation as we read in mark. The apostles straining in a storm at sea. Where are your thoughts going to turn as sometimes in life we wait with enemies before us. Or our lives threaten by a storm
I Samuel 13
1 Samuel 13