Today’s reading I Samuel 9-12

I Samuel 12:21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

When things go wrong we often want to turn aside from following the Lord. Don’t forget that He rescued us from sin and will keep us. When things go wrong we want to blame God. We want to think that God hasn’t cared for us and met our needs like He promised.

Here Saul gives us good advice. The other things that you would follow after are vain, empty, fake, and have no profit. They will not get you out of your problems. The Lord and obeying Him is our only answer. We must trust Him.

In the middle of all that is going wrong in your life realize that He loves you. He has only thoughts of peace for you. Remember that we often bring the bad things on ourselves. Of course, we do not want to admit or see that. We think only of ourselves and all that we have done.

We blame God. We turn to empty things which will only compound our sorrow. So today if you are going through rough times I challenge you to trust God. I challenge you hold on and keep plowing ahead until God makes things clear again.

Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the world has the answer for you!

Today’s reading I Samuel 5-8

I Samuel 8:5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

A dad’s dream when his children are born is that they will follow the Lord Jesus and have good testimonies of faith. I can only imagine what Samuel must have felt in this verse. He had seen the failure of Eli’s children. He had hoped and prayed for better from his own.

I doubt that he ever expected to have his children become so corrupt.The people didn’t want them in the ministry. They had failed:

I Samuel 8:3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

Now Samuel is hurt because his children have rebelled against God and given the ministry a bad name. When we get old we want our children to carry on and do even better than we have done.

So today we need to take seriously the example we are giving our children. We need to pray for our children. We need to train them the best we can for the Lord Jesus. We need to realize that we can never relax. Raising Godly children is a lifetime of work.

Even if your children have messed up do not give up but keep loving them, leave the doors open for them to come back, pray for them, and wait on God to work.

Today’s reading I Samuel 1-4

I Samuel 1:8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?

What a question to ask your wife! I would say that many women could think that their sons would be more loyal, more helpful, and better to them than their husband. Especially in the day that this verse was written. Women didn’t have any rights at all. Most were treated like property, bought and sold!

Yet Elkanah asks his wife if he doesn’t treat her better than ten sons would! That seems to say two things to me. He treated her very well and they both knew it.

The question that comes to mind to me is, how well do I treat my wife? Am I as kind and respectful as I should be? Do I consider her in all the decisions I make? Am I concerned for her well being more than ten sons would be?

Could I have the confidence to look my wife in the eyes and ask that question, Am I not better to you than ten sons?!

Maybe today would be the day to stop and consider our marriage and how we are treating our wife. It might be different than what we usually do. Maybe we are more concerned about how she treats us than the other way around but if so maybe today is the day to change that.

How well do you treat your wife?

Today’s reading Ruth 1-4

Ruth 3:11 And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

All the city knew that Ruth was a virtuous woman. Whether we like it or not people are developing opinions about us. That ought never be our motivating factor but it is a reality.

The question that comes to mind is what are people saying about you when they do talk. People watch us. They form an opinion. They know if we love God or not! They know what we are animated about.

What would the people that know you say drives you? Would it be money and business? Would it be loving Jesus and ministry? Would it be loving the Bible and church? What would be their opinion?

When I was younger the following illustration was used quite frequently. If you were put on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? That is a good question.

Evidently there was enough evidence about Ruth to make people know that she was a godly or virtuous woman. They knew how she was treating her mother in law. They knew how she handled herself and she had won their respect.

Let’s decide today to make our testimony a goal. Let’s transmit and telegraph to others a love for Jesus!

Today’s reading Judges 20-21

Judges 20:16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

It is amazing that these men could sling stones at a target has thin as a human hair and not miss but they could. They were extremely good.

This kind of skill required several steps that would do us well in our spiritual lives

They had to have discipline to practice slinging stones regularly and and spend a great deal of time doing so. Many of us do not grow like we could and should because we refuse to be disciplined enough to work at it every day and invest the necessary time. We complain that we can’t but the truth is that we won’t.

They obviously had to have lots of patience and endurance. You do not become that good over night or quickly. They had to continue long past what regular men would have invested. They had to spend weeks and months or possibly years to get to this point. They very likely practiced until their hands bled from the exercise.

This type of excellence is only achieved due to a lot of dedication. They made up their mind and wouldn’t stop until they achieved their goal.

They were never satisfied until it was right. They didn’t miss. How many times do you have to practice until you get so good that you do not miss.

I hope you will consider your spiritual life and growth with these steps in mind. Do not accept things as they are. Go to work and change them to be what they should.