Seeing the heart like God sees it – 1st Samuel 16, Part 5

Is it possible for humans to see the heart like God sees it?  We can open up our bodies and view the physical human heart, repair it, and even replace it with a different heart, even an artificial heart. But what about the metaphorical heart? Our motivation, will, desires, emotions, fears, beliefs? God knows all about that heart. Do we see our hearts like God does?

No, not exactly like God sees the heart, but we can try. We can and should have a focus on the heart.  Other’s hearts, and our own.

But how do we give proper attention to our hearts?

Consider David. In this Life of David blog series, we’ve finally met David.  David is one of many Scriptural examples of God’s unlikely choices.  David is the youngest in the family.  Throughout Scripture, God so frequently chooses the unlikely, that we come to expect it to be likely that God will choose the unlikely.  If you read a story in the Bible, the likely choice will be the person on the margins, the oppressed, the poor.  That’s another reason why we do not look at the outward appearance. 

You are loved by God, valuable to God, and he sees in you what the world doesn’t see.  When you have a heart for God, and you are filled by the Spirit, you are the perfect candidate.  It’s not about your degree, your ethnicity, your lineage, your stature, your money, your body.  When it comes to the mission of God’s Kingdom, it’s about your heart and the empowerment of the Spirit. 

So give attention to your heart.  Nurture a heart that beats for God.   

One of the most important attitudes for a disciple of Jesus is a healthy, honest self-awareness.  We disciples are eager to learn our weak spots, desiring to learn how to grow more like Jesus.  Jesus completely overcame what some people call the PLM syndrome. 

Have you heard of PLM?  It’s the “People Like Me” syndrome, in which we tend to gravitate toward people like us.  We feel people like us are normal, and others who are not like us seem to be  abnormal.  Over time, our friend groups tend to resemble us, think like us, and live like us. 

But read through the Gospels and notice how often Jesus intentionally reaches out to people not like him.  Tax collectors, women, Pharisees, the sick, the poor.  Not to mention the fact that the theology of the incarnation is God taking on human flesh. Jesus is God who became something totally different, he became like us! 

Let me tale you a cautionary tale of people who had a debilitating case of PLM.  In the 1960s my church’s mother church, Grace Evangelical Congregational Church on Shippen and Locust Streets in the city of Lancaster, was booming.  Over 1000 people.  They had people coming downtown for worship from East Lampeter, so in 1968 they planted my congregation, Faith Church, in East Lampeter.  They had a wonderful vision for reaching a different community.

But over the next few decades, their community started changing.  People of color moved into the neighbor and whites moved out.  But those whites still drove into the city for worship at their building on Shippen and Locust.  Soon they started putting No Tresspassing signs on the property.  Grace EC slowly experienced a dwindling.  They had PLM, People Like Me syndrome, looking at outward appearance, and not reaching out in love with the Good News of Jesus, to people who looked different from them.  About 10 years ago, Grace EC Church ceased to exist. 

Now East Lampeter is changing.  Will we look at the outward appearance?  Will we succumb to PLM?  Or will we look at the heart?  To see others’ hearts, we will need to first examine our own.

Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

Note: I will be on vacation for a week. Blog posts will resume when I return!

The musical therapist who treated spiritual oppression – 1st Samuel 16, Part 4

Does God control evil spirits and sends them to torment people?  In the previous post which mentioned 1 Samuel 16 verse 14, we learned that “Saul had an evil spirit from the Lord that tormented him.”  That’s not how I think about God!  Does God send demons to do his bidding?  That’s what Satan is supposed to do, not God.  What is going on here?

Scholars have speculated about what this means.  Perhaps it is an ancient way of describing paranoia, depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety.  Perhaps God is only allowing an evil spirit to torment Saul, rather than God himself directing the spirit to afflict Saul.  In other words, maybe we should see God as lifting a measure of protection over Saul when the Holy Spirit left Saul.  Or perhaps God is actually controlling an evil spirit and commanding it to afflict Saul.  But if so, why?  Maybe to speed Saul’s decline?  This is a difficult passage, and I don’t think we’ll be able to conclude for certain about the cause of the spirit tormenting Saul.    

What we do know is that Saul is struggling.  There are no psychologists, no mental health medications, in his era.  No cognitive behavioral therapy.  Saul is absolutely not going to seek help from Samuel, though he should have because Samuel could intercede with God on Saul’s behalf.  To go ask Samuel for help would be for Saul an admission of failure.  Just as Samuel is done with Saul, it seems Saul is done with Samuel.  Saul is not going to humble himself enough to seek spiritual help or help from the Lord, since Saul was rejected by God. 

Who will help Saul?

We read this in verse 15, “Saul’s attendants said to him, ‘See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.’ So Saul said to his attendants, ‘Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.’”

There is just something about music, isn’t there?  Music can change our mood!  Music can make us happy, sad, nostaligic, reflective.  Music is special.  It affects us.  You can play a song you haven’t heard for decades and instantly be transported to a different time and place when you heard that song.  In contemporary psychology, music is affirmed as a legitimate therapy.  So this plan to get musical therapy for Saul is a good one. 

In verse 18, Saul’s attendants seek out a local musical therapist, “One of the servants answered, ‘I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.’ Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, ‘Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.’ So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, ‘Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.’ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”

We learn a lot about David here.  He is not only the youngest of eight brothers, he is not only a shepherd.  He is also a musician.  A warrior.  He speaks well.  He is handsome.  He plays the lyre (a hand-held harp with 7 or 8 strings) for Saul, and it soothes Saul’s condition.  The NIV here says, “Saul liked him very much.”  The Hebrewcould be translated, however, “Saul loved David greatly.”   He makes David one of his armor bearers, which was a sign of how much Saul trusted David. 

David becomes a regular fixture in Saul’s court, visiting him whenever the spirit tormented Saul.  How about that?  The newly anointed soon-to-be-king secretly serving the old unawares current-king.  But that’s God for you.  He is able to take a seemingly impossible situation and make something astounding out of it. 

I’m not saying God will make every situation perfect.  David is about to endure some intense pain in the coming years, no fault of his own, in his journey to become king.  He could easily think, “I didn’t ask for this.  I was doing just fine being a shepherd, writing songs.  But now I am struggling with all kinds of drama.”  When you give your heart to God, life will not necessarily be easier, but know that you will be obeying God, which is the best possible situation to be. 

What matters is that God chose David because David had given his heart to God.

What about us? In the next post, we’ll consider how we can give proper attention to our hearts.

Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash

Why God picked David to be king – 1st Samuel 16, Part 3

In the previous post about 1st Samuel chapter 16, we watched as the prophet Samuel visits the family of Jesse in the town of Bethlehem. Samuel is there on a secret prophetic mission from God to anoint a new king over Israel. One by one, Samuel views Jesse’s seven oldest sons, and God chooses none of them. If I’m Samuel I’m thinking, “What is going on, Lord? Why did you send me here to Bethlehem to anoint the new king from Jesse’s family, but you’re not choosing any of them? What is going on?”

Jesse answers in the second half of verse 11: “‘There is still the youngest,’ Jesse answered. ‘He is tending the sheep.’ Samuel said, ‘Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.’”

One more son.  The youngest.  By outward appearance, the selection was likely not to be the youngest.  In that cultural context, choosing the youngest of 8 brothers made very little sense.  It would have been a cultural slight to the older brothers.  You always chose the eldest first, and went down the line from there.  You simply didn’t choose the youngest, especially because the older sons had far more maturity and life experience.

Birth order studies bear this out.  Older children tend to be the most responsible, by the book, etc.  Middle children are often more wild, risk-takers.  Youngest children are often spoiled. In my family, my boys call their little sister the queen.  And they usually don’t mean it in an adoring way.  Though they do adore her.  They just might think that she has had it easier than they did. 

Birth order studies do not, however, mean that a person’s life is determined by their birth order. Or if a person has no siblings, they have a unique situation in life, but that does not mean they are somehow stuck in a certain way of life.  Still we can see the older brothers looking down on their youngest sibling thinking, “Aw, let’s bring out the little shepherd from tending his little lambs…there’s no way he’s getting picked.”  Whatever job Samuel needs help with, it would be wise to go with one of the older sons. 

Here’s what happens.  Look at verse 12: “So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.”

He might be the youngest, but he is God’s pick.  And his name is David.  We’re finally meeting the person who this sermon series is about!  Actually, we met him a few weeks ago, but we didn’t know it.  In chapter 13, verse 14, right after King Saul disobeyed God, Samuel said these prophetic words to Saul, “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

Samuel was talking about David.  Samuel didn’t know it then, but he does now.  This young man is right in front of him.  God says, “He’s the one who is after my own heart.  Anoint him. He is the next king.”

Samuel anoints the young man, David, and the Spirit of God fills David.  David is probably a teenager at this point.  As we read it in the text, Samuel gives no indication to David or Jesse as to what this anointing is for.  Samuel just anoints David, then leaves.  I suspect everyone there knew what Samuel was doing though.  It was a public matter when Saul disobeyed God multiple times, and it was a public matter when Samuel declared that God had rejected Saul.  Now that same prophet shows up and anoints David? 

Samuel did not have to say anything. Jesse’s family likely knew what just happened.

Yet, what did Samuel actually do?  Did he make a proclamation publicly and loudly announcing that David is anointed as king over all Israel? No. Did Samuel invite people from all over the nation to watch? No. Did Samuel send heralds throughout the land announcing the news? No.

Samuel obeyed God, and poured oil on David.  That’s it. 

Therefore, nothing changes for David.  He doesn’t say, “Okay my older brothers, I am your leader now, let us march to Gibeah and overthrow Saul!  The throne is mine!”  No.  David just stands there, with oil running over him, maybe wondering how he’s going to clean it up.  Oil is terribly difficult to clean.  Samuel leaves, David goes back to tending the sheep.  Nothing has changed.

But in the way that matters, everything has changed for David because he is now filled with the Spirit. 

For a contrast look at verse 14, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.”

The Spirit of God that used to be with Saul, but has now left Saul, has filled David.  The author of this story wants us to see that contrast side-by-side.  In this story, then, the Spirit of the Lord is everything. God is looking for a man after his heart and he fills that man with his Spirit. 

But what about that ominous line in verse 14 above, “an evil spirit from the Lord tormented” Saul? An evil spirit…from the Lord? We’ll try to answer that in the next post.

Photo by Valario Davis on Unsplash

God’s view of outward appearance is like Dove Soap – 1st Samuel 16, Part 2

We humans tend to be very outward focused.  Think about how our culture is fixated on outward appearance.  There is so much emphasis on having good skin, toned muscles, a certain Body Mass Index, dieting, working out.  No doubt some of that is also beneficial for good health and quality of life. But we can worship outward appearance. So where is the balance? Can we learn balance from God’s view on outward appearance? What is God’s view?

In our study this week of 1st Samuel chapter 16, we’re about to find out what God thinks about outward appearance. As we learned in the previous post, God has sent the prophet Samuel on a secret mission to the town of Bethlehem and the house of Jesse. There he is to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel.

In verse 6, Samuel meets the family.  “When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”

In a future chapter we’ll learn that Eliab is the oldest of Jesse’s sons.  Samuel thinks, “Eliab must be the one I have come to anoint.”  But God says, “Do not consider his appearance or his height.”  Samuel seems to have a tendency to fixate on outer appearance and height.  As if that is all that is needed to be God’s pick.  Good looks, good frame.  That describes the first king Samuel anointed exactly.  King Saul was tall and handsome.  So God is essentially saying to Samuel, “Remember how that worked out for you last time? Remember Saul?  He was tall and handsome, but not a man after my own heart.  Saul looked good on the outside, but I look at the heart.” 

Here God reveals to us a bit about how he thinks.  When it comes to outward appearance God doesn’t think like humans think. God looks at the heart. And that reminds me of Dove Soap.

I’ve been impressed with Dove Soap and their Redefining Beauty campaign.  They say on their website, “Join us in challenging toxic beauty standards and creating a more inclusive definition of beauty.” Take a look for yourself:

It can feel like a tension trying not to overemphasize outward appearance while at the same not deemphasizing our health and appearance. 

The principle of “God looking at the heart” has led some people to conclude that we shouldn’t ever look at the outward appearance.  One way some people have talked about this is to be “colorblind,” that we shouldn’t see skin color, but we should only look at the heart.  It sounds like a great application of the principle, but the color is God-given, so we shouldn’t ignore it.  The variety of colors and features of human ethnic tendencies is a good thing.  Ethnic diversity is beautiful.

At my daughter’s graduation this past week, we got to see the beauty of ethnic diversity in full bloom.  There were as many students with the last name Torres as there was with the last name Stoltzfus.  There were as many students with African heritage as there were with European heritage.  Our school district has been reporting for years that our community has seen a shifting demographic, from white majority to a person of color majority.  This past year the district pie chart of ethnic diversity noted that we are 48% white and 52% persons of color.  I mentioned that a few weeks ago to a resident of a neighboring school district, and he was blown away because his community is not nearly as diverse as mine.

Diversity is a beautiful thing, and we should not be colorblind to it.

But as we embrace diversity, we should also look at the heart.  We should not judge people based on what we see outwardly.  Could be their skin color.  Could be their features.  Could be the way they talk.  Could be the way they dress.  Could be their age.   Could be their gender.  We should not pre-judge, or have prejudice. 

Samuel was having a case of prejudice.  He likes what he sees in Eliab.  But God says, “Samuel, you can’t see what I see.  There’s more to the story here.  Move on.  I’ve picked someone else.”

Thankfully, Jesse had more sons.  Here’s what happens in verses 8-11,

“Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this one either.’ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, ‘Nor has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has not chosen these.’ So he asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’”

Do these guys know why Samuel is asking to see them?  There is no indication in the text that Samuel has revealed the purpose for his visit.  Yes, he was having a worship service, but has he told them that he is there to select the next king?  And would they be okay with that?  Like Samuel was (as we learned in the previous post), wouldn’t Jesse and his sons be concerned about Saul finding out? Was Samuel essentially bringing a heap of trouble to Jesse’s family?  

Could you imagine being told by Samuel, “I’m here to anoint you to be the next king because God has rejected King Saul, and you are going to be the next king.”?  I would be thinking, “Uh..does Saul know about this?  Is he okay with this?  Is he just going to relinquish his throne?  What about his sons?  Aren’t they next in line to the throne?  That Jonathan seems to be like a really great leader?  Why aren’t you picking him?” 

Or maybe they have no idea what Samuel’s deeper purpose is here.  Maybe when their father Jesse brings them out to meet Samuel one by one, they are just thinking they are going to assist Samuel with his prophetic or priestly work at this worship service.  Either way, Samuel is now saying out loud, “The Lord has not chosen this one. … And he hasn’t chosen this one either.”  And God denies all of the sons that Jesse brings before him. 

As these sons are rejected one by one, we are not told how Samuel knows the Lord hasn’t chosen them.  But he clearly knows.  Probably very similarly to how God spoke to him in verse 7, which seems to be not in an audible voice, but in Samuel’s thoughts, in his mind.

So Samuel runs through the oldest seven, and God chooses none of them.  If I’m Samuel I’m thinking, “What is going on, Lord?  Why did you send me here to Bethlehem to anoint the new king from Jesse’s family, but you’re not choosing any of them?  What is going on?”

Samuel’s about to find out. And so will we, in the next post.

Photo by Lal MAHAMMAD on Unsplash

Samuel’s secret prophetic mission – 1st Samuel 16, Part 1

We’ve had seven weeks in this series on the Life of David, studying the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, and I’m guessing you’ve noticed that we haven’t met David yet.  We’ve had to set the historical context learning about the prophet Samuel, who anointed Israel’s first king, Saul.  We then watched as Saul repeatedly disobeyed God, and thus God rejected Saul as king.  That’s where the story concluded in 1st Samuel 15.

Turn to 1st Samuel 16. Here’s what we read in verses 1-5:

“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’ But Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.’ The Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.’ Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, ‘Do you come in peace?’ Samuel replied, ‘Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.’ Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.”

Why is Samuel mourning for Saul?  Did he like Saul?  Did he feel some kind of responsibility for Saul?  Did Samuel view himself as a mentor for Saul, and really want Saul to do well?  Did he want God to give Saul more chances? 

It can sometimes be difficult to know when to draw the line with someone.  Maybe your personality resonates with Samuel’s.  You might be thinking, “Sure Saul messed up, but we all mess up, and we need encouragement and hope and grace and forgiveness and mercy.  We all need another chance.  After all, isn’t God a God of second chances?  Let’s keep giving Saul chances.” 

Or maybe your personality leads you to take a different approach.  You are willing to give chances and forgiveness, but if the person keeps screwing up like Saul did, you believe it is in the best interest of the company, of the church, of the organization, of the family, to draw a line, and to move on.  You believe it is the most loving thing to do is to fire the person, to break the relationship, to let a person go. 

Samuel doesn’t seem to be able to let go.  God steps in, basically saying, “Samuel, let Saul go. Get out of bed. Get your prophet gear.  I’m sending you on a mission.  You’re going to Bethlehem to anoint the new king that I have chosen.”

What we don’t see in the New International Version which I pasted above, but it is there in the Hebrew, is something interesting about the phrase “the new king that I have chosen.”  In the Hebrew God clearly says, “the new king I have chosen for myself.”  That’s different from what God said about King Saul.  In chapter 13, God chose King Saul for the people because they asked for a king.  Now God is choosing the king he wants. 

Samuel then says something ominous.  Look above at verse 2.  If Samuel goes to Bethlehem, he says to God, Saul will kill him.  Where did that come from?  Saul will kill him?  Is Saul watching Samuel’s every move?  Maybe.  When we left Samuel and Saul in chapter 15, we learned that there was a major rift between the two of them.  Samuel declared that God had rejected Saul and torn the Kingdom from Saul.  Saul pleaded for Samuel to have a worship service with him.

Samuel absolutely did not want to lead a sham worship service.  But Saul begged and begged, expressing his sorrow, and eventually Samuel said, “Fine, let’s do the worship service.”  That worship service must have been a cold, sad affair.  Samuel’s heart wasn’t in it.  Afterward, Samuel never went to visit Saul again.  You can imagine that Saul as a result could have grown colder and darker, especially toward Samuel. 

Samuel was the former long-time leader of the people, and the current prophet-priest of God.  Samuel was the one who anointed Saul king.  Samuel has now declared that God has rejected Saul as king and torn the Kingdom from Saul.  And now Samuel stops visiting Saul?  I bet that drove Saul to an even darker place than he was already in.  I can totally see Saul having Samuel watched.  I can also see Samuel knowing full well that Saul is watching him.

Thus, when God tells Samuel to go to Bethlehem, Samuel knows that Saul will find out, and that Saul is in no condition to handle it well.  Saul likely already assumes that Samuel is making plans to anoint a new king, to take power from Saul.  When Samuel said that the kingdom would be given to one of Saul’s neighbors, that meant God was planning to not give the kingdom to Saul’s son, Jonathan.  In other words, Saul knows that he has lost everything, and yet he is still currently on the throne.  He is a lame duck. He has nothing to lose anymore. 

Unless he can do something about it.  He is still the king!  He has power.  He commands soldiers.  Maybe, Saul thinks to himself, he can stay in power.  If Samuel makes a move to anoint a new king, Saul could have Samuel killed. Samuel, in other words, is absolutely right to be concerned about being ambushed by Saul’s soldiers.

So God assures Samuel, instructing Samuel to take a heifer for a sacrifice.  That would be seen by any watchers as a normal priestly duty, not suspicious.  But when Samuel shows up at Bethlehem, it is not Saul that confronts him, but the elders of Bethlehem.  Trembling, they ask him, “Do you come in peace?” 

We might think, “Why would they be afraid of Samuel?  He’s a priest.”  Remember that he was also a prophet who spoke the word of the Lord.  Sometimes prophets gave messages of confrontation.  When a prophet showed up with a word from the Lord, it could easily bad news.  Maybe these elders of Bethlehem have reason to be scared. 

Also, Samuel was a fierce leader.  Just glance back to chapter 15, verse 33 when Samuel killed Agag the king of the Amalekites.  People knew that Samuel was close to God, and that Samuel was committed to obeying God.  This likely made Samuel an intimidating figure in their minds.  When he shows up unexpectedly, they are nervous.

But he says to then in verse 5, “I have come in peace to sacrifice to the Lord.”  The people in the town can breathe much easier.  The prophet has not come for judgement, but for blessing.  Samuel consecrates them all, and he invites them to attend the sacrifice.  We’re not used to animal sacrifices, so think of this in terms of a worship service. 

Samuel is in Bethlehem, though, especially for one family.  The family of Jesse.  Just for a little refresher.  Jesse has a famous grandmother.  Her name was Ruth, the same woman that the book of Ruth is about. I’ve written about Ruth starting here.  There are a couple factors that make Ruth a very interesting person.  First, she was not a Jew, but a Moabite.  Second, after her first husband, a Jew, died, she stayed committed to her Jewess mother-in-law, Naomi.  Then Ruth found favor in the eyes of a Jew named Boaz.  They married, and had a son named Obed, who is Jesse’s father.  That’s the family Samuel goes to visit.  There in Bethlehem Samuel consecrates Jesse and his sons, and invites them to the worship service. 

That’s when things get interesting. We’ll find out how in the next post.

How do you identify a good leader? – 1st Samuel 16, Preview

Are you racist?  Of course not, right?  (And why am I talking about racism? Isn’t this a post about picking good leaders? It is a post about picking good leaders, but stay with me. We’ll get there.)

That’s how I would have answered about myself, “No way! I am NOT racist.”  

Then I took the Implicit Racial Bias test.  I encourage you to take it too.  Visit Project Implicit here.  Once on the Project Implicit website, on the left-center side of the page look for the box titled “Project Implicit Social Attitudes.”  In that box, you can participate as a guest by clicking the “Go” button at the bottom of the box. That will take you to a Preliminary Information page.  At the conclusion of that page, you’ll click on “I wish to proceed,” and it will take you to a page with a variety of Implicit Bias tests.  All of them have the acronym IAT, which stands for “Implicit Association Test”.  Each of the IAT tests give you an opportunity to learn if you might have at least a bit of bias about all sorts of people, based on gender, race, religion, sexuality and more.  

To learn if the test thinks you have some racial bias, click on “Race IAT”. 

Though I would never have said that I am racist, the test suggested that I have at least a limited amount of implicit bias.  It means I still have room to grow in overcoming how I view people.  How about you?  Take the test, or maybe take a bunch of the IATs to learn about yourself.  

When you take an IAT you will likely hear that you are at least partially implicitly biased toward a group of people, meaning that you prefer, perhaps in some small way, people like you.  What this reveals is that we humans tend to look at and value outward appearance. 

As we continue our study through 1st Samuel, the prophet Samuel will discover that he majorly failed an Implicit Bias test, though it wasn’t one of the IATs on the Project Implicit website.  If we had to give a title to the IAT that Samuel failed, we might call it the “King IAT.”  Who would make a good king?  Samuel thinks he knows exactly who would make a good king.  But God tells Samuel, “You’re wrong, Samuel.”  

Why is Samuel wrong?  How did Samuel fail the King IAT?  If you have a moment this week, read 1st Samuel 16, the chapter I’ll be blogging about this coming week.  What we fill find is an important principle that God gives Samuel, a principle that applies significantly to our culture today. 

Photo by Sable Flow on Unsplash

God doesn’t really want us to go to church services – 1st Samuel 15, Part 5

I recently heard the story of a man is a follower of Jesus, but he allowed his life to go down a pathway that was not in line with the heart of God.  This guy started drinking heavily.  And it showed.  You could drive by his house and over time you could see just from driving by the house that something wasn’t right.  I’m not saying that you can tell a Christian by the quality of their landscaping, but for this particular guy his deteriorating property was outward evidence that he was struggling deep within.

That outward/inward dynamic was happening in the life of Israel’s King Saul, as we have been studying in 1st Samuel chapter 15 this week. Saul disobeyed God, is then confronted by the prophet Samuel, who gives Saul the news that God is rejecting Saul as king, taking the kingdom from him. Saul expresses sorrow for his behavior, begging Samuel to hold a worship service to make things right with God. Samuel doesn’t want to do the worship service, but Saul won’t relent, and Samuel gives in, holding the worship service.

But once the worship is done, Samuel takes a shocking action. Look at verse 32:

“Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.’ Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, ‘Surely the bitterness of death is past.’ But Samuel said, ‘As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.’  And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal. Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

Samuel kills someone? Why would a prophet of God kill someone? As we learned earlier in the week, Saul’s disobedience was that he allowed the king of the Amalekites to live, when God had commanded Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites. I discuss that fraught situation in this post.

Now Samuel has cleaned up Saul’s mess.  Samuel has obeyed where Saul has not. 

But there is a rift.  Even though they have held a worship service together, and even though Saul has claimed repentance, we pause the story of Saul feeling a darkness.  The way 1st Samuel 15 concludes reminds me of the end of the Empire Strikes Back.  Things are settled, but it seems like evil has won that day.  Samuel the prophet and Saul the king go their separate ways, never to talk again. God has declared that Saul’s disobedience has cost him the throne. Though Saul remains king for the time being, God has rejected him.

So we reflect on what Saul got wrong.  We reflect on the central teaching, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” which we talked about in this post.

We can perform rituals like attending worship services but not understand or practice all the other ways God wants us to obey him.

Jesus would confront the religious elites in his day about this very practice of looking good or religious on the outside, but having hearts that are far from God.  When Jesus called the tax collector, Matthew to join his group of disciples, Matthew accepted and invited Jesus to a party at Matthew’s house.  The religious elites observed this and questioned it.  How could a religious leader party it up with sinners?  Jesus says this in Matthew 9:13,

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  That is nearly identical to what Samuel said Saul in 1st Samuel 15, verse 22.  God wants our hearts.  Jesus is quoting two Old Testament prophets, Hosea and Micah.  The Micah passage is quite interesting.  Turn to Micah 6:6, page 759.

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

While our worship services are not wrong, we need to be people who give our hearts to God by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God in the other 167 hours of the week.  In our families, in our schools, in our jobs, in our neighborhoods.  God wants our hearts. That is the worship God wants.  He is not thinking, “I just want them to show up at a building for a worship service for an hour each week.”  God wants us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him throughout the rest of the week.  He wants us to worship him in everything we do.  And in particular he wants us to worship him by living lives of obedience to him.

When Jesus told his disciples that he wanted them to make more disciples, he did not say, “Teach them how to create worship services, and get people to come to buildings to attend those worship services, because I really like worship services.”  No Jesus said, “make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I commanded you.” 

This teaching “to obey is better than sacrifice” when paired with Jesus saying “make disciples teaching them to obey everything I commanded you,” is a reality check for me, because my life for more than 20 years now has focused quite a lot on worship services.  We live in a culture where many people have very specific expectations about worship services.  If the music isn’t what they like, if they sermon style isn’t their preference, if the programs for their kids aren’t what they think they should be, then they move on.  A visitor to my church once told me that they were an introvert, and they were disappointed that we didn’t have a worship buddy to come alongside them and be with them. 

This is why we as a church spend far more time on serving our community.  This is why we share the good news of Jesus in word and deed.  This is why we support Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services, because they are reaching people in need of food and clothing.  This is why we support Conestoga Valley SEEDS because they are reaching people in need of housing, education like learning English, and health services.  This is why we support Church World Service starting a Welcome Team to help a refugee family from Congo. This is why we started a Prison Worship Team. This is why we have a quilting group making attractive warm quilts for people in need.

I am not anti-worship services.  That would be pretty ironic wouldn’t it?  I believe it is right and good to regularly, consistently participate in worshiping God through worship gatherings.  But what we learn from 1st Samuel 15 is that God’s heart beats for his people to have hearts that follow his ways throughout the rest of our lives.

Remember the story I told at the beginning of this post? The struggling man had friends who started praying for him to have a change of heart, a heart that returned to the Lord.  And nothing happened, at least not right away.  They kept praying for weeks and months.  One day, they noticed a dumpster outside the house.  They noticed the property that had been let go being cleaned up.  What they were noticing was a heart change.

Photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash

What is true repentance? – 1st Samuel 15, Part 4

In the darkening events of 1st Samuel 15, Israel’s King Saul did not obey God, and now God declares that Saul is rejected as king.  That gets Saul’s attention.

In verse 24, Saul says to the prophet Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

This sounds very good, very repentant of Saul. But is Saul being genuine?  Or is he just caught?  You ever experience that dynamic before?  Maybe in yourself or maybe you’ve seen it with others, where a person is boldly disobeying, then they get caught and very quickly they do a 180 into sorrow.

“Officer, I know I was speeding, but I was late to my kid’s party.  Things have been tough lately.  I’m sorry, I promise I will obey the speed limit.  I needed this reminder.  Thank you for stopping me.”  And after the cop gives them a warning, they are now even later to the party, and they immediately start speeding again.

Sometimes I think the person who got caught really believes their sorrow.  They feel sad about their behavior, the hurt they caused, but soon enough they’re out there cheating again, lying again. 

Does Saul’s repentance convince Samuel?

In verse 26, “Samuel said to him, ‘I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!’ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.’”

Whew, this is an emotional moment.  When you reach out and grab someone, you are invading their space.  That’s a risky move, especially when the space between you and them has been conflicted.  When you invade that space to stop them from turning away, you are imposing your will over theirs. People generally don’t respond well when you invade their space and try to impose your will over theirs.

But Saul not only invades Samuel’s space by grabbing Samuel’s robe, he rips it!  Can you imagine the look on Samuel’s face when that happened?  I wonder if Samuel is raging at this point. Or maybe he is just cold and calculating as he says, “The Lord has torn the kingdom from you.”  Samuel is quick with that comment.  It is a prophetic word of judgment that is perfect.  You know that feeling when just the right words come to mind and you say them, and it is an awesome moment!  Samuel has one of those quick-thinking perfect word moments.

But Saul is not done. Though he seems to be the kind of guy who cowers in front of strong-minded people, he pleads with Samuel.  He says in verse 30,

“‘I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.”

We don’t know exactly what Samuel is thinking here.  Does Samuel believe Saul’s apology?  Does he think that Saul is truly repentant?  It’s unclear.  But he does seem to at least give Saul a chance.  And furthermore, it’s never wrong to worship the Lord.  Maybe God will get through to Saul in the worship service?

We find out in the next post. 

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Is God concerned about how many people show up at worship services? – 1st Samuel 15, Part 3

King Saul is caught. He disobeyed God. But does he realize what he did? God asked Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites, but instead, Saul took the Amalekite king as a prisoner of war, and Saul allowed his men to keep a bunch of the Amalekite’s livestock. As we learned in the previous post, God revealed this to the prophet Samuel. Samuel heads out to confront Saul, but first the people say that Saul has built a monument to himself! So not only has Saul disobeyed God’s command, Saul has also glorified himself rather than God. It seems like Saul is going down a dark road. But does Saul realize the gravity of his choices?

In verse 13 we read, “When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’”  When Saul says his cheerful, “Hey Samuel!”, it seems like Saul has no idea that Samuel has arrived to confront Saul.  Saul seems to be saying, “Oh hey Samuel…what are you doing here?  By the way, I did everything God told me to do.  Don’t you want to congratulate me like everyone else?  Did you see the memorial in my honor?” 

Samuel ignores all that, and he dives right in to confronting Saul’s disobedience. In verse 14 “Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”  Does Saul see the fire raging in Samuel’s eyes?

Samuel is basically saying, “Saul! It’s obvious you didn’t carry out the Lord’s instructions!  How do you explain all the livestock that you were supposed to slaughter???”

In verse 15, “Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”  

Saul plays it off.  He is saying, “So we kept some of the best animals.  That’s smart.  We destroyed everything else.  What are you all bent out of shape for?  This is not a big deal, Samuel.  We really did destroy everything else.  And actually we are going to have a worship service to God, sacrificing the sheep.”  I wonder if Saul is motioning to his associates, “Can you believe this guy?  He’s bent out of shape because we kept some animals from the enemy.”

“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul, in verse 16. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”   

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

Here I can see Saul rolling his eyes at Samuel.  I wonder if he thinks Samuel is old and out-of-touch.  I wonder if Saul thinks, “We earned this.  We fought hard.  What’s wrong with keeping a few livestock?  Geesh.  We were actually going to worship God with the livestock.”

In verse 17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

Samuel says, “Stop complicating it, Saul.  Stop letting yourself off the hook.  Stop rationalizing your behavior. Stop minimizing.  You did not obey God.  Period.  You didn’t obey God, and that is serious.”  How will Saul respond?  Look at verses 20-21:

“‘But I did obey the Lord,’ Saul said. ‘I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’”

More rationalizing.  Saul is saying, “Samuel, what do you mean I didn’t obey?  I did!  I fought the battle and destroyed them.”  See the gaslighting Saul does there?  He says “I fully obeyed.” So in his mind, the act of sparing the king and allowing the soldiers to keep cattle is not contrary to being obedient.  Yet at the same time, he knows he’s caught, because he is shifting the blame over to the soldiers, saying they kept the cattle, but it was okay, because the soldiers were going to sacrifice them to God, they were going to have a worship service.

Notice a clue, though, in how Saul refers to God.  “The Lord YOUR God.”  I wonder if Saul is revealing something about his heart.  Is this a Freudian slip, showing that Saul doesn’t see himself as in a relationship with God?  Or maybe he is sarcastically saying to Samuel, “See how good I am to YOUR God, Samuel?  I’m going to sacrifice to your God, so calm down, Samuel.  We’re going to have a worship service.”?  Maybe.  Whatever is going on in Saul’s heart and mind at this point, it is clearly not right.  Samuel knows Saul’s heart is not right.  Look at what Samuel says next in verses 22-23:

“But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.’”

There it is.  No denying it.  Clear as day.  Saul is laid out in the open.  Samuel gets to the heart of the matter: God wants obedience more than religious rituals.  God wants our hearts, not our worship services.  God wants the good things of his Spirit to flow from our lives. 

Does God delight in us showing up at church worship services as much as in obeying him throughout our week?  No!  God desires his people to have transformed hearts.  God is not wringing his hands saying, “Why are there so many people not in church on Sunday morning?  I wish they would just start going to church.” 

Instead God wants our hearts, because he knows that when people have hearts that beat for him, they will flourish, they will be in the best possible situation in life.  God desires obedience and our hearts, therefore, because he loves us so much and wants what is best for us. 

Saul did not have a heart after God, and now God declares that Saul is rejected as king. 

As you can imagine, that very serious news gets Saul’s attention. How will he react? We’ll find out in the next post.

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

I’m glad that God can feel regret – 1st Samuel 15, Part 2

As we learned in the previous post, in 1st Samuel 15 God commanded Israel’s King Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites. Does King Saul decimate the Amalekites?

Yes…and no.

In verses 4-9, Saul and the army attack and destroy the Amalekites, but with a couple notable exceptions.  They allow the Amalekite king, Agag, to live, and they keep the best of the Amalekites’ livestock.  This is a massive slaughter, but it is not total obedience to God’s command.  Will Saul get away with this disobedience?

In verses 10-11, we read this, “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ‘I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.’ Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.”

Saul will not get away with disobeying God.  No one gets away with disobeying God.  Some humans can get away with crime, or sin, and not get caught by other humans.  But God sees.  God knows.  And he regrets that he made Saul king. 

God regrets something?  Does that strike you as odd? How God can regret something if he knew it would happen all along?  Regret is only possible when we discover something disappointing that we didn’t already know.  Could the presence of regret in God mean that he didn’t already know that Saul was going to turn out to be a disappointment?  If so, that might lead us to question what God does and doesn’t know. 

There are passages in Scripture that lead us to believe God’s knowledge of the future is exhaustive, and there are passages that lead us to believe that God only predicts the future, but he doesn’t know it before it happens.  The debate about God’s knowledge rages on, and I will not be able to end the debate here. I’m simply pointing out that this is a passage that makes it seem like God didn’t know Saul would be such a poor king.  

Personally, I find great comfort in that possibility because it means that God is in the story with us.  If God is outside the story, he is, at least in my opinion, a cold unfeeling, unrelational God.  I much prefer the God of the Bible that I read about here in 1st Samuel 15, a God who feels regret like we do. 

God feels regret because Saul has turned away.  Saul has not obeyed God.  Saul has revealed that he does not have a heart after God’s own heart.  Saul can be swayed by popular opinion.  Saul can be caught up in the moment.  Saul’s emotions control him, rather than the other way around.  Saul is selfish and self-focused. 

The prophet Samuel is angry when God reveals to him what Saul did.  The word “anger” could be translated “Ill-humored.” In our day, we might say “fussy.”  Samuel is fussy.  Why?  Might be fussy at the people for wanting a king years before.  Might be fussy because when Samuel was leader of the people, things were better.  Might be fussy at Saul for disobeying God.  Samuel is fussy.

So the next morning Samuel goes out to confront Saul.  We read in verse 12 that the people told Samuel, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

Yikes. Saul sets up a monument in his own honor?  That does not bode well for Saul. The monument was probably a pillar, not tall like the Washington Monument, but maybe in a similar shape, perhaps to commemorate his victory over the Amalekites.  When I was in India last year, I saw numerous such memorial pillar stones.  It is a common practice in that NorthEast Indian culture to mark special occasions, like the 50th anniversary of a church, with a stone monument.  The stones say things like “Glory to God.”  But here in 1st Samuel 15, Saul is setting up a memorial stone in his own honor.

What is going on with Saul?  He seems to be oblivious to how seriously off track he is going. We hear directly from Saul in the next post. Will he be able to explain himself?

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash