Seamless - Week 4 Day 3

Today we're learning about Solomon.  We've seen two other kings and they are basically opposites.  From my understanding, all three of these kings are believers.  All three will be in heaven one day.  But they all lived different lives.

Saul started out great, but because of unconfessed sin and pride in his heart, he ended up a madman who committed suicide.

David saw God's hand in his life from the time he was young while he was tending sheep.  It gave him confidence to kill a giant.  But he sins and commits murder.  He confesses his sin and has a right relationship with the Lord, but the consequences of his actions lead to many family problems.

Solomon asks God for an understanding heart.  He had listened to his father's charge to him and it seems took it to heart.  He did well in the beginning and God allowed him to build the temple.  But he took foreign wives to marry and built for them altars and temples to worship their own gods. This caused a downward spin that Solomon never was able to fully pull out of.  He probably wrote Proverbs early in life and Ecclesiastes is a testament to a life that is not closely in tune with God.  He ended up having the kingdom split in two after him and here is where the kingdom divides. It divides after Solomon's death.

Then they were captured at different times.  Israel sooner, they had no good kings.  Judah later by Babylon - they had a few good kings.  Below is a timeline showing approximate years.

Tomorrow we'll look at the prophets.

Keep pressing on,
Steph

Seamless Week 4 Day 2

DAVID

David humbles himself before God.  He recognizes that it's not far that the God of the universe lives in a tent while he has a regular house.  Then God tells him that his kingdom will be forever.  David responds in humility saying "Who am I?"

Next though David does some of his worst stuff ever.  He proves that God still uses weak and frail people.  He shows us that confession is the thing that keeps us right with God and that was the distinguishing difference between him and Saul.

Did you read Psalm 51?  What an anguished cry from a man who recognizes his sin!  I know my heart often cries out under the weight of my issues, the sins I struggle with.  But our realness and honesty before the Lord is what keeps us in right relationship with Him.  It keeps us growing in Him.  It keeps us alive.  When we hide it and embrace it as Saul did we turn into evil, grasping and even at times dangerous people. 

I hope you are enjoying this study as much as I am.  Being in the Word is invigorating.  Maybe all you have is time to read the passage of Scripture.  Today would be 1 Samuel 11 and Psalm 51.

Keep pressing on
Steph

Seamless Week 4 Day 1

I decided to blog about our walk through Seamless to help inspire us all to spend time in the Word everyday.  If all you do is get the blog read you'll at least know the gist of the story. 😊

Today's lesson is about Saul

Remember how the Israelites didn't obey when God told them to go into the land and take over.  They let the other groups stay and in turn were sucked into their ways of life and their beliefs.  It probably wasn't a quick turn of events, but rather a slow fade as the song from Casting Crowns is titled.

The Israelites had been walking through the desert for more than forty years, in the course of this time their sandals did not wear out, they had water and manna from heaven.  God had proven Himself over and over again.  And yet, here they are demanding a king.  How heartbreaking it must have been to a God who had been faithful over the years, knowing He knows better than any human king.  And yet, He gives in to their demands.

Saul starts out as a pretty great guy.  He's not sure about being a king.  He hides for starters.   But then he embraces the role and does a good job.   Until he got a big head...he thinks he can do the prophet's role and the king's.  But they were distinctly separate for a very good reason.  This is when Saul finds out that the kingdom will be torn from him.

God chose a different person to be king...someone after His own heart.  We don't see Saul admit wrongdoing very often and when he does it seems nothing changes.  He goes right back to doing those things he shouldn't, i.e. chasing David and being jealous.  We will see things happening differently with David though.

Outward appearance is meaningless to God; the heart is what matters.  Performance means nothing; faithfulness means everything.  Samuel learned this lesson when he met Jesse's sons. 

Saul doesn't seem to know much about trusting God.  We don't read about any experiences he may have had, but David does.  He talks of how God killed the bear and the lion and surely could take care of the giant.  He's not looking at his circumstances, but he's looking at his God.

Saul hears the women singing David's praises and turns jealous.  Now, instead of rejoicing that the giant is dead, he wants David dead.  One thing that I think is very cool about David is that he is given several opportunities to kill Saul and he doesn't take them.  He doesn't believe it's his right to take the life of the "Lord's annointed".

Day 1 is done!
Keep pressing on!
Steph