1 Samuel 1

by

Returning The Gift

I’ve been posting discussion questions from the Wednesday evening small group I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel at Deer Run.  I am going to begin writing a series of blog articles to correspond with each week’s discussion questions.  Some time back I wrote the first article, Caution: Objects In Life May Not Be What They Appear, dealing with lesson 1.

This blog post contains some thoughts connected with lesson 2.

It is easy to get surrounded by, and caught up in, the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  Christmas parties, events, concerts, and programs all clamour for our attention at a rate that often makes it hard to even catch our breath.  In the midst of all the busy-ness, many of us struggle to find just the right gift.  We want something full of meaning and value.   Something that will be cherished and held on to for years to come. 

Imagine receiving that perfect gift — the one you have been longing for your entire life.  Experience the joy, the satisfaction, the relief of having your long-standing request answered.   Okay?  Do you have it?  Now give it back!

I can hear you because the sound is an echo of me.  WHAT!?!?  Are you crazy?

That tends to be my reaction to the stuff of “value” that I receive, but what about the things of real value?  In the book of 1 Samuel, Hannah is childless and longs for a child.  We find her pouring out her heart to God asking for the one thing she wants most.  God hears, and answers, her prayer by giving her a son — Samuel.  But wait . . . part of her request was a promise to give this child back to God.  She seemed to know that this gift she was asking for would not be hers to keep.  Her willingness to not only make the promise, but to keep it and give Samuel to the service of the Lord was a blessing to the entire nation as Samuel would lead them in an extended time of peace.

So, what have you asked of God?  What have you received from God?  Are you grasping on to it, trying desperately to keep it to yourself?  Or are you returning it back to God for His use?  The Bible teaches that “every good and perfect gift comes from above”.  God is the provider of all good things.  His desire is for us to return them to Him and allow Him to use them in ways that far exceed what we could do with it on our own. 

One of the great gifts we have is our life.  God has given us life itself and He asks us to trust Him enough to give our life back to Him.  Jesus said, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”  God can, and desires to, do great things in our life if we will surrender fully to Him.  The apostle Paul puts it this way, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) 

God’s greatest gift to mankind was the sending of His son Jesus to be born, to live, to die, to rise again so that payment could be made for my sin.  It is my choice to return the gift of my life for Him to use according to His great design and plan.  How about you?

 

 

by

1 Samuel: Lesson 3 — Bad Boys

The following are discussion questions from a weekly study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  We meet each Wednesday evening at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

 

Here Comes A King:
A Study of the Book of 1 Samuel

Lesson 3 (Bad Boys)
1 Samuel 2:12-36

The Text:

  1. How does the Bible describe Eli’s sons?  Why was this?
     
  2. What were the priests doing when people would come to sacrifice?  What was God’s view of their actions?  Why?
     
  3. What blessing would Eli tell Elkanah and Hannah each year when they would travel to Shiloh for the yearly sacrifice?  How did God fulfill that blessing?
     
  4. What reports came back to Eli about his sons?  What did he do about it?  How did they respond? 
     
  5. What message did God send to Eli?  What did God want Eli to remember?  Did God lay all of the blame on the sons?  How was God going to make known His displeasure with Eli’s sons?  In the midst of this rebuke, what promise does God give for the future?

 

The Application:

  1. On a practical level, what does it look like in your life to “have regard for the LORD?
     
  2. How might the sinful actions of the priests look today?  What would it look like to “treat the LORD’s offering with contempt”?
         
  3. What do you think it means that “the LORD was gracious to Hannah?  How hard is it to give up something of great value not knowing if it will ever be replaced?  Is faithfulness always rewarded in this manner?
     
  4. How do you respond when you hear bad reports of people close to you?  Is there anything that can be done other than confront them?  How does it feel when they choose not to respond or change?
     
  5. How easy is it to forget God’s calling of you to Himself?  Are there times that your silence or cooperation may aid another person’s misconduct?  Who is the faithful priest God has raised up for Himself?

 

Next week: 1 Samuel 3:1-21
Hearing Voices 

by

1 Samuel: Lesson 2 — Returning The Gift

The following are discussion questions from a weekly study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  We meet each Wednesday evening at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

 

Here Comes A King:
A Study of the Book of 1 Samuel

Lesson 2 (Returning The Gift)
1 Samuel 1:21-2:11

The Text:

  1. After Samuel is born, what does Elkanah do?  What did Hannah do?  Why do you think she made the decision she did?
     
  2. What does Hannah do when she finally returns to Shiloh?
     
  3. What attitude seems to stand out in Hannah’s prayer?  What is her view of God?
     
  4. In Hannah’s prayer, how does she acknowledge God changing the circumstances of people?  What seems to determine a negative change versus a positive one? 
     
  5. Who makes the trip home?  Where is Samuel and what is he now doing?  How do you think Hannah felt about that?  

The Application:

  1. How hard is it to keep your promises to God?  What things make it easier or harder?  How do you prepare for the fulfillment of your promises to God?
     
  2. When the “Lord confirms His word”, how tempting is it to put off what you know needs done?  How is your worship and the keeping of your promises to God connected?   
     
  3. How do you think Hannah can “rejoice in the Lord” at a time when she is “giving up” the answer to her prayers?  How hard is it to rejoice when you have to give something up to keep a promise?
     
  4. What does Hannah’s prayer say to you about pride and arrogance?  Do you typically find yourself feeling crushed by God or lifted up by God?  Does this say more about God or more about you?
     
  5. In keeping your promises to God, particularly in giving something to God, how hard is it to just let go?  When you know that things you have given up are being used by God, how does that make you feel about following through with what you promised?

     

 

Next week: 1 Samuel 2:12-36
Bad Boys 

 

by

1 Samuel: Lesson 1 — Not All Is As It Seems

The following are discussion questions from a weekly study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  We meet each Wednesday evening at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

 

Here Comes A King:
A Study of the Book of 1 Samuel

Lesson 1 (Not All Is As It Seems)
1 Samuel 1:1-20

The Text:

  1. Who are Peninnah and Hannah?  What do we learn about them in the opening verses of chapter 1?  How does God describe their relationship?
     
  2. Who is Elkanah?  What does he and his family have a practice of doing each year?  How does he treat Hannah?
     
  3. What does Hannah do while in Shiloh to worship?  What is her attitude or emotional state?  What is the vow she makes?
     
  4. Who is watching Hannah?  What is his occupation?  What did that mean he should be doing?  What does he assume when he confronts her? 
     
  5. How does Hannah respond to the accusations?  What is Eli’s response?  What effect does this have on Hannah?  What becomes the result of Hannah’s prayer? 

The Application:

  1. What are some things that people would say indicate God’s blessing if present or lack of blessing if absent?  Are these accurate?  How do you treat people who lack, and want, what you have?
     
  2. How important is worship to you even when living in the midst of conflict?  What are some effective ways to encourage someone who feels left out or “unblessed”?
       
  3. How hard/easy is it to pray when it feels like the world, and God, is against you?  What things have you vowed/promised to God?  Have you meant them?
     
  4. What is one role God says you have as a Christian?  What does that mean you should be doing?  How often do you find yourself making assumptions about a person or situation rather than interacting as God would have you?
     
  5. How confident are you in God’s promises?  What effect should this have on you?  What things do you need to pour out through tears in bitter, earnest prayer?

Next week: 1 Samuel 1:21-2:11
Returning The Gift

by

Caution: Objects In Life May Not Be What They Appear

You’ve seen the warning on the side mirror of  your car, right?  You know the one, “Caution: Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear”. 

Have you ever observed a specific situation and you just knew what was going on?  Have you watched a person’s actions and were confident of their motives and judged them according to what you saw?  And then when the truth came out you realized just how wrong you were?  Perhaps we need a similar “mirror warning” in constant view as we live life.  I think it would read something like this, “Caution:  Objects in life may not be what they appear”. 

I’m not sure anyone is immune to this, or above needing this reminder.  As a matter of fact, these thoughts come from the preparation I am doing for a lesson series through 1 Samuel this fall.  Listen to what took place and the presumption that followed:  “As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth.  Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.  Eli thought she was drunk  and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk?  Get rid of your wine.'” (1 Samuel 1:12-14)

Ouch!  Unfortunately, Eli has plenty of modern-day companions.  How often have you and I observed what takes place on the surface of lives around us and jumped to conclusions that were just as wrong as Eli’s judgment of Hannah?  The pain, the distress, the activity in another person’s life may not always be what it appears to be.  You know that is true in your life, why is it so hard to remember it is true in others as well? 

How can we avoid the surface judgments?  I don’t think there is an easy to do answer but James gives us great insight to this as he writes in James 1:19, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”   This simple statement is so profound but so very hard to remember to do at all times!  Listening with our eyes and ears and heart through the filter of the Holy Spirit will go a long way in keeping us from making judgments based on outward appearances. 

In God’s great sense of humor and/or irony, over in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel God has to remind Samuel (remember that Samuel was the answer to the prayers that Hannah was praying),  “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”   Our reaction is often to pass judgment based on what we see but God is calling us to look beyond what we can see and really notice what He sees.

I pray that I become a better listener — a godly listener — before I am tempted to jump to conclusions that are far from accurate.  I pray that you and I recognize that our need for grace and understanding in regard to our actions is the same need that others have from us.

May God grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand the work He is doing in our life and in the lives of those around us!