Bible Study

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1 Samuel: Lesson 16 — Not Such A Sweet Deal

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 16 (Not Such A Sweet Deal)
1 Samuel 14:24 – 52

The Text:

  1. What condition were the men of Israel in?  Why?  What had Saul said?  What was his stated motive?
     
  2. What did the army find in the woods?  What did they do with it?  What did Jonathan do?  What effect did it have on him?  What response did he have when told of his father’s command? 
     
  3. What was the condition of the Israelite army when evening finally came?  What did they do?  Why did they do this?  What was the problem with it? What did Saul do about it?
     
  4. What was Saul’s plan after they had eaten?  What was the response of the army?  What response did the priest have?  What response did God have?  What was Saul’s assumption?   
     
  5. What does Saul announce will be done to the one who has sinned?  Who does the lot fall to as they seek the guilty person?  What is Saul’s response?  Who intervenes?

    

The Application:

  1. How hard is it to live up to the expectations of others?  In what ways have you put expectations on others in order to satisfy yourself?  How is this harmful to the individual, and to the body of Christ?  Are there ways in which expectations can be good?
     
  2. Have you ever done something only to be told that someone else said it was wrong?  How did it make you feel?  How did you react?     
     
  3. What effect does being deprived of something for any amount of time have on you?  What is the problem with being so “hungry” for something that you don’t care how you get it?  In what areas might you need to show restraint in your life?      
     
  4. How do you feel when people like a plan that you have?  What if God doesn’t approve, or is silent about it? 
     
  5. Why are rash statements so dangerous?  Do you think Jonathan did wrong?  How can you stand up for someone who feels condemned for doing the right thing?

     

Next week: 1 Samuel 15:1-35
To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

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1 Samuel: Lesson 15 — Mighty To Save

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 15 (Mighty To Save)
1 Samuel 13:16 – 14:23

The Text:

  1. What occupation was missing from Israel?  Why?  How did this impact the Israelites readiness for battle?
     
  2. What were the Philistines doing?  What did Jonathan decide to do?  Who went with him?  Who else knew about this “trip”? 
     
  3. As Jonathan approaches the base of the cliff where the Philistine outpost is, what does he propose to do?  What is his reasoning?  How does his armor-bearer respond?
     
  4. When Jonathan and his armor-bearer show themselves to the Philistines, what do the Philistines say to them?  What had Jonathan decided in advance to do if this is what the Philistines said?  What was the immediate result at the top of the cliff?  What did God do beyond that?  How widespread was it?   
     
  5. What was Saul’s response when he saw the Philistine army in retreat?  When Saul took his men into battle, what did they find?  Who won the victory that day?

   

The Application:

  1. Do you always have everything that you think you need?  Does not having certain “necessary things” keep you from doing what you know God wants?
     
  2. How does knowing people’s lives are being raided by the enemy make you feel?  Who would you trust to go with you to confront a specific “raiding party”?     
     
  3. What does it mean in your life that “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few”?     
       
  4. What do you do when someone mocks you or ridicules your faith?  Why is it important to decide ahead of time how you will respond to such behavior? 
     
  5. When victories are won, why is it so tempting to look for a person or group to give credit to before we look to God?  When you are rescued from the enemies you face, why is it so important to recognize God as the rescuer regardless of what means He uses to accomplish it?

    

Next week: 1 Samuel 14:24-52
Not Such A Sweet Deal

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Hearing Voices

“Hearing Voices” was the title of lesson 4 in the 1 Samuel study I am leading on Wednesday evenings at Deer Run.

Have you ever answered a phone call where the caller immediately launches into a full-speed conversation assuming you know who they are — and you don’t?  You listen intently for clues to the caller’s identity.  There’s a familiarity to it but you just can’t place it.  Your mind races through a mental checklist of the people you know.  The name . . . the name is on the tip of your tongue but it just won’t quite come out of your mouth.  And then it happens.  The pause.  The awkward silence just before the inevitable statement/question that you know is coming, “You don’t know who this is, do you?”.

“Wow!  I should have known.”  “How did I not know?”  “I’m so embarrassed.”  “How could I have not known?”

Granted, sometimes it is all about the phone connection and poor acoustics which make the person not really sound like themself . . . sometimes.  More often than not, we must admit that we were not as familiar with the person as we thought.  Regardless of the amount of time spent together, we’ve not really listened to them.  We’re not used to the sound of the voice.  The words spoken do not flow in a manner that we recognize.  The “voiceprint” is strange and unrecognizable to us.

While this can be mildly embarrassing and somewhat awkward when it takes place between friends, what about when we don’t recognize God’s voice?  This was the case with Samuel as he came to serve God as he lives with Eli the priest.  We read that “the word of the LORD was rare” in those days.  It is in that setting that God calls to Samuel with a message.  As God calls Samuel’s name, he does not recognize the voice and assumes that it must be Eli calling him.  It took three attempts before even Eli surmised that it must be God calling to Samuel so on the fourth call Samuel finally acknowledges God and listens to what He has to say.

Before we come down too hard on Samuel, what about us?  How often do we miss the message God is trying to speak into our life?  How often do we struggle with the questions of life and how God should be involved in each aspect of it?  We have the advantage of God’s Word and His Spirit to lead us and teach us about the very nature of God.  Yet still we wonder, we question, we even doubt if God has anything to say at all.  

We hear many voices in our life but struggle to recognize which belongs to God.  So many of them sound reasonable, but which one sounds most like God?  Which one really is God?  If we’re trying to figure it out with our own reasoning or intellect, we will likely fail every time.  The way we know isn’t that complicated.  We spend time with God.  We read His Word.  We listen to what He says to us through it.  We allow His Spirit to fill us and continually remind us of the nature of God revealed through His Word and the life of His Son, Jesus.  The more we know God, the easier it becomes to recognize His voice.  In John 10, Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd”.  He says that the sheep will follow the shepherd that they belong to, and that cares for them, because they recognize his voice.  It is time with the shepherd, and the shepherd with the sheep, that makes this recognition automatic and without question.

As you consider the direction of your life, are you hearing voices?  Are you spending deliberate time with God with the purpose of knowing Him?  I pray that you and I are “sheep” that hear His voice, recognizing and obeying it because it is a voice we are very familiar with.

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1 Samuel: Lesson 14 — The Cost Of Impatience

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 14 (The Cost Of Impatience)
1 Samuel 13:1 – 55

The Text:

  1. How old was Saul when he became king?  How long did he serve as king?  Why might that information be included at this point in the story?
     
  2. How many men does Saul select to serve with him?  How does he assign them?  What does he do with the rest of the men that are present?
       
  3. Who is Jonathan?  What does he do?  How does Saul react to this?  How does Saul convey the news?  Is it good news or bad news?
     
  4. What do the Philistines do?  How many of them?  What is the response of the Israelite people?  . . .  Of the Israelite army?   
     
  5. How long does Saul wait for Samuel?  What does Saul do?  Why?  When did Samuel arrive?  What message does Samuel have for Saul?  What did all of this do to the number of men who stayed with Saul?

  

The Application:

  1. When is the best time in life to start something significant?  Is longevity a good measure of something’s success?  Why or why not?
     
  2. Why is it important to have people who will stand with you?  How easy/hard is it for you to share your resources of any kind with someone else?  Are some things easier to share than others?  
         
  3. How likely are you to take the lead in confronting wrong?  What are the possible outcomes of confronting wrong?  What seems to be most common in your experience?  How does knowing that help in future circumstances?    
     
  4. Have you ever taken a public stand for what is right according to God only to have it seem like the world rises up against you because of it?  What has been, or would be, your reaction?  What can be done to remain courageous in the face of opposition?
     
  5. How hard is it for you to wait?  How often do you tend to live by the motto, “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission”?  Why is that dangerous?  How important is obedience to you?  . . . To God?

   

Next week: 1 Samuel 13:16-14:23
Mighty To Save

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1 Samuel: Lesson 13 — Famous Last Words

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 13 (Famous Last Words)
1 Samuel 12:1 – 25

The Text:

  1. As Samuel finishes up his time of leadership, what does he state he has done?  What questions does he ask of the people?  Why?  What is their response?
     
  2. What history does Samuel relay to the people?  What is his point?  What is he confronting them with evidence of? 
     
  3. What action/reaction was behind the Israelites wanting a king?  How was this different from their response to previous troubles?
     
  4. What conditions do Samuel give to the people in order for things to go well for the nation under their new king?  What is the consequence of not following these conditions?   
     
  5. What did Samuel want the people to realize by God sending thunder and rain?  What was the response of the people?  What is Samuel’s response to them?

  

The Application:

  1. What makes “last words” important?  What does it mean to live a life of integrity today?  How do people view you?
     
  2. What evidence do you have in your life of “all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you”?  How has God rescued you when you have turned to him in genuine need?   
        
  3. How tempting is it to want a “world’s solution” to a problem that needs a “God solution”?  Why do we do that even when we know the effectiveness of God’s solutions in the past?    
     
  4. How important is fearing the LORD and serving and obeying him?  Can doing that help counteract bad requests and decisions?  What is the purpose of God’s hand against a person that chooses to rebel against him?
     
  5. What does it take for God to get your attention?  Do you ever feel you need someone else to go to God for you because you are not sure of your standing with him?  What does verse 22 mean to you?

   

Next week: 1 Samuel 13:1-15
The Cost Of Impatience

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1 Samuel: Lesson 12 — Rescue The Perishing

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 12 (Rescuing The Perishing)
1 Samuel 11:1 – 15

The Text:

  1. What problem is face by the city of Jabesh Gilead?  What do the men of Jabesh propose to solve this problem?  What condition is given?
     
  2. What response do the elders of Jabesh give to the conditions of surrender?  What is the reaction of the people of Gibeah when the terms are reported?  What is Saul doing when messengers arrive in Gibeah with the news from Jabesh? 
     
  3. How does Saul respond?  With what power or authority does he respond?  Who does Saul include in his request sent throughout Israel?  How do the people of Israel respond to the request sent out by Saul?
     
  4. What message was sent back to the people of Jabesh Gilead?  What did they tell the Ammonites?  What effect might this have had?  What was the outcome of this conflict?   
     
  5. What did the people of Israel want done with those who had questioned Saul being king over them?  What was Saul’s response?  What did Samuel do?

  

The Application:

  1. When are you most likely to feel “besieged”?  Are there areas in which you have given up — accepted the possibility of being subject to something/someone that you know is not in your best interest?  What “conditions” of that subjection would make you think twice?
     
  2. Who would you turn to for help to overcome that which would enslave you?  How do you respond to the news of someone needing help that seems beyond what can be done?     
     
  3. What role does anger have in helping rescue a person from potential captivity?  How do you distinguish between “righteous anger” and “sinful anger”?    
     
  4. How can you encourage someone who is ready to give up?  How thorough are you in getting rid of that which tries to take you captive?
     
  5. How forgiving are you of people who question you?  What can you do to reaffirm God as King of your life?

   

Next week: 1 Samuel 12:1-25
Famous Last Words

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1 Samuel: Lesson 11 — Presenting A King

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 11 (Presenting A King)
1 Samuel 10:9 – 27

The Text:

  1. What did God do for Saul?  How was this visible to the Israelites — what did Saul do?
     
  2. What did the people think of Saul’s activity?  What was Saul’s uncle concerned about?  How did Saul respond to him?  Why?
     
  3. How does Samuel begin the meeting of the people at Mizpah?  Why do you think these words were important?  Where did his speech come from?
     
  4. What process is used to present Saul to the people as King?  Why do you think Samuel did not just announce what he had already told Saul?  Where is Saul when the selection is determined? 
        
  5. How was Saul compared to the rest of the people?  What was the response of the people to Saul being selected?  How did Samuel finish the meeting?  Was everyone impressed with the new king?

  

The Application:

  1. How has your heart been changed by God?  How is that change visible to others — what are you doing as a result of God changing you?
     
  2. How do people respond to God working in and through you?  Are there people in your life who are more concerned about where you’ve been than about what you’re doing?  How do you respond to people who don’t understand the work God is doing in you?   
     
  3. How important are reminders of what God has already done?  How about reminders of how our disobedience or rejection of God’s plan has brought us to where we are?  What would be the point?  
        
  4. Are there times that it is better to let God reveal to others His purpose for you?  When might that be a benefit?  How hard is that?  Are there times you feel like hiding when faced with actually doing what God is calling you to do?
     
  5. How important is it that the details of the tasks God calls people to do are known by the person doing it and the people around them?  How do you respond when people aren’t impressed with you as the person God calls to do a specific task?

   

Next week: 1 Samuel 11:1-15
Rescue The Perishing

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1 Samuel: Lesson 10 — The Search Is On

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 10 (The Search Is On)
1 Samuel 9:1 – 10:8

The Text:

  1. How is Saul described?  What task was Saul given to do?  How thorough was he in this task?  What was his initial conclusion?
     
  2. What does Saul’s servant suggest they do before they head back home empty-handed?  What concern does Saul have about doing that?  How does the servant resolve that concern?
     
  3. What had God revealed to Samuel before Saul came looking for him?  What instructions and news does Samuel give to Saul?  What response does Saul give?
     
  4. Where does Samuel take Saul?  What does he set before Saul?  What information does Samuel give about this action?   
     
  5. What does Samuel do to Saul the day after the meal?  Why?  What three groups of people does Samuel tell Saul he will meet as he goes his way?  What is he to do?
     

The Application:

  1. How do people describe you?  How does their view of you influence your life?  How diligent are you in completing menial-sounding tasks that are asked of you?
     
  2. How quickly do you give up on things/people?  Do you often give up before thinking to involve God?  Does it concern you to go to God empty-handed?  Should it?  How important is it for you to help provide for those in vocational ministry?   
     
  3. How does it feel when it seems like someone knows something about you that you don’t even know?  Have you ever had a concern answered only to have a larger question raised?  How do you respond to praise?    
     
  4. How would it feel to unexpectedly find yourself as the guest of honor at an important event?  How easy/hard is it on a daily basis to realize that God has plans for you and that there are specific good works that He created in advance for you?
     
  5. Are you set-apart for a specific purpose?  How do you know?  How has God provided for your immediate tasks, your specific needs, and your credibility in the work He has called you to?

   

Next week: 1 Samuel 10:9 -27
Presenting A King