365 Reflections

With great power comes great responsibility. This phrase was made popular by the Spiderman movies and comics although some attribute it to more historical figures. But the truth at the root of it can be traced to the moment Solomon finished the Temple of Israel in 1 Kings 9. 1 Kings 9:8–9 (ESV)   And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’” The Lord is not playing games when it comes to Israel's future prosperity. They were the nation God had called to Himself, saving them from Egypt and establishing them in the Promised Land. They alone of all the Nations had the Word of God, the Testimony of the t...

1 Samuel 10:25–27 (ESV)   Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord . Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace. The problems with Saul's kingship begin early. Here we have what looks like a noble moment. The nation is provided a copy of the rights and duties of the kingship by Samuel. But the moment fails to live up to the Lord's Word concerning the kings of Israel. We have to go back to Deuteronomy to see how God stipulated the king's relationship to the book of the Lord. Deuteronomy 17:18–20 (ESV) “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical...