God Faithful, 100%
Today's reading covers I Samuel 10. I want to italicize and grab these verses as our key discussion. The theme of this post is God Faithful, 100 percent.
I Samuel 10:17-19 17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
Have you ever got the call or you happened to ease drop in on a conversation that is got people talking....Did you hear so and so did so and so.
Sure, we've all been there at some time in our life. "Are they really getting a divorce?" Talk is everywhere, just go to the check out line at the grocery store. People magazine, tabloids, newspapers are just a few that feed our inquireing minds. How can it be?
I imagine after reading this chapter, you may be thinking something similar, as I was shaking my head at Jacob's house. They deny God and all the incredible things he has done for them...the story of Joseph, remember that, the story of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt. The story of Joshua and the Promised Land. After all these amazing stories of God's sovereignty on his people, they didn't think twice to reject God and order a king from their clan.
God is sensitive to this request, and he knew at the foundations of the world that this would happen as God is never taken by surprises. King Saul is annointed by Samuel and when they show him off among the other people, he is the tallest amongst his clan. I am not going to focus on Saul at this point, I really want to focus on God.
We know why they rejected God as we uncovered the hidden truth of coveting from the previous post.
Do you think they really understood the measure of love that God had for them? I consider God to Jacob's house, or Israel, as an incubator.
You may think...do huh? Yes, that is right, God acted as an incubator to his people. Let's look at the definition of an incubator from a biological standpoint.
In biology, an incubator is a device used to grow and maintain of course microbiological cultures or cell cultures. The incubator maintains optimal temperature, humidity and other conditions such as the carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside.
He desired to grow and maintain them, keep them alive and steady, providing all the necessities that his children needed, such as land that flowed with milk and honey and protection from the Philestines. But now suddenly, his children want out of the incubator. If you are like me, I find this part of the story rather troublesome. The idea of stepping out of an incubator like all the other nations of the world sounds insane, but this is what they want.
So why did I entitle this God is faithful, 100 percent? Right after our devotion this morning, since Jacob is studying letter Hh in kindergarten, I found a story entitled, Horton Hatches an Egg. The story is about an mother bird that wants nothing more than to abandon her egg and put Horton the elephant up to the task. He sits and sits on this egg, developing a common phrase through out the story, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, I am an elephant faithful, one hundred percent." The egg eventually hatches and it is an elephant bird, looking more like Horton than the mother bird.
This struck me like an arrow, as I was reminded that God is just like that elephant, sitting and incubating us. We may reject him, but he is faithful to us, 100 percent. When he sent his son to the cross 2000 years ago, to give me life, he was being faithful to me, just like that egg in the story. He never gave up, he never let anything stop his faithfulness to me.
Isn't that enough to make you want to stop and embrace a loving God that incubates his children, not reject him. All God wants is us to allow him to be faithful in our life, it is so simple.
Look at it this way, if you allow God to incubate you, he will allow you to incubate him, and you and he will grow together. That is the simple truth. God wants each and every one of his children to look like him.
More to come on King Saul, but for now, marinate on this amazing love that we have been given as God is a father and loves us so much, 100 percent.
I Samuel 10:17-19 17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
Have you ever got the call or you happened to ease drop in on a conversation that is got people talking....Did you hear so and so did so and so.
Sure, we've all been there at some time in our life. "Are they really getting a divorce?" Talk is everywhere, just go to the check out line at the grocery store. People magazine, tabloids, newspapers are just a few that feed our inquireing minds. How can it be?
I imagine after reading this chapter, you may be thinking something similar, as I was shaking my head at Jacob's house. They deny God and all the incredible things he has done for them...the story of Joseph, remember that, the story of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt. The story of Joshua and the Promised Land. After all these amazing stories of God's sovereignty on his people, they didn't think twice to reject God and order a king from their clan.
God is sensitive to this request, and he knew at the foundations of the world that this would happen as God is never taken by surprises. King Saul is annointed by Samuel and when they show him off among the other people, he is the tallest amongst his clan. I am not going to focus on Saul at this point, I really want to focus on God.
We know why they rejected God as we uncovered the hidden truth of coveting from the previous post.
Do you think they really understood the measure of love that God had for them? I consider God to Jacob's house, or Israel, as an incubator.
You may think...do huh? Yes, that is right, God acted as an incubator to his people. Let's look at the definition of an incubator from a biological standpoint.
In biology, an incubator is a device used to grow and maintain of course microbiological cultures or cell cultures. The incubator maintains optimal temperature, humidity and other conditions such as the carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside.
He desired to grow and maintain them, keep them alive and steady, providing all the necessities that his children needed, such as land that flowed with milk and honey and protection from the Philestines. But now suddenly, his children want out of the incubator. If you are like me, I find this part of the story rather troublesome. The idea of stepping out of an incubator like all the other nations of the world sounds insane, but this is what they want.
So why did I entitle this God is faithful, 100 percent? Right after our devotion this morning, since Jacob is studying letter Hh in kindergarten, I found a story entitled, Horton Hatches an Egg. The story is about an mother bird that wants nothing more than to abandon her egg and put Horton the elephant up to the task. He sits and sits on this egg, developing a common phrase through out the story, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, I am an elephant faithful, one hundred percent." The egg eventually hatches and it is an elephant bird, looking more like Horton than the mother bird.
This struck me like an arrow, as I was reminded that God is just like that elephant, sitting and incubating us. We may reject him, but he is faithful to us, 100 percent. When he sent his son to the cross 2000 years ago, to give me life, he was being faithful to me, just like that egg in the story. He never gave up, he never let anything stop his faithfulness to me.
Isn't that enough to make you want to stop and embrace a loving God that incubates his children, not reject him. All God wants is us to allow him to be faithful in our life, it is so simple.
Look at it this way, if you allow God to incubate you, he will allow you to incubate him, and you and he will grow together. That is the simple truth. God wants each and every one of his children to look like him.
More to come on King Saul, but for now, marinate on this amazing love that we have been given as God is a father and loves us so much, 100 percent.
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