Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 12:12-25.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 12:12 (NIV) 
12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’–even though the LORD your God was your king. 

On verse 12:  Here we learn the most immediate reason why the Israelites wanted a human king so much: they felt threatened by the Ammonites and thus cried out for a king to save them.  They repeated the same mistake that their ancestors before them had made: trusting in human effort more than in God, forgetting that God was with them and looking only to people for help.  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 12:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 12:1 (NIV) 
1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you.

On verse 1:  Great leaders listen to the people.  That doesn’t mean the leader agrees with everything the people say or grants all of their requests.  Rather it’s about being sensitive to where the people are at.  You need to know where your people are at in order to lead them, and in order to know where your people are at, you need to listen.  Are you a good listener?  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 10:17-27.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 10:17-19 (NIV) 
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 calamities and distresses. And you have said, ‘No, set a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.” 

On verses 17-19:  What was so wrong with the Israelites demanding that they have a king to rule over them?  In doing so, the Israelites were rejecting God as their king, the very One who had successfully brought them out of slavery in Egypt and enabled them to conquer nations much greater than them. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 10:1-16.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Samuel 10:1-7 (NIV)
1  Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?
2  When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”‘

On verses 1-7:  Samuel anointed Saul king over Israel by pouring oil on Saul’s head.  What does it mean to anoint?  To anoint means to set apart for a special purpose.

Similarly, to prepare us for our mission and life purpose, God anointed us.  Every Christian is anointed by God to serve Him and to live for Him (see 1 John 2:20).  As 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “…He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”