Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 16:14-23.  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 16:14-15 (NIV) 
14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. 
15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 

On verses 14-15:  Yesterday in verse 13 we read about how the Holy Spirit came upon David in power.  Conversely, in verse 14 we see how the Holy Spirit had departed from Saul and now an evil spirit was tormenting him.  Verses 14 and 15 say that this evil spirit was from God. Does God really send evil spirits?  Remember that throughout much of the Old Testament, the mindset was that everything — both good and bad — comes directly from God. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 15:17-35.  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 15:17-19 (NIV) 
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 
18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ 
19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” 

On verses 17-19:  Samuel reminds Saul of three important facts: (1) it was because of God that Saul became king of Israel (v17); (2) even as king, Saul was still accountable to God for his actions (v18); (3) by not doing what God told him to do, Saul disobeyed God (v19).  What can we learn from this? We are all accountable to God.  All of us — including the most “successful”, powerful or experienced among us — must answer to God for the way we live our lives.  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 14:47-52.  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 14:47-48 (NIV) 
47 After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them. 
48 He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of those who had plundered them. 

On verses 47-48:  Saul indeed faced challenges on every side: to the east he battled the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites; to the north he contended with the kings of Zobah; to the west he fought the Philistines; and to the south, the Amalekites.  Yet verse 47 says that “wherever he went, he was victorious” and God granted Saul success.  I pray the same for you.  You may feel like you are facing challenges on every side right now.  But like Saul in verse 47, I pray that with God’s help and for God’s glory you will be victorious and successful wherever you turn. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 14:1-23.  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 14:1-23 (NIV)
1  One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
2  Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men,
3  among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

On verses 1-23:  Here we see how powerful it is when even two of God’s people are united in purpose.

Jonathan decides to attack one of the Philistine outposts, and he tells his young armor-bearer to come along.  I love the armor-bearer’s response: “Do all that you have in mind.  Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” (v7)  And indeed when Jonathan went up toward the Philistine outpost, his armor-bearer was “right behind him” (v13).  While Jonathan went ahead and attacked the Philistines, his armor-bearer “followed and killed behind him” (v13).  Together, against the odds, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed 20 Philistines.

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.