1 Samuel 2:22-4:22 ~ John 5:24-47 ~ Psalm 106:1-12 ~ Proverbs 14:30-31
Today is May 8th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. How are you? How are you today? How is everybody doing? I’m doing pretty good. I’m a little tired today but that happens. It is nothing that this little steamy cup of coffee to my left won’t cure and a little paying attention to the word of God. So by the end of this I’ll be awake. Hopefully you will, too.
We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and we just kind of dove into the book of 1 Samuel yesterday which is a turn of the page. I mean, we’re moving into a new era and so we will continue with the story of Samuel, chapter 2, verse 22 through 4, verse 22 today.
Commentary
So we’re two days into the book of 1 Samuel and pretty dramatic stories that we’ve encountered like the story of how Samuel was born and his mom praying in front of the Temple and all of that and then this story of great loss today in this battle where Phineas and Hophni, Eli the priest’s sons are killed, but the Ark of the Covenant is lost. This is such a huge, monumental thing because the Ark of the Covenant has been sitting in Shiloh almost for four centuries. So this is how far we are into the future, almost four centuries into the future since we crossed the Jordan River, since Moses. The Ark has been there and it is gone. It is lost. This identity of the children of Israel, this is gone and it is never going to come back to Shiloh.
Kind of intertwined with all of that is this boy Samuel, this boy who grows up before the Lord under the care of Eli, the high priest, and God calls him. All of this is happening kind of in the midst of all this, so everything we’ve done the last couple days is really this context for who Samuel is and now he is about to take center stage.
Then as we kind of go forward we’ll see throughout the rest of the Old Testament that there will be a prophetic voice among the children of Israel and then there will be sort of the national, the kingly, the royal voice setting the pace. Let’s not think they are two divisions of power. In some cases they certainly are. In others, God sends prophetic voices that nobody listens to at all.
So we see things moving much more toward nationalism, much more toward the royal side of things, and a much more secularized culture that will emerge. But that is yet out in front of us. We’re kind of at this point now where we have a context for who Samuel is and where things sit in history. We’ll watch him emerge as a leader over the next several days.
Prayer
Father, thank you for your word. We thank you for these stories, we thank you for this people, these friends that we’re meeting in the scriptures. They are our ancestors spiritually. We can see in many cases they had to face things much more difficult than we have to face and in other cases we see them making decisions of the heart that are just simply exactly like we do. So we find ourselves in their stories because it is the same story moving forward, onward. So we invite you, Jesus, into that story. I mean, this is your story. But we’re living in it and we invite you into that, in everything that we do and everything that we say and all that we are, that you would help us learn what it looks like to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Come Holy Spirit, we ask in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. Let’s pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, creator of all things, maker of heaven and earth. You made a way where there was no way, a way for us to be united with a perfect, just, and holy God. A way as we as imperfect and sinful people are made holy so that we can be with you. You sent your son Jesus to pave the way for us. Thank you, Daddy, for showing us through your word in Philippians 4:6 that we can change all our worries, all our anxieties into prayer and with thanksgiving and praise bring them directly onto the throne. Matthew 27:51 and Hebrews 10:19 show how Jesus made a way into the holy place. He ripped a curtain from the top to the bottom and he made a way for us so that we can come confidently to you, our awesome and powerful Father, the maker of all things, with our problems. When we see our problems in the presence of our magnificent Father they will shrink in comparison because we know your unconditional love will ensure that you’ll make all things work for our good so we can tell others of your wonderful works, Psalm 105. So we can tell them how Jesus’ finished work on the cross paid not only for our sins, but also paid in full for our sickness and disease. Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24 declare it. So Heavenly Father, by your Holy Spirit help us to grasp these truths in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen. Rick from Massachusetts.
Hi, this is Stephanie in Arizona. I’m a first-time caller. Been listening for a few years in the past, stopped, and now I’ve been listening again since the beginning of the year. I love this program. Thank you, Brian. I have been praying for you all, but there have been some on my heart that I wanted to go over and just let you guys know I’m praying for you. There was a girl in late December that said she needs help with giving into men and staying pure. Praying for you. There was Pat. I believe it was your son, the alcoholic. There was a man with a brain tumor going in for surgery. There was a woman whose I think it was 18, 20-year-old son who took the bullet. He saved her life by getting shot instead of her. Wow, our whole Bible study prayed for you. Prophetic Intercessor, North Carolina, your divorce. There is the mother with four children, praying for her new business to succeed so she can support herself and her children and not let a man in her life until a godly husband comes along. I’m just praying for your business and for everything to support you. Keagan, the bipolar problem, and Alicia I think is the mom in Kansas. There is the widow in Colorado with a son or daughter with a brain tumor possibly I believe. And her other son is going to Korea. My son is in the Navy. He’s 20 and he just got back from Korea and he had the best time of his life there, so praise the Lord on that. Marriages with infidelity, those who have overcome it, praying for you guys. The Central Washington couple, praying for you guys. I had a husband who cheated on me and I divorced, but my eyes have been opened to how much I need to strive to be more like Jesus and forgive. I love this family. Thank you Daily Audio Bible. Have a great day I’m praying for you all. God bless.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is your brother Regis calling from Nairobi. Just want to give a praise report. So grateful and thankful for everyone who prayed for me for a job, but it is not the same as the one I had before, but I have one and I can provide for the family. Thank you so much. I love you all. Thank you for praying for me. I pray with you and I trust God will come through for those who are trusting him also for a job or whatever comes. May God bless you so much. You are such a wonderful family. May God bless you. I love you. Regis calling from __. Bye.
This is Pamela from Northern California. I got a little nervous when I called in, but this is the main thing I have to say. I called a year ago and I asked you all to pray for Barry the carjacker, but what I didn’t really realize then was that it was a bigger miracle than Dave and I even realized. I could not manage to get my hand off the doorknob while Barry was driving away in my car and it wasn’t until I heard God say “let go” that I actually did let go and, of course, there were some injuries that occurred, but my goodness, the car did not run me over that day. Anyway, so what happened next was that God gave me the courage to go and to forgive Barry in the courtroom and it somehow felt like the most important thing I have ever done or said and what has followed since, so I’ve lived in this beautiful place of forgiving him and blessing him and praying for him and I ask you all to pray for him too. What happened this week is that I got a letter from him. We had been writing back and forth and he is still trying to think of what kind of community service he could do or how much money it would take to pay me for what happened. So it kind of startled me that he didn’t receive the forgiveness that I gave him and so there is a lesson in it right there, that Jesus of course has done everything necessary that we all might be forgiven, but that doesn’t mean that we really take him at his word and allow it in our lives. So will you please pray for me that I can write to Barry and I can communicate?
Good morning everybody. Hey, this is Annette A. from Oklahoma City. Hey, calling from the back of the blue condor motorcycle. I wanted to pray for Jeff from Virginia Tech. My brother, you have been on my heart since the day you called and I know that college can be such a crazy place. You step from one world right into the other, from the frying pan into the other. I am praying strength for you and that you are open to any relationship that might lead someone to the Lord, because boy, brother, it sure seems like from the news your place needs it. I’m also thanking the lady who called in. She didn’t understand why she was calling in about some new-sounding Bible that she found, but let me tell you that your prayer spoke to me because I was in the park at a place that it just felt like God was calling me to, to cry out for my son, and the words, it is like I just started and the words just failed me and it really kind of upset me that I couldn’t come up with words to pray for my son, but my heart was breaking and your message just spoke to me. I thank you for giving that and maybe not just to me but to many people who try to pray for others, but to know that Jesus and the intercessors are telling God and shouting on our behalf because they know our heart. And thank you. Thank you, Mike, as well for telling me that and then this lady here too backed that up. And I thank you guys for that. Christy from Kentucky, my sister, I love you so much and believe me, my heart is breaking because I have been there and I know how it feels to lose a loved one because I was right there when it happened. But believe me, God is there and he is with you and his angels are…