1 Samuel 8:1-9:27 ~ John 6:22-42 ~ Psalm 106:32-48 ~ Proverbs 14:34-35
Today is May 10th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and I guess I’m ready. I have this little preflight checklist in my mind, but I think we’re ready. Coffee is here. Microphone is here. Headphones are here. Sound is happening. Everything is ready to go. Are you ready? Okay, here we go.
We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and our reading from the Old Testament will be from 1 Samuel. We’re getting to know Samuel. We learned of his childhood and the events that were surrounding the time of his life, some of the things that were going on. He is a prophet in the land and a judge in the land, a ruler, a leader, but a new context for leadership is about to enter the story. So we’ll dive in. 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1 through 9:27 today.
Commentary
So in the book of 1 Samuel today we meet somebody that we’re going to get to know quite a bit better. His name is Saul and he’s from the tribe of Benjamin. You’ll remember the tribe of Benjamin from just a couple days ago in the book of Judges. We watched the tribe of Benjamin just about be wiped out from the face of the earth and, over time, little by little they’ve been growing. They’ll never be the biggest tribe. They are the smallest tribe. Saul comes from this tribe. We’re going to get to know his story quite well. Not a bunch of spoilers here. Just remember, look into Saul’s life as a mirror because there are things in Saul that we will find in ourselves. That is how the Bible really works, I have found. We can read history. We can read stories. We can read customs. We can read rituals. They are fascinating and very, very interesting, but when the Bible becomes a mirror, then it changes us. Saul’s story is extraordinary, but the things that motivate Saul’s heart are the things that pull us as well, so there is much to learn there.
When we get to the book of John today we have something very, very fascinating going on. It kind of connects with what I was just saying. Jesus has come into the world and he’s speaking light into the world and he’s showing people how to look at the world and how to look at their lives and how to live and it is connecting, but he is speaking far more than just the physical issues of any given day. Yes, those are important things, but there is more going on. Jesus is trying to say there is more going on and expose that to show a more holistic look at an integrated spirituality and physicality.
We are spiritual beings and we are physical beings and Jesus’ message is appealing to the heart, which is why he uses stories a lot, why he tries to unpack concepts that people have been blinded to for so long, including us. So we kind of see that. Jesus has just fed 5000 people and walked on water. That was in yesterday’s reading, so today’s reading is the next day and people are trying to figure out where Jesus went and they eventually find him in Capernaum. It is here that we see what is going on. We can see the undertow of conversation.
Jesus has just fed 5000 people. This looks like the ancient story that these people know. They know that in their history there was a season where they were wandering in the wilderness and they had nothing to eat and God fed them manna from heaven to sustain them. So when they find Jesus, Jesus says to them, “I guarantee you this. You’re not looking for me because you saw miracles. You’re looking for me because you ate as much of those loaves as you wanted.”
You can almost imagine what people were saying. Like, “We saw this happen. We ate this. Maybe this is bread from heaven. Somehow this is miraculous. We need more of this.”
And Jesus, as he’s having this conversation, shifts it like he always does. “Don’t work for food that spoils. Instead, work for the food that lasts into eternal life. This is the food that the Son of Man will give you.” So he’s turning it from the purely physical to a more comprehensive look at things.
So as they’re trying to get their mind around it, they just simply ask, “What does God want us to do?”
Jesus’ response to that (and that is a big question) is “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one he sent to you.”
They immediately move toward miracles. “What miracle are you going to perform?” And then they suggest the one that they would like Him to perform. “Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. Scripture says he gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
Jesus’ response is “I guarantee you Moses didn’t give bread from heaven. That’s my Father. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”
And they said what we would say. “Okay, great. Can I have some of that bread?”
Okay, so that is like a really, really open, important question. This is a time when Jesus answers back directly with the truth instead of an illustration. If you notice, when Jesus answers, when all of the questions have been answered and all of the illustrations have been given and he has to give the straight truth, this is when it offends people. This is when they can’t handle it. They can’t get their mind around it. They can’t quite make that leap from beyond just their physicality, from just beyond their physical senses to understand there really is way more going on in their existence than simply what their bodies can interpret.
So Jesus answers directly, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry. Whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. I’ve told you that you’ve seen me but you don’t believe in me, but everyone who the Father gives me will come and I will never turn away from anyone who comes to me.”
So the people want magic. They want manna and Jesus is shifting the story. “There is spiritual nourishment, there is a nourishment that informs all other hunger. There is a full that touches every other kind of hunger and I am it. So just come to me.” And even coming to Jesus, when we think of coming to Jesus, we have to acknowledge there is more going on than our physical senses can comprehend. There is more going on.
Prayer
Jesus, we want that bread of life. We want to never hunger and thirst again. We want to hunger and thirst for righteousness and your presence in our lives. But we realize, just like your hearers at this time, we’re very, very tethered to the input of our physical senses and so often believe this is really all there is. So everything that we have to do with you goes through that filter. Everything that we want, everything that we desire has something to do with circumstance as opposed to being drawn into a larger story, a bigger view, a greater understanding of a much bigger story that is going on in your kingdom on this earth. So come Holy Spirit, expand what we think that we know. Let our hearts reach out in truth for you, to be filled once again so that we will never hunger and thirst, and so that every other thing in our lives will be oriented properly because we are whole, we are full from within. Come Holy Spirit. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Good morning my fellow Dabbers. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I wanted to just reach out to you all and just let you know that I’m lifting up all the prayer requests. I listen to them. I write them down and I pray over them, interceding often when I’m in prayer. This is Pamela calling from Huntington, NY. Just thanking God for this wonderful, wonderful day and all of you. Just want to encourage those who are in marriages who are struggling, that God is able. I want you to hold onto that. And for those of you who are going through financial difficulty, the Lord is able to bless you as well, but you have to give in order to receive. Very, very important. You have to give in order to receive, giving your tithe, giving your offering, give to others and as you give, you’ll receive. God is a god of principle. I just wanted to say that. Continue to pray, please, for me and Pastor Gary. Don’t forget him. Keep him in your prayers. God bless everyone.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family. This is Lance in San Diego and it’s May 8th. Anyway, the first thing I want to let you guys know is I’m praying for all your prayers out there, every single one, and many others also. Many of us listen to every single prayer. Even if you’re on the Community Prayer Podcast for the week there, we get through all those and we pray for all those. If God puts anything on your heart to call about, you should just call in and trust God that we’ll be praying for you. And that’s kind of why I’m calling. God keeps putting something on my heart to call in and share about and that is to share about my experiences with fasting. A lot of people are fasting and I fast too. I’ve done some longer fasts in the past, so God just kind of put it on my heart to talk a little bit about that. I really don’t share…I haven’t really ever shared, but fasting for me has always been a very personal and spiritual tool that God has used in my life and I’ve always kept it private, as he talked about in Matthew 6, but I feel God is leading to share specifically how to prepare for a fast if you want to do a longer fast or if God is putting it on your heart to fast. And if God is putting it on your heart to fast and it keeps coming up, something in your heart you should try, fasting is a simple thing to do. All it is is not eating. Some people fast something, but what I’m talking about is fasting food. Simply two or three day fast to begin with. So over the next few days I’ll be calling in. I’m preparing for a fast. I’ll be going through my preparation phase where I first make sure I’m sleeping enough hours every night. I get to bed at 10:00 and the next week I’m going to start cutting out caffeine because I love my coffee like many of us do. It is sitting here at the desk looking at me. And then on the __ week I’ll be preparing my diet as well. So that is about my time. I’ll be calling in later on how I’m doing. Talk to you guys later. Bye.
Hi DAB family. This is Paula calling from Albuquerque. I’m going to try and talk fast, which I know I don’t normally do, but after listening to the Community Prayer from Saturday, what day was that, May 6th, I really felt led that I needed to call. Praise report: My little miracle grandson after nine weeks is off oxygen completely. He is gaining weight. He weighs like 8-½ pounds from 4 pounds when he was born. Please continue to pray for him, for his little system. He is not tolerating the formula that they have him on. We need provision for that. My kids need to both get back to work and keep their focus on that as well so they can move out and get their own place. Also I had asked prayer for my ex-husband. He had his surgery for colon cancer on Thursday. The doctors say that he is cancer free. I ask for continued prayers for my sweet friend Alaina here. I’ve called before. They said the cancer is spreading and they have only given her two options and she is refusing to accept what they say. The other thing is Annette, my eyes are just now drying after you reading that letter. I work for an organization that operates under this imaginary letter that we would get from our customers and what you read is a letter I would love to get from my own son. And I’m sure that there are others that feel the same way about their prodigals. Also praying for marriages, for addictions, for healing, for standing for the right thing. Thank you Joe. I love you guys and listening and praying as I go. Have a blessed week. Amen.
Hello, my name is Jackie from Vancouver in Canada. I am calling for our brother, I think you said your name was Ken from Orange County in California and you called because you’re struggling to know how to let go, how to give it to God and let go. I just had to call. I am way behind in listening and I listen every day. I wanted to tell you, my brother, that you are doing exactly right. You called in to ask for prayer. That is how to start to let go. I’ll just tell you from my experience I’ve had __ with a breakthrough to unrequited love, for actually being with someone and trying to let go. I know how difficult it is and I understand where you’re coming from. From my history, I woke up every day and I said to God every day, out loud “God, help me let go because I don’t know how to do it myself.” And then I prayed to the Holy Spirit, “Help me in the day to let go.” And you have to do that repeatedly every day out loud so that you’re saying it with your brain, with your heart, with your everything, asking for God to help you because you can’t let it go yourself, only God can. I love you. I’m praying for you. I’ve been there. It will be okay. Thanks family. I’m praying for all of you. Bye.
Hi, this is Daniel from Wisconsin and I have a praise report I’m sending your way. Oh, it is so great. My wife was under the knife a couple of days ago for a reported cyst the size of a football. Everything has been removed. It is benign. It is cancer free and it is just a miracle, just a miracle. We thank you. We thank you, Lord, for all that prayed for us. Again, this is Dan from Wisconsin giving praise for my wife Trudy. Thank you very much. Have a great day. Bye.