Group: Adult

When I meditate on the reality that the very same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in me, I am overwhelmed with a sense of gratefulness. The precious gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in my physical body is one of the greatest blessings that I have received from the Lord. Through His abiding presence, I am able to have a continual spring of God’s river of life flowing through and ministering to every part of my being. No matter what is happening around me, whether it is perceived as good or bad, the awareness of His Spirit working in me to accomplish His will and purpose transcends my fears and enables me to overcome all adversity. Contemplation on His amazing love sets me free from every thought of anger, anxiety and despair. May His glorious name be praised forever and ever!

The word “wait” is so challenging for me. To be still and wait for the Lord feels completely countercultural. Our society values productivity above all else—time is money, and every second of the day is planned to maximize efficiency. Yet, in 1 Samuel, David shows us a different perspective: he chooses to spend his time waiting based on God leading him, not his own agenda.

Many of us are waiting for something right now. Maybe it’s an answer about a job, a home, or a medical issue. Maybe you’re waiting to be reunited with family, for a difficult season to end, or for a long-anticipated season to begin. In those moments of waiting, it’s easy to focus on how God will work once the waiting is over. But our focus should shift: How is God working right now, in the midst of the waiting?

David opened his heart to receive from God during his waiting. He asked God to teach him, lead him, and protect him. These are all ways God shows up in our lives—ways we can experience His presence even while we wait. But if we’re unable to sit still and recognize God in the waiting, we risk missing these precious moments where He is actively working in us, simply because we dislike the setting of waiting.

So, what are you waiting for? How can you take this time—from now until the waiting ends—to pause and invite God into this space with you? Ask Him to use this season to shape you, teach you, and grow you. I truly believe waiting is one of the best opportunities to go deeper in your relationship with God.

I love this simple but powerful verse. It becomes especially meaningful to me during times when I struggle with doubting God. There have been moments when I’ve questioned whether I’m foolish to believe everything the Bible says. In those moments, I feel many emotions—shame for doubting, confusion about what is real, and uncertainty about how to return to assurance in God.

You won’t always feel like God is right there—and that’s okay because God is not a feeling. I used to visit an orphanage in Mexico frequently, and the only Spanish phrase I knew was “Dios es amor,” which means “God is love.” It’s so important to understand the connection between God and love. For example, I love my wife more than words can explain, but I don’t feel like jumping with joy around her every second of every day. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her—because love is more than a feeling.

Similarly, when I don’t feel like God is there and I wrestle with doubts, I’m reminded that my relationship with Him goes beyond feelings. I think of verses like 2 Samuel 7:16, which reminds us that even if no one on Earth believed in God, it wouldn’t change a single thing about who He is or what He’s done—from creation to eternity.

In David’s Psalms, we often see him being honest with God about his doubts, struggles, and pain. Yet, he always remembers who God is—faithful, good, and unchanging. This reflection leads him to praise God, even in the midst of doubt.

I feel deeply convicted that we, too, should approach God the way David did. Be real with Him. He already knows your life is far from perfect, and He wants you to share your heart with Him. Then, remember how God describes Himself in the Shema. Finally, praise Him—even in the darkness—and watch as He multiplies what little faith and trust you bring, transforming it into an overflowing wellspring of life.

Every Wednesday, I attend the middle and high school lunches to get to know more students. I always bring a bunch of chocolate because free food is what makes me cool, to them. I usually ask the students I know to share a verse if they want a piece of candy. This verse is one of the most common ones I hear, which is incredible because I wish I had known this verse earlier in my life. In middle school I remember a kid putting his hand around my arm to show others how skinny I was. That started a journey of me finding my worth through muscles and sports. I knew God was important, but where I saw my value coming from led to my time, effort, and passion to go toward those things before going to God. I let a mirror and a scale tell me how my day would be.

In college, it was not a simple “I have always been wrong about how I view myself” moment; rather, it was a slower transition of understanding that God just cared about our hearts. I began to understand that when I would compare myself to others, I was picking apart a magnificent painting in front of the artist. We were knit together in our mother’s wombs, which takes time, attention, and care. The first anti-slavery protest in America was done by Quakers because of two verses in the Bible. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and that we are all made in the image of God. Those two verses span thousands of years apart in the biblical narrative. In the middle of them, we get this verse in 1st Samuel that shows God has always operated that everyone is made magnificently in His image. The beautiful animals are vast and powerful, with all kinds of colors and shapes, but they are not made in the image of God. The angels are, beyond my understanding, cool and powerful, but they are not even made in the image of God.

You are made in the image of God. Just as the Holy Spirit led Samuel to look at the heart instead of the outward appearance, I believe the Holy Spirit calls us to continuously do this in our lives. Maybe we need to judge the appearances of strangers less, or maybe we need to be reminded that there is an artist who designed us and did not just leave us to survive but is still active in our lives.

 

This passage makes me sigh. “Really, Israel?” It is almost like the Israelite’s greatest skill is complaining and discontentment. God responds with such patience and care and leaves me feeling even more angry at the Israelites until I realize that my whole life, I have acted just like them. I have been on mission trips and have seen extreme poverty, as an entire school in Honduras was made out of mud, bricks, and no electricity. I have seen an orphanage in Mexico housing 10 kids in a house the same size I live in today. I have seen their contentment and joy from the Lord. Still, when I am home, I complain about the wifi being slow, I complain about having to clean so much, I complain about any car troubles, and I ask “God, why me?”.

God still hears those prayers; He still cares no matter how silly or discontent my prayers are. God makes a good point in verse 8 on how He might have desired the Israelites to go about their requests for a new king. God mentions that the Israelites have done it since He took them out of Egypt, not to only give a timeline of how crazy their complaining is but to also suggest maybe they should look back and remember how God has delivered them time and time again. If they did remember God’s faithfulness, they would still want to pray for a new king because they were right; they needed a decent leader. They would likely have changed how they prayed. The Israelites could have gone to Samuel to mention how God has done so many miracles for them and how he can do it again by raising up a good leader if it is in His will for them.

That is the challenge from this verse: not to stop praying for the silly small things in life but rather have a more genuine heart posture towards God when I do it. When my car breaks in any way, I can either complain to God for the inconvenience, or I can thank God I even have a car that needs fixing in the first place and then ask God to help me in my inconvenience as He has repeatedly. Pray that even if God says “no” or “not yet,” you will still trust and praise Him. All of our challenges this week are not to pray less but to pray with remembrance and gentleness.

I am so grateful that my relationship with the Lord was initiated by Him and not me. I have tried on numerous occasions to be my own, self-appointed administrator in charge of my life and I have failed miserably. I have started many projects and never finished them. They failed because the foundation on which I was building them came from a faulty perspective. When I heard the gospel and came to an understanding of what it really meant, I gradually developed confidence that I could start my life over on a new foundation that had eternal significance. From the beginning of my adventure with Jesus my mind has been progressively transformed from uncertainty to seeing life more and more from His perspective. He provided a wonderful support system upon which I was able to build a new life. He surrounded me with people that were encouraging and helpful in establishing a lifestyle which has Him in the center. I thank God for His faithfulness. Surrender to Him is still an act of my will but by submitting the outcomes to Him makes it possible for me to be free from the anxiety and worry about the future. I know that no matter what happens, He is going to make it work for good.

There was a time when I really worked hard at administration but that led to several problems. I was putting my confidence in my ability to organize instead of focusing on the Lord. It didn’t come natural to me so I had to diligently study to learn techniques which enabled me to be a better administrator. On numerous occasions I used the administrative skills I learned to gain an advantage. That led to another serious problem I had which was the false assumption that I was in control. When I realized what was happening, the Lord showed me how I was trusting in my own resourcefulness. There is nothing wrong with being orderly because that is how God does things. But when I tried to accomplish my goals proficiently, I was missing out on fellowship with the Lord because I didn’t include Him in the things I was doing. Now, I am leaving the administration of events in His hands. What I want, more than anything else, is to place my focus on His instructions for me by being sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It makes every day an adventure when I turn my itinerary over to Him and flow with the events He is orchestrating in my life. Sometimes that includes doing administrative activities, but achieving it His way enables me to maintain my fellowship with Him.

The Bible has been a lamp to guide me in the way the Lord wants me to live. As a young Christian I only studied passages that were easy for me to understand. There were some portions of Scripture that seemed to be in conflict with other parts and that troubled me. I am grateful that He led me to a group of people who emphasized memorizing Scripture. It was challenging but it turned out to be one of the wisest decisions I made as a follower of Jesus Christ. As I listened to sincere and intelligent theologians reach different conclusions about Scripture it became evident to me that I simply needed to trust God. I am grateful that He continued to bring people into my life that helped me to see that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. In those circumstances where I am not absolutely certain about a theological doctrine, I can be confident that He is always faithful to His Word. I pray that He will continue to give me childlike faith to believe Him in every situation.

When I read the first few verses in this passage I am filled with peace. The King of Peace is describing His character, and I have seen Him do so many of these things in my own life. God has shown me compassion and mercy. He has been slow to anger when I have gotten things wrong and rebelled against Him. He has shown me love and faithfulness when I didn’t deserve it. I have no doubt that anyone who knows Christ recognizes the same thing.

But then the scripture says “I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty.” When read this I find myself asking — where is the line? He forgives some, but then does not excuse others?

The line for us is Christ. Now that Jesus has fulfilled the law and has made us right before God, we are forgiven of our iniquity, rebellion and sin. When we accept Christ, God uses our right standing with Him to lavish love onto generations after us, and He sets free the generational sin that would have gone on had we not given ourselves over to Christ. The gospel message is woven throughout scripture, and God uses His people to bless His creation over and over, “to a thousand generations.”

Looking at the Old Testament timeline, Abraham was considered righteous because of the faith he had in God. As we have learned in the King of Kings series, Abraham came before Moses and before the law that God gave Moses on the top of Mount Sinai.

Many times in my walk with God I have drawn the false conclusion that there is some way to earn God’s love; that if I can just follow the rules perfectly, I will have God’s favor. But when we look at how God set up his redemptive plan, we see from the very beginning that our salvation is not dependent on what we do, but on our faith in Him. Our redemption is not dependent on our works. In fact, when I try to follow all the rules and get everything right, it further proves my need for God’s grace. The law is like a mirror, showing me all the reasons I need to rely on God’s strength and love and not my own.

At the very beginning of God’s redemptive plan, he showed that it was by faith, not the law, that brought our justification. That plan has been woven through scripture and is fulfilled on the Cross. Praise God that our freedom through the death and resurrection of Jesus was His plan all along.