1 Samuel 9-12 Lectio
Pause
As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly, to re-center my scattered senses upon the presence of God.
Father, as we draw near to You now, would You draw near to us? Speak to us, Lord. We are willing to hear whatever you have to say.
Take a moment to repeat a simple breath prayer to center yourself here in this moment. It could be something like, “Yahweh, you are here.”
Rejoice and Reflect
I choose to rejoice in God’s unconditional attention, joining with the ancient praise of all God’s people in the words of Psalms 40.
Psalm 40:11-13, 17
11 Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me. 12 For troubles surround me—too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage. 13 Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. 17 As for me, since I am poor and needy, let the Lord keep me in his thoughts. You are my helper and my savior. O my God, do not delay.
God keeps you in His thoughts. He is constantly attentive toward you. How often do you think that God forgets about you? Or how often do you wish He would forget about you? David is honest about this reality in his own life, “My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out…I have lost all courage.” When we come face to face with the horror of our sin, our natural tendency is to hide. We want to disappear and abandon ourselves because facing our shame is so painful. But even when you feel ashamed, God continues to give you His unconditional attention. He will never abandon you. As Joseph attests in Genesis 50, “20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good,” and Paul affirms in Romans 8, “28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” John Piper puts it this way, “Without approving of sin, God governs the sinful acts of men for His own good and wise purposes.”
The Israelites decided that their experiment of appointing judges to rule over them didn’t go very well. They saw that little changed when it came to freedom from their sin and greater trust in God even under this form of authority. Observing how the monarchical nations around them governed, they begged God to give them a king of their own. God tells Samuel to warn the Israelites that under a human king, people become soldiers, subjects, and slaves at the beck and call of the sovereign’s pleasure, missing out on the most beautiful promise God has ever made—that His people were created to be the object of His pleasure.
As I read the passage now, listen for a word or phrase that stands out to you. Where is God shining light in an area of darkness in your heart?
1 Samuel 12:19-20, 22
19 “Pray to the Lord your God for us, or we will die!” they all said to Samuel. “For now we have added to our sins by asking for a king.” 20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him. 22 The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name. For it has pleased the Lord to make you his very own people.
(Pause and savor.)
God doesn’t reveal anything to us that He doesn’t plan to heal, cover, or care for. Rather than hiding in shame when the Lord reveals a shortcoming, what might it look like to view this as an invitation to turn back to Him in worship instead?
Father, I am blown away by how gently You show me the areas of my heart that haven’t yet been transformed into Your own image and likeness. I am so grateful that rather than point fingers in blame, You call forth in invitation. Invitation to heal, cover, or care for. You are truly the best doctor. You see all that you made me to be, and it brings You great joy to liberate me from everything that gets in the way of that. My body is wasting away, Lord, but inwardly You are renewing me day by day. Wake me up, Lord! Wake us up! Help us not to be blind by our idolatry, doling out our affection and submission to any number of things we appoint to rule over our minds and hearts. Be our one King. Our one true desire. Set us free from everything that holds us back from You.
Ask
Choosing to be radically honest and remaining present with whatever comes to mind, take time to reflect on what you’ve become aware of. Ask yourself, “How is God inviting me once again to come to Him in humble surrender?”
(Pause to consider.)
Looking back on my life, what is one example of a time that God redeemed my sin and worked things together for His good?
(Pause to consider.)
Yield
As we return to the passage, we open our ears to hear Your word, and our hearts to yield to Your will once again.
1 Samuel 12:19-20, 22
19 “Pray to the Lord your God for us, or we will die!” they all said to Samuel. “For now we have added to our sins by asking for a king.” 20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him. 22 The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name. For it has pleased the Lord to make you his very own people.
Jesus, today I am so grateful that You have redeemed my own struggle with addiction, using it as a tool to break my false sense of self-sufficiency. I am so grateful that when my shame told me to run and hide, You called me forth into Your sweet embrace, promising, “I love you more than you could possibly know.” I don’t have words to express my gratitude for how You have healed, covered, and cared for me when I deserved to be given up on, so I offer you my whole heart. Continue to mold and shape to look more like Your own each day.
Let’s take a moment to rest together in God’s unconditional love towards us, enjoying His presence, and realizing that He alone is the One who will enable us to respond faithfully to whatever invitation we have received from Him tonight.
“Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord— now and always.” —Psalm 131
As you emerge from this place of personal encounter with God to the life in the company of others, resolve to carry this word with you and live it out in your daily life and activity
Continue to listen to the word throughout the coming days, being led deeper and deeper into its meaning, until it begins to live in you and you begin to embody the word in the world
Lord, as we close tonight, I pray the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Amen.