Hearing the Music

Don't Make It Rare

And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.   (I Sam 3:1)

I enjoy my steaks rare, medium rare at most. Keep the flavor, keep the juices. Please don't overcook it. But the rarity described in I Samuel with regards to the word of the Lord is not a rarity that I want any part of. We remember that Samuel's time was the time of the judges when people did what was right in their own eyes. They had little interest in the word of the Lord, for that would put a crimp in their style. And, as is often the case, God seemed to give the people what they wanted. Though he remained their God and was in a real way their King, his prophetic word was rare in those days; at least until the boy, Samuel.

We live in a society where the word is plentiful. We literally have copies of the Bible that we don't know what to do with, in addition to all the digital access that we desire. Accessibility is not an issue. But is the word rare?  

I am reminded of the Psalms, whose very opening lays out the path for the blessed life. Blessed is the one whose "delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:2). In Psalm 19 the Psalmist declares the beauties of the word in terms of riches and delicacies, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:10) When we come to Psalm 119 we encounter 176 verses dedicated to the beauty of the word of God. In this Psalm we see how God's word rejoices the heart, makes wise the simple, revives the soul, brings comfort in affliction, lays a path for purity, and holds forth justice for the oppressed. It is sweeter than honey indeed!

This Sunday we will be looking together at I Samuel 3. It is a chapter about the word; about hearing it, longing for it, allowing it to change our lives and direct our paths. It is a passage that leads us to The Word; the One who was made flesh and dwelt among us. I look forward to studying it with you!

Photo by Elen Ogannisyan on Unsplash

Whose Story Is It?

If you were around last week you know that we have embarked on a study of 1st Samuel. It is a book that is filled with many memorable stories: the Lord calling to the boy Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant and the Philistine god Dagon, David and Saul, David and Goliath, David and Jonathan, etc... Last week we talked about the importance of identifying a "melodic line", learning to recognize themes at work, understanding the storyline of the scriptures. But what about these individual stories? How do we approach each of them?

I love the way that Eugene Peterson addresses this question in his intro to Samuel in the Message:

"... the biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us “Live up to this”; nor is it to set out a system of doctrine and say, “Think like this and you will live well.” The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, “Live into this. This is what it looks like to be human; this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings.” We do violence to the biblical revelation when we “use” it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of “boutique spirituality”—God as decoration, God as enhancement. The Samuel narrative will not allow that. In the reading, as we submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves."

This certainly fits with the overall melodic line that we looked at last week, a refrain that highlights God; who He is, what He is up to in His world, and our very present hope. And I love how Peterson says that there is no picking and choosing when it comes to Biblical stories, but rather we must "submit our lives to what we read"; not see God in our stories, but rather see ourselves in His.

Friends, the only way that we will be able to really do this is through humble, prayerful reading. This week we will be looking at the material in I Samuel 1 and 2 that surrounds Hannah's prayer. Here we will see the struggle of Hannah and get a better read on what is happening in the nation of Israel. Like Peterson says, may we submit our lives to the Word. May God truly give us eyes to see and hearts to embrace His story.

Recognizing the King

 In a 2016 interview, Australian pastor/author Mark Sayers has the following to say:    

Post-Christianity is ultimately the project of the West to move beyond Christianity, whilst feasting upon its fruit. Thus it constantly offers us options and off ramps, in which we seemingly have what we enjoy about faith, but without the sacrifices and commitments. It does not demand that we become apostates rather that we reshape our faith to suit the contours of the day, and in the process offers us the promise of tangible freedoms and pleasures for doing so. It does not challenge our faith head on in a kind of apologetics debate; rather it uses soft power, offering a continual background hum of options and incentives which eat away at our commitments. We are offered the mirage that we can have community without commitment, faith without discipleship, the kingdom without the King. 

The interview is now seven years old, but that last line has stuck with me as being so true to the human condition. We want the fruit of our labors without the labor part. Applied to God, we want all the benefits that relationship with God produces, but we don't want the hard work of pursuing and living in a relationship. In particular, that descriptor of modern people, we desire a kingdom without the King, seems quite apt and is part of an old, old story that we are going to be picking up in Samuel over the course of the spring and summer.

Samuel (1st and 2nd is really all one narrative) is a book about kingship. Coming on the heels of the Judges when "there was no king in Israel" and "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25); we encounter the stories of Samuel (the kingmaker), Saul (the king like the nations), and David (the king of YHWH's own choosing). Israel is striving after the shalom of living in covenant with YHWH, all the while failing to acknowledge YHWH as their one, true King with disastrous results all around. But through it all YHWH remains committed to his people, repeatedly saving them from themselves and even granting them an earthly king from whose line will come the ultimate King, our Lord Jesus Christ.

This week we are going to look at the the overarching storyline of Samuel. In 1 Samuel 1:1-10, 2 Samuel 1:17-27, and 2 Samuel 22 we encounter three songs all centered around the theme of kingship. These songs capture the faithfulness of YHWH despite the unfaithfulness of humanity and connect the book of Samuel to the overall storyline of the scripture in which we realize that YHWH is the King for whom our hearts truly long. As we study this book together the question that will be before us will be one of fealty. After all, who wants to be part of a kingdom without a King?

Photo by William Krause on Unsplash