The Story is Better

Day 88

March 29, 2019

Reading: 2 Samuel 4-8, Psalm 88 Today’s story contains the peak of David’s life, and in many ways the peak of the story of the people of Israel. David’s choice to let God elevate him to leadership of the people of Israel has served him well, and now he is

Day 87

March 28, 2019

Reading: 2 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 87 Today we launch into the reign of David as king. If you grew up going to church and Sunday School, you will have heard many of the stories about David that appeared in 1 Samuel. It is less likely that you will know the

Day 86

March 27, 2019

1 Samuel 28-31, Psalm 86 We come today to the end of the first book of Samuel. This is an artificial division added by the translators of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek a couple hundred years before the birth of Jesus. While some of these creative divisions are awkward, in

Day 85

March 26, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 25-27, Psalm 85 The story of the book of Samuel for the last several chapters has been a parallel narrative of two men, one who had the title of king, and the other who acted like the king. While all this was happening, Samuel, the dedicated servant

Day 84

March 25, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 21-24, Psalm 84 Have you ever been desperate? Not desperate like I often am for an excellent burrito after a long day’s hike, but really, truly desperate. Without the slightest clue of what you were going to do next. It is a situation that is rarely faced

Day 83

March 24, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 18-20, Psalm 83 Well now, we’ve seen who the real king is now, haven’t we? Let’s review for a minute. The people of Israel ask for a king, a king like the nations around them. They get Saul, a king like the kings of the nations around

Day 82

March 23, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 15-17, Psalm 82 Well, Saul didn’t work out. We still need a worthy messiah in the book of Samuel, since we’ve done all this setup. Back to the hunt, yes? Well, not quite. Despite his mess ups, Saul is still the anointed one for the moment, and

Day 81

March 22, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 13-14, Psalm 81 Yesterday we saw the Ammonites defeated in a kind of reversal of the events at the end of Judges. Then the behavior of the people of Gibeah resulted in slaughter and the unwarranted destruction of Jabesh-Gilead. Here Saul comes from Gibeah with all of

Day 80

March 21, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 9-12, Psalm 80 Well, the people of Israel have really stepped in it now. That have asked God for a king to fight their battles for them. The entire story since Genesis 12 has been God separating a people who will not be like the nations around

Day 79

March 20, 2019

Reading: 1 Samuel 4-8, Psalm 79 Yesterday we saw that the book of Samuel will be about the search for a messiah. We know the history of the judges and how that went. The house of the priest Eli has failed to be faithful. We’ve been introduced to Samuel: a

The Story is Better