Bible Journey > I Samuel

Here are my thoughts and highlights from I Samuel as I continue my journey through the Bible:

• Hannah prayed and "God began making the necessary arrangements in response to what she had asked." I’m still amazed that God responds to what I ask for.
• I’ve seen this over and over again. God "rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope."
• At one point Samuel responded to God by saying, "Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen." When I’m praying, I think I talk too much.
• God answered one man’s prayer for a nation. I wonder if he would still do that today?
• OK. I admit it. I laugh every time we sing that hymn about "raising my Ebenezer." Turns out Ebenezer means "rock of help." It’s kind of like marking a moment that God helped out. I’ll probably still laugh.
• "Samuel gave solid leadership to Israel his entire life." That’s how I’d like to be remembered.
• "Don’t turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul!" It matters which direction we’re facing. We’re either looking into the face of God, or our backs are to him. There’s really no in-between.
• "Do you think all God wants are sacrifices–empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production." Where in my life am I still staging a "lavish religious production?"
• "Looks aren’t everything… God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart."
• Whenever Saul got depressed, David would play music to calm him down. God uses music to heal.
• We tend to forget that David trained prior his battle with Goliath. He killed lions and bears. He may have been young, but he was prepared. That’s probably why he was confident.
• Jonathan was David’s number-one advocate and friend. Emily is mine.
• David shared, "None of us has touched a woman. I always do it this way when I’m on a mission: My men abstain from sex." No wonder no one wants to go to Africa–missions mean no sex.
• There once was a woman named Abigail and a man named Nabal. "The woman was intelligent and good-looking, the man brutish and mean." How come the jerks always get the good looking women?