The period of Judges and Ruth was dark. God raised up Samuel as a prophet, priest, and judge when He answered childless Hannah’s fervent prayer. Samuel was committed to doing what was right in God’s sight, sadly Eli, the current priest, and sons were not. Eli’s dealings with his erring sons teaches us we have to do more than just talk. From Samuel, the last judge, to Saul, the first king, is a tumultuous time. Fear becomes Saul’s focus trumping growth in his relationship with God. Amazingly, Saul’s son, Jonathan, shines because he does put God first. Fearless faith enables Jonathan to humbly embrace David as the next king instead of himself.

David was anointed king before his famous fight with Goliath in chapter 17. We notice the timeline between David’s anointing as king and him actually becoming king was quite a gap. David’s brothers were about as encouraging as Joseph’s. Was it jealousy? Brothers can be a blessing or a burden, this is true in all relationships, let’s choose to be a Johnathan not an Eliab! The end of the first book of Samuel gets ugly for  King Saul, he’s blinded by jealousy and cannot stop chasing David, he’s not listening to Samuel, and he’s not obeying God. After Samuel dies, Saul decides to have a medium bring him up. Sad picture of lost opportunities, we can learn much for Saul. Carpe Diem - Seize the Day!

2 Samuel depicts the ups and downs of King David’s life. We learn that sin separates and that no one sins in a vacuum, we can get forgiveness most assuredly sin has consequences. David’s children suffered. Kudos to Nathan, who had the hard talk with David using the vehicle of story!

Through it all, David is a man after God’s own heart. Are we following his example as we meet the ups and downs of our earthly walk? Please join Kate and Sheila as they recap these two insightful books in God’s Holy Word! Blessings to you dear listeners, may we all GROW closer to God each day!