1 Samuel Day 2

Today we will read 1 Samuel 13-17 and 20. You can read it here.

There are a couple of parts of this text that together make up our devotion for today:

1 Sam 13:1-3
1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.
2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Micmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.

3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, "Let the Hebrews hear!"


and 1 Sam 16:8-12

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the LORD chosen this one." 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep."
Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives."

12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

I'm reading a new book called Do Hard Things, written by 18-year old twins Alex and Brett Harris. Their theory is that our teens are viewed as slackers who are only interested in drugs, alcohol, and sex because that's what society expects of them. And the 'good' kids, those who don't do those things, are held up as role models even when they aren't stretching themselves to accomplish big things.

There are no 'teenagers' in the Bible. However, if you look at the text, Jonathan couldn't have been much more than 15 years old (his dad was only 30), and he successfully led 1000 men into battle! If you read on, you'll see how the bravery (or maybe naivete) of his youth led him to kill the Philistines at their outpost!

And we've all heard of David -- so young that he was out tending the sheep and was initially left out when his father and Samuel examined the family to determine the new king. A short time later, his brothers were sent into the battle against the Philistines and David was too young to go. Since Jonathan led an army at age 15, I wonder how old David really was! Perhaps he was around 10 years old when he had the courage to act on God's will and kill Goliath.

What did you accomplish when you were a teenager -- I imagine most of us had a good time and just puttered around until we had to be adults after graduation (or even after college). What do you expect of your teens? How do our expectations impact the abilities teens have to do great things?