This post is part of my ongoing series of writing down my thoughts on the Bible passages I read each day. Some days I hope to have great insight that the Lord gives me, and many days, I will likely struggle through the text and not know what to write down based on what I read. My hope and prayer is that as I make this a habit, just as I did daily writing for so long, that I will improve on my ability to read and understand the passages I’m reading. Please keep in mind that many of these posts may be published late at night or with little time studying and simply be my first thoughts after reading. This is in no way a commentary that one should use to discern the Bible, but my own personal thoughts.
God doesn’t have to use you to accomplish his will.
In these chapters, you see the people of Israel put their last hope in the ark of the Lord instead of in God himself. God was upset with them and allowed the ark to be captured. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t there or was done doing what he wanted. As soon as the ark is pulled into Philistine captivity, God’s hand is against everywhere it goes until the people are like “bro, this thing is bad luck. Send it back to where it came from.”
It’s like a weapon that no one knows how to use and the owners took it for granted.
Also, Samuel has to be one of the coolest dudes in the Bible. He is like the side character that everyone likes more than the main characters. We’ll soon be introduced to Saul, and he almost seems unlikeable the way it describes him. But Samuel seems to always be faithful to the Lord and not trying to take center stage. A very humble seeming man.
Looking forward to seeing the rest of this adventure with him as judge over Israel.