Handling injustice the wrong way (1 Sam 25:1-22)
1 Sam 25:1-22 Those who hold power today frequently evoke suspicion. Politicians are often assumed to use power for their own benefit, governments are suspected by conspiracy theorists of plotting to control society, bosses at work may be supposed to…
How to read opportunities (1 Samuel 24)
1 Sam 24:1-22 Interpreting correctly what God is doing in our lives is a difficult task. Sometimes situations develop, which look like opportunities: a job offer, the potential for a new relationship, a fresh direction for our life. We see…
God’s will cannot fail (1 Sam 23:15-29)
1 Sam 23:15-29 After four years of theological study in the UK (undergrad and masters), I was running out of financial support. What money I had saved went into previous years of study and my home church was not interested…
How we can overcome self-absorption (1 Sam 23:1-14)
1 Sam 23:1-14 One of the side-effects of suffering, whether it is ongoing illness and pain, a loss of a loved one or injustice and hurt, is that what is happening to us can become all-consuming. There is no emotional…
The Way through Suffering (1 Samuel 22)
1 Sam 22:1-23 In my previous post (The Way Out of Playing the Victim), we have seen Saul’s complaints, his finger pointing, while he laid the blame for his difficulties on others. In the process, he greatly deceived himself and…
The way out of playing the victim (1 Samuel 22)
1 Sam 22:1-23 I was working on reception duty at a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, Israel, when three tourists walked in. ‘Don’t tell her we have any money’, muttered one to the other in Hungarian. They missed their cruise…
God’s patient grace (1 Samuel 21)
1 Sam 21:1-15 How is it that when it comes to judging someone’s motivation whom we dislike, we see it in the worst possible light, but when it comes to our own, we attribute the best intentions to ourselves? Motivation…
What it takes to be loyal to God (1 Sam 20:24-42)
1 Sam 20:24-42 After a concert with a group from her church, a Christian classmate was walking home the same way as another girl who had recently joined her church. The girl, however, seemed a little confused and did not…
How to acknowledge our rightful king? (1 Sam 20:1-23)
1 Sam 20:1-23 In my gap year, when I was a volunteer in a youth hostel in Israel, I worked together with a girl my age who had come to faith not long before I arrived. She had a lot…
How God works behind the scenes (1 Samuel 19)
1 Sam 19:1-24 In secondary school, I had a teacher who seemed a bit slow on the uptake. After a particular incident, I made a mocking comment about her in the break, which was overheard by another teacher. He gave…