Justice and mercy (Intro to Micah)
In the last year or so, a NZ politician who professes to be a Christian was once asked what difference her faith makes to being a politician. Her response was, ‘Absolutely nothing’. Presumably, her answer is indicative of some defensiveness…
Reading the prophets – some preliminary comments
I suspect that many of us feel ambivalent about the prophetic books in the Bible. On the one hand, the passages of judgment on God’s people make for dismal reading. As we only get one side of the conversation and…
Does God change His mind? (1 Sam 15:29)
1 Sam 15:11, 29, 35 In 1 Sam 15:29, Samuel insists that God does not lie or change His mind like human beings do. In context, God has resolved to take the kingdom from Saul and He is not going…
The nature of true repentance (1 Sam 15:24-31)
1 Sam 15:24-31 A while ago, a football player was making a public apology in an interview on radio. He got drunk after a match and misbehaved thereby bringing his club into disrepute, so that he was kicked out. In…
When worship becomes a problem (1 Sam 15:17-23)
1 Sam 15:17-23 As Samuel spells out the Lord’s verdict on Saul, we may once again puzzle over the nature of his sin. The prophet recounts the command that was given to the king and focuses on the animals being…
How to mend a blunted conscience (1 Sam 15:10-16)
1 Sam 15:10-16 Some time ago now I heard of a married Christian man who left his wife and moved in with another woman yet claimed that he had never known the Lord to be so close to him. I…
Making God’s assessment our own (1 Sam 15:1-9)
1 Sam 15:1-9 After Communism fell in Hungary, many people including Christians were debating the rights and wrongs of calling those formerly in political office to book. There were appeals made to loving our enemies, the need to forgive and…
The destruction of the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:1-3)
1 Sam 15:1-3 The incident of Saul commanded by God to destroy the Amalekites sounds dangerously like genocide and is deeply troubling. How could God require such a thing? This is the kind of scenario that gives the Old Testament…
The challenge of what is possible (1 Sam 14:47-52)
1 Sam 14:47-52 As a young Christian, I read the story of Gladys Aylward, daughter of a postman and a postal worker, who left school at 14 and worked as a domestic servant. Sometime after she came to faith at…
Adrift without an anchor (1 Sam 14:36-46)
1 Sam 14:36-46 Saul’s life frequently reminds me of the unstable person tossed about like a wave in the wind (James 1:6-7). Although James speaks of the doubter, it is also a fair description of Saul’s volatility. Scripture often presents…