Our Daily Bread 23rd June 2020 Devotional – Underestimating Ourselves
TUESDAY’S TOPIC: UNDERESTIMATING OURSELVES
Bible in A Year: Esther 9–10; Acts 7:1–21
Key Scripture: Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.” – 1 Samuel 15:17
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:10–18 (NIV)
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’
- Insight: Our Daily Bread 23rd June 2020 Devotional Tuesday
Samuel was the last of the judges to rule over the Israelites. When he became old, the people rejected him and instead asked for a king to rule them so they could be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5, 19–20). This request displeased Samuel (v. 6) and God, who had wanted the Israelites to be different from those around them.
But God granted their request and acknowledged that the Israelites were rejecting Him, not Samuel (vv. 7–9). Samuel anointed Saul as king (ch. 9; 11:12–15); however, God eventually rejected Saul for disobedience (13:13; ch. 15). He was replaced by David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (13:14).
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Today’s Message On Our Daily Bread 23rd June 2020 Devotional
The young man became his team’s captain. The professional sports squad was now led by a mild-mannered kid who barely needed to shave. His first press conference was underwhelming. He kept deferring to the coach and to his teammates, and mumbled clichés about just trying to do his job.
The team performed poorly that season, and by the end of it the young captain had been traded. He didn’t grasp that he’d been entrusted with the authority to lead, or maybe he never believed he could.
Due to his failures, Saul was “small in [his] own eyes” (1 Samuel 15:17)—which is a funny thing to say about a guy who’s described as being tall. He was literally head and shoulders above the rest (9:2). And yet that wasn’t how he saw himself. In fact, his actions in the chapter show him trying to win the approval of the people. He hadn’t fully grasped that God—not people—had chosen him and given him a mission.
But Saul’s mistake is a picture of every human being’s failure: we can miss that we were made in God’s image to reflect His rule, and end up misusing our authority—spreading destruction in the world. To undo this, we need to return to God: to let the Father define us by His love, to let Him fill us with the Spirit, and to let Jesus send us out into the world. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect: What assignment has God given you that you don’t think you have the power to do? Why is it vital to have your identity based in what God says is true?
Prayer: Dear Father, give me eyes to see myself as You see me, and grant me the grace to faithfully carry out the calling You’ve entrusted to me.
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Our Daily Bread 22nd June 2020 Devotional
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