Good day dear friends.
Note of thanks: Our sister Glenda Martin received a good report this past week. Louise Pollard, under hospice care, is responding very well to new treatment. Sally Kingsbury received a very good report as well.
Prayers for Pat Dentino, undergoing surgery today. And for our sister Billy Hardesty also having surgery today. May the Lord bless them with a great victory through these.
It's election day and that's what this message will be about. But first, here is the study guide:
Tuesday: Read 1 Samuel 8:4-20. In this passage the people make a drastic decision about their form of government. This passage shows who they were rejecting and what they were agreeing to when they made the decision. How would you have “voted” had you been present in that group during that time? TODAY IS ELECTION DAY! GO VOTE!
Here is that text in The Message version:
8:4 Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. 5 They presented their case: "Look, you're an old man, and your sons aren't following in your footsteps. Here's what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else." 6 When Samuel heard their demand - "Give us a king to rule us!" - he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to God. 7 God answered Samuel, "Go ahead and do what they're asking. They are not rejecting you. They've rejected me as their King. 8 From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they've been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they're doing it to you. 9 So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they're in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they're likely to get from a king." 10 So Samuel told them, delivered God's warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. 11 He said, "This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates. He'll take your sons and make soldiers of them - chariotry, cavalry, infantry, 12 regimented in battalions and squadrons. He'll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. 13 He'll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. 14 He'll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. 15 He'll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. 16 Your prize workers and best animals he'll take for his own use. 17 He'll lay a tax on your flocks and you'll end up no better than slaves. 18 The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don't expect God to answer." 19 But the people wouldn't listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We will have a king to rule us! 20 Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles."
"It's the cost of doing business," one could easily say to the above passage, but you realize 1) The rejected God as their king, 2) they no longer wanted to be "an example to the nations," 3) they would pay any price. God told Samuel to tell them honestly: 1) you'll lose your sons, 2) you'll lose your daughters, 3) you'll lose your land, 4) possessions, 5) start paying taxes, 6) you yourselves will be forced to work on the king's land, 7) you'll lose your prize animals and livestock. What a price just to say, "We're like everybody else!" And sadly, they put their faith and trust in humans rather than God. Reread that last verse in this passage. "Our king will rule us, lead us, and fight our battles." What a way to vote.
How many times haven't we voted in that way as well? We vote for ourselves or our friends and without realizing it, we're voting against God himself.
Today as you cast your vote, please remember all that God has entrusted to us and let us vote in a way that glorifies God; vote compassion, vote love, vote in a way that cares for "the least of these." Pray before you vote. Familiarize yourself with all that is before us and then go and make a difference!
PRAYER: God of life, we thank you for the freedoms, precious and costly that they are, and we thank you for the right we have to vote. Let us use our vote to serve You. Let us seek to vote in a way that is compassionate, loving, and caring for the least of these. We pray in the name of He who paid the price, Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
