Not-So-Quiet-Time: 1 Samuel 8

At-Home Bible Guide for the Week of 6/7

Day 1: 1-3
Samuel was a godly man, but his sons did not follow in his footsteps. Certainly, they had been raised to know God’s Word and to honor Him. However, they had turned away. This must have grieved Samuel. And when kids grow up and live ungodly lives, it still grieves parents today. But God can bring home the wanderers. God can rescue the lost sheep. Pray today that God would keep you following Him. And pray that your family would pursue Him as well.

Day 2: Verses 4-6
Since the lives of Samuel’s sons weren’t characterized by the faithfulness that is required of God’s leaders, the people were calling out for a king. The sin of Samuel’s sons led to the sins of the people. While we are all responsible for our own sin, we need to see that our sins don’t operate in a vacuum; they affect others around us. When Samuel experienced disappointment because of the people and because of his sons, he turned to God. Where do you go with your discouragement? Bring how you really feel to the Lord. He hears. He cares.

Day 3: Verses 7-9
God doesn’t give up on his people. But He does allow us to experience the consequences of our choices. The punishment for our sins fell on Christ, but there are still consequences—broken relationships, loss, pain—that we experience as forgiven sinners. Israel had been continually rejecting God’s kingship, and now God was giving them what they asked for. Ask God to help you and your family not to reject Him as your ruler today. His ways are the way to joy.

Day 4: Verses 10-18
The people thought that an earthly king would make their lives better. But Samuel explained the high cost that would accompany a king. The king would take a portion of the people’s family, land, time, wealth, and more. Today, God’s people can still think that it will be worth it to pursue life their own way rather than God’s way. There is a price tag for everything we do: it will cost us to follow Christ or to follow our own way. Pray that God would give you and your family the wisdom to choose his ways.

Day 5: Verses 19-22
In today’s passage, the people underline their real desire: to be “like all the nations” (20). They had bought into the lie that they should be like everyone else. We all want “a king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles,” but they were missing the fact that God was doing that for them. Who had rescued them from Egyptians, Midianites, and Philistines? The Lord. Will you trust the Lord to lead you and your family? He can do it better than any counterfeit king. Ask Him to help you trust Him and his ways.

Catechism Connection: 36
As we grow in godliness, we grow in joy, assurance, and peace. However, when we choose sin, the consequences can include a loss of “peace of conscience” and “joy in the Holy Ghost” (WSC 36). God may, for a season, turn us over to the consequences of our sins, so that those consequences will drive us to our knees and press us toward Him (WCF 5.5).

Monthly Memory: 1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.