Thursday, 25th March 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
I Samuel 11 – The Weakness of Men and the Sovereignty of God
Section One: V1-3 Walk in the Flesh
V1 the people of Jabesh Gilead did not come together with the Israelites to fight against the tribe of Benjamin when they sinned in the Book of Judges. They were a group of people, who only cared about themselves, they hid away and did not want to battle. And even when the Ammonites came out to attack them, they forgot about their identity in God’s kingdom as a people who could take possession of land, but chose to give in instead of seeking help and fighting back. Often we are also like the people of Jabesh Gilead, when enemy attacks us or when we face difficulties, we chose to rely on ourselves, to give up or compromise with the enemy instead of relying on God.
V2 the Ammonites did not just want victory, they also wanted to shame the Israelites by requesting the people of Jabesh Gilead to take out their right eye. The right eye is the strong eye for most people, and if the enemy took out the right eye of people in Jabesh Gilead, they would never be able to use their full strength but become slaves forever.
Furthermore, the whole Israelites will be put to shame. The people of Jabesh Gilead did not see their position as part of Israel, the people of God, they lived like hermits but they did not know they actions also would influence the whole Israel.
V3 when they faced problem they didn’t seek God, they went to people and thought if no one was willing to help then they would give in. They only relied on the things they could see on this earth. They didn’t know God had already chosen Saul to be their king! Because they lived in the cave and were unwilling to have fellowship with other tribes.
Section Two: V4-13 Walk in the Presence of God
V4 in the times of Judges, when the Israelites came together to fight against the tribe of Benjamin, they killed all the women. Later on, in order not to completely destroy one tribe of Israel, the Israelites decided to take the women of Jabesh Gilead to marry the men of Benjamin, so the two tribes become relatives. Therefore the people of Jabesh Gilead first sought help from the people of Benjamin in Gibeah.
V5 at the time, Saul was coming back from the field, even though he was already anointed by Samuel and by God as the king, but he was willing to keep quiet and wait for God’s timing. In Chapter 10, Samuel already instructed Saul to wait, and God gave Saul a new heart.
Everyone who follows God is given a new heart, so are we using this new heart? Or do we allow the old self to overtake the new heart God has given us? Saul changed himself when he received the new heart, he started to care for others. This contrasted with the people of Jabesh Gilead, who did not care about what happened to others.
V6-8 Saul was angry when he found out what had happened, so he cut the oxen into pieces and sent them out to all the Israelites. Saul was a farmer and when he did that he was also showing how he would no longer just care about his own field, but he was willing to stand up and live for God. The oxen is so important for a farmer, but Saul killed his oxen, put down himself and walked in God’s Way.
He also wanted all the Israelites to follow him and Samuel. Saul no longer saw himself, but he knew that he could be the king was also because of Samuel. Today we are chosen as the people of God, but do we cherish our positions? Are we walking in the flesh or walking in the presence of God? The Israelites came out as one. God wants us to come up in unity, have the same heart just like one person. Saul counted the men of Israelites, 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 from Judah.
V9 330,000 of people responded to the messengers of Jabesh Gilead. When we walk in the presence of God, His authority is greater than what we can imagine! When He revealed His Sovereignty, 330,000 people could come out as one and agreed as one. Do we believe God has this power to unite? Miracles happened in the Bible seem like mission impossible, do we believe they will all come to past because God rules and reigns?
V10-11 Saul assembled the army and put them into companies early in the morning. It’s just like how we come together early in the morning to have Morning Devotion, this is the important part of battle, in order for us to have victory over the enemy.
Judges 7:19 also says, “Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.” Every morning when we come together to the Morning Devotion, we are winning the battle over the enemy. God’s Spirit is with us and the enemy will flee.
V12 at the time when people rebelled against Saul when he was first anointed as the king, nobody responded. But now after they won the battle, they saw Saul’s ability and changed their mind. A lot of time we would go to whoever is stronger or has more ability, we put our eyesight on what we see, not on what God sees.
V13 when we are in the leadership position, do we lift up God? Do we bring people to God or do we bring people to ourselves? If we bring people to ourselves then when they see our weakness they will be disappointed. But if we bring people to God then we don’t have to always act out a perfect image, but to boast about our own weaknesses and God’s victory over us.
Section Three: V14-15 Who is the Leader?
When Saul was willing to lift up God, then Samuel decided they would head over to Gilgal. In Joshua 5:9 it says, then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Gilgal was the place that reminded the people how God had set them free from slavery and led them into victory in the past and until present.
The Israelites received what they wanted, a king. But as they were celebrating, Samuel was about to leave. Because the people did not want to follow God, but to follow their flesh and a king on this earth. Do we see God is our King of kings and Lord of lords? He has led us out of the valley of death into the Promised Land. Today we should examine ourselves, do we think about the things in the Heaven? Or just our own earthly matters? God is our sovereign God, He sits enthroned until forever!
Pursuit & Respond
Lord, this morning, show us how You see us, give us Your eyesight. You have chosen us to be Your people and You did not give up on us. You want us to follow the Holy Spirit and to follow our authority, You have given us a new heart and let us come together as one. Forgive us for not using the new heart You have given to us, instead we rely on our old flesh.
When Saul activated his new heart, he no longer saw his own personal matter. He killed his oxen and stood up in the position God has appointed him. Lord, You have chosen us and led us into victory; You brought us together in the morning to Gilgal, so we can rolled out our old flesh. Lord, let us respond to You this morning, we declare we will fully rely on You, we will not give in to the challenges in life.
Activate our new heart to follow the Holy Spirit and the teaching of our authority. You are our sovereign God, we are willing to follow. Bless us to live under the tree of life, though You, we can bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit and our lives will be renewed. Amen!
2021年3月25日 星期四
-潘锡安牧师-
撒母耳记上 11
人的软弱 神的权能
一、行在血气里（v.1-3）
V1 基列雅比 – 根据士师记的记载，当以色列众人打仗的时候，唯独他们没有出来，说明他们比较是喜欢单顾自己的人。如今他们被亚扪人攻击，却没有看到自己的身份 – 他们属于以色列迦得支派，是能得地为业的，反而遇到困难选择放弃、与仇敌妥协，没有倚靠神的权能对付挑战。当我们走在血气的时候，我们面对攻击，也会这样选择倚靠自己而不是倚靠神。
V2 亚扪人想要的不是攻击基列雅比人而已，而是以此羞辱全以色列人，可惜基列雅比人只看到自己的软弱。我们若走在血气里，就无法看到神在我们身上的命定，只想自己安然无事就好。可是当我们放弃神给我们的身份，仇敌不仅要打败我们，还要“剜出…各人的右眼”- 就是让人失去战斗力，一生只能做奴隶。
V3 仇敌的条件如此恶劣，基列雅比人还愿意归顺，没有寻求耶和华以色列的神，反而只寻求人的帮助。他们的离群索居让他们不知道原来以色列已经立了一个新王。当我们不看重肢体生活，我们会过得很辛苦，因为一切只能靠着自己去解决。
二、行在神的同在里（v.4-13)
V4 基列雅比人最先寻求帮助的基比亚是便雅悯族的人。根据士师记里记载，当时便雅悯人被以色列人围攻，结果只剩下600男丁，于是到当时唯独没有出战的基列雅比去娶那里的女子。这两地的人有亲戚关系，因此听到对方有难，基比亚的人就哭了。
V5 扫罗虽然已经被立为王，但此时仍然在田间工作，因为时候未到，撒母耳曾吩咐他要等候指示（10章7-8节）。神所给扫罗的“新心”（10章9节）让他愿意等候。扫罗改变自己，开始关心别人。我们能否好好使用神给我们的新心而懊悔死行，还是走在老我里面？
V6-7a 扫罗不再只是那个只挂念自己的驴的人，开始挂念神国的事情。他把牛切成块子，传到以色列全境。扫罗作为一个农夫，将维持生计的一对牛杀了，表明自己不再只顾着自己的事，而是愿意去处理神国度里的其他支派的事，单单为神而活。他呼召以色列人跟随他“和撒母耳”，说明他看到的不是只有自己，也看重神给他属灵权柄。他也敦促众百姓不要单顾自己的事。我们是被神拣选的，我们是如何看待自己的身份？是倚靠神还是倚靠人？
V7b“耶和华使百姓…出来如同一人”- 神要的不是我们个人的血气，而是合一，是一致对外的。
V8-9 在士师记20章说到，当时的以色列人一共有四十万，如今只有三十三万。在这里，回复使者的不是扫罗，而是那三十三万的“众人”，是属耶和华的军队，说话如同一人。神掌管万有，在神没有难成的事，我们是否相信神有这个能力帮助我们？我们是否相信神的话语？
V11 亚扪人被攻打、击杀，剩下的人四处逃散，形单影只。扫罗攻打他们的时候是“晨更”，就是清晨我们晨祷的时刻。在士师记7:19，基甸也是利用这个时刻吹角打败敌人。以此看出，晨更是一个很重要的争战时刻，仇敌虽然想让我们昏睡赖床，但我们能起来晨祷，就是靠主争战得胜。
V12 之前有不服扫罗的匪徒（第10章），这些百姓知道了却并未去处理，如今看到扫罗打胜仗，就见风使舵。我们是否一定要看到事情发生才相信，而没有单单听道而行道？
V13 扫罗行在神的同在中，他让人看到这样的大拯救是出于神。我们是否让我们所带领的人看见神，还是只是我们自己的厉害？我们是否高举神，见证神的作为，而不是只想着在人前表现我们自己有多好？当我们将人带到神那里，就不怕人看到自己的软弱，而是能在软弱处靠主得胜。
三、谁是带领者（v.14-15)
当扫罗愿意高举耶和华，撒母耳就对百姓说要到吉甲立国。根据约书亚记5:9记载，“吉甲”的意思是神将埃及人曾经的羞辱从以色列身上“滚去”。神将以色列人带回吉甲，提醒他们是否还要为自己立王，回到为奴为仆的生活。在这样一个意味着“释放”的地方，众百姓仍执意选择立王，还欢喜献祭，因为他们活在蒙蔽里，只想得到自己想要的东西。撒母耳后来离开，因为看到他们顽梗，只走在自己的血气里。我们能走到如今，是否看到是谁一直带领我们，走过死荫幽谷，争战得胜，还是定意走在我们的血气里？求神帮助我们看到自己生命的光景，是否单顾自己，没有看到自己其实是可以影响整个神的国？求神帮助我们看到耶和华是大有能力，是我们可以倚靠的。
*追求：
主我们来到你面前，求你把你的眼光赐给我们。求你告诉我们你是如何看待我们。你拣选我们成为你的百姓，你没有后悔、放弃。你应许我们你与我们同在，让我们听从权柄、适时而作，你赐给我们新心，你没有让我们一个人去行事。但是主啊，我们承认自己很少使用你给的新心。为我们里面的新心祷告，求神来启动我们的新心，使用我们。
主你拣选的扫罗，当他得到新心就不再只顾念自己，而是开始关心其他人，愿意放下他手中的事，来处理神家里的事。求主让我们不再看自己的软弱，单单定睛在主你所为我们拣选的，主你已经为我们造了新心。我们能争战、与你对齐，是主你自己带领，主是你带我们到吉甲让过去的羞辱都从我们身上滚出去！我们要来回应你，不再用自己的软弱来拦阻神的作为。我们单单倚靠你。求主挪去我们里面的想要独立、妥协的心，挪去里面的不听和老我，看到我们走到如今，都是因为你。求主启用我们里面的新心，常常顺服圣灵的感动，听从权柄的教导。主你必带领！你是为我们争战得胜的神！我们愿意跟随你！
祝福弟兄姐妹能够在生命树的气息下，靠着主承担责任，能够温柔良善，饶恕宽容，活出真实，有热情、勇敢，靠着圣灵同在能够情绪稳定，忍耐节制，慈爱体谅，接纳自己、他人，勇于表达，有自由创造，在生命树的气息下我们能够舍己利他、谦卑顺服。祝福我们靠主能结出圣灵的果子，生命得到翻转！阿们！