Israel’s first king, Saul, had the royal throne ripped away from him and given to David. He rejected God’s commands, and God rejected him as chief-in-command. But why does God respond so firmly to Saul and so graciously to David? If both Saul and David were sinners, why is Saul portrayed so negatively overall in and why is David portrayed so positively overall?
Continue reading 10 Contrasts Between Saul and DavidTag: 1 Samuel
8 Lessons on Prayer from Hannah
There’s something about Hannah that draws out in me both compassion for her and admiration of her. As she reels in sorrow and distress, we feel for her. As God answers her prayer with a son, we celebrate with her. And as we listen in on her prayers, we’re invited to learn from her.
The books of 1-2 Samuel offer several “hero stories.”[1] The “heroes” in these stories are not perfect people, but they do model key virtues and aspects of what it means to know and follow God. Hannah shows us through her words and actions what a posture of humility looks like. She offers an example of what to do with hurt and pain as she takes it to God in prayer. She lives out a gritty faith, knowing the sovereign God who closed her womb (1 Sam. 1:5-6) can open it. And she also models how we can pray to God, both in our pain (1 Sam. 1:11) and with our praise (1 Sam. 2:1-10).
In 1 Samuel’s short account of Hannah, we can learn a lot about how to pray. Here are eight of those takeaways.
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