Day 2

GOD'S MESSAGES FOR US

When I first became a Christian I found the discover text very worrying. I was a young teenager facing some serious problems and I regularly got advice from well meaning church members like, "You must have more faith." I also suffered from the misguided notion that somehow I had to 'match up' to the standards of the great men and women of Scripture if I was to be acceptable to God. Being young and new to Christianity I had many doubts and questions and much of the Bible seemed irrelevant because it dealt with the lives of godly, believing people of impeccable faith.

First and second Samuel are splendid examples of how wrong I was and it was fortunate that I met believers who quickly understood my difficulty and explained my mistake.

Everyone has a 'measure of faith' specifically given by God (Rom. 12:3). The size of this measure is not important. That it is exercised as experiences come to us is vital. This is the point of Jesus' words in Luke 17:5,6. God's servants in Scripture exercised their faith to varying degrees in their daily experiences. None of them were perfect, none of them flawless examples and their stories are recorded to show us how God leads in spite of human weakness, failure and sin, how he is faithful to those who acknowledge his rule and accept his love.

Does a believer's faith grow steadily or are there difficult periods? Compare 2 Sam. 22 (and Psalm 18) with 1 Sam. 21 and 1 Sam. 27:1,2.

Can we learn even from the negative experiences recorded in the books of Samuel? What do they teach of God's attitude to his followers during these times? Compare 1 Sam. 15:30 and 2 Sam. 12:13.