Daily Encouragement

May 12 – Obey the Lord, Serve the Lord, Keep His Law

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
1 Samuel 12:1-13:23
John 7:1-30
Psalm 108:1-13
Proverbs 15:4

1 Samuel 12:5 — If we are going to speak for God, we must make sure that nobody can accuse us of wrong.

1 Samuel 12:14 — Thirty-eight times in the Old Testament we see emphasized the need to obey the voice of the LORD. Obedience brings blessing. Disobedience brings judgment. If you don’t know what God wants you to do, memorizing the Ten Commandments is a great way to start!

1 Samuel 12:20 — Obedience not only conveys a parent-child relationship, but it also implies a master-slave relationship. Sixty-eight times in the Old Testament it refers to serving the LORD. The name Adonai (Hebrew) or Kurios (Greek) that’s translated “Lord” (lower case) in our English versions actually means “Master.” While He has adopted us as sons (Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5), sonship is only for those who have called upon Him as their Lord/Master (Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21). Samuel reiterates this in 1 Samuel 12:24.

English: Biblical illustrations by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Sweet Publishing, Ft. Worth, TX, and Gospel Light, Ventura, CA. Copyright 1984. Released under new license, CC-BY-SA 3.0

1 Samuel 12:24 — Here’s a memory song to help you memorize this verse!

1 Samuel 13:14 — Just a seemingly slight disobedience (and completely rational), but it cost Saul the kingdom. How much does your sin cost you?

1 Samuel 13:16 — Interesting that Saul followed Samuel to Gibeah.

John 7:19 — Jesus uses the phrase “keep the Law.” In addition to obeying the Lord and serving the Lord, we have twenty-five references in the Old Testament about keeping the Law.

Psalm 108:2 — This is a difficult command for me – to awake early. But there is blessing to those who arise early to seek the Lord (Psalm 63:1)!

Psalm 108:5 — This is the fourth time in the Psalms we see this phrase (Psalm 21:13, Psalm 57:5, Psalm 57:11). May we sing “Be Thou Exalted, Forever and Ever!”

Proverbs 15:4 — Yet another verse about the tongue – and we’re not even to James!

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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