Sunday Morning & Evening, December 6, 2009,

When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? - 1Samuel 15:17

Today, in both assemblies, we discussed the events that surrounded the anointing of Saul as King of Israel. Bro Joe led the discussion and a thorough investigation was made into 1 Samuel 8.

God’s desire, both in the Old Testament and now, is to dwell in the hearts of man. Truly, nothing less than a personal relationship with Christ, is called ‘knowing’ the Lord. He dwelled in tents, a pillar of fire and smoke, an ark and in a temple made by human hands, but His goal was to abide within our hearts.

God’s people were far from His perfect will when He called Moses to deliver the Israelites. He used Moses to free His people from Egyptian bondage. Was it God’s perfect will to have only one a man (Moses) hear God and prophesy? No. Moses even expressed ‘…would to God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them’ so He (the Lord) could direct them.

The Lord used Joshua to lead the people, but again His real desire was to lead them Himself. After this, for years and years, God used ‘judges’ to relate to His people. Would to God, He could have had a real relationship with each Israelite.

Intimately, the Israelites wanted a king like other nations. Was this God’s perfect will? The answer is, the people of God continued to get farther from the desired relationship instead of ‘Nearer My God To Thee’.

Samuel the prophet, told the people if you want a king, here is what you are going to get…and he gave an account as to how a king would claim the people’s sons and daughters, lands and possessions for his own purposes. 1st Samuel 8:19-20 says, ‘‘nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king (anyways) over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.’ Thus a falling away from a personal relationship continued, unlike what the Lord wanted.

Do we as Christians, desire a ‘Closer Walk With Thee’ or are we ‘Almost Persuaded’ in our intimacy with Christ? Do we worship and serve God personally or through the medium of another person such as a companion, church leader or some other individual. Do we attempt to hear the Lord directly through His still small voice or through a judge or king like old Israel? Let’s continue to draw nigh to the Lord and He will direct our steps. Onward and Upward!

We were thankful to have 3 visitors in the morning assembly as well as several of the saints who had been away from our midst due to travelling and sickness.

In the afternoon, we met at Forest Glen retirement community and held two assembly meetings there, including one in which Bro Lee led at their new assisted living facilities.

It was a busy day, but we always enjoy being with the saints.