Devotional Thoughts

1 Samuel 16:7     "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." The Lord sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the next king. The people had apparently heard about the confrontation between Saul and Samuel and how the Lord had announced the kingdom would be taken from him. They were frightened and uneasy when they saw Samuel. "And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?" (1 Samuel 16:4) They seemed to think that Samuel had come as an adversary instead of a friend. Samuel assured them that he was there on a peaceable assignment from the Lord. He called Jesse, the father of David, and all his family to the sacrifice. I'm sure you remember how Jesse brought all his sons except one. When Samuel asked Jesse about his sons, he brought the ...

Matthew 15:21-28     " Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.  And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.  But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.   Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.  But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.   And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."  Considering what Jesus said in verse twe...

1 Samuel 16:1-3     "And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.  (2)  And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.  (3)  And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee." Though Saul is still king of Israel, we know that God rejected him. "And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." (1 Samuel 15:28-29) Saul was the king after the people's hearts; now God wa...

Matthew 15:10-11    " And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:   Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."   In the previous verses of this chapter, we saw the scribes and Pharisees coming to Jesus and challenging Him concerning the behavior of His disciples. The scribes and Pharisees had observed Jesus’s disciples eating without first washing their hands. All the scribes and Pharisees wanted to do was to find something to embarrass Jesus over in front of the people. They demanded to know why His disciples transgressed this tradition of the elders (members of their Sanhedrin council). Jesus ignored the remark about the transgression of eating with unwashed hands because it was a manmade tradition. Instead, He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees over their transgression of God’s commandments. This was by far the weightier matter. He then pointed out the vanity of th...