Author: Scott

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations . . .” 1 Samuel 8:19-20 Before I went off to kindergarten, my parents were the dominant voice speaking into my life. With a…
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So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 1 Samuel 8:10 A couple of years ago, my wife and I bought a property with the intention of building on it. We had, in our mind, a budget that we thought we could afford.…
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But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over…
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Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. 1 Samuel 8:5 I frequently meet patients who have both an alcohol use disorder and an anxiety disorder. They’ve always been anxious, but when they first met alcohol, they…
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Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 1 Samuel 8:3 Before I had my own children, I’d occasionally observe the terrible behavior of other children and vow that, if I ever had kids, they would never act like that. I assumed that…
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Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 1 Samuel 7:15 As I may have previously mentioned, I enjoy participating in CrossFit competitions which involve various exercises such as weightlifting, pull-ups, and burpees. For the competition to be fair, the same standard of movement must be applied to everyone. It wouldn’t be equitable for…
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As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 1 Samuel 7:10 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was hanged in 1945 for his anti-Nazi…
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So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only. 1 Samuel 7:4 Very early on in my recovery, as I began to accept that I could never return to drug use, I remember this despairing thought, How am I going to live without my pills? For…
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And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”…
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If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence. 1 Samuel 6:9 With repetitive drug use, I eventually…
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