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1 Samuel 8:10-18 Listening to stern warnings - Day 228

Somewhat of a continuation of previous devotion.  Samuel delivered a stern warning to Israel which they chose to ignore.  Yesterday, Jeremiah delivered a stern warning to Judah which they chose to ignore.  To you see a pattern.  Let us learn from their mistakes.

Blessings,

Jeff

Samuel warns Israel about how their king will treat them and ends with a promise that God will not hear them when they cry out to Him after these things come to pass.  Yesterday, we saw remnant of Judah accuse Jeremiah of lying.  Here is an earlier example of the same thing.  Samuel's prophecy about house of Eli had come true.  Proof that he was a true prophet.  Now he is telling them what will happen and they still choose to seek a king.

Israel is developing the habit of arguing with what God says through the prophets.  A similar danger exists for NT believers.  We do not have prophets who foretell the future as a sign of their validity.  We have pastors and teachers who accurately preach what the Bible says as the standard for validity.  If I don't like a pastor's style and therefore dismiss what he says, I am in danger of arguing with God's word.  The content of what is said is what is important, not the style.  There are some difficult topics that many pastors stay away from because people might not like what they say.  Preaching through a book of the Bible forces the pastor to teach on the difficult topics.  As the flock, we must wrestle with the difficult passages and not pretend they don't exist.


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