The Kingdom Partially Fulfilled, Part One

Week twenty-two | June 1-7

Israel stumbled through the period of the judges and their hearts repeatedly turned away from God. They did not want God to be their Heavenly King, they wanted a king like the nations around them, someone greater than Moses and Joshua, to save them. They wanted a conqueror who would fight their battles and protect them from their enemies. God gave the people a king to rule over them, as they wanted. King Saul satisfied their grumblings temporarily, yet it did not bring them the satisfaction and relief they were seeking because they had rejected the One True King who could do that. King Saul sinned against God and as the consequence, God rejected him as king. They would have to wait hundreds of years before the Perfect King would come into the world to save the people from their greatest enemy, sin, and restore God’s kingdom to be just as he designed it to be. 

Memory Verse

For God is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; his is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Psalm 96:4-5

Worship

Day One

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about how the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines who captured the ark of God. God showed that he is the one true God by causing the false god Dagon to fall down before the ark of God:

1 Samuel 4:10-11; 5:1-5; Psalm 115:4-9

1 Samuel 4:10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

1 Samuel 5:1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

Psalm 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. 9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

God, there is none like you. We can attempt to make idols out of anything that seems pleasing or worthy of our attention, but it can never compare to the One True God. Forgive us for turning away from you to other things. Thank you for choosing to love a sinner like me by sending Jesus. Help us to never forget that you are holy and there is none like you. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Day Two

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about Samuel’s reminder to the people of Israel to remain faithful to God but instead of listening they demanded to have a king rule over them just as other nations did. This was a sad and devastating demand for Israel because it meant rejecting God as their king and instead choosing to follow a man:

1 Samuel 7:3-4; 8:4-20

1 Samuel 7:3 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.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.

1 Samuel 8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “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.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 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 them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants…18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 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.”

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Lord, you are our One True King. Just like Israel rejected you and demanded something else, something far less, we too reject you and go after lesser things. Forgive us Lord! Thank you for not abandoning us when we sin against you. Thank you for sending Jesus to save us. Help us to see how great you are and be satisfied with you. In Jesus name, amen. 

Day Three

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about Samuel anointing Saul as Israel’s king:

1 Samuel 9:1-2, 15-17; 10:1, 17-19, 24-25

1 Samuel 9:1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” 

1 Samuel 10:1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. 

 17 Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. 

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Heavenly Father, you are so gracious and you discipline your people out of love. Sometimes you give us what we want as a lesson to show us that it is not what is best for us. Forgive us for not listening to you and your word, which teaches us about your heart and how to live with you and others. Thank you for not giving up on us. We ask you to show us the ways we have chosen to trust in other things besides you. Help us to trust in you alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Day Four

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about how Saul dishonored God by taking matters into his own hands instead of trusting God. He offered a sacrifice to God, something only the priest could do. This was an act of sin because it showed that he did not truly seek to honor God, he just wanted to receive God’s favor to deliver them from their enemy.

1 Samuel 13:5-14; 15:10-11, 22-24

1 Samuel 13:5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, 7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

 1 Samuel 15:10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 

22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

God, you are omniscient, you know everything including what is in our heart. You know what motivates us to act. You care about our heart. Without salvation through faith in Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts will remain hardened and unable to love and obey you. Thank you for Jesus! Thank you for giving us your Spirit to transform our hearts. Help us to grow in holiness as we learn more about your character. We love you! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Day Five: Family Sabbath

Be Present

Set aside distractions (electronics, work, chores, etc.) and spend time with God and each other. 

Pray

God, thank you for giving us rest. You created us with limitations and command us to rest to remember You and all You provide. Help us rest in You today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Play

Choose a fun activity to do together as your family rests from work. 

• Read a poem
• Eat a new kind of food
• Make sidewalk chalk art

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