Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel,
but Samuel said to him, "The Lord has not chosen these."
So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered. "He is tending the sheep."
Revelation Awaits an Appointed Time. But What About the Time Between.
One of the most painful things about coming to Jesus later in life are the nagging regrets about the lost years and the consequences of poor choices made before your eyes were opened to the truth and the light.
Habakkuk 2:3 describes how ‘revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.’
There was purpose and intent to the timing of God’s unveiling for me. Perhaps part of that purpose was that I would write these thoughts down and that they might touch someone. I know that the sadness I have about my lost years pales into nothing compared with the pain Job and Hosea endured in God’s plan.
Joel 2:25 tells us that God will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
There is life after death. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.
But still, as a husband and a father, there are things that cannot be changed, the consequence of decisions made by a version of me that was impetuous, immature and thought he had it all figured out.
When I was a child I remember being taught at school the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20). The underlying message that God's grace is not earnt but is a gift was not the one I recall being highlighted at the time. It always confused me. Looking back though, there's another element relevant to those of us called Christ late in the day. That we are as valuable to The Lord as those called early.
If I could go back and do things differently I would. So many things would be easier now if I had realised where the truth lay twenty or thirty years ago. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But would I have the character I have now, if it weren't for the journey I've been on? When it comes down to it my life is not my own. Christ and the Holy Spirit chose when to bring me to Him. There must have been a reason for that, after all Matthew 7:14 tells us that the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life (Matthew 7:14).
Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.
Psalm 39:4-5
Our life in this world is but a breath. Our inheritance is eternal, pure and undefiled.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
1 Peter 1:3-4
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.
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."
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. "Look," they said, "you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations." But when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord.
And when they realised that the ark of the Lord had entered the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before."
Illustration by James Tissot, 'The Ark Sent Away'.
"What was the message He gave you?" Eli asked.
"Do not hide it from me.
May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you."
So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him.
"He is the Lord," replied Eli.
"Let Him do what is good in His eyes."
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord:
The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
Psalm 83:1-8
For Israel.
O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
"Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel's name is remembered no more."
With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you --
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
Even Assyria has joined them
to reinforce Lot's descendants.
For Israel.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For Israel.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel (2017)
Two original oil paintings by Anastasiia Valiulina
1 Samuel 2:7-8
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
Photographer: Niki Feijen
In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.
Judges 19:30
Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt.
The Levite of Ephraim, 1837
Alexandre-François Caminade (1789–1862)
(Le Lévite d’Ephraïm méditant de venger sa femme morte victime de la brutalité des Benjamites), oil on canvas, 60 x 81 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France.
Judges 18:27
Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.
Micah confronts the Danites (Judges 18, 22 - 26). Wood engraving, published in 1886. My own colourisation.
Judges 16:12-13
"All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."
Solomon Joseph Solomon - Samson, c. 1887.
Oil on canvas.
Judges 11:35
Jephthah's Foolish Vow.
Anton Robert Leinweber - Jephthah's daughter comes out to meet her father, from Hulbert's Story of the Bible published by The John Winston Company, 1932
Judges 9:53-54
"Draw your sword and kill me! Don't let it be said that a woman killed Abimelech!" So the young man ran him through with his sword, and he died.
The Death of Abimelek
Kevissimo, 2012
https://twitter.com/kevissimo
https://www.kevissimo.com/pr-judges/the-death-of-abimelech
I don't often post work by living artists, out of respect for their copyright and terms of use. But @kevissimo's work shows that Biblical art is live and well, and powerful as ever.
Judges 4:22
Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "Come," she said, "I will show you the man you're looking for." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple — dead.
Gustav Doré - Jael and Sisera, 1866, my own colourisation.
Joshua 24:23
"Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel."
Joshua 23:14
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed.
Every promise has been fulfilled;
not one has failed.
Joshua 22:5
Keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
'God the Father', oil on canvas.
Painting by a follower of Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian, 1582–1647)
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Gods law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Galatians 5:16, Proverbs 4:23.
It can be done.
Joshua 13:32-33
These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.
But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.
Frederic Edwin Church, 1826-1900, American painter
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, 1846
25.4 x 31.8 cms | 10 x 12 1/2 ins
Oil on academy board