In 1 Samuel 8-12, Israel wants a king—a visible leader, like all the nations around them. But in doing so, they reject the God who gave them everything. And what they receive is Saul: impressive on the outside but hollow within. Yet even in their failure, God remained faithful. He sent thunder not to destroy, but to wake them up, to bring them home. Preacher: Marty Wierenga

The Philistines have been ravaged by God. They captured the ark of Yhwh’s covenant, thinking that they have won the victory over him. However, as we saw in the previous chapter, God showed that he has supremacy over all other gods. The Philistines now realized this and wanted to get rid of the ark by sending it back to the Israelites. Even though they do not worship nor know the God of Israel, they knew what they were going through was the result of his judgement on them. They tried to satisfy his wrath and judgement by including golden tumours and rats (symbols of the judgement that befell them). Through the movement of the cart and cows, God confirmed to them that it was indeed his judgement upon their cities. Upon arriving in one of the towns of Israel, God struck down some seventy people because they “looked into the ark of the Lord”. They have not learned their lesson of the holiness of God. Even the Philistines, who did not receive God’s promises, began to learn to respect God’s holiness. On the other hand, the Israelites, who knew and had God’s laws, did not. They were not supposed to look into the ark. That is the lesson for us today. Across so many parts of our world today, people who have never been inside a church have begun to try to find out more about the Christian faith. After living a life without God, so many have found that empty and devoid of meaning. However, as God’s people, who have received God’s greater revelation through the Scriptures, let us continue to be faithful to God instead of being complacent and take God for granted, like the Israelites. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

The covenants God makes with his people (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus) help us make sense of the storyline of the Bible as a whole. God makes special promises to be our God, and we, God’s people, his people commit ourselves to the conditions of the covenant: to live as God’s people. But how do we hold on to God’s promises when we don’t see any evidence that God is going to fulfil what he’s promised? And if we know in advance that we’re going to fail to live up to the conditions (we’re sinful), how can we have hope that we’ll receive what’s promised? This morning, we focus our attention on God’s covenant with Abraham as we discover exactly how it is we can trust God’s promises when questions arise in our minds if God will do what he’s said. More than that, in a very strange and unusual ceremony in Genesis 15, we discover we can have every confidence that God will fulfil his promises to us despite our inevitable failures. Preacher: Andrew Nugteren

The ark of the covenant has been captured by the Philistines. In the eyes of the world, this means that Yhwh is weak and was therefore defeated by the Philistine god. The ark was carried and placed in Dagon’s temple, next to Dagon. It was meant to be a sign of Dagon’s trophy, having bested Yhwh. The people of Israel should despair because their God has been humiliated and defeated. Or has he? No! In fact, it was Dagon that ended up prostrating before Yhwh. What’s more, Yhwh brought devastation on the people of Ashdod (one of the cities of the Philistines). The people were afflicted with tumours. They recognised that it was the ark of Yhwh’s covenant that has been causing their pain. The same thing happened in other cities in Philistine and they were terrified of Yhwh. Yhwh was not defeated. He is not weak. In fact, this chapter is showing us that he does not need Israel’s army to defeat his enemies. He defeated the Philistines all by himself. Far from being weak, Yhwh showed that he is supreme over all other gods. He does not need mankind or others to show his strength and power – he could do it all himself. If this God is for us, who can be against us? The God that we worship is a God who has supremacy and power over all other power here on earth. No matter what the situation or circumstances seem like in our world, God is not defeated – he still has absolute power and control. Unlike the Israelites where God’s glory departed them, we know that in Christ, we are safe and secure in his arms. As Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:31-32) Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

Do we unknowingly treat God as a vending machine – that if we fulfil certain conditions and then God will be certain to give us some form of blessing? Do we think that if we only pray hard enough, serve long enough, be devoted enough, evangelise enough, that God should (maybe even be obligated to!) answer our prayers and requests to him? That was how the Israelites were treating God in the first half of 1 Samuel 4. They were in a battle against the Philistines (and it won’t be the last time). They were losing the battle and decided to bring the ark of the covenant to the battlefield, thinking that God will be with them this time. They lost and the ark was captured. Hophni and Phinehas were killed. This was God fulfilling his judgement mentioned in the previous chapter. When news of that devastating battle reached Eli, he collapsed and died. Then the wife of Phinehas gave birth to their son, in which she also died, she named their son “Ichabod”, meaning God’s glory has departed. The whole chapter is telling us about the result of God’s glory departing – death all around as God’s judgement against sin. Our “coins” are worthless before a holy God and cannot “buy” any of his blessings because of our sins. To think that we can force God’s hands is tremendous arrogance on our behalf. Instead, God has already given us all blessings, all the glories of salvation, and all that we need – all out of his sheer grace to us. There was another incident in which God’s glory “departed” and there was a death in the land – the death of the Son of God. However, it is through this death that he was glorified (John 17:1) – and through this death that God’s people are rescued and redeemed. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

In our passage this weekend, we will hear about the time when the covenantal God begin to reveal himself to Samuel by speaking to him. We have to remember that in the days of the judges in Israel (which Samuel was in), the word of the Lord is rare, and he did not reveal himself much (v1). That is all about to change when God raises up Samuel. We have this intriguing episode of Samuel slowly learning to discern the voice and word of their covenantal God. The famine of God’s word is coming to an end soon! The time of judges will end soon, and God’s word will once again be the rule of the land. Because of Samuel’s unfamiliarity in receiving a prophetic word from God, he keeps mistaking God’s voice with Eli’s. However, God being ever patient, persists, and Samuel eventually gets his message. However, it was a message of judgement upon Eli’s family. Samuel reluctantly shares that with Eli and Eli seems to accept God’s judgement. He knows that change is coming because God’s word is beginning to spread to all of Israel. In the midst of the chaos of the time of judges, God sends his word to his people through a prophet to bring renewal and change. Change comes when we are saturated with God’s word. Change happens when we encounter God’s word. His word displays his grace to us because then we know his heart, his promises, and his salvation. In Jesus Christ, we have the true and final Word of God. In Christ, we have received grace upon grace (John 1:14-18). It is through this Word of God that we experience the life-changing truth of the Gospel, and therefore we want to make this Word known to the world, just as all Israel came to know God’s word. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

In our passage this weekend, we are given a picture of the rot at the centre of Israel’s priesthood. “Eli’s sons were scoundrels.” Even though they were supposed to be priests of God, they had no regard for God at all. They took advantage of the sacrifices that people brought for God and used their position to sleep with women who served at the temple. They were supposed to be priests – mediators between God and mankind and teachers of God’s laws to God’s people. However, what they are doing is a complete mockery of who they were supposed to be. On the other hand, in the midst of this rot within the priesthood, we have faithful Samuel. Samuel, dedicated to the Lord since his birth, has been ministering faithfully to the Lord all throughout this period. He continues to “grow in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people.” God’s grace is working in the midst of the rot within the priesthood. While he is in the background at this moment, it is clear that he is being prepared by God for his great work in the future. This passage speaks to us today as Christians. As the people of God, we are meant to represent who Christ is to the world and be the foundation and pillar of God’s truth to a watching world. Are we like Eli’s sons or are we like Samuel, quietly being faithful to God in this world? Ultimately, God will raise up for himself a truly faithful and forever priest, one that is sinless and who will minister on our behalf – Jesus Christ our High Priest. Instead of taking our sacrifices for himself, he sacrificed himself so that we can stand righteous before God with our sins atoned for. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang

Hannah’s prayer is surprising to many of us. Remember that she has struggled for many years on her lack of a son and being provoked about it by Peninnah. However, God answered her prayer by giving her a son, and so she responds to God in her prayer. However, in her prayer, it is remarkable that the focus is not on herself, nor the son that God gave her, nor even her own situation. It is a remarkably God-centred prayer from Hannah. She begins her prayer by rejoicing in God for his deliverance. Then she very quickly moves on to the different characteristics of her God – his holiness, sovereignty, grace, and justice. Hannah recognises that her experience with God is a small display of the kind of God she worships and prays to. This is what he is like – he brings life out of death, humbles the proud, exalts the humble, accomplishes his great salvation in the most unexpected way. This is exactly the pattern that we see with Christ – humbling the proud, exalting humble sinners, and accomplishing God’s great salvation in the most unexpected way through the cross. Preacher: Chin Wee Ang