anchored daily ~ 1 samuel


  • 1 Samuel 30:6 — “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” (NKJV)

     

    David returned home to find Ziklag burned.

     

    His wives were gone.

     

    His children were gone.

     

    The families of his men had been taken captive.

     

    Scripture says David and his men “lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep” (v. 4).

     

    Then somehow it got worse.

     

    The same men who had fought beside David now spoke of stoning him.

     

    David had experienced difficult days before, but this one was different.

     

    There was nobody left to encourage him.

     

    And then comes one of the most powerful sentences in David's story:

     

    “But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”

     

    Don't miss those last two words.

     

    His God.

     

    Ziklag was gone.

     

    His family was gone.

     

    The support of his men was gone.

     

    But God wasn't gone.

     

    David couldn't strengthen himself by looking at his circumstances. Everything around him gave him another reason to despair.

     

    So he found his strength somewhere else.

     

    In the LORD his God.

     

    And what David does next shows us what that meant.

     

    He didn't simply tell himself everything would work out.

     

    Verse 8 says:

     

    “So David inquired of the LORD.”

     

    That's important.

     

    Biblical encouragement isn't positive thinking. David didn't find strength by convincing himself that he was strong.

     

    He found strength by turning back to the God who was.

     

    There will be moments when the people who normally encourage you cannot carry you.

     

    Sometimes they're hurting too.

     

    Sometimes they don't understand.

     

    Sometimes they may even turn against you.

     

    But Jesus gives us something even deeper than David knew that day.

     

    On the night before the cross, Jesus told His disciples:

     

    “Indeed the hour is coming… that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” (John 16:32)

     

    Soon the disciples scattered.

     

    Jesus walked toward the cross.

     

    Yet He knew He was not abandoned to circumstance.

     

    Maybe today you feel like you're standing in the ashes of something you thought would still be there.

     

    Don't pretend it doesn't hurt.

     

    David didn't.

     

    He wept until he had no strength left to weep.

     

    But when his own strength ran out, he knew where to find another kind.

     

    Turn to the Lord.

     

    Open His Word.

     

    Bring Him the grief.

     

    Ask Him what to do next.

     

    Because sometimes you discover how deeply God can strengthen you only when every other source of strength has been stripped away.

     

    Truth to Stay Anchored In: When every other source of encouragement disappears, God remains. You don't have to pretend you're strong—bring your weakness to the Lord and let Him become your strength.

  • 1 Samuel 16:6–7 — “So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, ‘Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him!’ But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him… For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (NKJV)

     

    Samuel knew better.

     

    He had already watched Israel choose a king based partly on what they could see.

     

    Saul was impressive. Scripture says he was “handsome” and “from his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people” (1 Samuel 9:2).

     

    Now Saul had been rejected, and God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the next king.

     

    Then Eliab walked in.

     

    Samuel looked at him and immediately thought:

     

    “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him!”

     

    Samuel was about to make the same mistake again.

     

    He looked at Eliab and saw what looked like a king.

     

    God looked deeper.

     

    “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

     

    We often read that verse as encouragement when we feel overlooked. And it certainly can be.

     

    But there's also a warning here.

     

    We can become so impressed by what people can see that we neglect what only God can see.

     

    Appearance can be managed.

     

    Reputation can be protected.

     

    The right words can be learned.

     

    People can think we're doing wonderfully while God sees what is actually happening underneath it all.

     

    Then David enters the story.

     

    He wasn't even invited to the sacrifice at first. When Samuel asked Jesse whether these were all his sons, Jesse essentially said there was still “the youngest,” but he was out keeping the sheep.

     

    The son nobody thought to bring into the room was the one God had chosen.

     

    Why?

     

    God had already told Samuel what mattered.

     

    The heart.

     

    And this ultimately makes me think of Jesus.

     

    Isaiah said of the coming Messiah, “There is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). Jesus didn't arrive with the outward appearance Israel expected from a king. Yet the Father declared, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

     

    God's kingdom has never been built on appearances.

     

    So perhaps the better question today isn't:

     

    “What do people see when they look at me?”

     

    It's:

     

    “What does God see when He looks at my heart?”

     

    Because you can fool a crowd.

     

    You can impress people.

     

    You can even convince yourself.

     

    But God sees beneath it all.

     

    And the beautiful thing is that the One who sees our hearts most clearly is also the One who, through Jesus, can cleanse them, change them, and make them more like His.

     

    Truth to Stay Anchored In: People may notice what is visible, but God sees what is true. Give more attention to the heart God sees than the image everyone else sees.

  • 1 Samuel 15:12 — “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself…” (NKJV)

     

    Saul had just disobeyed God.

     

    And then he built a monument to himself.

     

    God had given Saul clear instructions concerning Amalek. But Saul spared King Agag and kept the best of the livestock.

     

    When Samuel arrived, Saul greeted him confidently:

     

    “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (v. 13)

     

    But he hadn't.

     

    Samuel could hear the evidence.

     

    “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears?”

     

    That's what makes the monument so revealing.

     

    Saul was celebrating himself while God was confronting him.

     

    Somewhere along the way, Saul had become more concerned with how he appeared than with whether he had actually obeyed.

     

    And when Samuel confronted him, Saul immediately began explaining.

     

    The people kept the animals.

     

    They were going to sacrifice them to the LORD.

     

    There was a spiritual reason for everything.

     

    But Samuel cut through all of it:

     

    “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (v. 22)

     

    God wasn't looking for Saul to dress up disobedience with religious language.

     

    He wanted Saul's heart.

     

    And then Saul finally revealed what had been driving him:

     

    “I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” (v. 24)

     

    There it is.

     

    Saul wanted God's approval, but he also wanted the people's approval. And when those two voices collided, Saul chose the one he could hear around him.

     

    It's worth asking:

     

    Whose voice carries the most weight in my life?

     

    We may never build a stone monument to ourselves, but we can still become consumed with protecting an image—wanting to look faithful, sound spiritual, or appear successful while quietly resisting something God has clearly said.

     

    Saul shows us the tragedy of a king whose heart became consumed with himself.

     

    But Scripture gives us a better King.

     

    Jesus never lived for the applause of people. He said, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). And where Saul grasped at his position, Jesus “made Himself of no reputation” and humbled Himself all the way to the cross (Philippians 2:7–8).

     

    Saul built a monument to himself.

     

    Jesus gave Himself for us.

     

    So don't settle for looking surrendered.

     

    Bring God the real thing.

     

    Truth to Stay Anchored In: God is not looking for a spiritual appearance that hides a resistant heart. Real surrender cares more about obeying His voice than protecting our image or gaining the approval of others.

  • 1 Samuel 7:12 — “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.’” (NKJV)

     

    Samuel picked up a stone and gave it a name.

     

    Ebenezer.

     

    It means “stone of help.”

     

    But to understand why that stone mattered, you have to remember what had happened before it was raised.

     

    Earlier, Israel had gone into battle against the Philistines and lost. Instead of asking why, they came up with a plan:

     

    “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us.” (1 Samuel 4:3)

     

    They wanted God's help without first returning their hearts to God.

     

    They carried the ark into battle almost as though possessing something associated with God guaranteed His blessing.

     

    It didn't.

     

    Israel was defeated, and the ark was captured.

     

    But then something remarkable happened.

     

    The Philistines placed the ark beside their god Dagon. The next morning, Dagon was lying facedown before it.

     

    They picked their god back up.

     

    The following morning, Dagon had fallen again—this time with his head and hands broken off.

     

    The Philistines had to pick up their god. The God of Israel needed no one to pick Him up.

     

    Eventually the ark was returned.

     

    Then in chapter 7, Samuel called Israel to something they hadn't done before:

     

    “Return to the LORD with all your hearts.”

     

    They put away their idols and turned back to God.

     

    And when the Philistines attacked again, this time Israel didn't depend upon the ark as a substitute for relationship with God.

     

    They cried out to Him.

     

    And the LORD delivered them.

     

    That's when Samuel raised the stone.

     

    “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

     

    I love those words.

     

    Thus far.

     

    Samuel wasn't saying there would never be another battle.

     

    He wasn't saying Israel had arrived or that everything ahead would be easy.

     

    He was marking a moment and saying:

     

    Look how far God has brought us.

     

    That stone stood as a reminder that Israel's story wasn't ultimately about how strong they had been.

     

    It was about how faithful God had been.

     

    Sometimes we become so focused on how far we still have to go that we forget how far God has already brought us.

     

    There may still be battles ahead.

     

    There may still be prayers you're waiting to see answered.

     

    But take a moment and look backward.

     

    Where has God provided?

     

    Where has He corrected you?

     

    Where has He carried you through something you weren't sure you would survive?

     

    Where has He shown you mercy when you didn't deserve it?

     

    For the Christian, there is one place above all others where we can look back and remember God's faithfulness: the cross.

     

    Paul writes, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

     

    When tomorrow feels uncertain, look back at what God has already done through Jesus.

     

    The cross reminds us:

     

    The God who has brought us this far can be trusted with what comes next.

     

    Truth to Stay Anchored In: Don't become so consumed with how far you still have to go that you forget how faithfully God has brought you this far. Remember your Ebenezer: “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

  • 1 Samuel 3:10 — “Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears.’” (NKJV)

     

    Samuel heard his name in the middle of the night.

     

    “Samuel!”

     

    He immediately ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”

     

    But Eli hadn’t called.

     

    It happened again.

     

    And then again.

     

    Samuel could hear the voice of God without yet recognizing that it was God speaking.

     

    That makes sense when you notice how chapter 3 begins:

     

    “And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” (1 Samuel 3:1)

     

    Israel had grown spiritually dull. Eli’s sons were corrupt, worship had been dishonored, and hearing from God had become rare.

     

    Yet God was still speaking.

     

    And He chose to speak to a young boy lying down in the tabernacle.

     

    After the third time, Eli finally understood what was happening and told Samuel that if the voice came again, he should answer:

     

    “Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.”

     

    Then God called again.

     

    “Samuel! Samuel!”

     

    And Samuel responded:

     

    “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

     

    There’s something beautiful about that response.

     

    Samuel didn’t begin by asking God to explain everything.

     

    He simply made himself available to listen.

     

    “Speak.”

     

    And:

     

    “Your servant hears.”

     

    We often say that we want to hear God’s voice. But sometimes what we really mean is that we want God to tell us what we want to know.

     

    Samuel shows us a different posture.

     

    Before asking, “What is God saying to me?” perhaps we should ask, “Am I willing to hear whatever He says?”

     

    And today, we don’t have to lie awake wondering whether a voice in the night belongs to God.

     

    God has given us His Word.

     

    The same chapter that says the word of the LORD was rare ends by saying:

     

    “For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.” (1 Samuel 3:21)

     

    Don’t miss that.

     

    God revealed Himself through His Word.

     

    And ultimately, God has revealed Himself most fully in Jesus. John calls Him “the Word” who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

     

    Notice that hearing is connected to following.

     

    The goal isn’t merely to recognize God’s voice.

     

    It’s to respond when He speaks.

     

    So open His Word with Samuel’s posture today:

     

    “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.”

     

    Then when His Word corrects you, receive it.

     

    When it encourages you, believe it.

     

    When it commands you, obey it.

     

    Because sometimes the question isn’t whether God has spoken.

     

    It’s whether we’re listening.

     

    Truth to Stay Anchored In: God has spoken through His Word and ultimately through His Son. Come to Him with a listening heart—ready not only to hear what He says, but to follow wherever His voice leads.