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The prophet Hosea’s life story is provided by God as a sort of living parable. His life circumstances; his failed marriage and broken family, serve as an illustration of the failure and unfaithfulness of God’s people, but also then of the great unfailing love, grace and forgiveness of God. He pursues us in our waywardness, finds us in our sin, and forgives and restores us to Himself even though we deserve none of it.

The story of the prophet Jonah reveals the heartbeat of God for rebellious people, both those within the nation of Israel, who had received His law and promises and also those who had not heard of Him and were engaged in idolatry and great evil. God pursues the hearts of people from all tribes, tongues, and nations, and He delights to use His people—His sinful, rebellious, yet redeemed people—to do it. In His perfect will, God uses former rebels to pursue present rebels.

We are not all Elijahs or Elishas, But all Christians have a calling upon our lives and the equipping of the Spirit. And though we may not be prophets or 'sons of prophets', the mantle of the prophets does fall upon us all in a very real sense as we stand in the prophetic tradition.

God’s power isn’t contingent on a person, place or thing. There’s power in perspective, whether in a palace or collecting sticks at the gate.

David’s son, Solomon, rightly asked for wisdom as a gift from God in order to govern the people and to help them shine like a light to the nations. For all his wisdom, Solomon still made foolish choices, and this points to our need for a greater Wisdom: Jesus, the very Word of God made flesh for us.

The biblical book of Ecclesiastes talks about Solomon's search for the meaning of life. It is a diagnostic identifying our eternal hunger that we all strive to satisfy with temporal things. Solomon starts by calling out our pursuit as "meaningless". So what if the meaning of life is not to be found in any "thing"? What if our search is not for something, concept, or idea? What if the meaning of all we know is a Person?

If God were to suddenly appear to you and say, "Ask Me for whatever you want", what would you ask Him for? Because that's basically what happened to Solomon. Do you know what he asked for? And do you know why? And do you know what God gave him? There are some important lessons to be learned here; lessons for the heart.

The collection that is The Book of Psalms is a beautiful section of the Bible. The Psalms are poems & songs of praise & prayer representing the devotional life of God’s Old Testament people. Seventy-three of the psalms have David’s name on them and The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23) is most likely the best known and most loved of them all. Some say it is the most popular chapter of the entire Old Testament. Some would say even the whole Bible. Though often associated with death and dying, Psalm 23 is a psalm of life; a beautiful description of the relationship that David had with God. But it is also a description of the relationship that you and I can have with God, if we can truly say with David, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

We seem to marvel at David and how wonderful he was. David was known as a giant slayer, a gracious man, and a merciful ruler. He also plays a key role in the narrative leading up to Jesus’ birth. Jesus is consistently called ‘son of David’ in the New Testament. David was a man that chased after God’s own heart. But no matter how great the man was, in the account of David and Bathsheba, we discover he was still just a man. In our text this week we start to see the cracks in David’s armour, and how much he was willing to throw away for a moment of pleasure. This just proves how much we all need a Saviour. And Jesus is the only perfect One who can save us. As great as David was, he was still a sinner in need of grace. We all need the forgiveness that comes through the sacrifice of the perfect King who would take upon Himself the punishment of our sins.

Not only did he have a funny name, but when Mephibosheth was just five-years-old an incident left him permanently disabled. That fateful day would define Mephibosheth’s life; that is until another event changed his life forever. The former kept him hiding away in fear, shame and misery. The latter secured him a place of honour and equality in the family of the king. As a child, Mephibosheth inherited a world of woe. As a young man he would become the undeserving recipient of unfailing love.

The story of David finally becoming king of Israel has all the feel of a literary classic crowning moment. God has brought the nation of Israel all the way to the promised land and the lowly shepherd boy all the way to the throne of the nation. God has enabled David to lead the people to victory over all their enemies culminating in the possession of the beautiful fortress city of Jerusalem. David dances the ark of God into the new capital with enough passion to make us blush. Now, in his mind only one thing remains – a temple for the LORD at the very heart of the nation. But is David in for the surprise of his life! And we are into a revelation from God in the form of a promise that will shatter the ceiling of all expectations!

David was a great warrior, not to mention a talented musician, and king Saul loved him right away. Scripture says Saul ‘loved him greatly’. But that was before Saul heard the women singing David’s praise. That’s when everything changed. Saul’s ego rose up and his personal insecurities and jealousy took over. “What more can he have but the kingdom?” From that day on, Saul tried repeatedly to kill David. And David, the anointed champion became a wanted fugitive, fleeing for his life, month after month, year after year all over the wilderness, hiding in caves and in enemy territory. Funny thing is, during all that time David had numerous opportunities to take Saul out and claim the promised throne for his own. But he never did. Wonder why.

This week we look at David’s life as an adolescent chosen by God to lead Israel. What made David different from his brothers that God would direct Samuel to anoint him king? Was it only to impact David’s own life so that he would be glorified? Or was it that God might be glorified through David? David loved God and pursued Him all his days. Because of that, David knew where his strength came from. Our introduction to Goliath of Gath and the battle that ensues is dramatic and exciting. And it teaches us how to live our lives with a desire to pursue a God whose heart is for us if we only trust in Him.

Steadfast leadership is difficult. It can be hard to know the right decisions to make. In Christ, we are all called to lead people somewhere in our lives, and we are going to experience times of difficulty, and moments for critical decision making. Our response to those experiences can reveal where our heart truly belongs. God can, and does work through our lives, and the lives of the people around us. But let’s not confuse that fact with the degree of love we may have for God and our seeking after His own heart. God creates opportunities, but our responses to those opportunities can either glorify Him or glorify ourselves. Saul may have had it wrong, but we can get it right!

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “the glory is gone from Israel.” The glory days are all gone, because the glory is gone. These are the worst of times. The news of the battle being lost and the two priests, Hophni and Phinehas being slain, along with the news of the loss of the Ark of the Covenant all converges to create this picture of utter disaster of the rock-bottom sort. These aren’t the good old days. These are the worst of times. But here’s the thing. Even in the worst of times, God is at work!

As the story of Ruth is a beacon of hope in the dark days of the Judges, so the story of Hannah is a bright light against the dark backdrop of 1Samuel. It’s a story of two families. It’s a story of a nation. It’s a story of great privilege, responsibility, and loss. It’s a story of salvation. It’s a story of an old man with little left but regret and a young boy given by God to the nation and called by God to lead his people safely home to the kingdom.

The very first line of the story of Ruth locates it in the days of the Judges; men and women like Deborah and Gideon and Samson. So, we might expect the story to be similar? It’s not! The narrative of Judges is a litany of depravity; the downward spiral of people trying to live outside the boundaries of a good life. It’s dark. But the story of Ruth is like a great light shining out of the same night as a beacon of hope. Ruth is the story of a woman, but more precisely, it’s a story about women; two women in particular, one old and one young, one a Jew and one a foreigner. It’s the story of the bond between an unlikely mother and an unlikely daughter, and the solemn religious oath of covenant that bound their lives together for all eternity. The story of Ruth is a magnificent love story able to capture and inspire even the most cynical of us. It’s a story of commitment and faithfulness and kindness and care. It’s a story about goodness. It’s a story of justice, honour and valour, and sacrificial love. It’s

Samson is well known as the strong man of Old Testament Israel. Commentators tend to look at his life and bemoan that if only he had been obedient to God, what might have he accomplished! But is that all God wants us to learn from Samson? Can't that be said for us all? What can we learn about the mysterious ways of the God of Samson?

As we continue our journey through the book of Judges we find that the Israelites were once again under God’s discipline because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight. This time, God used King Jabin of Canaan, along with his commander, Sisera, to oppress His people. But once again we will see the pattern unfold of the people crying out for relief and God providing a deliverer, although this time the deliverer would be someone the Israelites may not have expected. We will see that God gives His people gifts and works through them so that He might receive glory. God positions ordinary people and provides them with extraordinary gifts to bring Him glory.

The story of Gideon is a story of renown. A young man beating out wheat in his father’s winepress. It’s difficult, hot and dirty work made ten times harder because you’re confined to the depressions of the earth (winepresses), away from the beautiful Mediterranean breeze sweeping the open threshing floor, but not away from the blazing Mediterranean sun beating down on you. All because those Midianite marauders could swoop down at any time when you're least expecting it and steal any grain they catch glimpse of. Our text begins with a description of a people so oppressed that they were seeking refuge in caves and animal dens to say alive, living in fear of the Midianite hoards that would pounce like locusts. It says that the number of camels the Midianite raiders had couldn’t even be counted, there were so many. And they would take everything including all the livestock and even the tents. It must have been an absolutely horrible form of existence. But what could be done? What should be done? You might say,