Week 7, Chapter 10: Standing Tall, Falling Hard
Associated Scripture: 1 Samuel 1-4; 8-13; 15
Discussion Questions:
1.
What do you learn about the prayer from Hannah? Hannah was a faith driven woman. A lot of other women may have been very
angry. As the other wife, Peninnah,
teased her she chose not to reflect in her behavior and as Peninnah was able to
have children, Hannah did not covet her blessing.
2.
How did Samuel show his faith in God? As a leader, he continued to put his faith in
the Lord. His loyalty was to God, regardless
of what the people thought. He followed
God through the small things and big things.
Samuel was one of the greatest judges in history because of this
obedience to the Lord.
3.
Why was it wrong for the Israelites to ask for a
king? Simply because God was supposed to
be their King.
4.
What factors led to King Saul’s demise? He made several choices without God’s
involvement. He would then rationalize
his decisions. He should have involved
God with each and every decision but instead he would make the decision without
the Lord—and this eventually led to his demise.
5.
How did Saul respond when confronted with his
sin? How do you respond when confronted with your own shortcomings? This was already stated above—oops! But he rationalized his decisions. I think we all do this from time to time—we
want our lives to happen the way we want them to and WHEN we want them to…it is
easy to get impatient. However, we must
live our life with the Lord by our side and involve him first when making
decisions.
6.
What instances of God’s grace do you see in this
chapter?
Video
Video Discussion:
1. First
Samuel 1 (The Story pp. 129-131) tells Hannah’s heartbreaking account of
barrenness and how her prayer for a child is finally answered. What strikes you about Hannah’s character and
faith? God can use human weakness to
gain glory through him. God knows we
have these faults-from beginning to end and we need to have this faith and put
our faith in him. These verses are
symbolic for how we should give our faith to the Lord. She brought her problem to the Lord and He
answered her prayer.
2. What
does Eli teach Samuel about listening to God (1 Samuel 3:1-10; The Story, pp.
131-132)? What can we learn about
communicating with God as we see Samuel’s story unfold?
3. According
to 1 Samuel 8 (The Story, pp. 135-136), how does Samuel feel about the leaders
of Israel’s request to give them a king so they can be like all other
nations? How does God feel about it? God looks for people who are like God- not
like everyone else. Leviticus 20: 26
states: You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set
you apart from the nations to be my own. The Israelites were chosen as the all-powerful nation. The others saw the other “kings” and thought
of them as powerful…when God was the all-powerful king.
4. How
does Samuel’s description of the consequences of having an earthly king instead
of a heavenly King parallel to the actions of those who govern in our modern
world today? This is a good point and a
great parallel to today’s society.
Earthly rulers appear to get greedy as years go on—
5. God’s
Upper Story plan if for him alone to rule as King over his people. In the Lower Story, the people insist on
having an earthy king as their ruler.
God gives in to their request. Do
you believe God still allows us to have our way (on occasion) even if it is not
his perfect will for us? If so, give an
example of what this can look like?
Yes…absolutely.
6. Saul
does not follow God’s instructions, which leads to Samuel telling him that he
will lose his throne because God has rejected him as King. Randy points out that one of Saul’s big
mistakes was distorting and misrepresenting God as cruel and greedy rather than
showing he is just and holy. Why is God
so concerned about his people giving an accurate portrayal of who he is? What can we do to present God to the world
with greater clarity and accuracy? We
must reflect God’s example. “You may be
the only bible that people ever “read.”
God wants obedience from the heart.
7. God’s
desire is to reveal his presence, power, and plan to the world and thus restore
people’s relationship with him. How do
you see God do each of these in this chapter of The Story:
Reveal his presence. The arc was stolen…and the birth of children
reveals his presence.
Display his power: The arc was the example of his power.
Execute his plan to get us back:
This is a repeating theme throughout the bible.
He always gives abilities to be leaders to the underdogs—and shines
through them helping them succeed…
