Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Anaheim, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 12.“You shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.” Saul’s been anointed messiah, proclaimed king, and installed in a grand covenant renewal ceremony. There’s no taking it back, but Samuel in chapter 12 pleads with Israel to admit they were wrong to ask for a king. Why bother? As the 1st Commandment shows, it’s not that anything in God’s creation is evil in itself—not even kingship—but it’s how we get these things. Israel faithlessly feared the Ammonites more than God Himself, so they asked (“Sauled” in Hebrew) for a king instead of listening to God (“Samuel”). But as Christ our king shows us, there is forgiveness even for the sins we can’t take back, and He works good and blessings in our lives even from our failures.

Rev. David Andrus, pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in St. Louis and Not-Alone.net Ministries, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 11.Why is the king of Israel working in the field with his oxen? Even though Saul was proclaimed heir to Israel’s throne in the previous chapter, Saul doesn’t actually ascend to kingship until he leads the tribes to a crucial victory in chapter 11. When Saul heard of the Ammonite incursion, the Spirit of God “rushed upon” him and sent him into a rage. The point is not that he didn’t ‘already have’ the Spirit, nor is it that God’s faithful are called to lives of zealous anger. Rather, like Christ cleansing the Temple, God gave Saul a special burst of energy to carry out this task and to deliver a message to His people: “Join or die.” In the end, Saul’s mercy points ahead to the humility of Christ, who desired not even the death of His detractors, but that His people would be one as He and the Father are one.

Rev. Scott Adle, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 10. “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” Saul’s anointing as messiah in chapter 10 is met with skepticism and even scorn. As it would be with the Lord Jesus, the mockers unwittingly testify to God’s truth: Saul is not merely the “son of Kish,” but the “son of God.” God “gave him another heart,” he “turned into another man,” and “the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul.” We are like Saul, deeply flawed sinners who for fleeting moments shine with the glory of God—only by the power of the Spirit, who makes us “sons.” Saul however is not a tragic character, but the first installment which promises something better still to come. He is a type of Jesus Christ, who also had a “hidden” messiahship. Amidst the casting of lots and the human rejection of God as king, the good and gracious will of God was mercifully done nonetheless.

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 9.“See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.” No one except Samuel knows that God has chosen Saul to be Israel’s king—not even Saul! Chapter 9 is full of dramatic irony as we see connections to Joseph, David, St. Paul, and especially Jesus Christ. God takes a humble man from the humblest tribe of Benjamin and sets him on the Messiah’s path, just as Christ poured Himself out and became nothing before He ascended as Lord of all. In Christ, the mysteries of God kept “hidden for ages and generations” are revealed to us, “those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Rev. John Shank, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 8.“Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.” Chapter 8 tragically begins with history repeating itself, Samuel’s sons falling the way of Eli’s sons before him. Top that off with the powerful enemy forces all around, and Israel’s request for a king—a general to direct their various armies as one force—seemed so reasonable. Yet our hearts are often far from God in our most “reasonable” moments, proudly insisting on our own impatient baby-out-with-the-bathwater solutions rather than respectfully inquiring of God with humble openness to His will, even when it doesn’t seem best to us. A king wasn’t a good idea, but God mercifully sent Christ to enter into the best aspects of kingship and to pull us out of our messy addiction to power.

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 7.“So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only.” Although chapter 7 narrates everything so simply, these are massive transitions that took place over years. The Ark stays in Kiriath-jearim for 20 years before the people are ready to get rid of their pantheon of foreign gods and goddesses, and Samuel’s work as a reformer would occupy the rest of his life. His time as judge wasn’t perfect, but what he exemplified—a humble heart ready to repent and rely on God—is the perfect disposition for all who might occupy a position of power, inside or outside the church. Samuel’s “Ebenezer” contrasts with Beth-shemesh’s “great stone,” pointing ahead to Christ the humble king and rock of God’s people.

Rev. Christopher Maronde, pastor of St. John-Bingen in Decatur, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 113.“Who is like Yahweh our God, who condescends to us from on high!” … Pardon? The old sense of condescension, referring to a superior graciously coming down to help a subordinate, captures the middle of Psalm 113, which says that God “looks far down on the heavens and the earth.” The great mystery is that the true God is infinitely higher than all our false idols, and yet He still cares about “the poor” and “the needy” like Hannah and Mary, going from infinitely far to infinitely close, God in Mary’s very womb, her precious little baby boy. We can only meditate on God’s Word because the Word first came down to our level in Christ’s incarnation, to rise and shine on us like the dawn, showing mercy and showing the way.

Rev. Robert Paul, pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church & School in Houston, Texas, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 6.Why would God let the Philistines literally cart around His holy ark like some kind of magical plague box? The Philistines made a “box” with images of the mice and buboes sent from God, possibly sculpted into the box itself. So they sent this box of their own design alongside the Ark of the Covenant—not one box, but two—just to be sure that it wasn’t all “by coincidence.”But the Israelites also failed to humble themselves before the presence of God, putting both boxes together on a “great stone” in Beth-shemesh like some public spectacle. God strikes them too, before the Ark is sent away again. Humanity’s selfish impenitence just wants to get rid of God when He’s inconvenient, but like Joseph in Egypt and Christ in Judea, God uses mankind’s evil misunderstandings to move His blessings to the ends of the earth.

Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 5.“Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold.” Luther says in the Catechism that “God’s name is certainly holy in itself”; God will hallow His name with or without us, “among us” or elsewhere. In chapter 5, even after the Israelites have profaned God’s name as one of many gods, God glorifies His own name by embarrassing Dagon in his own temple. The Philistines cannot deny the power, but like the people who heard about the herd of pigs that drowned, they ask Christ to leave rather than repent. What messages are we sending about God with our words and actions?

Rev. Mark Birkholz, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 4.“Then Samuel’s word befell all of Israel, and Israel went out to meet the Philistines on the battlefield.” The Hebrew opens ominously in one of the most tragic chapters of the Bible. 1 Samuel 4, like Judges 20, begins with Israel wanting to make itself great in its own eyes. But God isn’t a magical insurance policy, a useful app, or “on demand” episodes of The Office—and He doesn’t show up. Then a wave of bad news & death spreads all over Israel, Yahweh’s own judgment against the polytheistic heart of Israel. We too act like heathens when we search for spiritual silver bullets in styles & slogans, but not even our own idolized Ichabods can console amidst the chaos of God’s absence. Christ came, not as the king we asked for, but as the king we needed, to repent in us and turn us back to God as king.