Day 44: Ecclesiastes 1 & 3

Ecclesiastes 1

Meaningless! This Teacher that wrote this passage talks about how everything is meaningless. It all just goes round and round and round. The wind blows in circles, the water flows, but never fills the sea, people are forgotten after they're gone... There just seems to be no meaning in any of it!

Ecclesiastes 3

This chapter puts at least a little bit of a positive spin on all of the meaninglessness. While everything is just looping and circling, we can know that God has created all of these things. Nothing can be added or removed without God doing it – He does this so that people will know how awesome and powerful He is.

And yet, the Teacher that wrote this passage still says everything is meaningless. So we are to live a good life and enjoy the work we have in front of us.

What do you think it means that everything is meaningless?

What do you think it means that God is eternal and that we can't comprehend it?

Why do you think the people who organized this reading schedule chose these 2 chapters?

Tomorrow's Reading: Isaiah 6 & 9

Day 29: 2 Samuel 2 & 6

2 Samuel 2

At this point Saul has died and David has become king over Judah, one of the tribes of Israel.

Joab helps lead David's men and Abner helps lead the men of the new king of Israel. There is a fight and David's men beat the others.

Only a handful of David's men died, but they killed over 300 of Abner's!

2 Samuel 6

By this point David has become king over all of Israel. He is moving the Ark of God to the City of David and dances with all his might. He is actually considered a fool by some because of the way he dances.

His defense? David says this:

It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

Have you ever been willing to humiliate yourself for the Lord?

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Kings 3 & 6

Day 28: 1 Samuel 20 & 24

1 Samuel 20

God plans to remove Saul from being king (remember how he was impatient and did a sacrifice rather than waiting for Samuel?). Samuel anointed David to be the next king.

Saul realizes that David is rising up and the people love him. Saul is jealous and doesn't want to stop being king, so he intends to kill David. Jonathan (Saul's son) can't believe this! He loves David and doesn't realize that his father has plans to kill David.

David and Jonathan are best friends. Jonathan stands to inherit the kingdom after Saul (he is the prince, after all). Do you think it was difficult for Jonathan to value David over the kingdom that he was supposed to inherit? Jonathan could have told Saul where David was, but instead he warns David so he can leave and hide. Would you do the same thing?

1 Samuel 24

David is now on the run. He's in hiding. And he's managed to build up a very loyal army.

David and his men are hiding in a cave. And wouldn't you know it, Saul enters that same cave to take a quick bathroom break...

David could easily kill Saul. But he doesn't. He still loves and respects Saul as the king. You can tell because David refers to him as "anointed" and "father".

When Saul realizes that David could have killed him, he weeps. He finally understands that God is going to give the kingdom of Israel over to David. So he begs that David doesn't wipe out his family.

So David makes an oath with Saul not to harm his descendants. Saul went home to his kingdom, while David and his men hung behind. David wasn't ready to take over the kingdom quite yet.

Do you think you'd be able to be righteous like David in that type of situation?

Tomorrow's Reading: 2 Samuel 2 & 6

Day 27: 1 Samuel 17

1 Samuel 17

Goliath was about 9 feet and 9 inches tall. To give you an idea of what that looks like, here's a link to a silent video of a man from the early 1900's that was just a few inches shorter than Goliath:



Add to that, Goliath's armor weighed about 125 pounds. And the tip of his spear was 15 pounds! We get it. This guy is big and really strong!

Saul's entire army is terrified of Goliath.

Then David comes along. David, who is not a soldier. David, who has not trained with weapons. David, who does not even wear armor! He comes with no fear, trusting God to defeat the man who insults Him.

Would you be able to have the same courage David had?

Not only did David have to stand up against Goliath, but he also had to stand up against the doubts of the entire army on his own side!

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Samuel 20 & 24

Day 26: 1 Samuel 13 & 16

1 Samuel 13

Here we see Saul get impatient. Saul is off with his army and is waiting for Samuel to show up at their camp to offer sacrifices to God. But Saul's soldiers get restless and start to scatter, so he decides to offer the sacrifices himself.

Saul had good intentions, but didn't follow what God had told him (through Samuel) exactly.

Have you ever grown restless and just gotten something done with good intentions, even though you were supposed to wait? What happened?

1 Samuel 16

Here God sends Samuel to see Jesse. Remember Ruth? She is Jesse's grandmother.

God sends Samuel to Jesse in order to anoint the next king. Because of what Saul did in the last chapter we read (1 Samuel 13), Saul's reign wasn't going to last forever. God was going to raise up David as the new king.

Meanwhile, Saul is being tormented by evil spirits because God is no longer protecting him. Saul wants someone to play music for him to calm him down. Who do you think ended up playing music for Saul? David!

Isn't it interesting to see God's promises begin to be fulfilled?

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Samuel 17

Discipleship

Today was our first RIOT meeting of the 2013-2014 school year!

Our theme this year will focus on DISCIPLESHIP.

There are three aspects of discipleship that we hope to touch on this year.

1. Discipleship in the Word
2. Discipleship in Prayer
3. Discipleship in Community

We'll start out this fall focusing on Discipleship in the Word. One of our goals is to read our Bibles more frequently and to bring our Bibles to RIOT and church every time we attend.

Each RIOT meeting, we'll start out the lesson holding our Bibles up in the air and shouting,

This is my Bible.
It is the Word of God.
It is my Sword and Shield.
I have what it says I have. I am what it says I am.
Devil! I am armed! And you should consider me DANGEROUS!

We will always have Bibles on hand in case a student forgets, but please let us know if you don't have a Bible of your own! We'd be happy to give you a Bible to keep.

Day 25: 1 Samuel 1 & 3

1 Samuel 1

What Hannah does is so interesting - and so difficult!

She is unable to have children (a very common thing in the readings so far!) and prays to God, asking for a child. She promises God that if she is able to have a child, she will dedicate him to the Lord and he will serve God.

Guess what? Hannah finally had a baby.

The amazing part? She actually followed through on her promise! Once Samuel, her son, was old enough to not need her, she brought him to the priest Eli to be trained up as a servant of the Lord.

As a mom, I don't know if I'd be able to do that! Then throw in the fact that Hannah had been wanting children for so long... then she finally has a baby and has to give him up! Granted, she still does get to see him sometimes, but it would still be so difficult.

1 Samuel 3

Eli is basically Samuel's mentor. And Samuel helps take care of Eli, since Eli is going blind.

One night, Samuel keeps hearing someone calling him, thinking it's Eli. Finally the two of them figure out that it's God speaking to Samuel for the first time.

How old do you think Samuel was when he first heard God speak to him?

How do you think you'd respond if you heard God's voice?

Have you ever heard God speak before? What was it like?

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Samuel 13 & 16

Day 24: Ruth 1 & 4

Ruth 1

When a woman becomes a widow, she comes to rely entirely on the kindness of others. Back in this time, I don't think women could really do much to earn money for food or shelter. This is why Naomi was so sad and bitter: she had nothing left and her actual survival depended on whether she could get food and shelter from others.

This is why Naomi tried to send her daughter-in-laws back to their own families. Naomi had absolutely nothing, and the path she would follow might not end well.

But Ruth insists on going back to Naomi's country with her. She will follow Naomi's God and will take whatever comes their way.

Ruth 4

Boaz marries Ruth and so guarantees that he will be taking care of both Ruth and Naomi. Boaz and Ruth then have a son, Obed.

One of the neatest things here is in the family tree.

Ruth, who was an outsider, will be a relative of Jesus! She is the mother of Obed, she is the grandmother of Jesse, and she is the great-grandmother of David, who will become king. And Jesus is a descendent of David. How neat is that?!

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Samuel 1 & 3