In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus teaches us that although following him doesn't exempt us from the storms of life, we can trust him because he is Lord over every storm and is with us in the midst of it.
In 1 Samuel 19, we see that although evil may appear to triumph, God sovereignly preserves his Anointed and ultimately establishes the reign of his true and better King, Jesus Christ.
In 1 Samuel 18:17-30, we see that no one can stop God's chosen King from receiving what God has determined to give him. The question that this passage confronts each one of us with is: Will you love Jesus, or will you fear him?
In 1 Samuel 18:1-16, Jonathan and Saul respond very differently to God's chosen king, reminding us that every heart must ultimately decide how it will respond to God's true and better King, Jesus Christ.
In 1 Samuel 17:31-58, the Lord vindicates his own name by securing the salvation of his people through his anointed king so that all the earth may know that he alone is God, which points forward to Jesus Christ, the true and better David, whose victory over sin and death became his people's victory, though we did nothing to accomplish it ourselves.
In 1 Samuel 17:1-30, we learn that God's people must interpret every battle through the greatness of the living God rather than the greatness of their circumstances.
In 1 Samuel 16:14-23, we learn that our deepest problem is not our restless hearts but our alienation from God because of sin, and that only God's Anointed King, Jesus Christ, can give the lasting peace that no earthly remedy can provide.
In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we learn that God sees what we cannot see. We must trust his verdict about his chosen King rather than our own evaluations.
In 1 Samuel 15:12-35, we see that God desires obedience to his Word more than outward acts of worship.
In 1 Samuel 15:1-11, we see that Saul's tragedy was not that he failed to hear God's Word, but that he refused to fully obey it. The good news is that Jesus Christ, our true and better King, succeeded where Saul failed and now enables his people to follow him.
