Today’s Reading:
Read I Samuel 4:1-10a; I Samuel 6:1-3; I Samuel 8:6-8; 19-22
Start off your time today by playing a game of “What could be worse?” Think of a time in your life or in your family’s life where something unfortunate happened. (Maybe getting stuck in a rainstorm at a theme park, etc). When your family has thought of an unfortunate event, ask each person to answer the question, “What could be worse than that?” In today’s story, things definitely got worse for the Israelites because of their disobedience.
Do you remember learning about the Ark of the Covenant? (Exodus 25:1-22; Joshua 3:1-4:17). It was the place in the tabernacle where God’s presence would rest. And God gave specific instructions where it should be in the tabernacle. As the Israelites faced battles with the nations that were a part of the Promised Land, one group they fought with was the Philistines. In this battle, the Israelites got scared of losing and decided they wanted to have God with them. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want God on their side? The problem was they were disobedient to God’s instructions, and they moved the Ark of the Covenant out of the tabernacle. Not only did the Israelites lose the battle they were fighting, but they also lost the Ark of the Covenant. The Philistines took it.
Samuel, the prophet the Lord had chosen, helped the Israelites and prayed for them. God used Samuel to return the Ark of the Covenant and to defeat the Philistines. It took over 20 years! The Israelites began to see they needed a ruler, and they asked Samuel to help them choose a king, forgetting that God was their king! They wanted a ruler like the other nations around them and they rejected God as their King. Samuel took their request to God and God told Samuel, “Appoint a king for them.” So, the search for a king began.
Application/Prayer:
It’s easy to look at the people around us and want to be like them or have what they have, isn’t it? The Israelites decided they needed a king because the nations around them had a king- even though that’s not what God wanted for them. Ask God to help you to follow His plan for your life and to help you trust that His plan is the best plan for you. Read Jeremiah 29:11 and thank God for His plan for you!
April Memory Verse:
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:9-10
Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:
- Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
- Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
- After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
- Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
- There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.
Other Resources:
April memory verse coloring sheet
April Fill-in the blank activity