Biblical word study on the word 'renew'

G'day

The word renew appears 6 times in the Scriptures. As I believe that God is calling us to a time of renewal, I thought it best to do a study on this word and decided to share it with you. I hope it is of some help to you and that God speaks to you through it, as He speaks to me.

Today we will be looking at the first time the word 'renew' is used in Scripture where it is found in 1 Samuel 11 v 14. Grab your Bible and read the text so you can follow the study.

ANTECEDENT

Israel demands a King. They are no longer sure they can depend on God (despite all the marvellous things they have witnessed at His hand). They want a King (like everyone else has). God gave them a man called Saul. Not everybody agreed with this choice however, rejecting him as their King and voicing their opinion to whoever would listen.

One day an Israel town was defeated by the Ammonites. Fearing for their lives the captives asked the Ammonites if they could enter into a treaty with them. The Ammonites agreed on the condition that they could pluck out the right eye of each one of the captives. Not relishing the thought of this the Israelites asked for some time to see if anyone would come to rescue them. The plan of the Ammonites was to bring shame on the Israelites taking away their ability to engage in warfare. A warrior needed his right eye in order to take aim as his left eye was hidden behind his shield during battle. A warrior who could not war was open to attack and certain defeat.

The Ammonites agreed to give the Israelites seven days before they would be bound to enter into the treaty with them and suffer its fate. The news spread throughout Israel. When Saul heard about it he raised an army to defeat the Ammonites......and defeat them he did. Saul, the King, was able to defeat the enemy of his people and set them free. Saul was not interested in vengeance on those who did not think he could do the job so when it was suggested that those who did not want him to be King should be put to death Saul announced that nobody would die because they were all going to be celebrating the victory that God had won through them that day.

LIFE APPLICATION

Jesus is our King. If we cannot embrace Him as our King WHOLEHEARTEDLY, we will be divided within ourselves. This division will weaken us and make us vulnerable to our enemy, who will prevent us from being the warriors we are called to be. We will not be able to avail ourselves of the weapons of warfare that Christ has provided for us because we will have been blinded by the enemy. When we are no longer able to war, he will have us defeated in increasingly more areas of our lives. Just as the Israelites sent the word out for someone to save them so must we call out to our King, Jesus, to deliver us from our inability to trust Him fully. It is only as HE enables will we see our doubts disappear and our faith increase - a firm immovable knowledge that Christ is our all sufficiency and that in Him we lack no good thing.