MONITE ‘EPELELI 6, 2026

2 SAMIUELA ; SELEMAIA 7:1-15

Minimizing, ignoring, or doubting the perfect holiness of the Lord will never produce anything good in you or through you.

Ko hono fakasi’isi’i, fakasikaka’i, mo hono fehu’ia ‘a e ma’oni’oni haohaoa ‘o e ‘Otua, ‘e ‘ikai te ne fakatupu pe fou ha lelei ‘iate koe.

We don't have the vocabulary or categories to describe adequately the infinitely perfect holiness of our Lord. Nothing and no one is perfectly pure all of the time and in every way. The Hebrew word for holy means "other," set apart from everything else. In the complete holiness of his holiness, God is the great eternal other. There has never been and never will be anyone like him. His holiness is not a part of him; it is his essence. He is holiness through and through. He is holy in love, holy in wisdom, holy in power, holy in faithfulness, holy in anger, holy in grace, holy in patience, holy in judgment, holy in mercy, and so on. In all that he is, all of the time, he is perfectly holy. In this way he is unlike us. Here's why this is so important. Only when you understand the utter holiness of the Lord will you understand the horrible sinfulness of sin. Only in light of the holiness of God will you take his holy law seriously. Only when you understand the holiness of  the Lord will you be blown away by the generosity of his gift of redeeming grace. Easy-believism and moral boundary-breaking begins with forgetting the shocking holiness of God.

I am convinced that this is why God, in protective love, has preserved for us shocking reminders of his uncompromising holiness. These stories are hard for us to read. As sinners, we are tempted to think that God is overreacting or that his anger has too much control over him. It is important to humbly admit that when we wince at accounts of God's acting in holy anger, we do so because we wish God were just a little bit more flexible, a little more like us, and maybe not so holy all the time and in every way. His otherness makes us uncomfortable--and it should, because confessing how unlike him we are is the doorway to seeking his grace.

One of these uncomfortable holiness stories is found in 2 Samuel 6. The ark of the covenant, over which God's presence rested, was being transported on a cart (6:1-11). This was a violation of God's law concerning transportation of the ark, a visible representation of God's presence. God had commanded that priests carry it with wooden poles. The cart began to tip, so Uzzah, walking beside the ark, reached out to steady it, touched the ark, and was immediately struck dead. Our holy God is serious about his law and will not compromise his holy standards. This is why the cross was necessary. God would not turn his back on our sin; a penalty had to be paid. Rather than making us question the goodness of God, the death of Uzzah should cause us to celebrate the grace of Jesus that allows sinners to stand in the presence of a perfectly holy God.

 SAPATE ‘EPELELI 5, 2026

2 SAMIUELA 1-3; MATIU 18:21-35

Since we have been granted such grace from God, we should always respond to others with grace, even those who have mistreated us.

Koe’uhi ko e foaki kelesi kuo fai ‘e he ‘Otua ma’a kitautolu, ‘oku taau ke tau tali ‘aki ‘a e kelesi tatau ki he kakai kehee, ‘o a’u kia kinautolu ‘oku nau ngaohikovia kitautolu.

If I had been in Jesus's place - suffering the mistreatment, injustice, and torture he faced - I wonder what I would have done if I had had his power at my disposal. Even being tortured on the cross, Jesus expressed forgiveness for his torturers. Grace is the way of the cross. We cannot allow ourselves to take vengeance into our hands, by thought, words, or actions. We cannot allow ourselves to wish for or gloat over the demise of someone who has wronged us. It's wrong for us to celebrate grace while we wish condemnation on others. We cannot be content with loving our friends and hating our enemies when our Lord has called us to love our enemies, to pray for those who mistreat us, and to look for ways to do good to them. We all must fight the temptation to keep a record of wrongs, to allow bitterness to harden our hearts, and to fantasize about the suffering of others. Spite is not in our Lord's vocabulary of grace. To resist these things we need to be met by the very same grace that we are called to give.

We have an example of such grace in 2 Samuel 1:17-27, which records David's lament over the death of Saul and his son Jonathan. David chose to remember and recount the great things about this warrior king and his son. He wrote of might, valor, and conquests. He talked of how the children of Israel were blessed during Saul's reign. It's true that Saul made David's life very hard. Saul's jealousy made him long for and work toward David's death. But David did not use the occasion of Saul's demise to air all the evil that Saul had done to him and all the ways, in his pride and rebellion, that Saul had failed as God's appointed representative over Israel. This is not a poem written by a bitter man. David was a man of peace because he trusted in the Lord and, because he did, he was able to look at the life of Saul with grace. Here is a portion of David's lament:

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!

In life and in death they were not divided;

they were swifter than eagles;

they were stronger than lions.

You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,

who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

How the mighty have fallen

in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan lies slain on your high places.

I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;

very pleasant have you been to me;

your love to me was extraordinary,

surpassing the love of women.

How the mighty have fallen,

and the weapons of war perished! (2 Sam. 1:23-27)

May we, upon whom great grace has been poured, have such gratitude in our hearts and rest in our Lord that we find greater joy in granting grace than we find in fantasizing about or celebrating the demise of those who have troubled us.

 TOKONAKI ‘EPELELI 4, 2026

1 SAMIUELA 28-31; SIONE 8:39-47

Sin is a liar. It makes promises it will never keep, offering life, but leading instead to destruction and death.

Ko angahala ko e tama loi. ‘Oku ne palomesi ‘a e me’a ‘oku ‘ikai te ne lava ke fakahoko, tu’uaki mai ‘a e mo’ui, ka ko hono iku’angaa ko e mate mo e ‘auha.

It's important to realize that, until we are on the other side, with peace and righteousness reigning forever and ever, we will be told lies every day. When Satan first enters the scene in the garden of Eden, he proves himself to be a liar. The business of sin is deceit; its promises cannot be trusted. The good life that sin offers is the ultimate evil sleight of hand. I once watched card sharks on a street in Philadelphia. They made it look as though money were ready to be made, but the players always lost. I walked away wondering why anybody would ever play. But I knew the answer: the delusion of easy money drew players in. Similarly, we are deceived into thinking that blessing, benefit, and real life can be found somewhere outside of God's boundaries. Adam and Eve bought into that delusion, and people have been buying in ever since. Sin dangles, we reach, and nothing good happens in the end.

First Samuel 31 records the sad end of Saul's life. This final account of King Saul's life should make us weep:

Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me." But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. (1 Sam. 31:1-5)

What a tragic end to this anointed king's life. The army of the king was completely defeated, his sons were killed in battle, and Saul died by suicide. When we read this account, we find it hard to remember the glory days when Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel. Saul has listened to and chased sin's lie. He knowingly stepped over God's boundaries, while excusing his transgressions. What was Saul thinking? Where did he tell himself the story would end? Did he really think he was smarter than God? Did he reason that God would simply ignore his rebellion?

I am persuaded that this account is in our Bibles because God loves us and wants to warn us. The wages of sin really is death (Rom. 6:23), and we all buy into sin's deceit. That's why we need to be rescued from ourselves, and why God in grace sent his Son to be the rescuer. Jesus offers us not only real life with a joyous end, but also power right here, right now to stand against sin's deceit. Run to him - he won't turn you away.

 FALAITE ‘EPELELI 3, 2026

1 SAMIUELA 25-27; ‘EFESO 2:1-10

The Bible is a chronicle of divine interruptions, an account of how God intervenes to make a better way.

‘Oku hiki ‘i he Tohitapu ‘a e ngaahi founga ‘a e ‘Otua ‘oku ne fakafehalaaki’i ‘a e mo’ui ‘a e tangataa; ‘a ‘Ene hifo ke tofa ha hala lelei ange ma’a hono kakai. 

Because God loves us, he interrupts us. He interrupted the human story with the great flood, stopping the flood of iniquity on earth. God interrupted Jonah as he ran away from God's call. He interrupted Nebuchadnezzar's glory-obsessed reign. He interrupted Paul and his violent persecution of the church. And he will interrupt human history to usher in the new heavens and the new earth. God regularly interrupts the lives and plans of his children, and not simply because he has the power to do whatever he wants to do. Every interruption of the Lord is the result of his wisdom, power, and love. Sometimes God interrupts his children to set them on a new and better pathway. Sometimes he interrupts their lives to reveal his presence and glory to them once again. God often interrupts his children to protect them from themselves. At other times, God interrupts their lives to protect them from others. Every divine interruption is wise and good. Every divine interruption reveals God's constant attention to and interaction with the lives of his children. He is constantly watching, he never withdraws his care, he always knows what is best, and he exercises his power and authority to flip the script whenever he chooses. And his timing in doing so is always right. These interruptions are never a change in God's sovereign will, but are often a significant disruption of our plans for ourselves.

First Samuel 25 records one of those divine interruptions. David and his men need provisions, so he sends ten men to ask Nabal, a wealthy man, whether he will give them what they need. Nabal doesn't just say no; he is insulting and rude. David is angry, and he is tempted to take vengeance into his own hands. But God interrupts David in the person of Abigail, a woman of great wisdom. Abigail steps in between David and Nabal, seeking first to calm David's anger by saying she will take the guilt on herself, and reminding him that he cannot take the life of a woman traveling by herself. Then she reminds David that the Lord is restraining him from bloodguilt. Because of Abigail's intervention, David calms down and realizes that what he intended to do was not only wrong but also far from the kind of response a future king should have (25:23-35). God interrupts David and the wrong path his anger would have led him down with the words and generosity of one wise woman.

We all belong to the Creator, and he will interrupt our lives as he wills and knows is best. There was no bigger or better interruption than the incarnation of Jesus. God invaded human history to do for us what we never could have done for ourselves. He sent his Son to conquer sin and death, so that rather than being slaves to sin we can know the freedom of his grace and life now and forever. May God, in wisdom and power, continue to grace us with divine interruptions until his final interruption, when all things will be made new again.

 TU’APULELULU ‘EPELELI 2, 20226

1 SAMIUELA 21-24; ‘EFESO 3:14-19

Biblical faith involves not just your mind; it also requires a commitment of your heart that radically changes the way you live.

Ko e tui ‘oku faka-Folofolaa, ‘oku ‘ikai ko ho ‘atamai pe; ‘oku kau ki ai mo tukupa ‘a e loto pea iku ki he liliu mo’ui.

Theology is a life activity. When you say you believe something, you are not just mentally assenting to that truth. True belief is always demonstrated by how you live. Every doctrine of Scripture is meant to set a culture for living. Every truth in the Bible calls you to a certain lifestyle. If biblical truth doesn't radically change the way you act, react, and respond, then you probably don't truly believe what you say you believe. This means that we should never be comfortable with a disharmony between our confessional theology (the things we declare that we believe) and our functional theology (the way we live). It surely is much easier to assent mentally to biblical truths than it is to carry those truths into your situations, locations, and relationships in a way that is life shaping. I am persuaded that the enemy of our souls would gladly concede our formal theology if he could control the way we live. Theology is much more than an intellectual world; theology is spiritual warfare. Our theology defines our identity, meaning, and purpose, and therefore it controls how we live.

The stakes are high because theological belief really is a matter of life and death. Because theology is not just a mental activity, but rather a set of life-shaping commitments, God has graciously given us practical, living examples of what true belief looks like. We see faith in action in how David responded to the murderous jealousy of Saul. Saul's anger against David was completely unjustified. Saul was so jealous that he lost his mind. Where did Saul imagine this story was going to go? Did he actually think that if he killed David, he would get the throne back? Did he think he could live with murderous intent and God wouldn't notice? Did he expect God to say, "Oops, you're right, Saul. I did give my anointing and power to the wrong man"? Truly, Saul was insanely jealous.

What about David? We find him in the same cave as Saul. His men think it's his chance to mete out vengeance against this man who had wronged him so. But David says, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD's anointed" (1 Sam. 24:6). If you really do believe in the sovereignty, wisdom, presence, power, and love of the Lord, then you can be both resolute and at peace in the face of evil. God had met David with his grace, empowering him to continue to do what was right, even in the face of wrong. If you believe God rules and is with you too, then you can do what is right in the face of wrong. Knowing that, by grace, he will empower you to live by faith as well.

 PULELULU ‘EPELELI 1, 20226

1 SAMIUELA 18-20; Luke 11:9-13

God is the giver of good gifts. Jealousy over the gifts and successes of others never goes anywhere good.

Ko e ‘Otua, ko e tokotaha ia ‘oku ne foaki ‘a e ngaahi me’a’ofa lelei. ‘Oku ‘ikai ha iku’anga lelei ‘o ‘ete nofo ‘o meheka pe loto kovi ki he me’a’ofa mo e tu’umalie ‘a hoto kaunga’api.

God is the Creator of everything that exists. This includes the physical creation, which trumpets his glory and brings us such delight, as well as many nonphysical things that we depend on and celebrate. Beyond your physicality, God is the Creator of your mentality, personality, emotionality, and psychology. It is important to understand that God not only is the Creator of all things, but he also rules over how his creation is allocated. He dispenses the good gifts of his creation as he pleases and according to his divine plan. It is God who chooses a person's gifts and abilities. God allots these gifts and abilities for his glory, for the purpose of human thriving, and to advance his grand plan for his creation. A doctor with exquisite diagnostic skills has those skills not just because he studied hard and trained well, but because God gave him the set of gifts required to do his work. Picasso was working with God-given abilities. Mozart was employing God-allotted gifts.

When you are jealous of the gifts and successes of others, you're not just angry that you don't have what they have; you are angry with God. Jealousy questions the wisdom and goodness of God. Jealousy charges God with mistakenly giving to another what you should have. Jealous people claim to be smarter than God, thinking that they would have been better at managing creation's gifts. In 1 Samuel 18 and the chapters following, this is exactly where we find King Saul. God has rejected him as king, and David has been anointed as the next king of Israel. Because God calls David to be a warrior king, he empowers him with the gifts to be successful in battle. But Saul looks at David's success and is not thankful for God's loving protection of his people through David. No, Saul is consumed with jealousy, so much so that all he can think about is killing David.

David is not against Saul. In fact, he has been Saul's loyal servant. David is not in a contest with Saul; he is doing the work God has appointed him to do. Saul's murderous anger is not just against David; it is against his Lord. God, in his infinite wisdom and out of love for his people, chooses David as his instrument and gives him the power and ability to do his work. Jealousy rages against the wisdom and rule of God. It questions his wisdom and love. When you question God's wisdom and love, you don't go to him for help, because you've concluded he is not good. In choosing David, God is advancing his plan-not just for Israel, but for the whole world. The kingdom of David would never end, because out of him would come another King, Jesus. In David, God is working his saving plan, putting pieces in place that would lead to the final sacrifice for sins. What love! What wisdom! What grace!

 TUSITE MA’ASI 31, 2026

1 SAMIUELA 15-17; NOMIPA 23:19-20

We serve a God who is sure. He knows no mystery, never lies, makes no mistakes, and has no regrets.

‘Oku tau tauhi ki ha ‘Otua pau. ‘Oku ‘ikai ha me’a ‘e puli kiate ia, ‘oku ‘ikai te ne loi, ‘ikai ha fehalaaki pea ‘oku ‘ikai ha feto’oaki.

Every human being is burdened at some point by regrets. We all look back and wish we hadn't said certain things. We are burdened by poor choices we made or by decisions we wish we could remake. As a dad, I wish I could remove some conversations with my children from history and from their memories. Sin mars our track record. The path behind us is littered with mistakes, weaknesses, failures, and sins. Along the way we've had to face our regrets, confess our sins, admit our weaknesses, and run again and again to our Lord's forgiving grace. There will be a day of no more regrets, no more sin to confess, and complete liberation from our weaknesses, but we regularly prove that we are not there yet. This is why I find comfort and hope in the declaration Samuel made after he announced that God had rejected disobedient Saul as king: "The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret" (1 Sam. 15:29). Repeat to yourself, "God is not like me. God is not like me. God is not like me," and then bask in the glorious comfort of those words.

Human relationships are messy, difficult, and hurtful because we fail, we do regrettable things, we carry weakness with us, and we are less than perfect. Every good premarital counselor warns the prospective husband and wife that they are marrying someone less than perfect. The shalom of a human community free from regret was shattered the moment Adam and Eve conspired to disobey God. But God is not like us. He is the absolute perfection of perfection. His every intention is completely pure. The complete perfection of his holiness means he cannot lie. He never needs a second chance or a fresh start. He never needs to be forgiven. He will forever have nothing to confess. He is the definition of what it means to be holy, right, and true all of the time, in every place, and in every way. No regrets, no lies-God is not like us.

In a moment of massive human failure (Saul's) with massively significant consequences (Israel is once again without a king), Samuel points Israel and us to where unfailing hope can be found. We live in a world where we-and everyone and everything around us-fail us in some way. But we can entrust ourselves to one who never lies and has no regrets. God is not like us; he is perfectly sure and eternally trustworthy. Preach to yourself the gospel of God's perfection, and rest in his unfailing care.