I was grading some of my students’ work recently. I had a young man allude to some of the many famous lines from literature. My student wrongly attributed them to Dickens. Dickens is certainly a master, but in the prose form, not in the poetic one.

I gently corrected the student and redirected him to the actual author, Tennyson.

And from Tennyson’s “In Memoriam,” a poem about his dear but departed friend, here’s the last section of one of Tennyson’s masterpieces:

XXVII from “In Memoriam”:

I envy not in any moods

   The captive void of noble rage,

   The linnet born within the cage,

That never knew the summer woods:

I envy not the beast that takes

   His license in the field of time,

   Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,

To whom a conscience never wakes;

Nor, what may count itself as blest,

   The heart that never plighted troth

   But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;

Nor any want-begotten rest.

I hold it true, whate’er befall;

   I feel it, when I sorrow most;

   ‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

It’s a small word but it is weighty, significant, and important: If.

Grammatically, it is a subordinating conjunction. Often it is used to introduce conditional clauses and statements. “If you do your chores, then you will receive your allowance,” for example. If signifies a hinge, so to speak. The condition pivots or hinges upon a duty or obligation being met.

Segue: Proverbs 2 serves as an example of what I mean regarding this crucial word if. Focus with me for a moment upon Solomon’s words below:

1 My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
² making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
³ yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
⁴ if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)

Question: Do you see how important and weighty the if is in three of those lines from Solomon’s pen?

Teaching: Look at the benefits that result from obeying the if conditions:

• Understanding (v. 5)
• Knowledge (v. 5)
• Protection/a “shield” (v. 7)
• Discretion and deliverance from evil (vv. 11-12)

Encouragement: If we hear and learn and obey God’s words to us from Solomon here, then we receive blessing from the kindness of God. But it all hinges upon satisfying the import, significance, and weight of meeting the conditions carried by this little (but not little) if.

“The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.”

Will they learn?

The lessons about leadership from 1 Samuel are inescapable for people with discernment. Samuel was God’s prophet, leader, and judge for Israel. Despite his godly leadership, teaching, and life, Israel remained spiritually blind, recalcitrant, and self-centered.

1 Samuel 8 is one of the most important and instructive chapters in the entire canon of Scripture. The spiritually blind people demanded “a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

And just so we wouldn’t miss the point, God tells his servant Samuel not to take it personally. It was not about Samuel; it was about Israel’s persistent self-centeredness: “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

How clear is that? Crystal.

And in the very next paragraph, God tells them what Saul, the wicked king who’d serve as the means of Israel’s disasters, would do. He will make everything about himself:

• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:11)
• “He will appoint for himself . . .” (1 Samuel 8:12)
• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:13)
• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:14)
• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:15)
• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:16)
• “He will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:17)

Saul was in it to take. He didn’t care about the people. He cared only for self.

And in verses 17-18, God does a mic drop: “He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day” (1 Samuel 8:17-18).

Will they learn? That’s a question you should ask. Because the pattern of choosing unwise, unregenerate, ungodly leaders is obvious: wreckage.

Encouragement: These historical narratives are written for our instruction, dear ones. We’re to learn how important it is to have wise, godly leaders.

Text: “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands” (Judges 15:14).

Context, Context, Context: Samson, though a throughly fallen man, served as a saving figure and judge of Israel. He was impetuous at times. He was prideful at times. He was vainglorious at times. But God still installed Samson as a judge to execute the will of God.

In the verse quoted above, it’s important to notice the phrase “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon [Samson].” Why? It’s to teach us that it was God who was acting through his servant Samson against the enemies of God.

Just when it appeared that the forces of darkness would triumph, God’s appointed servant and judge arose in triumph. Sounds a lot like the gospel of Christ Jesus, right? Because it is just that.

Encouragement: When the enemies are at the gate, when the Philistines in your life assault God’s people, when truth seems it is being eclipsed by the powers of hell, God rises. You can even murder God the Son, but three days later, God will have the last word. Truth eventually but always wins out and exposes the darkness.