March 15, 2026 – Lent – Glimpses through God’s Eyes

Glimpses through God’s Eyes

1 Samuel 16:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

² But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

⁴ Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

¹² So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Where was the Lord sending Samuel (verse 1)?

What did Samuel think Saul would do (verse 2)?

Who was Samuel to anoint (verse 3)?

Why did the elders of Bethlehem tremble (verse 4)?

Who did Samuel consecrate (verse 5)?

Who did Samuel think was the “Lord’s anointed” (verse 6)?

What does the Lord look at (verse 7)?

Why did Samuel ask Jesse “are these all the sons you have” (verses 8-11)?

What was Jesse’s youngest son doing (verse 11)?

How was the youngest son described (verse 12)?

How did the Spirit of the Lord come onto David (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

Psalm 23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Who is David’s shepherd (verse 1)?

Where does the Lord lead David (verse 2)?

Why does the Lord guide David “along the right paths” (verse 3)?

What comforts David when he walks through “the darkest valley” (verse 4)?

How does the Lord anoint David (verse 5)?

Where will David dwell (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 23 help us understand how David was changed by the anointing he received in 1 Samuel 16:1-13?

John 9:1-(35-41) – New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What did Jesus ask the man who had been born blind (verse 35?

Why was the man unable to answer Jesus’s question (verse 36)?

What did the man need in order to believe (verse 36)?

In your opinion, why is Jesus’s statement you have now seen him” significant (verse 37)?

What did the man do after he said “I believe” (verse 38)?

Why had Jesus come into the world (verse 39)?

Who will “see” (verse 39)?

Who will “become blind” (verse 39)?

What did the Pharisees ask (verse 40)?

Why did Jesus say that the Pharisees “guilt remains” (verse 41)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s interaction with the man born blind in John 9:1-(35-41) prove again the statement of God to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 that “the Lord does not look at the things that people look at”?

In your opinion, how might the worship of the man born blind in John 9:1-(35-41) been similar to David’s worship in Psalm 23?

Ephesians 5:8-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

What were God’s holy people in Ephesus “once” (verse 8)?

What does the “fruit of the light” consist in (verse 9)?

How should “fruitless deeds of darkness” be treated (verse 11)?

What is shameful (verse 12)?

How does “everything that is illuminated” change (verse 13)?

What is the sleeper to “wake up” and do (verse 14)?

What will Christ do for the sleeper who wakes up (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how would David’s experience in being anointed in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 have been like the Christian in Ephesians 5:8-14 who Paul tells to “wake up, sleeper”?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 23 provide guidance for the Christian of Ephesians 5:8-14 who is looking for guidance in living as a child “of the light”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion of light and darkness in Ephesians 5:8-14 help us understand Jesus’s discussion of those who are blind and those who see in John 9:1-(35-41)?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Samuel, Psalms, John, and Ephesians reveal to us about dwelling “in the house of the Lord”?

In your opinion, how can we live as “children of light” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 8, 2026 – Lent – God Among Us

God Among Us

Exodus 17:1-7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Where did the Israelite community “set out from” (verse 1)?

What was missing at Rephidim (verse 1)?

Who did the Israelite people put “to the test” (verse 2)?

In your opinion, did the Israelite people really expect to “die of thirst” (verse 3)?

What did Moses think the people were “almost ready” to do (verse 4)?

What was Moses to take with him (verse 5)?

Who will stand with Moses when he strikes the rock (verse 6)?

Why was the place called “Massah and Meribah” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

Psalm 95 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
⁸ “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

How should we sing “to the Lord” (verse 1)?

How should we “come before him” (verse 2)?

What is “the Lord” (verse 3)?

Where are the “depths of the earth” (verse 4)?

Why is the sea His (verse 5)?

How should we worship (verse 6)?

What are “we” (verse 7)?

What should Israel not do as was done“at Meribah” (verse 8)?

What had Israel’s ancestors seen (verse 9)?

How long was the Lord “angry with that generation” (verse 10)?

What had the Lord declared (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how is the Israelite question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” in Exodus 17:1-7 answered in Psalm 95?

John 4:5-(7-26)-42 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Who did Jesus ask to give him a drink (verse 7)?

Who did Jews not associate with (verse 9)?

What did Jesus tell the woman that He could give her (verse 10)?

Why was the woman skeptical (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why is the woman’s question the right question for her to ask (verse 12)?

Why will the one who “drinks the water” Jesus gives them not thirst again (verses 13 and 14)?

How does the woman’s question show that she does not understand what Jesus is offering (verse 15)?

How does Jesus move the woman on from thinking about well water (verse 16)?

What does Jesus reveal about the man the woman is currently with (verse 18)?

What does the woman understand about Jesus (verse 19)?

How does the woman try to put distance between herself and Jesus (verse 20)?

How does Jesus remove that distance (verse 21)?

What time “has now come” (verse 23)?

How must God be worshipped (verse 24)?

Who does the woman know is coming (verse 25)?

What does Jesus claim (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how does Jesus in John 4:7-26 provide the Samaritan woman the answer that the Israeltes were seeking in Exodus 17:1-7 when they tested God with, “Is the Lord among us or not?”?

In your opinion, how would you compare what the Israelite people in Psalm 95 “had seen” God do with what the Samaritan woman saw in John 4:7-16?

Romans 5:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

How do “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 1)?

What do we “boast in” (verse 2)?

What do we “glory in” (verse 3)?

Why does hope “not put us to shame” (verse 5)?

When did Christ “die for the ungodly” (verse 6)?

What will anyone “very rarely” do (verse 7)?

How does God demonstrate “his own love for us” (verse 8)?

What will those who are “justified by his blood” be saved from (verse 9)?

How are God’s enemies “reconciled to him” (verse 10)?

Who do Christians boast in through their “Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about how people relate to God?

In your opinion, how was the Lord providing water for those who were testing Him in Exodus 17:1-7 like Jesus dying for sinners in Romans 5:1-11?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 95 provide guidance to reconciled sinners as described in Romans 5:1-11 about how they should to respond to God?

In your opinion, how does Romans 5:1-11 help us understand Jesus’s offer of living water to the Samaritan woman of John 4:7-26?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Psalms, John, and Romans reveal to us about how God relates to people?

In your opinion, how do we see God among us today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 1, 2026 – Lent – Responding to God

Responding to God

Genesis 12:1-4 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Where was Abram to leave (verse 1)?

Where was Abram to go (verse 1)?

What will the Lord make Abram into (verse 2)?

Who will God bless (verse 3)?

Who will be blessed through Abram (verse 3)?

What did Abram do (verse 4)?

How old was he when he did this (verse 4)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

Psalm 121 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

What will the psalmist do (verse 1)?

Where does his help come from (verse 2)?

What will the watcher not do (verse 3)?

What will the one who watches over Israel not do (verse 4)?

Who is the watcher (verse 5)?

When will the sun not “harm you” (verse 6)?

What will the Lord “watch over” (verse 7)?

How long will the Lord “watch over your coming and going” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how is the message of Psalm 121, a psalm that was sung as the people made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, appropriate for Abram as he traveled to the promised land in Genesis 12:1-4?

John 3:1-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Who was Nicodemus (verse 1)?

What did Nicodemus know about Jesus (verse 2)?

What has to happen for someone to “see the kingdom of God” (verse 3)?

Why did Nicodemus think this was impossible (verse 4)?

What does the person who wants to enter the “kingdom of God” need to be born of (verse 5)?

Who “gives birth to spirit” (verse 6)?

What should not surprise Nicodemus (verse 7)?

Who can you not tell where they come from or where they are going (verse 8)?

What did Nicodemus ask (verse 9)?

What do we “speak of” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, how can Nicodemus believe Jesus when He speaks “of heavenly things” (verse 12)?

Who has “gone into heaven” (verse 13)?

What must happen to the “Son of Man” (verse 14)?

Who “may have eternal life in him” (verse 15)?

Why did God give “his one and only Son” (verse 16)?

What did God not “send his Son into the world to” do (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how are the earthly transition of Abram to a new home in Genesis 12:1-4 and the process of entering the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus in John 3:1-17 similar?

In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17 answer Psalm 121’s question, “where does my help come from”?

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

How is Abraham described (verse 1)?

What would Abraham not have to boast about before God (verse 2)?

Why was it credited to Abraham “as righteousness” (verse 3)?

Who are wages an obligation to (verse 4)?

Whose “faith is credited as righteousness” (verse 5)?

How did “Abraham and his offspring” receive the promise that “he would be heir of the world” (verse 13)?

When does “faith” mean nothing (verse 14)?

What does the law bring (verse 15)?

Who are “Abraham’s offspring” that the promise comes to by faith (verse 16)?

What does God do (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 help us understand what God meant by promising Abram “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” in Genesis 12:1-4?

In your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 show fulfillment of the belief expressed in Psalm 121 that “my help comes from the Lord”?

In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17 help us understand the statement, “the God who gives life to the dead”, in Romans 4:1-5, 13-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Psalms, John, and Romans reveal to us about the promises of God?

In your opinion, what should our response be to God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)