When I was in high school, my best friend and I played basketball all the time. We would shoot hoops in his driveway for hours, we played on the same team at school, and we watched games on television. Almost every day we played basketball. One night we went to the video store looking for a movie to watch and were thrilled when we found one with the word basketball in the title. We watched the entire plotless, pointless movie, and there was only one basketball scene. I do not know if you have ever had an experience where you picked something because of the title and realized the title really did not capture the content. If you are unfamiliar with 1 and 2 Samuel, you may be surprised by the content. The previous three books of the Bible are Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. The main character in the book of Joshua is Joshua, the main characters in the book of Judges are the Judges, and the main character in the book of Ruth is Ruth. When you finish Ruth and turn to 1 Samuel, you are prepared for a book primarily about Samuel, and when the book begins, Samuel is the main character. But after the first quarter of the book, the focus changes. The main character in 1 and 2 Samuel is not Samuel, the main character is David. And we discover as the Bible continues that the ultimate focus of the book is not David, but a coming king from the line of David. This book, which begins with Samuel and chronicles the rise and reign of King David is part of a much larger story; a story which began in the Garden of Eden with the promise of a conquering king and ends with an eternal kingdom governed by King Jesus. Over the next thirty days, we will study stories about a king and his kingdom. These stories show us how God’s plan to raise up a king to build a kingdom is pictured in David and fulfilled in Jesus. My hope and prayer is that this study in Samuel will provide a clearer picture of Jesus Christ, and that seeing Jesus more clearly will deepen your love for him. And when your love for Jesus grows, you will find listening to him, doing his will, and keeping his commands easier and sweeter.