Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart. Proverbs20:30
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Proverbs 27:6
God rejected King Saul from being King, for he continuously disobeyed the Lord, although he was not dethroned immediately. It took time; God had chosen David to replace Saul, but David was a youth. Yet even as a young man, God said He had found a man after God's heart.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue( the prophet Samuel addressing Saul): the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. 1 Samuel 13:13-14
Obeying God is not a choice, though many of us view it as such, and because of such, we flounder in our walk with Him. If we obeyed Him as a son or daughter obeys their parents, we would abide in His presence. King Saul's multiple infractions caused God to end his rule. Disobedience is a rejection of God's rule. I don't think we understand how important it is that we obey. In disobeying God, Saul opened himself up to a tormenting spirit. All disobedience, small or significant, has consequences; it's not an idle or irrelevant act. I have become very sensitive to this.
God sends Samuel on a journey to anoint David as Israel's future king.
So it was, when they came(David's family to Samuel), that Samuel looked at Eliab ( the oldest and the tallest) and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him!" But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:13-14 ( our society puts so much emphasis on the outward, be careful not to get sucked into that value system, you won't find peace of God there)
None of Jesse's sons were selected, so Samuel asked Jesse if all his sons were present, and Jesse said no; there was stillthe youngest one tending the sheep. Samuel told Jesse to send for David. As soon as Samuel saw David coming, the Lord told him to anoint David. Everyone probably thought that Samuel was making a huge mistake, preferring the youngest son over the oldest in a society that rewarded the firstborn.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him( David) in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah( his home). But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him." 1 Samuel 16:13
The translation here is rendered so that God is sending the evil spirit. What happens is our continued disobedience invites the evil spirit, but God has nothing to do with evil. If we ignore God's Word continually, we open our souls to worldly values and suffer the consequences. We have no peace or joy, we start to compare, emptiness grows, and there are more arguments. The bottom line is that it is not what God wants for us.
(Lev. 26:14–46)
"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Duet 28:15 -68(there's a whole bunch of curses).
God is speaking to Samuel to instruct Saul...
Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them." 1 Kings 15:2-3
King Saul did not obey the Lord's command. Instead, he kept the best of the livestock, supposedly to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord.
When King Saul met Samuel, he claimed to have fully obeyed the Lord, and Samuel replied, "And the bleating of the sheep I hear? And Saul said I have saved the best to offer as a sacrifice to your God. Then Samuel said Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,and to heed( the Lord) than the fat of rams. For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, andstubbornness is iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king." 1 Samuel 15:22&23
Seems like harsh words from God, rebellion like witchcraft? Since witchcraft and rebellion defy God, God sees them as the same. The practice of witchcraft is in direct opposition to righteousness, and stubbornness is like idolatry because you're putting yourself before God. It is as if you are worshipping yourself. Sounds strange to us, but not to God. Whoever or whatever you worship, you will follow, and whoever you follow after you will worship.
God's calling for us is clear. He is looking for sons and daughters who will seek and obey Him. He wants to develop in us a heart of obedience. The Lord is my Dad ( personal and intimate), and God is the King of Kings. He is asking for obedience from me, and He has every reason to expect it from me. He has commissioned me and enabled me by His Holy Spirit to be His representative to my family, workplace, and neighbors. This needs to be our attitude; we need to pray to have a heart for God as David did.
When we choose not to obey the Lord as Saul did, this is what happens; we "grieve" ( Eph. 4:30, to afflict w/sorrow) the Holy Spirit, and if we persist, then we "quench" (1 Thess.5:19-21) the Holy Spirit ( quenching is worse, it means to begin to extinguish) and we invite the ramifications of sin to plague us. Here's how Paul puts it.
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey you are that one's slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness( Life)? Romans 6:23
Paul draws a line between obeying the Lord and following our passions. We will be slaves to one or the other.
Now this next part is a little confusing because we are constantly sinning. The best way I can explain this is actions that convict me now, didn't a year ago, as my spirit becomes more Christ-like, I become much more sensitive to my thoughts, actions, and speech. However, I am held accountable for my conscious thought, action, and speech level. If we continue to sin on the conscious level, we not only quench the Holy Spirit, but the next step down is that we become endangered of becoming lukewarm. This comment was first mentioned by Christ to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:20. They were a well-financed church and hence felt that they were doing things right.
Jesus points out their "lukewarm," apathetic nature three times in His rebuke to them. As a result of their ambivalence to spiritual things, Jesus would have nothing to do with them. He would "spit them out," as the people of Laodicea would spit out the tepid water that flowed from the underground aqueducts into their city. With their apathy came a spiritual blindness; they claimed to be wealthy, prosperous, and successful, as some of us do. This is precisely what sin does: it blinds you from your actual state of need. The Laodiceans thought they were "cool with God," only to discover that the Lord could only rebuke them. With the other churches, He was able to find something good to say. Even Sardis, a church almost dead, the Lord found some saints who were true to Him.
From my commentary," 'In contrast to the other six churches, where Christ had something positive to say, the Laodicean church Christ has nothing positive to say. He begins His message with condemnation: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, ( miserable), pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:15-17).
God sums up this church: successful business people, hard workers, probably family-oriented, and even churchgoers. However, God saw their hearts. He found them full of pride. As He told Samuel, man looks outward, but God looks on the heart. So here's the most important question: When God looks on our hearts, what does He see?
Even the church of Sardis, almost dead, God found something positive to say;
You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels. Rev 3: 4&5( such an important statement)
*** This devotional is not easy to read if you are walking the fence with God, which is what lukewarm is. However, removing cancer from the body is not easy either, but it is necessary to save a life. There's much pain as the surgeon's knife separates cancerous tissue from healthy tissue. I'm sure he needs to cut into healthy tissue just to be sure that all the cancer is removed. Afterwards, the nerves, organs, and tissue need to heal, and it hurts (!), but this pain is the pain that leads to life. This is what I am experiencing after my back surgery. And then there's pain that leads to death. As the cancer is not dealt with, it spreads, doing its dirty work, killing organs and blocking blood flow until it takes one's life. As with sin, we must distinguish the type of pain we are experiencing. God's conviction is uncomfortable, but it is the pain thatleads to life. We need to heed Him; to remain in sin is to be disconnected from God's peace and love. Like Laodicean, we will sense we are fine, but sin has a deadening effect on our soul. If we continue to sin, we will follow in their and Saul's footsteps. Disobeying God's calling over our lives is a grave mistake. Do you want to go down that path?
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt.7:13&14
**Romans 6:23( this verse is just five paragraphs above) "...know ye not that to whom you obey.." may sound weird, noone wants to consider themselves a slave; but when we do things that we are not proud of, be it in action, speech or thought we are in servitude to those desires. Can I be even more blunt? The Bible is our standard; it teaches us how to live in fellowship with the Lord. He is our Father and Creator, and to live contrary to Him, to not be in relationship with Him, is to be in sin; it is the very essence of sin, even if we are not doing anything "wrong." We are saying no to His purpose and plan for our life, no to His authority over us, no to the relationship He as our Creator and Father created us to have with Him. I do not know what it is if this is not the very root and essence of sin and pride! It is His Right that we submit to Him. Just as the father of a child has the authority over his child, the child is to be submitted to his father.
** SIN has the letter "I" in it, and the word pride has "I" in it.Because of my pride, I chose to reject God's authority over me and govern my own life, which is SIN. Sin is a noun, a state of being outside God, not being in fellowship with Him,and a verb, the actions, thoughts, and speech that occur because we are outside His Spirit. It started in the garden when God gave the parameters and man disobeyed, and that spirit of disobedience has been with man ever since.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
I can guarantee you that life will become harder, no peace, and more frustration, more anxiety, and emptiness if we continue to live outside of His will. Continuing down this path, we will feel that God has abandoned us when, in reality, we have abandoned Him.
How about you, where do we stand? Do you have regular devotions, prayer, and Bible study, or only when you are stressed out or having a hard time? And if you pray, do you pray a self-focused prayer, "Lord help me to succeed or do you pray with humility," Lord help me to be more like You." Asking Him to help you succeed is not necessarily wrong, provided that succeeding with Him is number one. And when you do succeed, give Him the credit. Succeeding is not for our glory, that would be a shame, but for His. There is nothing He values more in this world than a relationship with each of us. Will you commit to loving Him, serving Him, and opening up your heart to Him, knowing that we are incapable of doing any of this if He doesn't do it through us via His Holy Spirit, but we must have the "want to"
**Father,
This was a tough study, cutting deep to remove the cancer of pride, arrogance, and self-will. It hurts now, but it's the pain that brings life. The fruit of righteousness is yielding to Your Spirit, allowing You to convict and heal. Then peace, joy, oneness with You, etc., everything good can come. Let us long for a oneness with You so our spirit man/woman can thrive under Your care. Thank you for the truth, it is our only chance to live freely with you.
Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart. Proverbs20:30
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Proverbs 27:6
Your son, by Your Great Grace,
Arthur
