5/29/2010
7:16:04 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Disobeying
God
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Samuel
15:1-11
Message
of the verses: “ 1 ¶
Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king
over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’I
will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on
the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3
’Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do
not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and
sheep, camel and donkey.’" 4 Then
Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and
10,000 men of Judah. 5 Saul came to the
city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 6 Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart,
go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for
you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from
Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 So Saul
defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of
Egypt. 8 He captured Agag the king of
the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the
sword. 9 But Saul and the
people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the
lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but
everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
“ 10 ¶
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king,
for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands."
And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.”
“Disobedience and deception brings
judgment.” This is the third section in
Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of 1 Samuel, and I look back at the
beginning statement he made then this is the third powerful lesson that I must
heed and obey if I want the blessing of God on my lives and service.
Saul is given one more chance to
obey the Lord and his task is to destroy completely the Amalekites who were
descended from Jacob’s brother Esau through one of his sons, through a
concubine of that son. Jacob and Esau
never seemed to get along when they were growing up and when the nation of
Israel was coming out of Egypt the Amalekites attacked them and were defeated
by Israel, however if one goes back to look at Genesis 12:1-3 God says to
Abraham, and this means to the nation of Israel that “I will bless those who
bless you, and those that curse you I will curse.” God was now about to curse this nation by
using Saul to go in and to kill all who were in it. Saul was following the message of the popular
song that was written by Paul Anka for the late Frank Sinatra entitled “I did
it my way.” Saul was not following the
orders that were given to him by Samuel that came directly from the Lord as he
saved some of the cattle and sheep and some of the more prominent citizens of
the Amalekites, and this would eventually cost him his life for it was an
Amalekite who would eventually wound his so severely that he would kill
himself. Dr. Wiersbe writes of Saul, “He
was more concerned about looking good before the people than being good before
God,” and this sub-section is the first part of him doing wrong.
I went over in an earlier SD about
the killing of the wicked people by the nation of Israel when they entered the
Promise Lane, and how the Lord had given them many years to confess their sins
and did not and the Amalekites fall into this category. God is God and He can do as He pleases, and
will never do anything that compromises His attributes, and this certainly did
not compromise any of His attributes, but was surely a part of justice which is
one of His attributes.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Samuel
will latter tell Saul that “to obey is better than sacrifice,” and I want to
obey the Lords commands no matter what it costs me, and I will do this by the
grace that He gives me. I want to be a
David and not a Saul!
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. By the grace of God I want to live my life for
the glory of the Lord and obey His commandments.
5/29/2010
7:55:03 AM
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