5/25/2010 7:44:45 AM
SPIRITUAL
DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Saul watches
the battle
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 Sam.
14:16-19
Message of the verses: “16 ¶
Now Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the
multitude melted away; and they went here and there. 17 Saul said to the people who were with him,
"Number now and see who has gone from us." And when they had
numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. 18 Then Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring the ark
of God here." For the ark of God was at that time with the sons of Israel.
19 While Saul talked to the priest, the
commotion in the camp of the Philistines continued and increased; so Saul said
to the priest, "Withdraw your hand.’”
The
things that I read about Saul continue to get worse and worse as far as any
kind of spiritual leader in the nation of Israel. Dr. Wiersbe writes these sobering words about
Saul: “As we study the life of Saul, we
will see more and more evidence that he was what some people call a ‘control
freak.’ He envied other people’s
success, he was suspicious of any strategy he didn’t originate or at least
approve, and he was ruthless when it came to removing people who challenged his
leadership or exposed his folly.”
Getting
back to this section of Scripture we actually find Saul at his home town where
he had his six hundred soldiers with him.
One of his soldiers sees what is happening at the camp of the Philistines
and tells Saul about it. Saul
immediately asks who was missing and finds out it was Jonathan, the one who had
gone off on his own back in chapter 13:3, which probably made Saul
uncomfortable to say the least. The next
thing that Saul does is ask for the Ark of God and this seems a bit of a
mystery for the Ark of God was not used to seek out information concerning the
will of God that was the ephod which was part of the High Priest’s garments and
had the Urim and Thummim on it and this was used to determine the will of
God. Saul was to impatient to wait for
the priest, (who was from the line of Eli, a line that would disappear soon),
to give him any information as to what the will of the Lord was for this situation.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: One of the wonderful things that I have
learned about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ while he was on this earth is
that He was never in a hurry, but He was never late. A classic story to confirm this is the story
of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel.
There
are times when I believe the Lord has had to just slow me down because of my
impatience and fear, but by the grace of God, the teaching of His Word, and the
Holy Spirit working in my life this has gotten better, and for that I am
thankful. I am to become conformed to
the image of Jesus Christ and this is one of the traits He demonstrated while
on planet earth.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. I want to continue
to slow my life down as has been written many times “have the patience of Job.”
2. Continue to learn contentment as this goes along with
patience.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my life today as Proverbs 3:5-6
describe.
5/25/2010 8:14:01 AM
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