There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death. ~Proverbs
14:12
All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. ~Proverbs 21:2-3
Samuel said: “Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to your God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” ~1 Samuel 15:19-22
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” ~Psalm 51:16-17
Can any of you relate to a time say, when you told a child to go in and clean their room and instead of cleaning, they came out later with a picture they had drawn, wanting your praise, but they left the room untouched? That, in a nutshell, is basically what is going on here with Samuel and Saul. Samuel told Saul to wait for him to do the sacrifice and to eliminate the Agagites, but Saul panicked, ran ahead of the plan and then thought he could make up for his disobedience by declaring that all of the captured livestock was intended for a big thanksgiving offering.
He lost the kingdom for his big gaff. He was hoping that God would be impressed that he hadn’t just slaughtered the livestock, as instructed, but was going to make it a thank offering to God! You need to know that thank offerings could be eaten by the donor. The priest got the choice portion such as the thigh or the shoulder, but the donor got to eat the rest. In other words, Saul was planning a big party in God’s honor!
God instructs us what to do or not do and we come up with our own idea of what we want to do and then justify it expecting God to understand and approve, or maybe even pat us on the back for having such a great idea! How arrogant of us, as if God could possibly come up with a bad idea that needs our correction! “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Sometimes, it is hard to hold back from rushing ahead with our own ideas. Take the burnt sacrifice for example. In that sacrifice, you were to take the best, the first fruit, and burn it up to ash. For us, that might be like burning up our offering and just leaving the ashes in the offering place. Then, there would have to be a certain, specially designated place or receptacle for dumping the ashes. We could think of a lot better uses for the offering than that.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.” Yes, as wise as we may think we are with the offering, if God says burn it, we need to burn it. Otherwise, we are being disobedient, rebelling against God’s command, which is sin and it requires death in payment. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
We would never think of ourselves as rebellious. We’re good people! We wouldn’t want to harm anyone. God will consider our good intentions! Ah, but what does the adage say our good intentions pave the road to? “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”
None of us would consider ourselves idolaters and none of us would even think of being involved with witchcraft or divination, yet, that is how seriously God takes our not following His will, and substituting our own ideas in its place. We think it’s a small matter, but God doesn’t. Remember, we have talked about the fact that discipline is how a parent shows love. And obedience is how the child returns that love. When we do our own thing instead of His will, we are not acting very loving toward Him. It is the same as the child, who was not very loving, because he colored a picture rather than honoring our desire to see the room clean.
We talked the other day about how we are all unique and that our creator knows how to work with each of our unique needs, desires and weaknesses. This means that there are times when what God asks of us will seem unfair because we are not being treated like someone else we know, and, we could be right. This could mean that we have a harder path to follow. It could mean that we have to go in a different direction.
We watch how other people walk out their lives and we get ideas about how to do as they do, and we abandon the path that God has laid out for us. Our idea seems right to us, but God may not agree. He knows what He is working to accomplish in each of us. It is a unique calling and design intended only for us. It is in trusting and being obedient that our best will be accomplished. He knows what it will uniquely take to make each one of us look as Christ like as possible.
Pray: I love You Lord and I want to follow You. Help me to take every thought captive and firmly decide whether it is in keeping with your will, or leading somewhere else, even if it is a good intention. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Where You Go I'll Go
All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. ~Proverbs 21:2-3
Samuel said: “Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to your God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” ~1 Samuel 15:19-22
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” ~Psalm 51:16-17
Can any of you relate to a time say, when you told a child to go in and clean their room and instead of cleaning, they came out later with a picture they had drawn, wanting your praise, but they left the room untouched? That, in a nutshell, is basically what is going on here with Samuel and Saul. Samuel told Saul to wait for him to do the sacrifice and to eliminate the Agagites, but Saul panicked, ran ahead of the plan and then thought he could make up for his disobedience by declaring that all of the captured livestock was intended for a big thanksgiving offering.
He lost the kingdom for his big gaff. He was hoping that God would be impressed that he hadn’t just slaughtered the livestock, as instructed, but was going to make it a thank offering to God! You need to know that thank offerings could be eaten by the donor. The priest got the choice portion such as the thigh or the shoulder, but the donor got to eat the rest. In other words, Saul was planning a big party in God’s honor!
God instructs us what to do or not do and we come up with our own idea of what we want to do and then justify it expecting God to understand and approve, or maybe even pat us on the back for having such a great idea! How arrogant of us, as if God could possibly come up with a bad idea that needs our correction! “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Sometimes, it is hard to hold back from rushing ahead with our own ideas. Take the burnt sacrifice for example. In that sacrifice, you were to take the best, the first fruit, and burn it up to ash. For us, that might be like burning up our offering and just leaving the ashes in the offering place. Then, there would have to be a certain, specially designated place or receptacle for dumping the ashes. We could think of a lot better uses for the offering than that.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.” Yes, as wise as we may think we are with the offering, if God says burn it, we need to burn it. Otherwise, we are being disobedient, rebelling against God’s command, which is sin and it requires death in payment. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
We would never think of ourselves as rebellious. We’re good people! We wouldn’t want to harm anyone. God will consider our good intentions! Ah, but what does the adage say our good intentions pave the road to? “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”
None of us would consider ourselves idolaters and none of us would even think of being involved with witchcraft or divination, yet, that is how seriously God takes our not following His will, and substituting our own ideas in its place. We think it’s a small matter, but God doesn’t. Remember, we have talked about the fact that discipline is how a parent shows love. And obedience is how the child returns that love. When we do our own thing instead of His will, we are not acting very loving toward Him. It is the same as the child, who was not very loving, because he colored a picture rather than honoring our desire to see the room clean.
We talked the other day about how we are all unique and that our creator knows how to work with each of our unique needs, desires and weaknesses. This means that there are times when what God asks of us will seem unfair because we are not being treated like someone else we know, and, we could be right. This could mean that we have a harder path to follow. It could mean that we have to go in a different direction.
We watch how other people walk out their lives and we get ideas about how to do as they do, and we abandon the path that God has laid out for us. Our idea seems right to us, but God may not agree. He knows what He is working to accomplish in each of us. It is a unique calling and design intended only for us. It is in trusting and being obedient that our best will be accomplished. He knows what it will uniquely take to make each one of us look as Christ like as possible.
Pray: I love You Lord and I want to follow You. Help me to take every thought captive and firmly decide whether it is in keeping with your will, or leading somewhere else, even if it is a good intention. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Where You Go I'll Go
Comments
Post a Comment