Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning. ~Ecclesiastes 4:13
“What have you done,” asked Samuel? Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.” So, I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him as leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” ~1 Samuel 13:11-14
What’s that saying? “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” That might describe the king in our quote from Ecclesiastes today. In fact, one has to wonder if Solomon is describing himself. When he was young, he wanted so badly to please the Lord and rule with wisdom. Now he’s old. He’s been warned by God, but he still ends his life in disgrace. Well, that’s too bad for Solomon, but we need to be sure that his statement doesn’t apply to us.
Saul is another king who is old. He was warned by Samuel to wait. But Saul was antsy. His army was abandoning him. He demonstrated that his hope was in his army, not in the God who had anointed him king. He fell to the pressure. “I have to do something!” The tyranny of the urgent, so he took on the responsibility of the priest, was disobedient and lost favor with God, because he never learned to wait patiently for God to act. He thought he could get away with it.
As we get older, or perhaps the more politically correct thing to say is, “as we mature,” we need to remember two things in our walk with the Lord. The first thing is that while we are on this earth, we are still learning, which means that God still thinks we can be taught. The second thing is that we’re never too old to be tested. Instead of seeing our senior years as years of much deserved rest, I believe that a more Biblical view is to see them as the last few miles, or yards, to the finish line in our marathon of life. And you know what? Well trained racers put on a burst of speed in the last few yards to sprint home!
I know, these may be hard things to hear, but we must remember that while we are on this earth, we are still running the race. The time for real rest will come in eternity, just like the rest comes for the runner, after the finish line. For now, it’s “Run, Christian, run!”
“The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had forbidden Solomon to follow other Gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and My decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.” (1 Kings 11:9-11)
Both Saul and Solomon became sloppy in their walk with the Lord in their later years and both lost their kingdoms for their posterity. They didn’t lose what they had by accident, and both were warned before it happened. Our walks may not be as visible, but our obedience is still important for those who come behind us.
Consider this. This particular devotional would probably be over the heads of the people of our younger generations, even those in churches! I can write briefly as I do, with allusions to other Bible stories and references because I assume that most of the readers here, have knowledge of the Bible, so that I don’t need to do a lot of explaining.
We need to be careful, however, not to be tempted to slack in our zeal to learn more and desire to grow more. That is like being tempted to slow down, take it easy and walk across the finish line, instead of run the race, full tilt to the end. It may be tempting to think that you know a lot, and perhaps that is true, good for you! Nevertheless, none of us know it all.
With an infinite and eternal God to get to know, the truth is that none of us ever will. I have heard it said that life in glory will be wonderful and restful, but it will also be a life of continuing to learn more and more about God because he is infinite, and we are not.
Solomon and Saul thought that they could coast on their past relationship with God. After all, He had been gracious and forgiving to them both before when they disobeyed, He could do it again, even if they did slack off in their obedience to what He commanded of them. They were tempted to compromise what they knew they were supposed to do with what they wanted to do.
Saul wanted to start fighting and he thought that he needed numbers to be successful. Solomon wanted all those women and the gods that came with them. Both had been chosen by God and anointed to His service. They thought their position was fail proof, so they felt safe in going ahead with their own hearts’ desires. They both became old foolish kings who did not heed the warnings that God gave them.
We face those same temptations today. We’re Christians so…? We need to run for Him, grow for Him and Learn from Him while we are able, to be fitted for our service in eternity. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) “Run Christian, Run!” It’s all for His glory!”
Prayer: Father, thank you for the promise that you will bear me up on eagle’s wings and give me strength as I run for you! Also, for the promise that even as an old man I may dream dreams to pursue Your plans for me that will bring glory to Your name. Help me finish well! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: In the Secret
“What have you done,” asked Samuel? Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.” So, I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him as leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” ~1 Samuel 13:11-14
What’s that saying? “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” That might describe the king in our quote from Ecclesiastes today. In fact, one has to wonder if Solomon is describing himself. When he was young, he wanted so badly to please the Lord and rule with wisdom. Now he’s old. He’s been warned by God, but he still ends his life in disgrace. Well, that’s too bad for Solomon, but we need to be sure that his statement doesn’t apply to us.
Saul is another king who is old. He was warned by Samuel to wait. But Saul was antsy. His army was abandoning him. He demonstrated that his hope was in his army, not in the God who had anointed him king. He fell to the pressure. “I have to do something!” The tyranny of the urgent, so he took on the responsibility of the priest, was disobedient and lost favor with God, because he never learned to wait patiently for God to act. He thought he could get away with it.
As we get older, or perhaps the more politically correct thing to say is, “as we mature,” we need to remember two things in our walk with the Lord. The first thing is that while we are on this earth, we are still learning, which means that God still thinks we can be taught. The second thing is that we’re never too old to be tested. Instead of seeing our senior years as years of much deserved rest, I believe that a more Biblical view is to see them as the last few miles, or yards, to the finish line in our marathon of life. And you know what? Well trained racers put on a burst of speed in the last few yards to sprint home!
I know, these may be hard things to hear, but we must remember that while we are on this earth, we are still running the race. The time for real rest will come in eternity, just like the rest comes for the runner, after the finish line. For now, it’s “Run, Christian, run!”
“The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had forbidden Solomon to follow other Gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and My decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.” (1 Kings 11:9-11)
Both Saul and Solomon became sloppy in their walk with the Lord in their later years and both lost their kingdoms for their posterity. They didn’t lose what they had by accident, and both were warned before it happened. Our walks may not be as visible, but our obedience is still important for those who come behind us.
Consider this. This particular devotional would probably be over the heads of the people of our younger generations, even those in churches! I can write briefly as I do, with allusions to other Bible stories and references because I assume that most of the readers here, have knowledge of the Bible, so that I don’t need to do a lot of explaining.
We need to be careful, however, not to be tempted to slack in our zeal to learn more and desire to grow more. That is like being tempted to slow down, take it easy and walk across the finish line, instead of run the race, full tilt to the end. It may be tempting to think that you know a lot, and perhaps that is true, good for you! Nevertheless, none of us know it all.
With an infinite and eternal God to get to know, the truth is that none of us ever will. I have heard it said that life in glory will be wonderful and restful, but it will also be a life of continuing to learn more and more about God because he is infinite, and we are not.
Solomon and Saul thought that they could coast on their past relationship with God. After all, He had been gracious and forgiving to them both before when they disobeyed, He could do it again, even if they did slack off in their obedience to what He commanded of them. They were tempted to compromise what they knew they were supposed to do with what they wanted to do.
Saul wanted to start fighting and he thought that he needed numbers to be successful. Solomon wanted all those women and the gods that came with them. Both had been chosen by God and anointed to His service. They thought their position was fail proof, so they felt safe in going ahead with their own hearts’ desires. They both became old foolish kings who did not heed the warnings that God gave them.
We face those same temptations today. We’re Christians so…? We need to run for Him, grow for Him and Learn from Him while we are able, to be fitted for our service in eternity. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) “Run Christian, Run!” It’s all for His glory!”
Prayer: Father, thank you for the promise that you will bear me up on eagle’s wings and give me strength as I run for you! Also, for the promise that even as an old man I may dream dreams to pursue Your plans for me that will bring glory to Your name. Help me finish well! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: In the Secret
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