Disobedience Can be Your Downfall

1st Samuel 13

Have you ever watched a movie and you see one of the main characters heading into trouble and you wish you could warn them. You may even watch and see some of their mistakes and so, how could they make that mistake? Sometimes we see that in real life and we could warn people but they do not always listen. Sometimes it even happens in our own lives. We choose to not listen to others who may warn us about pit falls that are ahead. For some reason they can see it but we can not. I think it is we choose to not. 

In this chapter Saul is fading fast from a man who should have been honoring to God to a man who wants honor and fame for himself. It may be subtle now but it is starting to show.

Disobedience

We see the enemy, the Philistines raging war on Israel and we know that the Philistines have been the enemy from the beginning of this book. This time the fighting has gotten so bad that the Israelites are living in caves and hills because the oppression of the enemy is so much. In verse 5 we see that the Philistines had mustered 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and enough troops that looked like the sand of the seashore.

They were afraid of the mighty and many Philistines. The scene then goes to a specific part where we see Saul and the leaders waiting. We read in verse 8 that he needed to wait seven days which were given by Samuel for them to wait for the sacrifice. This sacrifice was to go before the Lord and they would then ask the Lord what He would want them to do. 

We see that the enemies were coming in fast. Saul waited to seventh day but there was no Samuel. He could have thought, maybe something happened? Maybe Samuel won’t come? I wish that were the case but Saul being pressed by the people and not being obedient decided that he could do the sacrifice and ceremony which resulted in true disobedience to God. Saul was commanded to wait but when he could have waited a little longer, he did not.

Samuel confronted Saul and we do not see any remorse from Saul. He just carried on with what he was doing. I wish I could tell you, if Saul repented then the lines that came out of Samuel’s mouth would not have but Saul did not repent, nor realize his sin.

Samuel then told him, his days as king are done. They are numbered and God has found someone after his own heart. Samuel was speaking about David. We see that Saul numbered the people and decided that he was going to do what he needed to do.

God gives us chances to repent from disobedience. It may be the Holy Spirit convicting you are getting caught for something. God puts those flashing lights up and we need to heed the warning. We need to turn towards Christ who is the one who settles our disputes with God. Turn from sin and turn towards God.

Pray Continually

1st Samuel 12

Samuel was saying goodbye to Israel as if a former president would announce a nation. The only thing different is Samuel was saying this because God was saying, “You got what you want.” Samuel was just making sure Israel knew what they were doing with their decision.

Integrity

Samuel told Israel that tell me if there was something that I did to take advantage of you. Let me know if you can find anything. They could not, Samuel did not take anything from the people. Actually he continually wanted to serve the people. He is a great example of a true leader. He did not want personal or financial gain. He wanted the well being of the people. 

Samuel then decided to not sugar coat anything for Israel. He went through the history of Israel and showed them that God has been the one that has fought for Israel. God is the one that was the leader who would go before his people. He wanted to leave them with these final words. He wanted them to know that God has been and would continue but the decision they want is not good. 

The people asked that Samuel would still pray for them. How interesting is that they would not heed his words about God being the king but yet still wanted Samuel to be the mediator for them. This reminds of the person that knows they are in sin but does not seek forgiveness. They ask other people to pray for them but they cannot go before the Lord themselves.

In Everything Speak Truth

Samuel really did care for the people because he could have just thrown in the towel and forgot about them and asked God to through down his wrath. What we do see is that Samuel loved them and told them their wrong. He not only loved them but also kept them in prayer. We need to be praying for all our friends, family members, but most importantly our enemies. We need to pray for those that are in the wrong and be willing to be honest and upfront with them.

Take Action

1st Samuel 11

I remember being in 6th grade and being in my first fight. It was during recess as we were playing football. There was this one guy who was big and was picking on another kid who was not very liked and popular. I remember I was getting so upset over how he was picking on him. He was on the other team and was running right by me so I decided to stick out my foot and trip him. He fell flat on his face and I just remembering going, “What did I just do.” I started to walk off the field because I did not want him to start fighting me but he pushed me and started to hit me. I just remember kicking him and he left me alone and I told him that he should not  pick on people. I don’t know if that got his attention or the teacher that was coming but he stopped.

Take action

In this chapter we see Saul starting to do his kingly duty. Remember the last chapter he was somewhat timid about being king. He was found hiding when he was announced in front of all the people. I would be hiding too.  Israel now was at war with the Ammonites and word reached Saul and he gathered all the troops of Israel for them to fight against them. They did and won. We read in verse 6 that the Spirit of the God rushed upon him and he took action. He knew he needed to fight for the people and that is what he did. 

We need to know that even though Saul was a leader, he could not sit back and watch this mistreatment of the people take place. He had to do something. We as Christians are called to be leaders in this world and we can not sit back and watch them live in darkness. We need to be able to stand up for the Lord and be moved. It takes action and we have been given the ability to take it. 

Do people get mistreated at school around you? We normally do not want to make a stand because we might start getting mistreated. We need to know we serve a Great God will give us the strength. We need to ask him for it. Stand up and be an example as a follower of Christ.

Peer Pressure

1st Samuel 8

Peer Pressure gets to all of us at one time or another. I was having lunch with my family and the server mentioned that sounded good so I said, “I will have that.” Then my brother in law, Aaron, said, “That sounds good too, I’ll have that.” When it came to Adam my other brother in law, he said, “Fine I will have that too if everyone else is.” The server laughed and said, “Nothing like peer pressure.” Now this was a time where peer pressure worked on the behalf of a simple decision as food but peer pressure can get us into a lot of trouble. 

In this chapter we see Israel demand a king because they want to be like the other nations.

The apple does fall far from the tree

Samuel was getting old and his sons were helping in the judging of the people. The only thing was his sons were taking advantage of the people. They would bribe the people for them to rule and judge in their favor. They were nothing like Samuel. Samuel feared the Lord, his sons did not. Samuel had a love for the people, his sons did not. 

The people called to Samuel and asked they could have a king just like the other nations and he said why and they even replied with, “Your sons are nothing like you.” This probably was a piercing blow to Samuel to hear about his own flesh and blood.” The cool thing we see is that Samuel goes straight to the KING of KINGS for help.

Peer Pressure

We see that the people asked Samuel for a king so they could be like the other nations twice. Samuel even warned them that the king will have the young men join the army, take the best fields for himself and the kingdom and that they will be obligated to him but they did not listen. We see the true heart of Israel right now. They cared more about being like the other nations than being a nation under God. In verse 7 we see that the people have rejected God as being their King. 

We too can fall into this peer pressure and make compromises. We can care so much about the opinion of man that we forget the most important opinion, God’s. We fear man and what he thinks more than what God thinks of us. Peer pressure is a mighty weapon of the Devil. He will have us get worked up over what others think and forsake him. We can give into the snares of others so easily. It was just 1 chapter ago that Israel had true repentance but whether this was a new generation or they were getting comfortable they forgot about God. That is why it is so important that we never stop seeking the Lord.

A Change that Needed to Take Place

1st Samuel 7

Samuel gathered all the people of Israel together and Samuel judged the people. He told them to stop with their false idol worship and to put away these idols because they have been dishonoring the Lord. When all the people came they listened to Samuel and stopped with their worship of false gods. They drew out water which was a sign of repentance before the Lord. They wanted anew start. They needed a new start. They were in judgment against God because they were in conflict with him by how they lived. 

The Enemy Comes During Repentance

The Philistines heard that they were gathering together and they thought what a perfect time for them to attack Israel. Remember during this time, Israel was in oppression by the Philistines. The Israelites became afraid and asked Samuel to keep praying to the Lord. God was working for Israel as he brought down thunder against the Philistines and he made it so they would no longer invade their territories. The oppression from the Philistine has come to an end (for now).

It usually seems that when you are convicted of sin and realize that you need to be made right before the Lord and you seek after him and want forgiveness, Satan is right there ready to distract you, he will try to keep you so far away from meeting God that you will not even know that you can. He will make you become terrified because you will start thinking that you can’t go before the Lord because you are so unworthy. I have been there and we tend to let the enemy know that we are scared and we run away from the mighty God who can protect us. 

Israel Actually was Doing What Was Right

If you notice three things with Israel: 1) They stopped their sin when confronted. 2) They asked God for forgiveness. 3) They asked Samuel to not stop in praying for them. These are signs of true repentance. They truly wanted to change and it was not because of the enemy around them but because of the conviction of sin. 

Have you stopped with your sin? Maybe you need to ask God to reveal it to you? Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you. Have you been convicted lately? Then do you seek God and ask for Him to forgive you? God is willing to forgive those who want to be forgiven. Then do you always seek the Lord in this matter? Don’t stop. Ask God to help you in overcoming sin. Ask God to fight the enemy and temptation for you. The great thing is that God already does this for us but wants us to ask. It is like the person that just wants to be used. God wants to be used for you and is ready and already active in your life. How great it is to have the grace that passes down to us from our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for making me a new creation.

Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord

1st Samuel 6

To be humble is a hard thing. If you think about it by saying, “I am humble” is not really a humble thing to say. We are called as Christians to humble ourselves before the Lord and that means that we know that He is God and that we are His creation. 

In this chapter we again follow the Ark of the Covenant that is in the hands of the Philistines. 

Action against Action

The Philistines are taking action because of the result of the plagues upon the people. They asked the leaders of divine people of the Philistines what to do (the divine people were like magicians). They told the people that they have offended God and that they need to make things right. So they planned on returning the Ark and also gave God 5 golden mice and 5 golden tumors (weird). This was done as a practice of the Philistines in their religion to make items out of gold and give to their god. 

“Do not harden your hearts,” was said by one of the magician men. He was a smart dude because he told them to not harden their hearts against God because if they do they would need to look at what happened to the Egyptians. Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and God needed to break him and the Egyptians in their pride. 

They sent the Ark back but they did it in a way so they could see if it was the hand of God or just a “coincidence.” They set the Ark on a wagon that would be pulled by two milking cows. These cows never pulled a wagon before let alone be placed in yoke. If it was not the Lord these cows would not be able to go anywhere. Also they would be longing after their calves. God worked and brought the Ark back the Israelites but there was also some other consequences.

In verse 19 we see that 70 men (some translations have 50,070 men) died because they looked upon the Ark. In Numbers 4:20 we are told that we are not to look upon Holy things least we die. These men presumed that they could and they died. They were not sanctified to look upon the greatest of the item which is a reflection of God. The Ark was not God, the Ark was a tool used to represent God. They presumed that they could do whatever they wanted but they guessed wrong.

Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord

When the men had died in the city of Beth-Shemesh they cried out, “Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord.” The same question could be said today. Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord? On our own, no one can. We would have the same consequence happen to us, we would die. On our own we are not worthy of even a glance at the Holy and Glorious God who created us. We are filled with the wretchedness sin and that alone is separation of God. I have confidence though that I will be able to stand before God one day. The reason I can say that is because I know Jesus. He is my personal savior. If you have cried out for the Lord to save you and forgive you of sin, you are able to stand before the Lord. My wretched sin is covered with righteousness. My guilt has been covered. I am able to have confidence in God’s presence because of the Son. Thank You Jesus