A Desperate Request...

At the church where I serve we are spending our time in a sermon series entitled Kings, where we are looking at the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people. Last week, we looked at the life of King David and discovered the timeless truth that following our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities will lead to us failing everyone in our sphere of influence. We discovered that, just like King David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities, the selfishness and rebellion that flows out of those desires affects and impacts all of those who are in our sphere of influence.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. We ended by looking on as the Lord answered David’s question and doubts about His promise through a son, named Solomon. God was going to fulfill His promises to King David in spite of King David’s performance, not because of King David’s performance through his son.

And as King David approached the end of his life, the King responded to the Lord’s promises to him by handing over the role and responsibility of King to Solomon. Solomon was anointed King of the Jewish nation in 971 B.C. when he was twenty years old. King Solomon proceeded to lead the Jewish nation for a period of forty years.

Immediately after being anointed king, King Solomon followed his father David’s command to execute justice upon those who had rebelled against God’s commands or had attempted to revolt against King David. After following his father’s final commands and establishing control of the kingdom of the Jewish people, Solomon stepped back and reflected on all that the Lord had done for him.

Solomon also looked forward toward the incredible responsibility that was now before him as king. And it is in this context that we jump into a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Kings, beginning in 1 Kings 3:3:

Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish me to give you."

Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand something about how the Jewish people worshipped the Lord at this point in history. You see, at this time in history, the Jewish people did not have a centralized location from which to worship the Lord, as the Temple had not been built yet.

Instead, the Jewish people worshipped the Lord at locations that were referred to as High places. High places were shrines that were elaborate in their design and décor and were located at places of higher elevation throughout the Jewish nation. Now, with that in mind, Solomon, out of a desire to worship the Lord for all that the Lord had done in his life, travel to a high place that was located at Gibeon, which was seven miles northeast of the city of Jerusalem. At Gibeon, Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings.

Now to understand the significance of this act of worship, we first must understand what a burnt offering consisted of. In the Jewish sacrificial system, there were two times every day that sacrifices were made to God for the sins of the people. The sacrificial offerings involved animals who were offered as a substitute to pay the penalty for acts of selfishness and rebellion that had been committed against God.

In addition to sacrificial offerings, there was another sacrifice, which was called a burnt offering. Burnt offerings also consisted of animals that were offered up to the Lord as an expression of worship and thanksgiving to God. So Solomon basically offered up, as an act of worship and thanksgiving for the Lord’s activity in his life, 1,000 animals. Now, I don’t know about you, but that sounds like that would have taken a lot of time and a lot of money, don’t you think? You see, Solomon wanted to respond to the Lord’s generous activity in his life. So, as an act of worship, Solomon reflected the Lord’s generosity by generously giving his time and his treasure to the Lord in worship.

Solomon’s response of worship lasted the entire day, which resulted in Solomon spending the night at Gibeon. And as Solomon slept at Gibeon, the Lord responded to his act of worship by appearing to him in a dream. And in that dream, we see the Lord ask Solomon a single question: "Ask what you wish me to give you."

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as Solomon. Place yourself in his shoes. After expressing your appreciation for God’s activity in your life, the Lord appears to you in a dream. And, if that was not enough, the Lord basically says to you “Whatever you want, just ask and I will give it to you”. Now you are Solomon. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you respond? What would you ask for? We see what Solomon asked for in verse 6:

 Then Solomon said, "You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. "Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. "Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. "So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

Now Solomon’s request, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Lord, you demonstrated your faithful devotion to my father as he strived to follow you with his total being. And you have continued to demonstrate your faithful devotion to my father by giving me the opportunity to rule after him as king. But Lord, I am not my father David. I am inexperienced as a leader and I don’t have the leadership skills that my father David had. And now I am in charge of leading the people that You have chosen to be Your people and that you have blessed to become a large and prosperous nation. Lord, I don’t know if I am up to the job, so please give me a heart that listens and obeys You so that I would be able to listen to and lead this great nation of Yours. Please give me a heart that listens and obeys You so that I would be able to administer justice for Your people in a way that understands the difference between good and evil. I desperately need You because there is not man who can lead Your people like You”.

If you were Solomon, is that what you would have asked for? You see, Solomon recognized that he was in desperate need of the Lord. Solomon recognized the incredible role and responsibility that he had been given as king. Solomon recognized that he was inexperienced and lacked the leadership skills to lead the Jewish people.

Solomon recognized that he was in desperate need of the Lord’s wisdom, guidance, and direction to lead the Jewish people. So Solomon asked for the Lord to provide him with the wisdom, discernment and understanding to hear and follow the Lord so that He could listen and lead the Jewish people.

Tomorrow, we will look at the Lord’s response to Solomon’s request…

Following our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities will lead to us failing everyone in our sphere of influence...

This week, we are looking at the life of King David, who distinguished himself as perhaps the greatest king to ever lead the Jewish people. Wednesday, we looked on as King David had a plan to honor God by building Him the Temple. However, the prophet Nathan explained to David that God wanted to build a kingdom through you and your descendants. We see King David’s response in verse 18:

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? "And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord GOD. "Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD! "For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. "For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

King David basically says “Who I am to be given this great responsibility to lead your people? I am just a shepherd from a backwater town. Who am I that you would not only give me this amazing responsibility to lead your people, but that you would promise that one of my descendants would be the Messiah who will bring the Jewish people back to You and back to prominence in the world after they rebel and reject You. Lord, just please keep your promise. Please keep this amazing promise that you have made to me and my family, that I would be a part of the family tree of the Messiah."

 And for years, King David placed his confident trust in God’s promise and embraced his responsibilities to lead the Jewish people. King David continued to establish the Jewish nation as a military and political power in the world. King David continued to fulfill the responsibilities he was given to represent the Lord as he led the Jewish people. And King David continued to gain influence and expand his impact and reputation as being a man after God’s own heart. Then, an event from history occurred that radically changed the trajectory of King David’s life. An event from history that is recorded for us in 2 Samuel 11:1:

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.

King David, the man after God’s own heart, the man who was their greatest military leader, instead of doing what he was responsible for doing and was supposed to be doing, decided to do what King David wanted to do. And what King David wanted to do was have a little fun with someone else’s wife, who was doing what King David was supposed to be doing. So, in order to do what he wanted to do, King David sent his messengers to get Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite for a late night rendezvous. 

Now when the messengers question the King about his choice in women, it is important to understand that Uriah the Hittite was one of the mighty men. In other words, Uriah was one of the thirty men that were in King David’s inner circle. These men protected the King without question and had repeatedly demonstrated their devotion and trustworthiness to him. So the messengers are basically saying “so you are going to sleep with Uriah’s wife”? Instead of fulfilling his responsibilities to represent the Lord as he led the Jewish people, King David’s selfish desires drove him to send his messengers to bring Bathsheba over for an adulterous encounter. We see what happens next in verse 5:

The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant."

What King David did not plan for, however, was that Bathsheba would become pregnant. And now, with the potential for his adulterous affair to become known, King David had to try to figure out how to get out of this horrible and embarrassing situation. We see King David’s plan, in verse 6:

Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house.

Well that did not work out how King David planned it. Uriah was a man that seemed to possess more of a heart for God than King David did at this point. Now, imagine yourself as King David. You grand plan has not worked. How are you going to fix this mess that you have made? We see the king’s final solution recorded for us in verse 14:

Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.

Just when you think the story cannot get any worse, it does just a few verses later in verse 26:

Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

You think? And while King David thought his plan to cover up his selfishness and rebellion that led to a murderous affair was a success; while King David thought he was off the hook, the reality was quite different, as we see in 2 Samuel 12:1:

Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. "The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. "But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. "Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

The Lord responded to King David’s cover up by sending the prophet Nathan with a scenario to expose his selfishness and rebellion. The scenario, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “There were two men who lived in the same town, one rich and one poor. And all the poor man had was a gift certificate for his family to go to Chili’s for a family dinner. However, when a relative from out of town came to visit the rich man, he was unwilling to spend his own money to take him to Chili’s. Instead, the rich man stole the gift certificate from the poor man and his family to take his relative to dinner. So king, what should happen to the rich man?” We see the King’s response in verse 5:

Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. "He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion."

The prophet, having set the trap for King David, now springs the trap on King David in verse 7:

Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 'I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! 'Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 'Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.'"

The prophet confronts the king with his selfishness and rebellion and begins to proclaim God’s just and right response to his rebellion. Because King David chose to follow his selfish desires instead of fulfilling his responsibilities, he had despised the Lord. Now this word despised literally means to think lightly of. You see, King David’s rebellion revealed that he placed his own selfish desires over God’s desires.

And as a result of King David’s choice to follow his selfish desires instead of fulfilling his responsibilities, the prophet proclaims that King David would experience opposition from within his own family for the rest of his life. As a result of King David’s choice to follow his selfish desires instead of fulfilling his responsibilities, the prophet proclaims that what King David had done in private to Uriah would be committed against him in public. We see the king’s response in verse 13:

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die."

King David’s sin was devastating. King David’s sin, like ripples that form when a rock is dropped in a pond, had devastating consequences to his family and the nation. King David’s selfishness, sin and rebellion reveal the reality that there is not such sin as private and personal sin. Our selfishness and rebellion affects and impacts all who are in our sphere of influence.

And for King David, as a leader who represented not only the Jewish people but also represented God, his sin gave the enemies of God an opportunity to ridicule and reject God. So God’s response to David’s sin was swift and severe for David, Bathsheba, and the son that came from their relationship. While David confessed his sin and received forgiveness for his sin, he and his family would have to live with the consequences of their sin, which included the death of their son, for the rest of their lives.

And it is in this event from history that we discover a timeless truth that has the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today. And that timeless truth is this: Following our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities will lead to us failing everyone in our sphere of influence. You see, just like King David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of our responsibilities, we reveal the reality that we view our desires as being more important than God’s desires.

Just like King David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities, we give those who are far from God the opportunity and the ammunition to ridicule and reject God. Just like King David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities, the selfishness and rebellion that flows out of those desires affects and impacts all of those who are in our sphere of influence.

And just like King David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities, the consequences of our selfishness and rebellion often lead us to a very fundamental question. You see, in the wake of the consequences of our selfishness and rebellion, we can find ourselves asking “will God still keep His promises to me when I blow it?” For King David, he could not help but wonder whether or not that amazing promise that God had made to him was now null and void. David finds the answer to these questions and doubts a short while later, in 2 Samuel 12:24:

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD'S sake.

The Lord answered David’s question and doubts about His promise through a son, named Solomon. And to leave no doubt, God sent the prophet Nathan, the same prophet who confronted King David with a message of justice and judgment for his sin. This time Nathan had a different message for the king; a message of grace. A message of “I am a promise maker and a promise keeper” for the sake of my name, for the sake of my plan.

You see, in spite of the reality that King David had followed his selfish desires instead of fulfilling his responsibilities in a way that led to him failing everyone in his sphere of influence, God was not done with King David. Instead God was going to fulfill His promises to King David in spite of King David’s performance, not because of King David’s performance.

Next week, we are going to see how the Lord continued to fulfill His promises through King David’s son Solomon. In the meantime, here is a question to consider: What selfish desires are you facing that are tempting you to fail to fulfill your responsibilities? How are those selfish desires impacting your ability to fulfill your responsibilities?

A King After God's Own Heart....

Last week, at the church where I serve, we launched into a brand new sermon series entitled Kings. During this series, we are looking at the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people. And as we go through this series and look at the lives of these kings, we are going to discover several timeless truths that have the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today.

This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. We ended our time together last week with the reality that Saul's selfishness and rebellion that was driven by the fear of failing to please others resulted in the lost opportunity for either he or his future descendants having the opportunity to rule as king. God was now taking the throne from Saul and was going to give the throne to another man who was a better man.

And, 1 Samuel 16, we discover that that better man was a man named David. In 1 Samuel 16, we see the Prophet Samuel anoint a young shepherd boy named David King of the Jewish people. Upon being anointed as king by Samuel, God empowered David to rule as King by filling him with the Holy Spirit. God also responded to King Saul’s selfishness and rebellion by removing from Saul the presence and power of the Holy Spirit from his life. Saul, even though in the position of king, began to lose influence among the people. 

And it was this loss of influence, combined with a life that was driven by a fear of failing to please others, that drove Saul to view David as an enemy. As a result, Saul continually attempted to kill the future king named David. First, Saul attempted to set David up for death by continually placing him in military battles where the odds were greatly stacked against him. However, David, empowered by God, continually defied the odds and won great military victories for the Jewish people against the enemies of God.

Unable to kill David indirectly, King Saul changed his tactics by attempting to kill David directly. And for 15 years, David, the anointed king, lived life on the run from King Saul. And while there were several opportunities to exercise vengeance upon King Saul, David responded to those opportunities by trusting God and doing the right thing, even when it was not the easy or the popular thing to do.

Then after fifteen years of running from King Saul, the selfishness and rebellion of King Saul that drove him to disobey God out of a fear of failing to please others caught up to him. Saul’s failure to follow God’s clear commands led to his and his sons deaths at the hand of the Philistines, who were the hated enemy of the Jewish people. And after 15 years as the anointed king by God, King David took his place as the appointed king of the Jewish people.

In 1008 B.C. King David became king over the Jewish nation when he was thirty years old. King David ruled over the Jewish people for a period of forty years. And during his forty years as king, King David distinguished himself as perhaps the greatest king to ever lead the Jewish people.

It was King David that led the Jewish armies to conquer their hated enemies. It was King David who captured Jerusalem and established it as their capital city. It was King David who established the Jewish nation as a military and political power in the world. And it was King David who was described as being a man after God’s own heart.

And as a man after God’s own heart, it was King David who desired, at the apex of his power and prominence, to honor God by building what would later be known as the temple in Jerusalem. We see David’s desire and God’s response recorded for us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 2 Samuel, in 2 Samuel 7:1:

Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains." Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your mind, for the LORD is with you."

As King David reflected on the evidence of God’s activity in his life, King David noticed that something did not seem to be right. King David noticed that while the Lord had given him peace and security as a result of the military victories over his enemies; while the Lord had blessed him with a royal residence that was constructed with the finest of materials, the residence of the Lord paled in comparison.

While the King of the Jewish people resided in luxury, the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of the King and Creator of the Universe, was still residing in a temporary tent that was called the tabernacle. King David, upon seeing what he felt was not right, had a desire to fix what was not right in his sight by building a temple for the Lord that would bring glory to the Lord.

And as a result, King David approached the Prophet Nathan, who was the Lord’s spokesperson at this time in history, with what he saw and sensed. The prophet, from his perspective, agreed with what the King had noticed and encouraged the King to act on what he noticed so that the Lord would receive the glory for His activity in King David’s life.  However, the Lord had a different perspective and plan, as we see in verse 4:

But in the same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, "Go and say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD, "Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? "For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. "Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'"' "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. "I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. "I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'" In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

The Lord basically says to the Prophet Nathan “I have something that I want you to tell King David. Go and tell King David ‘Are you supposed to build something for Me to dwell in? Did I ask you to build Me anything, let alone a temple for Me? Have I ever complained about not having a temple? After all, I am the Creator of the Universe and you are just a little shepherd boy from a small town that I chose to lead My people whom I have chosen. I don’t want you to build Me a temple, I want you to be responsible to build and lead My people as My representative. And I am going to work in and through you so that My activity in your life will be remembered for all time. I am going to build a kingdom through you and through your descendants that will last for all eternity. I build a kingdom that will last for all of eternity because one of your descendants will be the Messiah that I am promising to send to bring the Jewish people back to Me and back to prominence in the world after they rebel and reject Me. I am going to receive glory not because you built a building for Me; I am going to get glory because of the Kingdom that I am going to build through you.’”

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as King David. Place yourself in his shoes. You have a plan to honor God by building Him a building. The prophet Nathan, who is God’s spokesman, tells you to act on that plan.

Then, the next day the prophet comes to you and explains to you that God does not like your plan. Instead, God has a different plan. Instead of you building a house for God, God wants to build a kingdom through you and your descendants.

God has just promised you that you will be remembered for all of history not for your building plan, but for fulfilling your responsibility as the representative that He uses to build an eternal kingdom through your descendant. How would you respond?

How do you respond what God blows up your plan because He has a different plan? Maybe you have a plan, but God seems to be blowing up your plan for His plan? How do you respond when that happens?

Tomorrow, we will see King David’s response...

Living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus...

For the past week, we have been looking at the life of the very first king of the Jewish people, who was a man named Saul. Last week, we looked on as King Saul repeatedly attempted to play the blame game instead of owning up to his selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see Samuel’s response to Saul’s attempts to play the blame game in 1 Samuel 15:16:

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me  last night." And he said to him, "Speak!" Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said,  Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.'  "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

Now the Lord's statement to King Saul here, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: "Do you not remember that, even though you viewed yourself as being insignificant, I was the One who viewed you as being significant and made you king over the entire nation? So, in light of the fact that I am the One who made you significant, why did you disobey my clear command that I gave you and greedily grab all of the possessions of those who hate Me for yourself?" We see Saul's response in verse 20:

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the   mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. "But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

Instead of taking responsibility for his clear disobedience, Saul continues to play the blame game. "But Samuel I did obey God's command. I went on the mission; I removed most of the Amalekites from the face of the earth. But the people who went with me, well they were the ones who greedily took some of the possessions of the Amalekites for themselves. It was the people who went with me who wanted to spare the best animals that were supposed to be destroyed to use to worship the Lord your God. This is not my fault; this is their fault”.

Did you notice what King Saul said there? “The people spared to sacrifice to the Lord your God, not the Lord our God .” You see, the reason why Saul had failed to represent God in a way that stood firm when it came to following and obeying God was because he was not living in relationship with God. We see Samuel’s respond to Saul’s continued attempts to play the blame game in verse 22:

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."

Samuel basically says to King Saul "Saul, do you really think that the Lord desires your worship more than your obedience? No Saul a desire to please God by obeying His commands is better that any animal that you could sacrifice in worship to God. And to rebel in disobedience to God's command is worse than looking for guidance and direction from a supernatural power other than God. And your arrogant willingness to disobediently place your desires above God's commands is no different than worshipping something other than God as God". 

Samuel then explains to Saul that his rejection of God's command in disobedience has resulted in God's rejection of him as king. While Saul's earlier selfishness and rebellion resulted in the lost opportunity for his future descendants to rule as king, Saul's present selfishness and rebellion would result in Saul himself losing the opportunity to rule as king. God was now taking the throne from Saul. And it is at this point, as the king was about to lose his kingdom, that we see King Saul come clean in verse 24:

Then  Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. "Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."         

Saul finally reveals the motives behind his selfish disobedience to God's command: “I feared the people and listened to their voice". Instead of living a life that was focused on pleasing and obeying God, Saul lived a life that was focused on pleasing people. Instead of being afraid of failing to please God, Saul was afraid of failing to please people. And that fear of failing to please other people led him to live a life that failed to please the Lord.

After finally opening up to the true motivation behind his selfishness and rebellion, Saul attempts to convince Samuel to accompany him back to Gilgal, where the rest of the Jewish people were awaiting his return. You see, Saul wanted Samuel to accompany him back to Gilgal in order to give the Jewish people the impression that Saul was still in good standing with God, even though he had been rejected by God.

Saul, who loved the approval of people, was afraid that he would fall out of favor with the people if the prophet Samuel, who was God's spokesman and well respected by the people, was not at his side. We see Samuel's response to Saul's request in verse 26:

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." Then he said, "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God." So Samuel went back     following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

As Samuel refuses to return with him to Gilgal, Saul clutches at his robe in desperation as he begs him to change his mind, tearing it in the process. Samuel uses his torn robe as a word picture to Saul to reinforce the reality that Saul has been removed from king and his throne given to another man who was a better man. And to hammer his point home Samuel states "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." In other words, Samuel states to Saul " God has made His decision and is not going to change His mind about it".

However, Saul continued to beg Samuel. And as Saul continues to beg Samuel, his true motives are revealed: "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel,". You see, Saul was so afraid of failing to please people that he asks Samuel to honor him by accompanying him back to Gilgal in a way that made it look like he was following him as leader, even though God had already made it clear that He was removing Saul as the leader.

And while God doesn’t change His mind, Samuel who is a man, does and return with Saul. After returning with Saul, Samuel fulfilled the command that was given to Saul by the Lord to remove the Amalekites that Saul left alive from the face of the earth.

You see, Saul was acting in disobedience to the Lord because he did not worship the Lord. Instead Saul worshipped the approval of men. And it is in this event from history that we discover a timeless truth that has the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today in that living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus. Just as it was for King Saul; just as it has been for humanity throughout history, living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus.

You see, when we live in fear of failing to please others, we will listen to the opinions of the people around us that we want to please instead of the message and teachings of Jesus. When we live in fear of failing to please others, we often make the decision that doing something that is disobedient to God is better than doing nothing, because at least that disobedience will please others. And when we live in fear of failing to please others, we will find ourselves listening and obeying the voice of others instead of listening and obeying the voice of Jesus.

However, the problem with living in fear of failing to please others is that you will never ever please everyone. The person who attempts to please everyone in the end will end up pleasing no one. And the reason why you will never ever please everyone is because human beings rarely agree on anything. The reason why you will never ever please anyone is because people often disagree at different times on different issues and often change their minds at different times on different issues. And as people disagree on different issues at different times, the person who lives in fear of failing to please others will end up continually changing their opinion in an attempt to please others. And as a result they will become trapped between their changing opinions and exposed for who they truly are.

You see, while living in fear of failing to please Jesus may not always result in a life that pleases others, it does result in a life that is lived consistently and in integrity before others, because Jesus does not change His mind or His opinion. And the consistently and integrity that comes from living a life that trusts in the Lord so as to follow the message and teachings of the Lord results in a life that is respected by others.

So, here is a question to consider: Who are you afraid to please when it comes to how you live out your day to day life? Is your day to day life marked by a fear of failing to please others? Failing to please friends? Or is your day to day life marked by a fear of failing to please Jesus?

Failing to Learn A Lesson On The Dangers Of Being A People Pleaser...

This week, we have been looking at the life of the very first king of the Jewish people, a man named king Saul. Wednesday, we looked on as King Saul, as a result of being focused on his fear of failing to please people in a way that resulted in him failing to keep the commandment of the Lord, lost the possibility of establishing his family as the ruling family of the Jewish people.

While Saul would retain his position as King, neither Jonathon nor future generations from his family tree would have the opportunity to be king. Instead, the Lord had now sought out a man after His own heart, which was a heart that was focused on pleasing God by faithfully trusting and following God. In other words, the Lord had already picked out the man who would lead the Jewish people after Saul was finished as King. The Lord had already made His decision and was already beginning to act on that decision.

Now, at this point, you would think that King Saul would have learned his lesson on the dangers of being a people pleaser. And at this point you would be wrong, as we see in an event from King Saul’s life that Samuel records for us a little later on in 1 Samuel 15:1:

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. "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. '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.'"

Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand who the Amalekites were. The Amalekites were the descendants of a man named Amalek and were the enemies of the Jewish people. In a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Exodus, we see the Amalekites make an unprovoked attack on the Jewish people as they left the nation of Egypt. The Amalekites attacked the Jewish people during a time when they were extremely vulnerable and were struggling through the wilderness.

Now this attack made a deep impression upon the Jewish people which they had not forgotten. As a result of this attack, God commanded the Jewish people to exterminate the Amalekites in Exodus 17:14-16. And now, God was commanding Saul to make good on that command and remove the hated enemy of the Jewish people from the earth. We see Saul’s response to God’s command in verse 4:

 Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 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  he Amalekites. So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 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.

Here we see that while Saul obeyed God’s command by extending grace to the Kenites, who were part of the Midianite people who showed kindness to the Jewish people on their journey from Egypt into the Promised Land; While Saul obeyed God’s command by removing from the face of the earth what was despised and worthless of the Amalekites; Saul chose to disobey God’s command by keeping the best of the possessions of the Amalekites.

In addition, Saul allowed the king of the Amalekites to remain alive. However, while Saul viewed his partial obedience as being okay, God viewed Saul’s partial obedience for what it really was, which is total disobedience, as we see in verse 10:

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, "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.

Now it is important to understand that when the Lord says “I regret”, He is not saying that He was surprised. And the Lord is not saying that He made a mistake. Instead, the Lord is expressing the emotional consequences that the selfishness and rebellion of Saul had in His life. You know, that regret that comes when the person you have been pursuing rejects you. The regret that comes from betrayal.

The Lord had created Saul for relationship with Him and Saul responded by rejecting that relationship. The Lord was filled with regret because Saul had failed to represent him in a way that stood firm when it came to following and obeying Him. Samuel then gives us a glimpse of his response to Saul’s rebellion. When Samuel uses the word distressed, this word literally means to burn with anger. Samuel was stoked in anger at Saul.

And as Samuel fumed in anger, Samuel cried out to the Lord in frustration with Saul’s rebellion. However, Samuel’s frustration would only grow, as we see in 1 Samuel 15:12:

Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal." Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"

 The following morning, Samuel arose to pursue King Saul, only to discover that Saul had built a monument for himself. Now a question that arises here is “why would Saul build a monument for himself? I mean, don't other people build monuments to honor you, don't they? So why is Saul building a monument to honor himself?”

The reason why Saul built a monument for himself was to remind people of all the great things he had done for them. You see, Saul wanted the people to remember all that he had done because he was afraid that the people would not be pleased with what he had done. So Saul was attempting to shape the opinion of others in a way that resulted in them thinking highly of him.

And as Saul saw Samuel appear in the distance, we see Saul attempt to shape Samuel's opinion of him by brownnosing him. "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD." Samuel, however, would have none of it. In his stoked anger, Samuel confronts King Saul with the facts of the situation. Samuel basically says to King Saul "If you carried out the command of the Lord and removed any evidence of the Amalekite's existence from the earth, then why are all these animals still alive?" We see Saul's response in verse 15:

Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."

Once again, we see Saul attempt to play the blame game. Saul basically says “Oh those animals. Well that was not my doing. That's not my fault. You see, we removed most of the Amalekite's from the face of the earth, but the people who went with me, well they wanted to spare the best animals to use to worship the Lord. This is not my fault; this is their fault”.

Tomorrow, we will see Samuel’s response to Saul’s attempts to play the blame game...  

A Decision Driven By The Fear Of Men...

This week, we are looking at the life of the first king of Jewish people, who is a man named King Saul Yesterday, we looked on as King Saul summoned to Jewish people to gather at Gilgal to prepare for war against the Philistines. However, Saul summoned the people to Gilgal seven days earlier than the appointed time for Samuel’s arrival.

And as the Jewish people waited for Samuel to arrive, the Philistines were not waiting for the Jewish people. Instead, the Philistines dispatched a military force that dwarfed the Jewish army so as to put a quick end to their revolt and rebellion. As the Jewish people found themselves incredibly outnumbered, they responded with a recognition that they were in a hard pressed and in a desperate situation.

And in their desperation, some of the Jewish army responded by hiding in caves for safety, while others fled across the Jordan River in fear. And those who were not hiding or running in fear were left trembling in fear before their king. Today, it is in this context that we see Saul respond to the situation in verse 8:

Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.

As the appointed time for Samuel's arrival grew closer, the Jewish people with King Saul grew more and more fearful. After all, they saw the Philistine army preparing their forces for attack, while they were simply standing around waiting. And day after day, more and more people began to bail on King Saul in fear of the Philistines. So on the seventh day, when Samuel did not appear early in the day, many more people began to bail on King Saul.

And as the people scattered from him, Saul made a decision. Saul made the decision to no longer wait for Samuel’s arrival to offer up the scheduled sacrifices of worship to God. Instead, Saul rebelled against God and offered up the sacrifices to God. Instead of waiting the full seven days for Samuel to show up at the time that he was to show up, Saul disobediently offered up a sacrificial offering that was to only be done by Samuel and the priests that accompanied him. You see, as the people began to question his leadership and scatter, Saul focused on doing something out of a fear of man instead of out of a fear of God. Instead of waiting faithfully and obediently for God’s timing, Saul decided that doing something that was disobedient was better than doing nothing.

Now here is a question to consider: How often can we find ourselves acting just like King Saul? How often can we find ourselves in a place where we are waiting on God? How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are faced with the decision as to whether we are going to listen to the opinions of the people around us or the word of God?

How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are tempted to do something out of a fear of failing to please those around us instead of doing something out of a fear of failing to please God? How often can we come to the decision that doing something that is disobedient to God is better than doing nothing? We see what happens next in verse 10:

 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering."

Upon arriving, we see Samuel confront King Saul for his disobedient rebellion against God’s command. You see, Samuel was not late, Saul was impatient. Samuel was focused on pleasing God through obeying His command, while Saul was focused on the fear of failing to pleasing the people around him.

But did you notice how Saul responded when confronted by Samuel? Instead of taking responsibility for his selfishness and rebellious fear of failing to please people, Saul attempts to play the blame game. Saul basically says “Well because you did not show up when I thought you were supposed to be here I forced myself to ask the favor of the Lord. This is not my fault; this is your fault”. We see Samuel’s response to Saul’s attempts to play the blame game in verse 13:

Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."

Here we see Samuel reveal for us the timeless reality that we act foolishly when we place our fear of failing to please others over the fear of failing to please the Lord. And by being focused on his fear of failing to please people in a way that resulted in him failing to keep the commandment of the Lord, Saul lost the possibility of establishing his family as the ruling family of the Jewish people.

While Saul would retain his position as King, neither Jonathon nor future generations from his family tree would have the opportunity to be king. Instead, the Lord had now sought out a man after His own heart, which was a heart that was focused on pleasing God by faithfully trusting and following God. In other words, the Lord had already picked out the man who would lead the Jewish people after Saul was finished as King. The Lord had already made His decision and was already beginning to act on that decision.

Now, at this point, you would think that King Saul would have learned his lesson on the dangers of being a people pleaser. And at this point you would be wrong, as we see in an event from King Saul’s life that Samuel records for us a little later on in 1 Samuel 15:1. An event we will look at tomorrow...

 

A Troubling Time in the Life of the First King....

At the church where I serve, we spend a significant amount of our time together on Sundays looking at the message and teachings of Jesus that are contained in the Bible. The Bible is a collection of letters that were written by men throughout history that were inspired to God to write the story of God for all of humanity. And it is in this collection of letters that have been preserved for us through history that we discover the story of history.

 

If I was to summarize the Bible in a single sentence, that sentence would be this: The Bible is the story of God's creation and passionate pursuit of the traitor human race. And in a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 1 Samuel, we see God pursue humanity by sending a man named Samuel to the Jewish people. Samuel was a judge and a prophet who repeatedly called the Jewish people away from their selfishness and rebellion and back to God.

 

Samuel, as he neared the end of his life, called the Jewish people to live under the leadership of God in relationship with God. However, instead of embracing God's pursuit by living in relationship with God, the Jewish people chose once again to rebel against God. Instead of living under God so as to be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the other nations, the Jewish people wanted a king so that they could be like all the other nations.

 

And at this point in His story, God had every right to walk away from the Jewish people. But that is not what God did. Instead God gave them what they wanted. God gave them a king that was to rule over the Jewish people and represent God to the Jewish people. And for the next few months, we are going to spend our time together in a sermon series entitled Kings. During this series, we are going to examine the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people.

 

And as we look at the lives of these kings, we are going to discover several timeless truths that have the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today. So, this morning, as we launch into this series, let's begin by looking at the very first king, who we meet in 1 Samuel 13:1:

 

Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty two years over  Israel. Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000 were with Jonathan at   Gibeah of Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." All Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines,  and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal.

 

Samuel brings us into this event from history by introducing us to the first king of the Jewish people, who was a man named Saul. Saul became the leader of the Jewish people when he was thirty years old, in 1050 B.C. and proceeded to lead the Jewish people for forty two years. After introducing us to King Saul, Samuel provides for us the context for the event in history that we are going to look at this morning.

 

After becoming king, Saul dispatched a military unit of 3,000 men which were strategically placed to lead a revolt against the Philistines. Now the Philistines were the hated enemy of the Jewish people who lived in what is now the region of the Gaza strip. You see, the conflict in the Middle East is a conflict that has been around for over 3,000 years. And in this time in history, the Philistines were ruling over the Jewish people, who they had conquered in battle.

 

However, Jonathon, who was the son of King Saul, led a military action that was designed to start a revolt against the Philistines by attacking a Philistine regiment of soldiers that were stationed in Geba, which is located here on this map. As part of this military attack, Jonathon assassinated the Philistine governor that had been placed over the Jewish people there.

 

When Samuel states that Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear", Saul was basically saying “Let the Jewish people know that the revolt against the Philistines has begun”. And as part of that message, Saul summoned to Jewish people to gather at Gilgal to prepare for war against the Philistines.

 

Now Gilgal was a strategic military and religious center for the Jewish people. Samuel made Gilgal one of the three places where he annually held circuit court to judge the Jewish people. During that time, Samuel would also hold worship services where sacrificial offerings were made to God. Gilgal was also the place where Samuel had earlier crowned Saul as king.  

 

And now, as this revolt began, the time for the Jewish people to appear at Gilgal before Samuel was approaching. However, Saul summoned the people to Gilgal seven days earlier than the appointed time for Samuel’s arrival. And as the Jewish people waited for Samuel to arrive, we see what happens next in verse 5:

 

Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000  horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then   the people hid  themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits. Also some of the   Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was   still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

 

You see, while the Jewish people were waiting for Samuel, the Philistines were not waiting for the Jewish people. Instead, the Philistines dispatched a military force that dwarfed the Jewish army so as to put a quick end to their revolt and rebellion. As the Jewish people found themselves incredibly outnumbered, they responded with a recognition that they were in a hard pressed and in a desperate situation.

 

And in their desperation, some of the Jewish army responded by hiding in caves for safety, while others fled across the Jordan River in fear. And those who were not hiding or running in fear were left trembling in fear before their king. And it is in this context that we see Saul respond to the situation in verse 8:

 

Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.

 

As the appointed time for Samuel's arrival grew closer, the Jewish people with King Saul grew more and more fearful. After all, they saw the Philistine army preparing their forces for attack, while they were simply standing around waiting. And day after day, more and more people began to bail on King Saul in fear of the Philistines. So on the seventh day, when Samuel did not appear early in the day, many more people began to bail on King Saul.

 

And as the people scattered from him, Saul made a decision. Saul made the decision to no longer wait for Samuel’s arrival to offer up the scheduled sacrifices of worship to God. Instead, Saul rebelled against God and offered up the sacrifices to God. Instead of waiting the full seven days for Samuel to show up at the time that he was to show up, Saul disobediently offered up a sacrificial offering that was to only be done by Samuel and the priests that accompanied him.

 

You see, as the people began to question his leadership and scatter, Saul focused on doing something out of a fear of man instead of out of a fear of God. Instead of waiting faithfully and obediently for God’s timing, Saul decided that doing something that was disobedient was better than doing nothing.

 

Now here is a question to consider: How often can we find ourselves acting just like King Saul? How often can we find ourselves in a place where we are waiting on God? How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are faced with the decision as to whether we are going to listen to the opinions of the people around us or the word of God? 

 

How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are tempted to do something out of a fear of failing to please those around us instead of doing something out of a fear of failing to please God? How often can we come to the decision that doing something that is disobedient to God is better than doing nothing?

 

We see what happens next in King Saul’s life tomorrow…