Have you ever been faced with a decision but found yourself slow to get off the fence? You just could not take the action required of you for whatever reason. Perhaps you sought God’s will, but you still found yourself doing your own thing or nothing.
Do you ever wonder why you don’t find obedience easier?
One of my blog readers said, “I’d love to see your take on 1 Samuel 15. If you’d like to follow along this week, or read ahead, most of our scripture will come from there.
We always have options in life. We can do what God wants us to do. We can do what we want to do. Or, we can do a combination of the 2. Ultimately that last choice is still doing what we want to do.
In 1 Samuel 15, Saul defies God.
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
1 Samuel 15:3
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
1 Samuel 15:9
He did part of what God said. He just did not finish the job. Perhaps sometimes we are more like Moses. Consider what God told him to do and what he did instead.
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Numbers 20:8
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Numbers 20:11-12
In both cases, it is an obedience issue, but it is also a faith issue. When we choose to do something other than what God says to do – even in the small things – we are showing that we have more faith in ourselves than in God.
Saul’s defiance of God cost him his crown.
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
1 Samuel 15:26
LIFE APPLICATION
Key Focal Verse:
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22
Today’s challenge is to take a look at what God has told you to do. Are you being obedient to His Word? Are you following His will for your life? Are you choosing to do your own thing instead? What’s your disobedience and lack of faith costing you? Pray for God to increase your faith.