Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.
It’s a beautiful morning Friends! Let’s greet the new day with thanks and praises to our Creator for all His mercies, blessings, forgiveness and the many other good things He showers on those who LOVE and trust Him. Selah! Ah my people, yesterday we saw how the Lord dispossessed Saul of the kingdom of Israel for his impatience and disobedience, in not waiting for Samuel to come and perform his priestly duties. But that was only one instance of his disobedience. Check out this second error of judgement on Saul’s part when the Lord directed him, through Samuel, to destroy Amalek. ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 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 Sam.15:2-3) The instructions seem clear enough, don’t they? Destroy every living thing. ‘But Saul and the people spared Agag, (the king) 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 everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.’ (1 Sam.15:9) And there we have again, the main source of Saul’s fall from grace; disobedience. For the Lord later said to Samuel: ‘It repenteth me, that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments: And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.’ (1 Sam.15:11) Samuel seems to have had a soft spot for Saul. And you can’t really blame him, for Saul was a big, strapping, good-looking fellow, who seems to have had all the attributes of a king, and Samuel was entrusted with the important task of anointing Israel’s first king and guiding him. Poor Samuel must have been very disappointed by Saul’s disobedience and subsequent fall from grace. Now the next morning when Samuel meets Saul, Saul says to him; ‘Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ (vs.13) Hn! I just had to laugh at Samuel’s repartee. ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?’ (vs.14) Who says the old timers didn’t have a way with words eh! Then Saul trotted out the excuses. ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me…But the people took of the spoil; sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.’ (vs.20-21) Saul tried to put the blame on the people, but he was the king, the one responsible for performing the dictates of the Lord. Many of us do likewise my people; try to shift the blame from ourselves to others, even though it’s our responsibility. Thus Samuel spoke these memorable words on obedience to Saul: ‘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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.’ (vs.22-23) Oh my Friends, on the surface it might seem a trivial matter. Saul and his people destroyed all the Amalekites except their king and the best of the animals, which they hoped to sacrifice to the Lord. So why did the Lord take such great exception to it? Remember He specifically said, ‘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.’ That’s why. In the Lord’s vocabulary, utterly destroy everything and everybody, means just that; everything and everybody. Not what you choose to destroy. And Friends, many of us behave the same way. We get a directive from God, specifying exactly what to do, but don’t carry it out as directed. Instead we tend to add our earthly human wisdom, and do what we think should be done. But this doesn’t sit well with our Heavenly Father. My people, it’s a simple case of do exactly as I say. Anything less is disobedience and liable to be punished. On a point of interest, according to the scholars, those verses above, (22-23) reinforce the Old Testament view that religious ritual devoid of spiritual reality, and a life lived totally submissive to a sovereign God is worthless. It’s also true of our times too my brethren. We don’t actually burn sacrifices and such now, but many of us still put on a religious show for the world, professing to be such great believers, but inside, hn; we’re evil and empty of any Christian charity, and our private lives totally mock the Holy Name of Christ. Remember though Friends, it’s our hearts the Lord looks at, and like Saul, we can put on all sorts of outward religious affectation, but if it’s not genuine, the Lord will know and deal with us appropriately. Oh my people, time and space are upon us, so it seems we’ll have to continue the story of Saul and Samuel tomorrow, for there’s still more to be said. So until then, as Uncle Charles, Charles Stanley keeps reminding us; ‘Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.’ Much LOVE!…all we’re asked to do…is obey…obey…obey…
It’s a beautiful morning Friends! Let’s greet the new day with thanks and praises to our Creator for all His mercies, blessings, forgiveness and the many other good things He showers on those who LOVE and trust Him. Selah! Ah my people, yesterday we saw how the Lord dispossessed Saul of the kingdom of Israel for his impatience and disobedience, in not waiting for Samuel to come and perform his priestly duties. But that was only one instance of his disobedience. Check out this second error of judgement on Saul’s part when the Lord directed him, through Samuel, to destroy Amalek. ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 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 Sam.15:2-3) The instructions seem clear enough, don’t they? Destroy every living thing. ‘But Saul and the people spared Agag, (the king) 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 everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.’ (1 Sam.15:9) And there we have again, the main source of Saul’s fall from grace; disobedience. For the Lord later said to Samuel: ‘It repenteth me, that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments: And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.’ (1 Sam.15:11) Samuel seems to have had a soft spot for Saul. And you can’t really blame him, for Saul was a big, strapping, good-looking fellow, who seems to have had all the attributes of a king, and Samuel was entrusted with the important task of anointing Israel’s first king and guiding him. Poor Samuel must have been very disappointed by Saul’s disobedience and subsequent fall from grace. Now the next morning when Samuel meets Saul, Saul says to him; ‘Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ (vs.13) Hn! I just had to laugh at Samuel’s repartee. ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?’ (vs.14) Who says the old timers didn’t have a way with words eh! Then Saul trotted out the excuses. ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me…But the people took of the spoil; sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.’ (vs.20-21) Saul tried to put the blame on the people, but he was the king, the one responsible for performing the dictates of the Lord. Many of us do likewise my people; try to shift the blame from ourselves to others, even though it’s our responsibility. Thus Samuel spoke these memorable words on obedience to Saul: ‘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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.’ (vs.22-23) Oh my Friends, on the surface it might seem a trivial matter. Saul and his people destroyed all the Amalekites except their king and the best of the animals, which they hoped to sacrifice to the Lord. So why did the Lord take such great exception to it? Remember He specifically said, ‘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.’ That’s why. In the Lord’s vocabulary, utterly destroy everything and everybody, means just that; everything and everybody. Not what you choose to destroy. And Friends, many of us behave the same way. We get a directive from God, specifying exactly what to do, but don’t carry it out as directed. Instead we tend to add our earthly human wisdom, and do what we think should be done. But this doesn’t sit well with our Heavenly Father. My people, it’s a simple case of do exactly as I say. Anything less is disobedience and liable to be punished. On a point of interest, according to the scholars, those verses above, (22-23) reinforce the Old Testament view that religious ritual devoid of spiritual reality, and a life lived totally submissive to a sovereign God is worthless. It’s also true of our times too my brethren. We don’t actually burn sacrifices and such now, but many of us still put on a religious show for the world, professing to be such great believers, but inside, hn; we’re evil and empty of any Christian charity, and our private lives totally mock the Holy Name of Christ. Remember though Friends, it’s our hearts the Lord looks at, and like Saul, we can put on all sorts of outward religious affectation, but if it’s not genuine, the Lord will know and deal with us appropriately. Oh my people, time and space are upon us, so it seems we’ll have to continue the story of Saul and Samuel tomorrow, for there’s still more to be said. So until then, as Uncle Charles, Charles Stanley keeps reminding us; ‘Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.’ Much LOVE!…all we’re asked to do…is obey…obey…obey…
SCRIP-BITS 