1 Samuel 15-16 / John 8:1-20 / Psalm 110 / Proverbs 15:8-10
Have you ever found it hard to follow instructions? Whether it was because you disagreed, or you thought you had a better idea, or you simply didn’t understand, have you ever found yourself in trouble because you didn’t do as you were told? I realize we would all say, “yes” to this and rightfully so.
When we’re talking about obeying our parents when we were young, that carries a level of importance. Obeying leaders around us is another area of submission to authority. Obedience to God is the highest calling we have when we belong to Him. But what happens when we are no longer able to hear and obey God? Is that even possible? I’ve thought a lot over the years about being deceived and the cost it has upon our lives.
In light of this, I want to look at the life of King Saul from the book of 1 Samuel. Saul was anointed and declared king, with God’s Spirit powerfully upon him, for about 7 days before he decided to do his own thing, disobeying Samuel’s instructions to wait at Gilgal. Samuel was coming to offer sacrifices according to the word of the Lord. (1 Samuel 10:8)
We don’t know why God wanted Saul to wait for Samuel to offer the sacrifice. Was it a test? Did God have something further to say? We’ll never fully know because Saul decided to take matters into his own hands instead of following the instructions he’d been given. Samuel didn’t come within the time he said he would, so Saul offered the sacrifices without him. Things went downhill from there.
After that lapse in judgment, Saul had instance after instance where he chose his own way instead of what God would have him do, and my personal belief is that with every wrong choice, the deception got deeper in Saul’s mind. That seems evident when looking at the argument Samuel and Saul had in 1 Samuel 15.
God told Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites because of the way they had treated God’s people after they left Egypt. Saul was to destroy everything. What did he do instead? He kept the king alive and he kept some of the spoils. Long story, short; after a back and forth argument, Saul finally admitted he had sinned against what God said, but it was too late. This was the end event in a long series of events where Saul did not do what God said.
And the fact that he at first had no idea that he’d done anything wrong tells me that he had set himself up for a powerful deception in his thinking because of his many wrong, selfish choices. Pride had entered his heart, causing him to feel he could do no wrong. He became oblivious to correction and it eventually cost him the kingship over Israel.
Deception doesn’t happen all at once. I believe it’s a slow progression of wrong choices, choosing not to forgive, holding onto anger, etc. With each choice for our way instead of God’s,
I believe we strengthen that deception to the point that we cannot be reached apart from a miracle from God’s Spirit.
I never want to be in that place. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the things that I fear most. I do not want to be so far away from God in my thinking that He can no longer reach me with the Truth. I would be heartbroken to have fallen so far from my relationship with Him.
This topic causes me to take a good, hard look at my own heart and to say a heart-felt prayer that God would show me any areas I’m deceived. I talked yesterday about unforgiveness, and I think this area alone can cause one to be very deceived. That’s why it’s so important to forgive the minute you become aware of an offense. Do not wait; forgive today.
Forgive tomorrow, and the next day and the next… never stop forgiving.
