Unleashed: As You Go – Pray

“It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  Deuteronomy 31:8

King Saul was given the assignment in I Samuel to utterly destroy the Amalekites – an evil, godless nation who had persecuted and fought against the Israelites as they escaped Egyptian slavery. Saul was anointed by the prophet Samuel with the words, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD.” I Samuel 15:2

“Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.”  If the account ended at this point everything would be perfect since Saul’s instruction was to destroy everything, leaving nothing behind. However, the story goes amiss when Saul decides to spare King Agag and keep the “best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was valuable, and would not utterly destroy them.” In fact, the record shows that Saul modified the instructions and only destroyed what he deemed “despised and worthless.”

Partial obedience in God’s eyes is no obedience. When Saul was confronted by his failure to follow God’s instructions, he followed the age-old tradition of justifying his actions. Saul, when confronted, proudly announced, “for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God.”

It is so easy to justify our sins if we paper them over with God-talk, religious intentions or feel good statements. God doesn’t want us to justify our actions, he wants us to follow him completely. Samuel reprimanded Saul with the words, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the LORD?”

The bottom line for Saul was that he wanted the best for himself. However, it didn’t take long for God to reveal Saul’s heart. Similar to the world today if we can sanctify our actions, then we can make our actions look very pious. In the same way as with Saul, God quickly reveals the nature of our hearts. God sees the heart, the real motives and calls them out. “Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD?”

Saul, like us, quickly justified his actions. “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD.” “I have gone on the mission” you sent me. I kept the best as a “sacrifice to the LORD.” The problem isn’t what God asked of Saul. His heart revealed a lot when Saul told Samuel the sacrifice is for “your God.”

The world today needs men and women who can say “you come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defeated.” (I Samuel 17:45)

Unlike Saul, David chose the road of obedience. One man or woman with a smooth stone, empowered by God, will destroy the greatest army. In a world where evil is rampant, when moral character and integrity is hard to find, where the family is under attack, where traditional understanding of gender and marriage are reeling, all seems hopeless until you pick up the stone that God has given you. It is a lonely, scary place to be. Vulnerable feelings of inadequacy until you let God guide your hand with the stone.

“A soul-deep emphasis on the love of Christ (what the ancients called “devotion to the heart of Jesus”), so vigorous in the past, so much on the decline today, would flourish once again if people would understand that it consists essentially in accepting Jesus Christ as love incarnate, as the manifestation of the unconditional love of God for us.” (Brennan Manning)

Jesus, I so desire to follow you completely in all the tasks you choose to give me. Find me faithful and in obedience to the assignments you give me. Let me pick up the smooth stone that is needed to impact my world for you.

God is great,

Pastor Lynn