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Life - A Series of Decisions We All Must Make

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The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 1Samuel 13: 5-6

We too can find ourselves in such situations in our lives. The forces gathering against us seem overwhelming. We feel trapped, and surrounded on all sides. Decision making is always so much more difficult under stress. Saul would find this out as he would become too focused on his problems instead of the God he served:

Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 1Samuel 13: 7-10

Saul was not supposed to make the offerings that was Samuel's role. What was Saul thinking? How did the path before him look to him? God provides us again with the insight into the logic of man versus the wisdom of God:

"What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." 1Samuel 13: 11-12

Saul had plenty of reasons and in fairness; from a human perspective they appear to be good reasons! Rationally, Samuel was late and did not show up at the agreed upon time. The will of the men following Saul was faltering and can you blame them? They waited seven days! The enemies were marshalling their forces to come against him. There is a host of human-based reasoning Saul used. The path that led before him screamed to make the offerings unto God! His own language says it all he felt compelled to seek the Lord's favor.

And that highlights another familiar problem we face in the decisions we must make. We can often use God Himself as the very excuse for why we are being disobedient to Him. We can talk ourselves into anything if we can just convince ourselves that it is a "Godly" decision. But ultimately, God does not want our religiosity He wants our obedience:

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51: 16-17

The sacrifice Saul was trying to make was not of God. It was borne out of human wisdom and fear. The path before him must have appeared right to Saul though. It must have seemed good to seek the favor of the Lord in the midst of battle when everything seemed to be bleak. Sometimes however God is seeking our spirit to be calm in the storm. To be still and wait on the Lord. To strengthen our faith by trusting that He will always show up on time; in His time. God is never late and never early. If Saul had only waited a few minutes more his deliverance was on its way. But instead he took the path that led to death because it seemed right to him:

"You have done a foolish thing," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." 1Samuel 13: 13-14

This one decision led to the downfall of the reign of King Saul and all the descendents that would follow him. Sometimes our decisions are larger than our eyes can see at the time we are facing them. All we see is the circumstances all around us. We look around in panic or we look down in despondency. We need to always be looking up in expectancy knowing the God we serve is bigger than anything around us.

Realize that the path God desires for us may not always look like the right path to our human wisdom. Do you think it made sense to a military genius like Joshua to march around the walls of Jericho seven times and then blow a trumpet? That makes absolutely no sense from the perspective of human wisdom. Certainly Joshua must have thought in his own self that he could design a better scheme of attack. I am sure that path before Joshua appeared right. But he ignored what he must have felt and stuck to whom He believed in and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

Realize also that the path God desires for us may not always appear to be easy. Human wisdom often seeks the easy way out of situations. But God is always teaching us. He is always refining us. The lessons we must learn often are harder than the path of human wisdom that lies before us:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7: 13-14

Life is a series of decisions we must make. The road that leads to death and destruction will usually appear to us as a wide and broad path. It will appear to us as the right choice the logical choice. But the narrow road of God is the path we need to seek. We can fall into the bad habit of seeking God's advice only after we have taken the wrong path. God wants to be in on every decision we make. He has a path for us in every decision we face in this life. He does not expect us to know the answers to everything; just that we seek Him in everything. The path that leads to suffering and despair will always require more from us then we ever expected and cost us more than we were willing to pay. The path God has for us will only require our diligence in searching for it and our faith to take it.

 

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Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to (more...)
 
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