SYNOPSIS: When our hearts care more about the things of God and less about our own agenda, unimaginable blessings will begin to flow our way. However, putting personal convenience and preference over our loving obedience to the Lord will interrupt the flow of divine blessing both in the present and possibly even to the generations that will come after us. Each of us must choose the kind of heart we offer to God: a Saul-like heart that has become self-absorbed or a David-like heart that is fully after God’s own heart.
Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 13:13-14
”That was a foolish thing to do,” Samuel answered. “You have not obeyed the command the LORD your God gave you. If you had obeyed, he would have let you and your descendants rule over Israel forever. But now your rule will not continue. Because you have disobeyed him, the LORD will find the kind of man he wants and make him ruler of his people.”
Saul was thirty years old when he began his reign as king over Israel. He started out with so much promise—he had the physique, the look, the humility, that certain something that gave the people a sense that he was the right man for the job. God had selected him from among all the men of Israel to be the leader of God’s very own people.
But something happened along the way—either character flaws that had been there all along came out when the pressure of leadership was on, and/or he began to read his own press and lost his humility along with his singular dependence on God. The Saul we read about in this story is not the one that Samuel found and anointed as Israel’s first king.
Whatever the reason for the change, after some years of successful leadership, his heart began to cool toward God. He began to depend on his kingly qualities rather than the grace of the King of Kings. He began to cut corners in his obedience to the expressed Word of the Lord. He found ways to justify his disobedient actions. He started to make leadership decisions impulsively rather than prayerfully. He began to drift from God to the point where King Saul, the once promising monarch, was in a full out backslide.
What a sad day for Saul, for Israel, for Samuel, and for God. If Saul had only trusted the Lord by fearing and worshiping him wholeheartedly, he and his descendants would have ruled over Israel forever. Think about that: the same promise that God made—and fulfilled—to David, because he was a man after God’s own heart, had been made and would have been fulfilled to Saul and Jonathon, along with their descendants.
If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel. (1 Samuel 13:13, CEV)
What a lesson for us: When our hearts cease to care about the things of God and begin to care more about our own agenda, we forfeit the blessings God has in store for us. Worse, we may very well interrupt the flow of divine blessing prepared for the generations that will come after us. That is some serious food for thought!
Saul’s story has always sent a chill down my spine. I read myself into his sandals. I worry that my heart may grow dull toward the things God cares about; that I may begin to care more about my agenda than his. I am certainly capable of that kind of selfishness. I think you are too. Saul reminds us that this is certainly a possibility among sin-broken people.
May the Lord steer us clear from that kind of spiritual waywardness. May we come to him daily and allow him to cleanse us from any and every offense. May we acknowledge any and every thought, word and act of disobedience—no matter how easily justifiable. And may God give us, and may we offer back to him, a heart like David’s: a heart after God.
A foolish heart or a faithful heart—thankfully, God is ready to help us to continually offer him the latter.
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