We were excited to have another young share what God had laid on his heart Sunday in the J.E.F.E.S. meeting. Hamilton Orozco preached on a gossiping tongue. It is so true how a loose tongue can do a world of damage. If a young person can learn at an early age (hopefully before any serious life habits have been formed) to control how he speaks, he is WELL ON HIS WAY to becoming a great instrument of God. Much damage is done in the lives of others by simply what is said. My prayer is to have the "TONGUE OF CHRIST".
Over the years, I have notice different character qualities in Christ, and I have asked God to help me develop them in my own life. Some things that I pray for are the following: The Mind of Christ, Character of Christ, Tongue of Christ, the Love of Christ, people skills of Christ. I want to be 100% what GOD NEEDS ME TO BE... NOT what I think I should be, but WHAT MY HEAVENLY FATHER needs me to be.
This summer, I have been teaching lessons on YOUTH IN THE BIBLE. We have talked about David, Daniel, Esther, Solomon and others. Today, I taught about Saul. Saul was a young man when he was chosen to be the first King of Israel.
Saul had some really great characteristics as a young man. He was a choice young man with a servant's heart. He also had a good realationship with his man of God. One of the things that stuck out to me about his greatness, and why God would select him as the first king was that he was humble. He knew he had no glorious family to brag of, he was not presumptuous in thinking that he should sit with the "dignitaries" (Samuel MADE him and his servant eat with HIM at the HEAD TABLE of the city). You also notice that Saul was hiding on his CORONATION DAY. He hid so well that NO ONE could find him. GOD HAD TO TELL SAMUEL WHERE HE WAS... THAT IS HOW WELL HE HID HIMSELF!
When I think of all these characteristics of Saul, I imagine him being an EXTREMEMLY RECLUSIVE INTROVERT. He was content doing meanial jobs that didn't require interaction with people. He didn't seek an audience. God saw that he could use this man to get much honour and glory through his life... because he thought of himself as SMALL!
God gave him two VITAL THINGS to help him do the job that he was selected to do. FIRST, God gave him a band of men whose heart God has touched. These were men that God had prepared to assist Saul in the task of leading God's people. If God has called you to serve him, GOD HAS PUT AROUND YOU A BAND OF MEN AND WOMEN WHOSE HEART GOD'S HAS TOUCHED TO HELP YOU DO THAT FUTURE WORK. Those people could include your Preacher, Youth Pastor, Dad, Mom, Teachers, Godly friends. These people God has placed around you are there to provide an ENVIRONMENT of RIGHTEOUSNESS for you to be nurtured in. Recognize JUST WHO these people are, and THANK GOD FOR THEM.
SECOND, God GAVE HIM... listen to this well... GOD gave him a GROUP OF CRITICS that despised him. Now HOW IN THE WORLD CAN I SAY THAT GOD gave them to Saul. Think about what a CRITIC does. A critic takes no greater pleasure than EXPOSING all the faults of his object of ridicule. His intentions are to do harm, BUT the pointing out of the FAULTS by an honest source WHO DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THEM.... IS INVALUABLE. How is it possible to fix the faults in your own life (you know we are all created WITH THEM and God has them in front of His eyes - Ps. 90:8) if all that you surround yourself with is people to tell you HOW GREAT YOU ARE. None of us are 100% perfect, so I need someone who doesn't care what I think about them, to give me the BLUNT HONEST TRUTH ABOUT ME!!! Then, I take their BLUNT HONEST REPORT to GOD, ask Him to HEAL AND HIDE in the image of Jesus Christ the fizzures and faults in my character and life. Then when people look at my life through the image of CHRIST, they don't see ANYTHING BUT JESUS! All the faults ARE COVERED BY JESUS! But I wouldn't have that privilege of displaying Jesus in my life WITHOUT MY CRITICS TO SHOW ME WHAT I NEEDED TO TAKE TO HIM FOR FIXING!!! Hallelujah for critics. They are VITAL FOR A SUCCESSFUL life.
So God gave Saul the TWO MOST NECESSARY THINGS that a person needs to be successful... CHEERLEADERS AND CRITICS. BUT... uh-oh... Saul let his POSITION GET TO HIS HEAD. You know, PRIDE IS A PREACHER KILLER. More preachers have been cut off from being in the ministry than ANY OTHER SIN. Pride will cause a preacher to do some pretty stupid stuff. It made Saul make THREE GRAVE MISTAKES and cause the KINGDOM TO BE RIPPED FROM HIM.
Stike One - SAUL ACTED IN HASTE! Saul jumped the gun on God 8 hours too early (depending on the actual time it took to do a burnt sacrifice). I do know this, as soon as he was done... SAMUEL SHOWED UP! Saul BUCKLED under the pressure of the ENEMY surrounding him, the people fleeing from him and the PREACHER not getting there on time for him. So HE ACTED IN HASTE. A decision made in HASTE is a DECISION MADE TO WASTE. This event was merely A TEST FROM GOD to see if he could be rattled mentally to cause him to make a HASTY DECISION or to WAIT ON GOD.
Strike Two - SAUL SAID IN HASTE! To satisfy HIS VENGEANCE on the enemy, Saul declares that NO ONE WILL EAT UNTIL THE ENEMY HAD BEEN DESTROYED. These warriors marched all day chasing the enemy and were fatigued. They were faint, but they feared the leader. They did get the victory that day, but the victory WASN'T as convincing as it should have been. The HASTY DECISION of their leader caused them TO LACK THE STRENGTH to gain a GREAT VICTORY that day. They were inhibited by their leader's HASTY DECISION.
They also followed his example of ACTING IN HASTE by devouring the spoil of the enemy WITH THE BLOOD BEFORE PROPERLY COOKING IT as the law had prescribed. He cause them to break the law of God because he made a HASTY DECLARATION for the purpose of satisfying his own vengeance.
Strike Three - SAUL FINISHED IN HASTE! Samuel gave the order from God... DESTROY EVERY SINGLE THING THAT PERTAINS TO THE AMALEKITES... DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING ALIVE... NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! So, Saul go to the battle, and in the midst of the battle gets the wonderful idea to SAVE SOME OF THE SPOIL TO HONOUR GOD WITH. What a WONDERFUL thing to do!!! It sure would be terrible to WASTE ALL THIS GOOD MEAT, you know! So, HE spares all the best of the flocks and stuff to make this BIG SACRIFICE to God. WONDERFUL!!! WRONG! In God's eyes, that was the LAST STRIKE, and SAUL WAS OUT!
God repented for having chosen Saul as the king of Israel, and declared that the kingdom would be ripped from him. Samuel exposed Saul's REBELLION AS WITCHCRAFT! In Saul's STUBBORN HEART... HE WAS GOD... not JEHOVAH! Saul was an IDOLATROUS MAN... he was his own God. What HE wanted to do was what HE was going to do... NOBODY WAS GOING TO BOSS HIM AROUND!!! Not even God!
When Samuel declared that the kingdom was now RIPPED FROM HIM, he tried to make it right but in speaking disclosed the under lying truth in his heart. In I Samuel 15: 25 Saul said to Samuel, "turn again with me, that I may worship THE LORD." Samuel REFUSED because Saul's heart was NOT speaking the truth. Saul wanted to make it sound like he was spiritual, but Samuel knew who SAUL'S LORD WAS... and it wasn't JEHOVAH... it was SAUL HIMSELF!!! Samuel refused. Then, for the first time in a long time, Saul in verse 30 spoke truthfully and said, "turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD THY GOD." After hearing this, Samuel turned again with him to do him this LAST HONOUR because he had finally revealed the truth in his heart. Saul admitted it. Jehovah IS NOT my God... I am my own God! That was the truth! But it was TOO LATE! The damage was already done!
This tore Samuel up so bad. Samuel loved Israel and love Saul and wept for Saul. Saul went from being LITTLE IN HIS OWN SIGHT (as Samuel described him) to being too BIG FOR HIS BRITCHES... TO PROUD. He let the position GET TO HIS HEAD! Pride is a Preacher KILLER! God resists the PROUD... God gives GRACE TO THE HUMBLE!
A couple of things I can take from this lesson are these:
1.) Pray for God to KEEP ME HUMBLE! If I stay prostrate on the ground in God's eyes spiritually, there is no reason why He will have to KNOCK ME OFF MY "PEDESTAL"... I AM ALREADY ON THE GROUND in my humbled heart towards him.
2.) Pray to God, "LEAD ME NOT INTO TEMPTATION". Beg God to not lead you down a path that might result in Him having to humble you. It hurts TOO MUCH to BE HUMBLED! Stay humble, and you won't have to be humbled... because you are already there!
