August 21, 2017
"Seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do." .....1 Samuel 10:8
Saul was tested on two points: faith and obedience. In a critical situation in Chapter 13 the question was, would his faith allow him to wait for God or would he act out of his own intellectual logic? If you are driven into a corner and everything shouts that you should do something, then comes the test of whether you are carnal or spiritual. "Till I come to thee." Can the Lord Jesus count on us not to precipitate or presume things and go by what we think or feel is right, 'until His hand comes'?
Again in Chapter 15 Saul was told to destroy Amalek utterly. But the bleating of sheep gave him away, for it is often the little things that betray us and expose the true intent of our heart. Saul was attempting to judge between good and evil as the world sees it, so as to bring something "good" in man and present it to God. Doing what you feel is right is no substitute for obedience; yet, "I have obeyed the voice of the Lord," he protested and lied.
Today in the Church as the body of Christ, happy is the man who does not sin by doing what he knows is right! Yes, the heart of man is deceitful above all other things. The Saul line of things is beyond improvement in God's eyes. God must have something altogether new, altogether different. He looks for one who will set his own judgment and preconceived notions aside and be totally governed by the new law of the spirit of Christ within. "But now thy kingdom shall not continue any longer," He said of Saul. Here the Lord has decided to seek out for Himself a man that is after His own heart. Today all Christians everywhere are born again with a new heart fashioned after the very heart of God. We have within us that type of 'knowing' that is of God. It is NOT of us! ...but it is of God in the new life of Christ that is within us in the person of His Holy Spirit!