Today’s passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%209-12&version=NIV
Today’s passage reminds me that we should be careful what we wish for. Or in this case, what we pray for. In yesterdays passage, the people of Israel desired a king in spite of the warnings from Samuel (1 Sam 8:10-18). In today’s passage, after Saul was anointed and won his first battle, the Israelites felt confident that they made the right decision in asking for a king. Samuel reminded them that what they thought was a good decision, was not a God decision. Their desire for a king was a rejection of God as their King – 1 Samuel 12:12 "But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, 'No, we want a king to rule over us'-even though the LORD your God was your king.” Then, in verses 16-18, God gave a sign to show the people what an “evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king”. The people of Israel then begged Samuel to ask God for mercy for the evil they committed. They knew they had messed up and they knew there would be consequences for their rejection of God. God would spare them, and leave them with another warning. They were to serve Him and Him alone or they and their king would be swept away.
I think the biggest lesson here is that we should always remember to make sure our prayers line up with God’s will. He is our King and it should be the desire of our hearts to acknowledge His presence on the throne of our lives. When our hearts move toward a desire to allow something or someone else to take His place on the throne of our lives, there will be consequences. He may even give us what we think we want for a while, just so we can see that it’s not really what we wanted in the first place. The reality of it is that even when Saul was anointed as king, God continued to reign over His Kingdom. His sovereignty was evident every step of the way in the process of Saul’s anointment and his reign. God never left His throne and He never will – his place on the throne is established and is everlasting (Psalm 91).
Is there a battle for the throne going on in your life? Who or what desires to take God’s place on the throne of your life? In our society, we tend to acknowledge work, family, relationships, desires, and vain ambitions as king in our lives. But God is always in control, every step of the way. He reigns whether we accept him as our King or not. Pray that God will open your eyes to the desires that are vying for a place on His throne. Ask that he will lead your heart back to Him in full acknowledgement as the established and everlasting King over your life. Pray that he will direct your prayers to line up with his perfect and good will. Acknowledge his power to do more than we could possibly imagine!
Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Today’s post submitted by Kelly Coxe
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Thanks for your reminder that the Lord is in control!! Period!!
ReplyDeleteI need to surrender each day to His will, and be content in the fact that He is my daddy.
**This takes me to a critical topic in my life, as well as in all of our lives--->The Bible tells me to be sober in mind and to prepare for action. Sure I need to wait on the Lord, and sure I need to be patient enough to know that my desires(the good ones, given to me by God) will materialize and will be met on God's time table.
**Here's the challenge--->If I have an idea->i.e.->If I want to get married and have children, I need to be proactive and get to it;otherwise, waiting on the Lord(and I'm not being disrespectful to Jesus) in and of itself won't get it done. As Joel Osteen says(yes the warm and fuzzy guy), if we want supernatural results, we must have the will to take action and must perform functionally in the natural. For God to act in our lives, we must be willing to help ourselves. In an ever-changing world, I need to use whatever resources we have to assist me. Dr. Young has helped me see the value of this principle. Just look at our state-of-the-art sanctuary. Look at our wonderful Church and all it's modern tools, support groups, classes, Bible study fellowship, missions, etc.
Romans 6:22,23
Peace and love!!!
I like your points. The perfect balance between the two kingdoms. We do all we can in the natural and believe God to do the supernatural. The new sanctuary didn't build itself :)and our future wife probably won't come knocking on our door. Faith and works in action. The problem comes if we get unbalanced like Kelly is saying. Doing all "My" works without the Lord in it or having all this faith yet not putting it into action like you alluded to.
ReplyDeleteWaiting means expectation. As we are going about our natural everyday mundane affairs of life, we expect and wait upon the Lord to do His part. He directs our steps into the divine connections with the right people as we go do our natural affairs of life.
I saw this happen 2 weeks ago. I "just" happened to be eating breakfast at McD and saw a friend who used to attend our Bible study. Long story short, he has been out of touch for a good while but was looking to get back into the things of God. He now has made a commitment to attend the Bible studies at 2nd and to get back into walking with the Lord. These connections just don't happen. Expect the same in your dating life