Last night at OCF we continued our study in1st Samuel. We picked the study up in 1st Samuel 13.

In this chapter Saul is faced with a huge problem and made a mistake that cost him his kingdom. Some of the difficulties Saul faced in this chapter were a lot of Philistines, having a small army of Israelites compared to the army of the Philistines, a lack of available weapons, he felt the pressure to have success and please the people. Along with all these problems he was waiting for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice to the Lord. Saul was told to wait seven days and them Samuel would come. It was the seventh day and Samuel had not come. With no Samuel, Saul decided to offer up the sacrifice himself to the Lord. The instant Saul finished offering the sacrifice to God; Guess who shows up? Samuel. Samuel proceeds to pronounce judgment on Saul; the judgment was that Saul’s kingdom has been taken away from him and his family and given to one who was a man after God’s own heart.

Let us look a bit closer to the story so that we do not miss something. What did Saul tell himself? Saul thought that Samuel was not going to come and that since he was the leader he needed to lead and act. His army was leaving him, the enemy was strong, all these external pressures were pressuring him to do something. What was that something? That something was to offer the sacrifice to the Lord himself without Samuel present. Why was this a wrong action? Saul was trying to please man and failed to thing about the Lord, analyzed the situation instead of seeking the Lord, and he convinced himself that he met the conditions of the promise.

We all have responsibilities at work, in our relationship with God, in our family, to our wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend, to our roommate. We all have responsiblilites and pressure to accomplish the mission. What happens if we fail to accomplish the mission we feel hurt most likely is not a physical hurt but we are hurt emotionally and spiritually. We do not want to feel hurt so we do everything in our own power to accomplish the mission. Yet, often times the more we try in our own power to accomplish the mission the more likely we are to fail. What we really need to do is trust less in our own strength, ability to do things and power and trust in God a whole lot more. God will provide everything we need for our current situation. It might not be what we need to succeed in the mission but he will get us through the situation. Even though God might let us fail the mission God will be there to comfort your hurt and when you look back at the situation and have trusted God you will see how insignificant that situation was compared to your current relationship with God.

Ultimately, we need to all be men or women after God’s own heart. We need to trust in God and not be driven by success. We need to be motivated out of love to trust and obey God. Saul lost his kingdom not because he offered the sacrifice to God but because he was not a man after God’s own heart. David who disobeyed God by eating of the bread of presence, by committing adultery and murder and by taking a census did not lose his kingdom, Why? Simple because David was a man after God’s own heart. God was not pleased with David and punished David for his sins but because David was a man after God’s own heart God did not take away his kingdom. Do you desired to be a man or woman after God’s own heart? Can we be men or women after God’s own heart? I desire to be a man after God’s own heart and I believe that I can be a man after God’s own heart.