Obedience to God - the Key Factor! (2)

In the previous part is the story of how God anointed King Saul and empowered him for service. He was directed by God to carry out a task designed to fulfil a purpose. To carry out the task required total, complete and unconditional obedience without excuses or constrains. However, King Saul failed in his call through his failure to obey God totally.

God's command to King Saul was the total destruction of the Amalek nation including its king and livestock. Saul proceeded to Amalek where he was victorious over the Amalekites but he was not assessed by God according to his military victory. He was to be judged according to his total obedience to God's call. He failed by sparing the King of Amalek and the best of the livestock presumably for sacrifice to God.

We must be careful to obey God who will not assess or judge us according to the greatness of our accomplishments but by our total obedience to his commands. Human reasoning as in the case of King Saul often leads to failure. Human intentions opposed to God's will, no matter how worthy cannot replace godly humility and obedience.

Fear caused King Saul to disobey Samuel's instruction to wait for him at Gilgal to offer sacrifice to God. Before Prophet Samuel's arrival, the Philistines had gathered for war while the chicken heart Israelis deserted Saul. Out of fear, he proceeded to offer the sacrifice by himself without consulting God. Fear does not allow a Christian to become king over his circumstances.

Lessons:
Disobedience brings rejection. Though Saul claimed that he had obediently done what God commanded him, he had been partially obedient based on the elements of obedience in his action. True obedience must be complete and total. Regardless of his great military victory over the Amalekites, his partial obedience amounted to failure. True obedience does not shift blames which Saul did (1 Samuel 15: 21).

The response of Prophet Samuel in verse 22 reveals the priority of obedience to God. Religious sacrifices for which Saul spared the livestock of Amalek is no substitute to full obedience. Saul's disobedience therefore meant a rejection of God. God rejected him as King and as a result, he lost the inheritance which his descendants forever would have benefited. Obedience to God, total and complete is the most infallible evidence of sincere and supreme love to God.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria.
Phone+ 2348035978352.

Lessons to learn from the lives of Zecharias and Elizabeth (Luke Ch.1)

Lessons to learn from the lives of Zecharias and Elizabeth (Luke Ch.1)

Zecharias and Elizabeth were the parents of John the Baptist

Luke 1:6 says ‘’ And they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord blameless’’

Lessons to learn from this godly Jewish priest and his wife are

1)    They took God and His Word seriously seeking to obey it and were faithful in obedience to God. They had a special prayer request just as many of us have. For Zecharias and his wife, theirs was a lack of children but the long delay in having a child did not separate them from their love for God and His Word. Despite this adversity that lasted for many years, they never wavered in their worship and service for God.

Do we allow adversities to discourage us from being faithful to God? Have we turned back from following the Lord because we have seemingly insurmountable challenges?

We should not allow anything to separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39). God makes all things beautiful at His own time (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and delay is not denial. With God, nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

2)    When an Angel of the Lord appeared to Zecharias to tell him that his prayers had been answered and assuring him that a son would be born, he doubted the Angel and asked for a sign. The Angel gave him a sign – dumbness until the child was born (Luke 1:18-20).

Do we doubt God and His Word? Do we doubt his promises? Doubting God and His Word has always been the problem of man which often has caused ruin to him. The first couple, Adam & Eve doubted God’s warning not to touch the forbidden fruit. Their disobedience plunged the human race into sin and death – physical, spiritual and eternal death.

In the Noah era in Genesis Chapter 6, the majority who doubted God’s call to repentance were destroyed in the flood with the exception of eight persons who entered into the Ark. Likewise the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah in Genesis 19, the majority who disbelieved God’s Word perished except three persons who believed and were saved.

We should endeavor to accept God’s Word as it is, believe it as it is and continually ask for the grace and the power to walk by it.

3)    As husband and wife, they were united to do God’s will

When their baby was born, their relations pressurized them to name the baby in accordance with family tradition which they resisted and insisted on giving the name that was received from the Angel. For this, God honored them.

As husbands and wives, are we united in doing God’s will? Or do we go separate ways and directions when it comes to honouring God and His Word?

We should be united in the spirit of one accord and make a decisive stand for God and His Word in our marriages and the Lord would surely honor us for our stand. God says in 1 Samuel 2:30 that He will honor those who honor Him and will despise those who despise Him and His Word.

Ayodele John Adegbulugbe
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com
www.maritalsuccessresource.simplesite.com