The Second Greatest Act of Submission

1 Samuel 24:5-7 says, “Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.  He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.” With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Observation: In this passage we see King Saul pursuing David with the intent to kill him. Saul recognized that David had a calling on his life and would threaten his kingship. David represented what Saul was supposed to be, a King who followed God with all his heart. By “chance” Saul is caught in a cave do what comes natural after drinking a giant pitcher of water. As he is doing this, it just so happens that David is in the very same cave hiding in the darkness. David sneaks up on Saul with the intent to kill, but instead simply cuts of a piece of his rob. After Saul leaves we see that the Spirit of God speaks to David, telling him to submit to his chosen leader. It didn’t matter what he thought of Saul, all that mattered was that David would be obedient and submissive to the man who God had in leadership. David takes a big chance by letting Saul know he had the means to kill him but did not. Saul allows him to live. David is rewarded for his obedience.

Application: What would have happened if David killed Saul that day? Would God have bestowed the mantle of leadership on David anyway? I doubt it because it was yet another example of David’s desire to follow God no matter the cost. Who is the leader in your life that God is calling you to follow? Maybe he/she is an amazing leader who you love, but God is calling you to go to a new level of submission that you haven’t considered yet. Maybe your leader is the Saul in your life who is not following a righteous path, but you must submit anyway. What David did is the second greatest act of submission, only second to Christ and his submission to God in death. But as Christ was raised from the grave, so too was David raised to a level of leadership that he may have never dreamed when he was a boy tending his father’s sheep. David became King. And was said to be a man after God’s own heart. Look what God can do in our submission. He can work and move. But when we do not submit what are we doing? We are telling God that his plan is not our plan and his ways are not good for our life. Look at the men and women of the Bible who submitted to God. We see men and women who were used more greatly by God than anyone else in history. Ask yourself today how you can go to a new level of submission and watch how God can use that obedience to change cultures and lives.

Prayer: God, you know my heart is to serve and submit, but there are times when I struggle to follow with the right heart. Just as Psalm 57 says, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills {his purpose} for me.” God I ask that you fulfill your purpose in my life through my submission to you and the leaders you place in my life.

2 Important Character Traits To Know About God

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15^{:22 “}But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Observation: Here are two incredibly important character traits of GOD that every christian should know: He prefers obedience over sacrifice and He looks at your heart, not the outside stuff or what you “do.” As you read the Old Testament we see a lot of things God did and we think “holy cow, I hope he doesn’t do that anymore” but there are a few things that really show us who He is. These two verses are traits that I strongly believe God does in a New Testament world. He wants you to follow his commands, even when they don’t make sense, and He wants your heart to be good and pure.

Application: You can’t follow God if you don’t know Him. We read His word to learn more about Him. These two passages need to be applied daily. Sometimes I think that what I do is good enough, even if my heart is wrong. Obedience comes from a heart that chases God. Obedience and a righteous heart can’t operate separate from one another. If you want to obey, you need to examine your heart (see yesterday’s blog) and if you want a good heart, you need to follow God’s instruction. In the story of Saul, God reveals Jesus to us.

Prayer: God, make my heart pure, my motives right, and the strength to obey.

Making the Grades

1 Corinthians 13

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? ⁶And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.

Observation: Paul is urging the Corinthians to self-evaluate. He is asking that they look at their walks and faith in God. When he says, “test yourselves” I do not think that he is saying, put something that would normally cause you to sin (food, alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc) in front of you to see if it makes you fall or not. We know that because Paul urged them flee from evil and things contrary to God. What he is asking them to do is take a look on the inside and see if it matches the outside. Does the talk and walk meet up? Do you bare fruit?

Application: Self-evaluation is a great tool for many purposes. The corporate world uses it all the time. It can also be useful in our walk with God. If Christ is in us, then he will produce good fruit. We must ask ourselves if good fruit is being produced, if not ask ourselves why? Get to the root problem or cause. We should consider doing this daily!

Prayer: God, is my heart where you want it to be?

Sometimes God Ain’t Playin’

Scripture: 1 Samuel 13 says, ”

¹¹ “What have you done?” asked Samuel.
Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, ¹² I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³ “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.”

Observation: Samuel had made it clear earlier that he would come down to administer the burnt offering to the LORD. Saul became tired of waiting on Samuel and decided to take matters into his own hands. He seemingly does a good thing by burning an offering to God so that He would be pleased and assist the Israelites in winning their battle against the Philistines. Once Samuel makes it to Saul, he finds out that Saul burned the offering. Sammy goes on to tell Saul, “Bro, seriously, what were you thinking? Now you will lose your job to another who will be the man God has desired.” As we know, Saul looses his kingship to another man after God’s heart, David.

Application: Sometimes God just isn’t in the mood to play around. Saul knew what he was to do, but disobeyed (which is kinda a theme for Saul throughout his career). God desires obedience more than sacrifice. Why is it easier for us to sacrifice than just obey? Because one takes faith (obedience) and the other takes action (sacrifice) and in my opinion action is always easier than faith (unfortunately). God is full of grace and mercy, but does that mean that we abuse it? NO. Read Romans. So what is the application of this story of Saul? Obey God! Obey his commands, do what he says, play by his rules. I’m not trying to get anyone legalistic here, but we should desire a life of obedience and holiness. Easier said than done, I know, but it’s a goal that we should all desire.

Prayer: God, you know I don’t have it figured out. So please help me to obey your commands, I can’t do it without your strength. You have given me through your spirit what I need to do what you ask.

Ask and you may get what you asked for…not always good.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-9 says, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.  And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.  As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.  Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”

Observation: Israel was dealing with another bad round of judges They were so sick of it that they asked for a King. Samuel warned them that they should be content with God as their king. But they wanted something else. God in his wisdom finally gives them what they wanted. But God knew that this would begin a life of agony. There were only a few righteous kings, but God let them have what they asked for.

Application: We ask God for a lot of things. When we don’t get what we want how do we react? We usually just keep asking. Israel kept asking for a king. They got what they asked for. God being their king should have been enough. So when I am asking and asking for something, I pray that I can trust God when the answer is no!

Prayer: Let me be at peace with your answers. When it’s yes, praise God. When it’s no, praise God!

The Good Sorrow

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 says, “Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”

Observation: Paul had previously written a letter to the Corinthian church where he had to rebuke and correct them for many things they were doing wrong in their church and personal lives. Here he shares that we was sorry that he had to do it, but that they responded correctly and righteously from the rebuke and correction. Their sorrow turned into repentance thus making the letter from Paul useful. The Bible Knowledge Commentary makes some good observations that may be useful. It says, “They had exemplified repentance, a change of mind involving action in accord with God’s will. As such it was a godly sorrow (like Peter’s remorse after his denial of Christ). This was not a worldly sorrow which brings death (like Judas’ “sorrow” after he betrayed the Lord; Matt. 27:3-5). The Corinthians’ genuine sorrow . . . produced several things: (a) an earnestness or concerted effort to make amends, (b) an eagerness to vindicate themselves, (c) indignation against Paul’s opponent (2 Cor. 2:5-11), (d) alarm at their own passivity and its injurious effects (2:1-4), (e) longing and concern for Paul (cf. 7:7), and (f) readiness to see justice done (2:6).

Application: As you can see sorrow from one’s sin should lead to repentance. Imagine how we can apply this daily? The reality is that we all sin and fall short of God’s expectations. But he knows that. So it’s not “if we sin” but “when we sin” how will we respond to our sorrow? Will it be a fruitful sorrow? You can see from the commentary that there should be a process when we make bad choices. Our response should be to make it right if we have wronged someone and grow spiritually from our bad choices. If we are not growing there is something wrong. The more we sin and not learn or grow from it I think we start to become callous and hardened. And when this happens we get on a path that can truly lead to destruction.

Prayer: God, don’t let me ever turn away from your loving correction. And when I do face it let me know you love me and are growing me in the midst of pain.

Unequally yoked?

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belia? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?

Observation:  Be careful to not misinterpret this passage. One might think that Paul is telling us to not be around “unbelievers” but this is not the case! 1 Cor 5:9-10 says, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world,” The context that Paul is speaking is there were false apostles and prophets who were trying to infiltrate the church. He referred to them as unbelievers because they were not believing in the same theology as the churches’ Paul was starting.

Application: I need to be careful when reading or spending time with people who would attempt to manipulate God’s word. I should continue to make disciples and like Jesus eating with Tax Collectors, I too should be in the world sharing his love with others!

Prayer: Remind me God to love my neighbors and pray for them!

What’s right?

Judges 17:6 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

Observation: This is a time in the existence of Israel when there were no kings yet. They Israelites still lived by Judges who ruled over the people. You may remember when Moses’ father-in-law suggested that Moses was going to kill himself trying to take care of everyone, so he appointed Judges to help rule the people. But as we can see the Judges were not always following God’s commandments. It is obvious from this passage that a king may be needed to get people on track. That is called a Monarchy. It’s interesting that God’s plan was a theocracy, where God was all they needed. But that was not enough.

Application: “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” It’s a funny statement because as I look at it I’m amazed that they could not get it right. But I must ask myself when I have done things that are right in my own eyes. That is why there are so many belief systems and denominations. Because at some point we all interpret the bible differently. But ultimately, when we get to know the character of Christ, we can live through his eyes.

Prayer: God, conform my life to your life, my will to your will. Let me know you more. Be enough for me!

Did he actually sacrifice his daughter?

I’m going to take a departure from my normal SOAP and offer up some insight from a commentary that I regard as one of the best. I do this for the sake of the Judges 11 story of Jephthah’s vow. If you read this passage in Judges you may be asking yourself, “What in the world!?” If so, read this commentary and then decide for yourself. Enjoy!

From the Bible Knowledge Commentary: 11:34-40. Victorious Jephthah was met at the door of his house by his rejoicing daughter, who was jubilantly celebrating her father’s victory over Ammon. Emphasis is placed on the fact that she was an only child. Anticipating the fulfillment of his vow, Jephthah expressed his great chagrin and sorrow in typical Near-Eastern fashion by tearing his clothes (cf., e.g., Gen. 37:29, 34; 44:13; Josh. 7:6; Es. 4:1; Job 1:20; 2:12). His statement, I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break, may reflect his ignorance of the legal option to redeem (with silver) persons who were thus dedicated (cf. Lev. 27:1-8). Also the Mosaic Law expressly prohibited human sacrifices (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 12:31; 18:10). Therefore many scholars conclude that when Jephthah did to her as he had vowed (Jud. 11:39), he commuted his daughter’s fate from being a burnt sacrifice to being a lifelong virgin in service at Israel’s central sanctuary. Other scholars believe Jephthah’s semi-pagan culture led him to sacrifice her as a burnt offering. Strong arguments have been advanced for both views (cf. Wood, Distressing Days of the Judges, pp. 288-95; Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981, 1:331).
Most of the arguments for or against Jephthah’s offering his daughter as a human sacrifice can be used to defend either position and therefore are not conclusive. For example, the grief of both Jephthah and his daughter readily fits either her death or her perpetual virginity. In either case she would die childless (whether sooner or later) and Jephthah would lack descendants. Her asking for two months to roam . . . and weep . . . because she would never marry may be one of the stronger arguments for the virginity view. But this could also mean she was wailing in anticipation of her death which of course would render her childless. Though Jephthah made his rash vow, he probably knew something about the prohibitions of the Mosaic Law against human sacrifice. Yet his half-pagan background, combined with the general lawless spirit dominating the period of the Judges (cf. 17:6; 21:25), could readily account for his fulfilling this vow. The record of the local annual custom that arose to remember Jephthah’s daughter (11:39-40) lacks sufficient detail to support either viewpoint strongly.
Even the existence of a group of young women serving at the tabernacle is not demonstrably evident from the passages used to support this (Ex. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2:22). Nor does the appeal to the law of options for vows (Lev. 27) apply directly to this situation. Nothing is said there about substitutionary service to God for the sacrifice—only the substitution of monetary payment. Therefore in the absence of any clear evidence indicating the girl’s dedication to tabernacle service as a perpetual virgin, the more natural interpretation of the euphemism that Jephthah “did to her as he had vowed” seems to be that he offered his daughter as a human sacrifice.

Whichever position is taken, the attitude of Jephthah’s daughter is worth noting. Whether by death or by perpetual sanctuary service, she was to bear no children. This was a cause of great sorrow in ancient Israel. Yet she submitted herself to her father’s vow: You have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised. An Israelite custom, though probably somewhat localized, developed from the incident. Each year the young women of Israel went out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Don’t Get Killed By A Woman

Scripture: Judges 9: 52-56 says, “Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull. Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So his servant ran him through, and he died. When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home. Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.

Observation: Abimelech, a son of Gideon, wanted to be a king. He became treacherous and killed his brothers. After a dramatic series of events, he is attempting to besiege a city for vengeance. God chose a woman to drop a giant rock on his head. He then asks a solider to kill him so it won’t be recorded in history that he had been killed by a woman.

Application: This passage reminds me about the character of God. God is brilliant and has an amazing sense of humor. Here we have a man who knew no humility, but would use conniving and treacherous schemes to accomplish his will instead of God’s will. God then uses a woman to kill him. How ironic! What is the application? God is so in control, and he’s not afraid to use creative ways to squash (no pun intended) our arrogance. It is humbling to be reminded that God is God and I am not.

Prayer: God, I pray that when ever I begin to get out of your will that you would creatively help me get back on track with you!