Obedience or Sacrifice

In 1 Samuel 15 God gives specific instructions for the Israelites to destroy the Amalekites and everything they owned. Often times God would allow the Israelites to keep the plunders of war but in this case, God did not permit it. Now my last post talked about this already so I am not going to repeat everything I have already mentioned, but this is just something from which I can't not seem to get away. Obedience or Sacrifice. 


When Samuel arrives at the camp after the battle, he rebukes Saul for not following God's instructions. How does Saul respond to this rebuke? He rationalizes the actions and throws the blame on the soldiers. He says the troops took them to offer as a sacrifice for the Lord. When Samuel informs Saul God has rejected him as king, does Saul repent? No he takes no responsibility for his actions. He says to Samuel, but I have obeyed the Lord. I went on the mission the Lord gave me and I brought back the King of Amalek and destroyed everything else. The troops brought back the livestock as a sacrifice for the Lord. 


Recap, at the beginning of the chapter God said destroy everything! Kill everyone (not spare the king's life) Everyone includes the king. Destroy all the livestock. Not spare the best and kill the rest. The words everything, everyone, and all are all inclusive words. There was no buts or excepts which followed those words, which means there were no exceptions. Saul and the soldiers justified their actions by convincing themselves and attempting to convince Samuel, because they obeyed part of God's instructions and because they had good intentions with what they spared then it was acceptable. 


God saw things differently. He didn't see partial obedience, He saw saw complete rebellion. You say, no way, God wouldn't be that harsh. vs 23- For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king. Hard core, huh? Now we may think God was being strict, after all the sacrifices were to honor God. However, right before vs 23 is vs 22 when Samuel says Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. God wants us to obey Him. When we obey God, it demonstrates the level of trust we have in Him. We trust He is going to instruct us to do things which will benefit us.


Just think back to when you were a child and your parents told you to do something and you did, the first time you were asked you did it and how did your parents respond? They were probably very excited (if they didn't show it, trust me on the inside they were leaping with joy). Now how would your parents have responded if they asked you to do something and you went and colored them a picture instead? It took time and effort to color that picture, but it won't what they asked you to do so the sacrifice was not enjoyable. Now if you had completed the task your parent asked then colored a picture for them they could have enjoyed both. If the Israelites had followed through with God's instructions then offered a sacrifice (from their own flock or herd) to thank Him then God could have been pleased with both. 


We must also remember God saw the heart of Saul. This was not Saul's first offense. in chapter 13 Saul exalted himself to the priestly position and offered a sacrifice when he was suppose to be waiting for Samuel. God knew Saul's heart and He knew he was not in a right place with God when he made his decision to spare the king of Amalek's life and allow livestock to be spared. God knows our hearts as well. Are we sacrificing over being obedient? You may be faithfully serving at your local church every Sunday but if God has called you to mission field and you are not doing anything to get there, are you obeying or only sacrificing? Maybe you pay your large amounts of tithes every week, but God wants you to go into ministry which means leaving your current job. Perhaps you spend plenty of time alone with God but God desires for you to participate in outreach ministries and go impact the lives of people. Maybe you are the opposite, you may be spending so much time doing God's work you have failed to spend one on one time with God. I am sure we can all think of a way we have sacrificed instead of being obedient. I encourage you to take the time to seek God and search to see where and/or in what areas God may be calling you to be obedient instead of just sacrificing. I know I am guilty and am working to try and be more obedient. I truly want to make God happy. I desire for Him to be pleased with my life, which means I need to make sure I am obeying Him 100%.

Obedience and Sanctification

I Samuel 15 contains the story of Saul's disobedience when fighting the Amalekites. This is a story of following God's instructions as well as the importance God places on sanctification. 


God informed Samuel He would give the Amalekites to the Israelites but instructed them to COMPLETELY  destroy EVERYTHING. In case that was obvious enough, He spelled it out for him and listed items He wanted destroyed. 


Well Saul and the Israelites struck down the Amalekites but instead of destroying, they captured the king and left him alive and took the best of the livestock and everything else. God said destroy it ALL but the Israelites chose to pick and choose what they deemed worthy enough to keep. Their rationale was, we only saved the best. We destroyed the weak and sick, and worthless and unwanted things. We only kept what was strong and healthy and easy on the eyes. Anyone see the problem with this? The bible says the Israelites were not willing to destroy them (referring to what they considered the best of everything). 


God gave them specific instructions yet they were not willing to follow through with them. They thought they knew better than God. Now there were times when God allowed the Israelites to keep the plunders of war but this is not one of those occasions. God wanted the Israelites to trust Him to know what was best for them. God wanted to sanctify the land. The Amalekites were unclean and unholy people which means everything they owned, regardless of how beautiful or strong it appeared, was unclean. God wanted sanctification but the Israelites were not willing to destroy "the best" of what they found. 


How many times have we been given instructions by God to remove something from our lives but we only do a 1/2 way job? How many times have we tried to hang on to the best of what the world has to offer? It's easy to give up the ugly and weak things. It's much easier to get rid of those things in our lives, but what about the more appealing things? The things some times we don't see as sin but God is still calling us to remove from our lives so we can live a more holy and sanctified life. Certain TV shows we know we shouldn't be watching. Movies that are not appropriate. Food we eat too much of even though we know it's bad for our health. People at work with whom we spend too much time and notice some of their bad habits rubbing off on us.  Maybe God wants you to give up some things so you can spend more time with him. What are some things in your life you feel God may want you to get rid of so you can live closer to him? Don't just look at the ugly things. Take the time to truly reflect on all things in your life, even the pretty and attractive things. Seek God's will and begin to sanctify your life so you can be obedient to God and please him with your life. 

I Samuel 1 The Mantle of Hannah!

So we open the book with Elkanah (Elk) and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah (P) Now Elk actually loved Hannah even though Hannah was unable to have children, which in the Bible having children, especially males was the sole purpose of a woman's existence. However, Elk favored Hannah even though she was unable to bear children, well this made P mad, who by the way bore Elk multiple children and she would taunt Hannah about not having children. Sound familiar, Jacob, Rachael, and Leah (just sayin' back to the story).


The Bible says Elk Loved Hannah even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. Let's think about this, The Lord, the one who knows the desires of our heart, it says He kept her from having children. God kept her from having kids. Why would God do this? God needed her to come to a place of desperation.God had plans for Samuel's life and if she was able to conceive right away then what is the likelihood she would have committed Samuel to the Lord? God needed her to be desperate. Sometimes God has to do that to us for His Will to be done. He has to bring us to a place of desperation so we will surrender to His Will.


Because of the taunting and the desperation she didn't even want to eat so ya know what she did? She didn't sit there and whine and complain, she didn't pout, she didn't retaliate to the taunting. She could have said to P well you have children, but our husband loves me more. Instead she took her concerns to the Lord. She came to God in her brokenness and desperation and cried out to Him. She made a vow to commit her son to God, but the Bible said she KEPT on PRAYING! When Eli saw her he thought she was drunk and went to rebuke her. She corrected him and stated she was POURING out her soul to God. She was praying out of her anguish and grief. She was looking for a breakthrough. Eli then told her to go in peace and what she was seeking would happen. She prayed until she received confirmation. She demonstrated to God her persistence and desire. 


This is what I love about the scripture, it says Hannah went her way, ate something, and was no longer downcast. That shows the amount of Faith Hannah had in God's word. She took her brokenness and desperation to the alter and left them there. She prayed for her breakthrough and left believing God would give her what she wanted. She didn't walk away saying Okay God, I know you said you were going to do this, but how long do I have to wait? She didn't question Eli and say are you sure? She didn't laugh when he said she would be given what she was seeking. She walked away in confidence. Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt God was going to give her a son and He did. She was faithful and kept her vow and dedicated Him back to God. 


When I was younger someone once said to me I would receive the Mantle of Hannah. I had no idea what they meant, however when I was reading this scripture God brought this word to my mind and said that is the Mantle I have for you. Believe in me and never doubt and you can walk in confidence knowing I will give you the desires of your heart. I get excited just thinking about it!


The Mantle of Hannah can belong to all Christians, all God is asking is for us to believe what He tells us. He's God, for all eternity He's never failed why would He start now? Oh and He's never gone back on His word either. Come to God in your brokenness and desperation. Pray for your breakthrough. When you receive confirmation, leave your downcast spirit at the alter and walk away in confidence knowing God will make it happen because He said He would. 

I am trying...

I am trying to learn how to open up, risk being hurt, experience that hurt and not go running back into my shell and speak all manner of evil against that person who hurt me. I am trying to learn how to be hurt and not take it out on the rest of the world, or be hurt and not run away from the world. 


I am trying not to generalize and believe just because a few people have hurt me than everyone is going to hurt me. I am trying not to jump to conclusions when I have been hurt and give that person a chance to explain themselves before I make my decision. 


I am trying not to blow things out of proportion in my mind by selecting the worst case scenario and playing it again and again in my head. I am trying not to practice what I am going to say to the person and how I am going to defend myself when the conversation becomes uncomfortable or I learn something that may change things


I am trying to learn how to recover after being hurt by letting go and be thankful for the positives I gained from the experience and stop beating myself up for not seeing it coming or becoming angry with myself because I opened up myself which made me vulnerable to be hurt. 


I am trying not to hold a grudge against the person who hurt me and seek revenge through jabbing sarcastic comments. 


I am trying to learn how to love, be hurt, and still love regardless. I am trying. I am not human if I have never been hurt. If I never open up to be hurt than I will never open up to be loved. I have to decide which is worse to love and be loved and then be hurt or to never be hurt but never be loved either. I am trying to learn how to love even though I know I risk being hurt. I am trying. It's not easy, but I believe it will be worth it. 

Judges 4 and 5

The story of Deborah and Barak. This is another one of my favorite stories because it is about GIRL POWER! 


Unfortunately, this chapter starts off like most of all the other chapters, Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So Ehud is dead, 80 years of peace has passed, and Israel has been sold into the hand of Canaan. They were oppressed for 20 years (the number continues to increase, 8 to 18, now 20). Deborah is the judge of Israel at this time and she held court under a palm tree. She calls for Barak and tells him God wants him to go and gather 10,000 men and fight for Israel and God would free them. (Did I mention the enemy had 900 iron chariots?) Yeah that would be important to know because Barak is intimidated by them and refuses to go to battle unless Deborah joins him. She says fine, but that he would receive no honor and a woman would be the one to slay Sisera the leader of the enemy troops. Barak, totally goes along with that. Now, typically in the bible times we see women are subject to men, but this chapter pretty much just blows tradition out of the water. First we have a female prophet and judge, and now we learn a woman will take the victory in this battle. Awesome! I like this chapter because it is a testament that God wants to use women to bring Glory to him and God is not bound by the traditions of man. He has a whole different agenda. 


So they go to battle and the bible says God throws the enemy army into chaos. I love when God does stuff like that. He just totally confuses the enemy they start running around and Barak leaves his chariot and flees on foot (not sure why you would do that, but he did) He comes to the tent of Jael (which is a pretty name in my opinion but it means wild goat) Well, being a woman she uses her nurturing comforting ways to invite Sisera into her tent, wraps him up and gives him some warm milk. He falls asleep and while he is sleeping, Jael takes a tent spike and drives it through his temple. Leave it to a woman to make sure the job gets done right. She doesn't just knock out the guy with a tent spike, the bible says she hammered the tent spike through his head to where his head was pinned to the ground with the spike. Just in case you had any doubt after that vivid description, the bible also records and he died. I find this line hilarious. Dude is pinned to the ground with a tent spike through his skull, but just in case I had any doubt, this is an effective way of killing someone because he did die.


Chapter 5 is a song Deborah and Barak sing after victory. 


First they recognize God's greatness then they mention Shamgar (remember him from chapter 4, he had one verse dedicated to his deed but now they mention him in a song) Then Deborah mentions how Israel had turned from God then calls for people to testify about God's righteous acts. She talks about the different tribes but then it gets to the good part, in my opinion. The part where they sing an entire verse about Jael and how she crushed Sisera's head and shattered his temple. There he lay at her feet, dead. Then the song reflects what Sisera's mother is thinking and how she is waiting for the sound of chariots. The last few lines is a call for God to destroy His enemies and give strength to those who love Him. Now I am not an expert in biblical songs and poetry, but I would imagine there is much more to this song than I have conveyed in this post. One day I may just have to study biblical songs and poetry, I may gain a whole new understanding of the scriptures. 

Judges 3

Judges 3 opens with a passage describing how God tested Israel by allowing Canaanites to live in the land. He wanted to teach the future generation how to fight. Now that seems weird to me God would want His people to be fighters but at the same time if we look at this in the spiritual world, that's exactly what God calls us to do. God does not always want us to be on the defense when it comes to the devil. God desires us to be proactive! He wants us to charge the gates of hell so we can make the devil aware we know who we are in Christ. However, we can only take on the devil when we are prepared. We must be prayed up, read up, and spiritually in tuned with God prior to trying to take on the devil. The more we prepare, the more we battle, the more experience we gain and the more confident we become in trusting God will be with us and fight for us. That's what the Israelites lacked at this time, they lacked that experience. The bible says there were many who had never fought so they were unaware of God's redeeming power. They had not experienced God's hand fighting with them and for them. They did not know the feeling of knowing God was fighting the battle with them, so God wanted to give them the opportunity to experience this and grow stronger in the faith and trust in God. Experience is a powerful teacher and we often learn much more through experience than we do through books and readings and stories from others. God wanted the Israelites to EXPERIENCE Him, so He gave them that opportunity. Sadly, they failed to engage in battle. They decided to live among the enemy and give their daughters for marriage and take foreign women for their sons. That was not what God wanted for them. Joshua's farewell address warned the Israelites not to do these things and they made a covenant not to do these things, but the covenant was broken and the Israelites missed the chance to experience God's faithfulness to them and His might hand which would go before them in battle.

In addition, to breaking the covenant and living among the Canaanites they began to worship their gods. They turned their back on God and started worshiping false images. This made God extremely angry. God had warned them in Exodus 20 that He was a jealous God and did not want to share His people with false gods. The Israelites had been warned but they did not heed to God's warning and chose to break yet another part of the covenant. God removed His protective hand from the Israelites and they were forced to served a worldly king for 8 years. However, God is a loving and merciful God and when the Israelites called out God raised up Othniel to overpower the enemy and drive them out. God showed the Israelites His might redeeming hand. It won't the way God wanted it to be. God wanted to show His might by going to battle and driving out the Canaanites in the beginning, but God did demonstrate His power and the people gained the experience He desired by them going to battle. God's Will will occur one way or another. The important thing is to ask ourselves our we going to allow God's Will to happen freely in our lives, or our we going to fight, become broken, then call out to God to experience God's love and redemption?

Unfortunately, the Israelites sis not learn from their experience. They lived in peace 40 years, but something happened. The next generation again did what was evil in the site of the Lord. They failed to learn from the experience of their fathers. This time the Israelites were forced to serve the king for 18 years. God is a gracious God, He started with 8, but that didn't seem to make an impact so now we see the Israelites are forced to serve for an addition 10 years compared to their fathers. Again the Israelites called out to God and God raised up Ehud. This has always been one of my favorite stories because Ehud is left handed. Yup, a good ole' lefty. It goes to show God can use even the smallest aspects of our lives. Ehud was able to enter the  king' s presence with a dagger strapped to his right thigh because the guards would only check the left side of the body for weapons (since the large majority of the population is right handed). Ehud goes to see the king and while he was in there he shoved the dagger into his gut. The king was so large his fat and entrails swallowed the dagger and Ehud escaped out the window and led the Israelites in an attack against the Moabites and God delivered the Israelites and they lived in peace for 80 years. 80 years the Israelites lived in peace. The first time it was only 8 years of captivity and 40 years of peace. This time it was 18 years or captivity and 80 years. God may have increased the captivity time but the time of peace was also increased. It appears the experience of God's redemption stayed with the Israelites for a longer period of time.

The last verse in Judges 3 is about Shamgar who delivered the Israelites by killing 600 Philistines with an oxgoad. This is all we know of Shamgar. We are not told if Israel was being oppressed due to abandoning God or if the Philistines were attempting to capture Israel and God was protecting them. All we know is Shamgar did was God called him to do at that time. He was obedient and that is what God desires from all of us. It may not get our names in lights all of the time, we may not have a large section in the paper dedicated to our accomplishments but God sees when we are obedient to Him and we will be rewarded. Keep the Faith! 

Single doesn't always mean available

Just because I am single doesn't mean I am out looking to change that status. I like being single. I like being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it, without worrying about making sure I spend the right amount of time with someone. I like being able to go and eat whatever I'm in the mood for. It's awesome to be able to go and watch the movie I want to watch, every time, did I mention, every time. I get out of my car and I go to wherever I need to go. I walk in stores and down the sidewalks and never have to wait on anyone. I don't have to change my pace to match someone else's. No slowing down or speeding up. I walk what is comfortable for me. I get the couch, the bed, and the chair all to myself. I don't have to share or scoot over for anyone. Plus, I don't have to deal with issues. After spending all day listening to other's problems (which I don't mind at all) I get to spend my free time relaxing and processing my own thoughts, problems, concerns, etc. I don't have to spend my free time listening to my significant other complaining. I don't have to cuddle, hold hands or sit close to anyone, which is a huge plus for me because I am not a physical touch person.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against relationships. I know there are plenty of people out there who are in great relationships and they are happy. That's great. However, I do have a problem when people feel they need to be in a relationship. Just because you are single doesn't me there is something wrong with you. Single is not a disease and being single doesn't make you less of a person. I feel society puts so much pressure making it as if being single is something to be avoided. People get in relationships just to avoid feeling socially unaccepted. Or perhaps it's to avoid being asked those really annoying and dumb questions. You know to what questions I am referring. The questions like, "When are you planning on getting married?" Oh yeah because I have the date all planned out, the weeding cake is ordered, the flowers are on hold, and the church is booked, all I need is a groom. Sorry people, but typically you get the groom first then you plan the wedding. If I say I don't want to get married then people respond "Oh you'll change your mind with that special someone comes along." Ok well since I haven't met that special someone yet, I am not planning on getting married. If I happen to meet some special someone and I change my mind about marriage then fine. However, I am not going to just sit around all day and wonder when that might happen. Neither am I going to date every wrong guy out there until I do find someone I might consider marrying.

Or how about this one, "what's a pretty girl like you doing without a boyfriend?" Because I don't want one, especially one who thinks that's a good pickup line. Here's my favorite (please note sarcasm) "You're too pretty not to get married." What?!?! Since when did looks make a solid, trusting relationship? When did looks become the deciding factor as to whether you should marry or not? I might have a pretty face to someone now, but unfortunately, all the tucks, reworks, lifts, and surgeries in the world won't keep me looking this young forever. Looks have nothing to do with getting married. It may be one of the reasons why you first start talking to someone but it won't hold together a relationship.

I am happy just being myself and enjoying being with me. If one day I choose to share my life with someone then fine but it will be when I am ready, not just because society thinks I should be married by now. I want to live my life on my terms not how others think I should live. My life and right now I am quite happy to say I am single but not available.