A Challenge to the Christian
God has called every Christian believer, out of obedience to His word, to pursue the kingdom of heaven, so that His will might be made manifest (plainly seen) on the earth. In the parable of the wedding invitation in Matthew 22 mentioned in Part One, there is an important principle at work. The first requirement God has for us, is to give a willing response. Just as we must choose to accept Christ first before we receive Salvation from God; we must choose to obey God first, so that He can work through our lives in the measure and way that He wants to. Many are called to an appointment in God, who never enter into the fullness of what God has planned for them, because of their failure to give a willing response.
Are you actively seeking out the will and purposes of God for your life? Are you following His instructions? Have you done what He has said?
- Many are called, but few are chosen!
- If we do not fully obey Him, we will not see His purposes fully outworked through us!
Unwillingness Leads to Compromise
In the Book of 1 Samuel, King Saul was rejected by God as king, because he did not fully obey the word of the Lord. Generations before, God had given the Israelites a great victory over the Amalekites – See Exodus 17: 8–15. And God had made a promise to Moses that He would completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. In order to fulfil His promise, God then told Saul through the Prophet Samuel, to utterly destroy all the people of Amalek and all that they had – including all of their ox, sheep, camels and donkeys, leaving nothing alive. God had instructed Saul through the Prophet Samuel,
“Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
1 Samuel 15: 3
God was at work fulfilling His promise to Moses, but Saul only partially obeyed the word of the Lord. Our partial obedience is not obedience at all, it is disobedience to the will of the Lord. The Bible says, that Saul and his people were unwilling to utterly destroy them.
“But Saul and the people spared Agag (king of the Amalekites) and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them.”
1 Samuel 15:9
When confronted by the Prophet Samuel, Saul revealed he was in self–deception. He said he had obeyed the word of the Lord, when it was perfectly obvious, he hadn’t.
“Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, ‘Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
1 Samuel 15: 13 & 14
The Danger of Self Deception
The danger of self-deception is that we believe we are walking in the will of the Lord, when we are actually walking in disobedience. This is where confusion comes in. The Apostle James explained, that self-deception comes, when we are hearers the word, but do not do what it says. We need to be both hearers and doers of God’s word. James says,
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness (things that defile and make unclean) and overflow (abundance) of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 1: 21 & 22
- We need to completely lay aside all uncleanness that would cause us to compromise.
- When we hear His word but do not do what it says, we deceive ourselves.
- Partial obedience is not obedience at all, and opens the doorway to confusion and self- deception.
Seek to Honour God in all Your Ways
Just as God instructed Saul to eradicate all of the Amalekites and all that they had, God wants us to lay aside all those things within us that would cause us to sin or to compromise. When Saul did not obey, his disobedience led to self-deception. And he began to make excuses to justify the decisions he had made. But his statements were contradictory. Whilst implying it was okay to have kept King Agag alive; at the same time, he acknowledged the people should have been utterly destroyed. He also acknowledged that the plunder; the sheep and the oxen; had been taken; but that he knew they should have been utterly destroyed.
These were the spirits of compromise and confusion at work. Saul tried to justify his disobedience by making excuses. He tried to make his disobedience sound good. He gave what appeared to be a God honouring reason as to why they had kept the plunder. He wrongly said, it was “to sacrifice to the Lord,” when they had specifically been told to utterly destroyed it. Self-deception attaches itself to spirits of compromise; confusion; contradiction and self-justification. All of these can show how self-deception works.
Instead of taking responsibility for his own disobedience, Saul blamed the taking of the plunder on the people, even though he was clearly involved.
“And Saul said to Samuel, ‘But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ‘But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
1 Samuel 15:20 & 21
The Seriousness of Rejecting God’s Word
God viewed Saul’s disobedience as stubbornness and rebellion and a rejection of His word. He likened these things to the seriousness of the way God views witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry. And because of their seriousness, God rejected Saul as king.
“So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
1 Samuel 15: 22-23
God takes our obedience in any form of leadership very seriously. Because, where we allow compromise in our own lives, we will also allow compromise in those whom God has given us the responsibility to care for and protect. We need to fully obey the word of the Lord. Rejecting God’s word, can result in God rejecting His plans for our lives, as He did with Saul.
“Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”
1 Samuel 16:1
- God views the obedience of His word as of utmost importance.
- Partial obedience is disobedience.
- Rebellion is as witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
- When we reject God’s word, we reject God’s plan for our lives.
Whole-Hearted Obedience
Our attitude is just as important to God as our obedience. In 2 Chronicles, the Bible says of King Amaziah, who reigned in Judah,
“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.”
2 Chronicles 25:2 NIV
The New King James Version, translates the end of the same verse, “But not with a loyal heart.”
Just like King Amaziah, we can be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord, but still be doing it disloyally, or with an attitude that is displeasing to God. There is a difference between servile obedience – obedience that responds out of duty, obeying God simply because He is God; and worshipful obedience – obedience that responds out of a reverence and a willing submission to the love of the Lord. Servile obedience, obeys out of a wrong kind of fear. Worshipful obedience, is an act of worship, and obeys out of our trust in the unchanging nature of a loving God.
- God wants us to be loyal to Him; and to obey Him with a whole and undivided heart!
Keep Your Heart Secure in the Love of God
The danger of a disloyal heart lies in its subtlety. Though there is an outward display of obedience, there is an inward leaning away from God, that eventually causes people to turn back from following the Lord, as it did with Saul. Saul told Samuel he had sinned because he feared the people.
“And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”
1 Samuel 15:24
We cannot afford to worry about what others think, but must be secure in the love of God and what He thinks. Because of King Amaziah’s disloyal heart, he turned away from following the Lord. Taking the gods of another people, he burned incense to them and bowed down to them. He ignored the words of the prophet who said,
“Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?” “I know that God is determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”
2 Chronicles 25:15 & 16
When King Amaziah turned away from the Lord, his own people then plotted against him; and just as the prophet had said, they killed him.
“After the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.”
2 Chronicles 25:27
Obedience is an Act of Faith
In contrast to King Amaziah is the story of Abraham. God had given Abram (whose name He later changed to Abraham) a promise. Though Abram and his wife Sarai (whose name God later changed to Sarah) were old, and Sarai had borne Abram no children, God took Abram outside to look at the stars and said,
“So shall your descendants be.”
Genesis 15:5
The Scriptures say of Abram,
“And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Genesis 15:6
God also made a covenant with Abram, that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land.
‘On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land.”
Genesis 15:18
He also made a covenant that He would make Abram the father of many nations; and at this time, He changed his name, saying,
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.”
Genesis 17:4
Likewise, the Lord said concerning Sarai,
“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’”
Genesis 17:15 & 16
God’s Covenant with Abram will Stand
After God’s covenant with Abram, Sarai had still not conceived a child. So she gave her handmaid to Abram to be his wife, saying,
“See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.”
Genesis 16:2
So Sarai conceived a son and Abram called this son Ishmael, according to the word of the Lord to Hagar – See Genesis 16:11. This happened before Isaac was born. But God later promised Abraham, by right of covenant with him, that it would be through Isaac; Abraham and Sarah’s son; and Isaac’s descendants after him; that the promise of God’s covenant would be fulfilled.
“And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!’ Then God said: ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ‘But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
Genesis 17:18-21
Abraham was already one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety, when Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Then God tested Abraham, saying,
“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Genesis 22:2
Though Abraham also had a son named Ishmael, God called Isaac, Abraham’s only son. This word ‘only’ is translated ‘yâchîyd’ in the Hebrew, meaning, ‘properly, united, i.e. sole; by implication, beloved; also lonely; (feminine) the life (as not to be replaced):—darling, desolate, only (child, son), solitary.’ — See Strong’s Concordance.
God was making it clear, that He was asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the very son through whom God’s covenant with Abraham was to be fulfilled; who was much beloved, and could not be replaced. For God had said, it would be through Isaac’s seed that His covenant would be fulfilled, and not through any other.
“For in Isaac your seed shall be called.”
Genesis 21:12
God Needs us to Trust Him
Though this must have made little sense to Abraham, he obeyed and did as God had said. He took Isaac, the son through whom God’s promised covenant was to be fulfilled, to sacrifice as a burnt offering before the Lord. But as Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, the Angel of the Lord intervened and called to him from heaven, saying,
“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Genesis 22:12
God saw, that Abraham did not withhold even his precious son from the Lord. Abraham was willing to do it God’s way, not his way. And God was effectively saying to Abraham, I know now, that even that which I have promised to you in covenant, you will not withhold from me.
And just as God did with Abraham, God will test our hearts at the very point of His promises, to determine if there is anything we will withhold from Him, or, if we will trust Him to bring his words to pass, just as He has promised. God wants those who fear Him, to be prepared to put Him first and give Him everything. He wants us to serve Him with a whole and loyal heart, just like Abraham. We do not need to understand what God is doing in order to worshipfully obey the Lord.
When Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed on the altar before the Lord, it was an act of worship before Him. Our whole-hearted obedience toward the Lord is an act of worship also.
A Prayer of Commitment to God Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for the lessons in Your word that both instruct and guide us. Help me not to take lightly the things that You have revealed to me today. Help me to persevere in seeking out Your will for my life and the purposes and plans that You have for me. I repent of all the times when I have not fully obeyed the words that You have spoken to me, or where I have been unwilling to respond to You with a whole and loyal heart. Please increase my trust in Your kind and loving nature and to learn to lean on You. Help me to worshipfully obey You.
I ask you to help me now to walk in the fullness of the truth that You daily reveal to me. I ask you to show me any areas of my life where I have walked in self-deception, or where I have been otherwise deceived, so that I can walk in true obedience and freedom. I thank you for the promise in Psalm 84:11, which says, ‘No good thing will You withhold from those who walk uprightly.’ I ask for all of these things, in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
Have you prayed for someone else to put their trust in Him today?
