Tue.’s Devo - Teachable Moments

Read: 1 Sam. 15-17:31
There are so many teachable moments in today’s reading. God told Saul to completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation - men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats,camels, and donkeys. This sounds so inhumane but these people and their animals carried in their DNA the very seed of Satan which had to be killed. Saul was okay with killing babies but kept the best animals alive. He was severely chastised by Samuel who gave him some great wisdom: to obey God is better than any sacrifice your can give him. We cannot bribe God. He knows our hearts and the secret motives of our heart. God has a reason for everything he tells us to do and it is for our best, not to withhold anything good from us.
We really see Saul’s heart when Samuel went to look for him and he is setting up a monument to himself. Switchfoot has a song that starts “It’s a race to be noticed.” We all want to know we matter. There is nothing wrong with that but when we build monuments to glorify ourselves instead of God we have crossed the line. Saul had crossed the line.
Samuel gives us some more wisdom. He said that rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft and being stubborn is as bad as worshiping idols. Meditate on that! When we are rebellious we are making ourselves to be God because we are saying our way is better. When we are stubborn we are refusing to bend to God’s way. We are being totally disrespectful to our creator.
Another teachable moment was when Samuel went to anoint the new king. Saul had looked strong and powerful - like a king. Samuel just knew that Jessie’s oldest son, Abinadab, was the one God would choose. But God said He rejected him. God was rejecting the king the people wanted and was choosing a person whose heart was totally his. This king was going to have His heart. He chose the youngest, least likely son.
The Spirit of God came on David when he was anointed by Samuel, but he went back to doing life as usual till God called him up. God arranged just the right moment and circumstance to reveal his new king.
Many of us have promises God has given us that haven’t happened yet but be encouraged, God is arranging the right moment and the right circumstance to bring you forward to your destiny.