Day 77, or March the 18th. Leaders, be followers where God's concerned.
Our thoughts today are from 1 Samuel chapter 13, verses 8 and 9. He waited for seven days,
the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to
scatter, so he said, Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings, and Saul offered
up the burnt offering.
First the big picture surrounding these verses. Saul hadn't been king very long before he
started to bypass God's guidance and substitute his own. It was to be the ruin of him. Foolish
actions and unwise vows resulted in a dreadful word from God to Samuel. Chapter 15, verse
11. I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me, and has refused
to obey my command. Saul had done his best, but failed to grasp that God wanted him to
do God's will, not try harder and work in his own strength.
And now our action step for today. Saul is about to fight the Philistines and is waiting
for Samuel to arrive to make the appropriate sacrifices to God. Samuel doesn't turn up
on time, and the situation is beginning to fall apart in the mind of Saul. So Saul takes
everything into his own hands and decides to offer the sacrifices himself. Saul was
a member of the tribe of Benjamin, but the sacrifices could only be offered by a priest
from the tribe of Levi. Saul simply takes the law into his own hands and makes the offerings,
and then Samuel turns up. Saul had allowed circumstances to determine his actions. It's
a problem many of us experience from time to time. Have you ever had one of those days
when you were firmly resolved to take a particular course of action and it starts to go wrong?
Of course, there are times when we need to be flexible, but sometimes we let other pressures
succeed in our lives when a gentle self-reminder would help us firm up on where we are going.
Don't let others determine your actions and reactions today. Stay in tune with the
Holy Spirit and be swayed by Him, not by anything or anyone else.