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Day 77, or March the 18th. Leaders, be followers where God's concerned.

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Our thoughts today are from 1 Samuel chapter 13, verses 8 and 9. He waited for seven days,

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the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to

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scatter, so he said, Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings, and Saul offered

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up the burnt offering.

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First the big picture surrounding these verses. Saul hadn't been king very long before he

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started to bypass God's guidance and substitute his own. It was to be the ruin of him. Foolish

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actions and unwise vows resulted in a dreadful word from God to Samuel. Chapter 15, verse

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11. I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me, and has refused

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to obey my command. Saul had done his best, but failed to grasp that God wanted him to

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do God's will, not try harder and work in his own strength.

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And now our action step for today. Saul is about to fight the Philistines and is waiting

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for Samuel to arrive to make the appropriate sacrifices to God. Samuel doesn't turn up

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on time, and the situation is beginning to fall apart in the mind of Saul. So Saul takes

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everything into his own hands and decides to offer the sacrifices himself. Saul was

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a member of the tribe of Benjamin, but the sacrifices could only be offered by a priest

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from the tribe of Levi. Saul simply takes the law into his own hands and makes the offerings,

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and then Samuel turns up. Saul had allowed circumstances to determine his actions. It's

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a problem many of us experience from time to time. Have you ever had one of those days

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when you were firmly resolved to take a particular course of action and it starts to go wrong?

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Of course, there are times when we need to be flexible, but sometimes we let other pressures

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succeed in our lives when a gentle self-reminder would help us firm up on where we are going.

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Don't let others determine your actions and reactions today. Stay in tune with the

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Holy Spirit and be swayed by Him, not by anything or anyone else.