Saul and David

A few short thoughts this morning before I get started on my mammoth list of to-dos:

Samuel’s message from God to Saul.

1 Samuel 15:22-23:

²²And 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 hearken than the fat of rams.²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Obedience before sacrifice. God wants our obedience FIRST before anything else we may offer Him.

How is rebellion divination? It is an attempt to foresee into a future that we are incapable of seeing because of our limited view. We presume to know better and listen to another voice (our own) instead of seeking to do the Lord’s will. Easier said than done, it applies to every little thing we do in our day, in our lives. Starting the morning right — with Scriptures and prayer — leads to obedience, because we have listened FIRST before doing.

And for all of us who fight for life:

1 Samuel 17:45-47:

⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.

God is on our side, we have nothing to fear. Victory, in God’s perfect time.

Further reflection:

I vaguely remember doing another blog post a couple of years ago maybe about this very same thing. This seems to be my constant struggle. To keep a firm focus upon my primary vocation as wife and mom. It is easy to get distracted by things that are also “good” and “noble” and “holy”… but in the end when I fail to serve the ones given to me to serve first, then I’m still not obeying as I should. And if I’m going to teach my kids that obedience to the Lord comes first before anything, I have to model this for them faithfully. In this case staying faithful to my calling is my Goliath.