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About Those Things the Lord Says



If I had to pick the top five Biblical characters that I feel most sorry for, Old Testament Saul would be one of them.

God appoints Saul to a position that he never learns to trust God in. Saul sees himself as small even though he is king of all Israel. Saul disobeys but blames his disobedience on others and attempts to justify his mistakes. And the words the Bible has to say at Saul's death:

"So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse." 1 Chronicles 10:13-14

Yep that's the ending for the obedience is better than sacrifice rebellion is as witchcraft guy. These are verses that I have to constantly be reminded of. Sometimes it even seems that my sacrifice would be more effective than obedience. But Saul did what he thought was best, and his life was marked with that epitaph above.

So Saturday night I went on the journey towards Dulles to reclaim the bags I had sent ahead. My disobedience masked as a sacrifice of faith had to be remedied. I had anticipated that the journey would be a laborious outing of shame. But my spirits remained high and the bags, though around 70 pounds, were light enough. The hotel staff was pleasant and volunteered to summons the shuttle for the airport- but I was headed home to DC. No airport yet.

I wasn't discouraged but rather encouraged. The idea had been a great one- just not in alignment with God's timing. And God's timing is everything. Our gifting can be used outside of the scope God intends- it is still gifting. But how much greater the impact when gifting and timing are all in concert together.

Still waiting and praying.

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