Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 10:26-27, Saul also went to his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. 27 But certain worthless men said, “How can this one deliver us?” And they despised him and did not bring him any present. But he kept silent.
One of the toughest things to deal with, for many of us, is accepting rejection. As born again Christians seeking to obey the Lord’s Word, and living the life we are supposed to live as followers of Jesus, will definitely put us in a position to be rejected. However, along with rejection, there are those who readily accept us. We often waste a lot of precious time trying to win the favor of people God has chosen not to give us favor with. Israel wanted, and requested, a king to rule over them. God gave them exactly what they wanted. Yet, once a king was chosen and given to them, some refused to follow. This is the fickleness of men. Regardless of what we do, we will never please everyone. Nonetheless, there are people in our lives who God gives us favor with. In this passage, God touched the hearts of the men who would follow King Saul and protect him. However, let us observe that although God gave King Saul favor with some, He allowed others to immediately rebel against him. So it is in our lives. There will be those with whom we will have favor with, and at the same time be disliked and even despised by others. Joseph was despised by his brothers, but found favor with Potiphar (Genesis 37, 39). Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph, which led to his imprisonment, but God gave Joseph favor with the jailor (Genesis 39). In all that Joseph experienced in dealing with people, God used each of them to lead him right to where he wanted him (Genesis 41). In our walk with the Lord, there will be those whom we will find favor with because we are Christians, and others will hate us because we are Christians. In either case, God will use both to grow us in our relationship with Him. He will use them both to be a blessing in our lives, if we are willing to see that and embrace it. We all love to deal with people who love us and favor us because of who we are in Christ. However, we are quick to want nothing to do with those who hate us and make themselves our enemies; sometimes with reason and other times for no apparent reason. The first thing we need to remind ourselves of when we encounter the “haters” is that God is in control, regardless of how we are treated by others. When we encounter enemies in our lives, it opens up opportunities to learn to love like Jesus loves. In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Dealing with people who God chose not to give us favor with, regardless of the reason, is an opportunity to learn to forgive like Jesus forgives. Ephesians 4:30-32 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Saul may not have had a good ending to his story as a king, but his beginnings were admirable. His reaction toward these “worthless men”, who would not follow him, was very wise. Although, as king, he had the power to put them to death, he chose to just keep silent. When we deal with people whom God has chosen not to give us favor with, it is an opportunity to practice being slow to anger. James 1:19-20 tells us, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” The bottom line is that not all people are going to like us, what we stand for, or Who we stand with. God is well aware of the people in our lives and He will use them to grow us by giving us opportunities to be a blessing in their lives, use them to be a blessing in ours, or use them as the sandpaper that He will use to shape us into the servants of Christ we need to be for His glory.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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