Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:27-29, And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
The interaction between King Saul and the Prophet Samuel is truly a pathetic commentary of what happens when we fail to truly repent before the Lord. Saul, in his rebellion and stubbornness, still refuses to admit his wrongdoing. His confession is at best superficial, and his own words give away the motive of his confession. Samuel recognizes the shallow attempt at worship on the part of Saul and initially refuses to oblige in verses 25-26. When the king grabs Samuel’s robe and tears it, Samuel uses the occasion to make it clear to Saul that it was his own actions, lack of obedience and lack of reverence to the LORD, that resulted in the kingdom being torn away from him. As servants of God, we must be careful not to blame God for the losses that are consequences of our own actions and lack of obedience to God’s Word. Verses 28 and 29 should serve as a warning to us who serve God today. Samuel was making it clear to Saul that God did not need him. God chose him at the request of the people to have a king rule over them. However, it was the LORD, the Strength of Israel, who would always deliver His people. God will use us, our talents, and abilities, to carry out His plan and to glorify Himself in us and through us, but the reality of the Christian life is that God does not need us. We are the ones who need Him, and if we become so rebellious and stubborn that we become useless to Him, He can easily replace us with someone who will obey Him and faithfully serve Him. I would like to make something clear at this junction. Just because God puts us on the shelf when we refuse to repent today, does not mean He has forsaken us or that He is not willing to use us tomorrow. Some of us remain in our rebellion and stubbornness for too long, and we end up paying a dear, painful price for that refusal to repent and confess our sins. God already knew that Saul would not turn back to Him, and therefore, He chose a man after His own heart, David, to replace Saul as king. God already knows what is in our hearts. He already knows whether He needs to shelf us to continue working on our hearts, until we turn back to Him; and He also knows when we have hardened our hearts past the point of “no return”. King Saul’s heart, with his empty attempts at worship, was at the point of “no return” and God knew it. In verses 30-31 we read, “Then he said, ‘I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.’ 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.” Note the shallow confession that lacked repentance. How do we know this? We know this because Saul, once again, refers to the LORD as “the LORD your God”. In confessing his sin, he also reveals that his confession was selfishly motivated because he was afraid that the people would turn from him if they saw Samuel forsake him. Sadly, there are far too many of us who confess our sins, not because we truly mourn what we did, but because we are sorry for the consequences. We try to “fix” our consequences and hope they go away if we confess them to God. In essence, we add sin upon sin when we refuse to be truly broken for sinning against the LORD. Ultimately, Samuel makes a wise decision in not causing an disturbance amongst the people, not for Saul’s sake, but for the sake of God and His people. However, we do not see Samuel lead Saul in his shallow attempts to appease God and regain what he himself threw away. As we read this today, let it serve as a warning to us that whatever it is we are doing to serve the Lord can be lost if we refuse to stay our eyes on Christ and serve Him obediently and faithfully. If sin is hindering our relationship with, and our service to, Jesus, then it is time to repent and confess it. We are deceived if we think that God cannot accomplish His will and plan without us. God is God and He can use whomever He chooses. If we become a Saul in our service to God, He can easily find a David to replace us.
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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