Thursday, October 23, 2014

Year 4, Day 296: 1 Samuel 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here 


Discipleship Focus: Character

  • Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

What a great place to look at character!  We get to pick up right where we left off.  Yesterday we saw God’s continual provision over the Hebrew people, over Samuel, and over Saul.  Here in this chapter we continue to see God’s provision.  God uses Samuel to prepare Saul for both prophetic utterings as well as to be king.  God’s provision is amazing to watch!

But how does Saul respond?  Saul prophecies when the glory of the Lord comes upon Him.  Who doesn’t like to be a part of those once-in-a-lifetime spiritual moments?  Who doesn’t like to be a part of those spontaneously cool spiritual moments?

But then Saul returns home. He says nothing about becoming king to his closest family.  He doesn’t share what God is doing in his life.  In fact, even when the tribes come together and the new king is selected – we find Saul hiding among the luggage!  Saul wants to be a part of the spiritual moments without taking ownership of what God is really asking him to do.

This speaks deeply to his character.  Saul doesn’t have the character to follow God with all of his heart.  Saul’s character wants the flair without embracing the hard work of day-to-day responsibility in a walk with God.  Saul shows us from the very beginning that his character is flawed.  Granted, who are we to judge, right?

What a great day to examine character.  Do we fare any better than Saul?  Should we not strive for God’s character while acknowledging the failings of our own character?  Let’s prepare today to follow God diligently and develop character as it should be developed.

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