Saul's not so small sacrifice- The small things matter!

 

I have recently been reading in I Samuel. I haven't been able to get away from this story of Saul and his sacrifice. It has been really challenging me. I don't often post devotionals but as I have been mulling on this the Lord keeps pushing me to share what He has done in my heart. So here goes!

I Samuel 13:8-11

This passage is the story of Saul taking the place of the prophet and sacrificing.

In the above verses, if you did not already know the severity of the situation from hearing the story previously it would seem like a mundane paragraph. Samuel didn't come, the people were restless, Saul sacrificed; Plain and simple. In fact when I was reading it I skimmed through it so fast I didn't even realize what story it was until I got to the end. Rrrrrrr.......reverse and re-read. Although it didn't seem like a big action scene to me, I don't think it was small thing to Saul. Biblical procedures were very well known back then. I think he knew the position he was stepping into but he was panicking because his followers were straying.

Have you ever been in that position? You had things planned out. God had given you a path to start on. You were following Him and you thought you knew how the Lord would bring it all to pass. You thought because you were following God's plan in your life that things would always make sense. You thought your choices would always be clear. Then....one day things got confusing. All your plans and expectations fell to pieces in a matter of minutes crumbling around your feet. You stood confused and possibly feeling rejected wondering, "What do I do now?". I know God said follow this path....I know he hasn't told me to do anything differently but things don't make sense anymore. So you spent hours agonizing over your confusing situation and conniving what the best plan would be to get out of your present predicament. You came up with what seemed like the answer but you knew it was different from your last marching orders from above. This is when we land right where Saul was. Will we follow our own devices and solutions or will we stay faithful to the directions we've been given?

Many times we insert our own ideas into the problem solving of our life even though we know it doesn't match Gods plan He's given us. We think His plan isn't working right now. My solution makes sense to me and I'm sure He'll understand. When all God wants is us to stick with the plan and wait for Him to bring His will to fruition.

Here is where the Lord has really been working me over.

Often times we read stories like this and think, "big deal he made an offering". That's not a big deal. However, it's the small things in life that make the biggest difference. It's the small things we say to our children, the small things we say to our spouse, the one and two and three days we don't come to his word for guidance and to be fed. All these small things make up our lives. They seem insignificant to us. We think I'll do right when it really matters, but we won't. Many small moments of yelling at our children build a habit of anger and frustration. Many small snipes at our husband build a resentment, distrust and disrespectful attitude towards our husbands. Many days of ignoring the needs of fellow Christians because of selfish desires lead to a self-centered lonely Christian. Many days of disregarding our need for spiritual food and a relationship with the Lord leads to utter chaos and break down in every area of our lives. It truly is the small foxes that spoil every vine in our lives.

My Prayer:

Lord help me not to pass off small sins of anger, laziness, pride and selfishness that will build and bury me underneath its weight. Help me to have a sensitive heart that greaves at mistakes made but also embraces your long suffering forgiveness. Help me stand guard against the attitude that small things don't matter! Help me to build a life that glorifies you through many small good things built into something great.

 

 

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