Circumstance Christianity

 

Have you ever had those times of decision making that were confusing as to what God would have you do? Those situations can be difficult to see clearly what God’s direction is. Though I don’t claim to understand this fully, but wanted to share some insight from the book of 1 Samuel.

Let’s look at King Saul. Read with me 1 Samuel 13:7-12

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to

Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter.

So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings."

And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived,

and Saul went out to greet him.

"What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the

Philistines were assembling at Micmash,

I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.

But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."

Right here we see that King Saul takes it into his own hands to make an offering to the Lord….that was NOT his place. But he thought it was OK to do wrong……with a “spiritual purpose”. You can’t “spiritualize” wrong doing…..no matter the reason or the excuse. He knew better, and he suffered great consequences for this.

It is hard to see at times what to do, especially since our hearts are wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts are a master “twister” of things. It knows how to make the most ungodly decisions and “spiritualize” them. So, be careful! We do know that your decision will not go against scripture. So first always check it against scripture and the whole context of scripture. And PRAY until He answers you.

It is never RIGHT to do WRONG for the RIGHT reasons!