Growing up, I knew what it meant to be obedient. I also knew that there were consequences to
being disobedient. That didn't always
stop me, but it at least deterred me. Today's
scripture gives us a contrast of obedience vs disobedience
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Lots going on in this familiar scripture. Samuel has been mourning the fact that God
has rejected Saul as king of Israel. Saul
has made some really bad choices – he has clearly been disobedient…look
back with me for clarity – 1 Samuel 15:22-23.
Saul was devastated, Samuel was mourning – it was a
mess…but God had a plan. God sent
Samuel on a mission. He was to go to
present an offering and make sure that Jesse's family was there. God wanted to show Samuel who the next King
would be…
Note that Samuel is obedient in moving forward…He
goes and finds Jesse and begins looking at his sons – all the while God
reminding him that it isn't outward appearance.
Finally David is summonsed and he is God's pick…David who did
become king…David who absolutely made mistakes but really had a desire to obey
and do the right thing.
It is always interesting that we only want God to bless us
in our lives but we don't want punishment for our disobedience to Him. None of us desire to be punished BUT we do
need correction from God – we should expect correction from the Lord when we
go the wrong direction.
The important thing for us is that, like David, when we
realize that we have gone wrong, we spend time in true repentance. We don't try to lie or figure our way
out…just admit and repent. God provides
redemption for the repentant, but for those who just keep running away from
Him…sticking to their lie…there are consequences. David is anointed as a young boy. After the anointing, he had some amazing
feats and some great challenges. It
didn't mean he would have an easy road.
He could have gone a different way and not been king because of the
tough road
Think of all that would have been missed by being
disobedient. CS Lewis wrote:
"Whatever you do, He will make good of it.
But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him."
We are to be obedient to God, listening to His commands,
following in His will and His way.
Disobedience has a price. If we
are on the wrong path, there is redemption which follows true repentance. What will you choose?
