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Fear the Lord and Serve Him
Even though God had predicted that the Israelites would one day reject Him and ask for a king to rule over them, it was still a disappointment when it happened. God makes it very clear that He knew that they had turned their backs on Him as their King in order to be like the nations around them. And it's not just a disappointment; it was sin. "Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king." 1 Samuel 12:17.
Well, so far this hasn't been terribly encouraging, has it? There's encouragement to found in this text, however. 1 Samuel 12:13,14: "Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God." All they had to do was fear the Lord and serve Him and everything would be alright.
Well, not much has changed. We've all committed sin in our lives and we feel guilty for it; or we should feel guilty. The answer is to fear God and serve Him. The particulars of how we do that are a little different now than when Samuel penned these words, but the concept is still the same.
The guilt that we feel for our sins is not pleasant, but it's not supposed to be. It shouldn't feel good when we realize we've done something wrong. And the children of Israel didn't feel good about it when Samuel showed them their sin. 1 Samuel 12:19: Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king."
When we sin, the first thing we've got to do is confess our sins and repent of them. We can't continue a relationship with God without repenting. And, as it relates to encouragement, we can't begin to feel encouraged without repentance. I know there are people who would be quick to tell you not to worry about it. God loves you, anyway. Well, I agree. He loves you, but you can't walk with God and have confidence in His ability to get you through difficult times when you refuse to repent of your sin. When we want to fear the Lord and serve Him, we'll obey His commands to repent of our sins.
Samuel had words of comfort even for a rebellious people. He said, "Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself." 1 Samuel 12:20-22.
God will take care of you. All you have to do is fear Him and serve Him. All you have to do is give yourself completely, in the way the Bible says to do it. But Samuel left them with a warning: "But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away." 1 Samuel 12:25.
I want to close today with more words from Samuel: Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24. If each one of us will obey this command, we'll be able to get through life's hard places. God will help us get through them. He will because He loves you and so do I.
Have a great week,
Donnie Bates
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