The caution to not deceive myself - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 23:7,

"Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, 'God has
delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by
entering a town with gates and bars.'"

In his pursuit to eliminate his replacement on the throne of Israel,
Saul sought to kill David. I notice when Saul was told of David's
location, he credited God for delivering David into his hands.

Never mind that God had already decided to replace Saul with David as
king and that Saul knew of this by now, as his son, Johnathan, told
David, "My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king
over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows
this." Verse 17. Never mind Saul had been told by Samuel that the Lord
had rejected him.

It simply didn't matter to Saul, who, lacking faith, defined his
understanding of life and made his choices by the circumstances that
surrounded him, rather than on an understanding of God and what God
was busy doing.

How often today have we seen Christians do the very same thing!
Pursuing, in a lack of faith, the things their hearts lead them to,
with focus off the Lord, off his word and on the circumstances of
life. Believers today, just like old King Saul, pursuing things they
should know better not to do (or not doing what they should), with the
claim, "the Lord is leading me to..." And, yet, in order to pursue
those things, ignore the wise counsel of Scripture and the wise
counsel of those with mature faith.

Just like me, I'm sure you have seen plenty of examples of this within
the life of a church, or churches you have been involved with. And, it
isn't just the believer sitting in the pew, but elders and pastors as
well!

The message here for me is to insure I remain focused on God, on the
counsel of his word. on the counsel of those with maturity in the
faith. Else, I may find myself deceived by myself, just as old King
Saul!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

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Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com