Tag: obeyed their voice

48.a. “Wilderness” – 12.g.

 

Num 22:34  Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.”

Exodus 9:27    Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

Exodus 10:16-17     Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

 1 Samuel 15:24    Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

 1 Samuel 26:21   Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day.

 Psalms 78:34    When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.

 Matthew 27:4-5    saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”

 1 Chronicles 21:7    But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel.

This sounds humble enough, but it was obvious and easy to say when the Angel of the LORD stood before Balaam with a drawn sword in hand. The threat of immediate judgment humbles most people. 2 Peter 2:15-16 speaks of Balaam’s attitude, telling us he had gone astray, he loved the wages of unrighteousness, was full of iniquity, and was not in his right mind. The root of Balaam’s sin was a love for money. Jude 1:11 calls it the error of Balaam for profit. He was willing to disobey God and curse God’s people if he could do it for money. (Guzik)

He confesses his passion and thoughtlessness in his ill treatment of the ass, and excuses himself for so wilfully persisting in his journey, from his ignorance of the angel’s standing in the way to oppose him; but he makes no confession of his covetousness, which was the dishonest principle that influenced him in all his steps. (Benson)

I have sinned … if it displease thee, I will get me back again—Notwithstanding this confession, he evinced no spirit of penitence, as he speaks of desisting only from the outward act. (Jamieson)

Confessing sin without repentance is not seeing the sinfulness of sin. Confession without repentance allows a person to think they are right with God when their heart and mind are still not right with God. Without repentance there is no forgiveness. Confessing sin without committing to turning away from it is just a weak way of saying sorry, my bad, I’ll try to do better, but I’m only human, and there is no inner desire within their heart to never ever do it again. 

When Paul said to confess your sins to one another I think it was for the purposes of having a fellow believer hold you to a repentant heart – and remind you and encourage you in your repentance. Another reason is to keep us humble and not to think more highly of ourselves than we should. And to encourage others by our humbleness and commitment to honoring and glorifying God.

How many times have you been convicted of sin through hearing or reading God’s Word? When this Holy Spirit conviction comes upon your soul – Confess it – Repent of it (turn away from it)- Commit to never entertaining it again  

Life happens and then the next thing you know you are in a situation where the temptation to do that which you have committed to not do, you do or are thinking about doing. Resist – confess its temptation – ask God to give you clear eyes to see the sinfulness of sin and His holiness. Stand strong in the Holy Spirit. Ask God to show you what is in your heart so that you can know it, see it, and turn away from it.

It is one thing to confess sin but totally different to repent of it and commit to turning away from it. Many times we try to do this on our own power or within our own strength and 5-step plan. We do well to stand in the power and might of the Holy Spirit and not rely on our own power and strength for surely we will become tired and unable to resist.

105. For you have rejected the word of the Lord

5:1   And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,

Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Over and over, the Bible tells us that God blesses and rewards obedience. James 1:22–25 says it perfectly: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.“

Obedience enables us to live a life of joy, power, courage, and faith rooted deeply in the Lord and confident in our eternal hope. We can be rewarded by God in a myriad of ways. “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart”.

For all true followers of Christ, obedience is never peripheral. At the heart of what it means to be a disciple of our Lord is living in loving devotion to God. But if such love is real, the acid test is obedience. Following Christ does not allow for selective obedience.  Selective obedience comes out of neglect of His word in our daily lives.  Selective obedience falsely allows us to think we are obedient in all things because we have chosen to live without heart and mind deep daily desire to intentionally live and breath in the depth of His word. Daily time in His word will grow our understanding and knowledge of God which grows our devotion and desire to obedience for His honor and glory.