Strike – Praying Pint

52.p. Wilderness – 16.v. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart”

Deu 28:21  The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed. “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.  The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.

Deu 28:34  so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

Deu 28:37  And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

Deu 28:45  “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

Deu 28:47  Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Deu 28:58-59  “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

Deu 28:61  Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.

Deu 28:63  And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.

Deu 28:66-67  Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

The same variety of expression is used in these terrible curses, as in the preceding blessings, to intimate every kind of prosperity or adversity, personal, relative, and public.

If we do not keep God’s commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful. (Henry)

Oh that our hearts and minds would grasp the holy blessings of God in light of the wrathful curses. Sin has a way of blinding us to only see blessings from God. Sin blinds us to the holiness of God. Neglect of His Word deafens our ears to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin.

May the Word of God open your hearts and minds to His holiness and give you a deep desire to honor and glorify Him more and more each day. We do not honor and glorify Jesus christ for the blessings we receive, but for who God is.

40.z. “Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand”

Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses asked God about how his fellow Israelites would receive the news of the deliverance from Egypt, but getting the people of Israel behind Moses was only a small part of the struggle ahead – what about the Egyptians? How would they ever agree to let this free labor force leave the country? Without Moses asking, God answered this question. God knew this from the beginning. He knew what it would take to move the heart of Pharaoh, and the plagues and calamities to come where engineered for a specific purpose and they were not haphazardly planned. God promised to arrange things not only to move Pharaoh’s heart, but also to move the heart of the Egyptian people so that when Israel did depart, they would be showered with silver and gold and clothing. This was not stealing or extortion, it was the appropriate wages for the years of forced labor. (Guzik)

God knew beforehand, and acquaints them with it, that, when it came to pass, they might be induced to believe that the mission of Moses was of God, rather than the contrary. (Gill)

With the command, “Go and gather the elders of Israel together,” God then gave Moses further instructions with reference to the execution of his mission. On his arrival in Egypt he was first of all to inform the elders, as the representatives of the nation (i.e., the heads of the families, households, and tribes), of the appearance of God to him, and the revelation of His design, to deliver His people out of Egypt and bring them to the land of the Canaanites. He was then to go with them to Pharaoh, and make known to him their resolution, in consequence of this appearance of God. (Keil and Delitzsch )

I try to understand what must have been Moses thoughts to this revelation from God. Israel has been in slavery and treated harshly for over close to 300 years. This is the life they knew. It was just the way things were. They knew no different. Think about it; God captures Moses attention (Burning Bush), speaks to Moses, commissions him to lead his people, and reveals how His mighty hand will deliver them. Moses has been gone from Egypt for 40 years and was 70-80 years old. We are never too old to be used by God. We are never too far removed to be sent.

What keeps us from being used by God? Is it willingness? Is it lack of or willing to listen for the Holy spirit’s leading and guiding? Is it a shallow commitment to serving or willing to serve God? Is it being consumed by the busyness of life and how we choose to live? Is it because we choose to neglect studying and meditating on God’s Word? A shallow commitment to God’s Word will lead to a very shallow understanding of what it means to live in such a way the honors and glorifies Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do.

40.c. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf”

Genesis 49:27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”

Deuteronomy 33:12    Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

Judges 3:15-29     Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

Jeremiah 5:6   Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.

It is plain Jacob was guided in what he said by a spirit of prophecy, and not by natural affection, else he would have spoken with more tenderness of his beloved son Benjamin, concerning whom he only foretels that his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring; and that they should enrich themselves with the spoil of their enemies; that they should be active in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other. (Benson)

Benjamin is described as a wolf who is engaged morning and evening, that is, all day long, in hunting after prey. He was warlike by character and conduct Judges 20-21, and among his descendants are Ehud, Saul, and Jonathan. (Barnes)

we have an early instance of the valour and success of this tribe in a war waged with all the other tribes, and in two pitched battles, in one with 26,000 men it beat 400,000, Judges 20:15, and if this tribe is compared to a wolf for rapaciousness, this may be illustrated by the remainder of those, after the loss of a third battle, catching and carrying away the daughters of Shiloh, and making them their wives, Judges 21:23. Some apply this to particular persons of this tribe, as to Saul the first king of Israel, who was of Benjamin; and who as soon as he took the kingdom of Israel, in the morning, in the beginning of that state, fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines, and the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 14:47 and to Mordecai and Esther, who were of the same tribe, who after the captivity, and in the evening of that state, divided the spoil of Haman, Esther 8:1 this is observed by Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom. Some of the Christian fathers have applied the prophecy to the Apostle Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin; who in the morning of his youth was a fierce and ravenous persecutor, and made havoc of the church of God: and in the evening, or latter part of his life, spent his days in dividing the spoil of Satan among the Gentiles, taking the prey out of his hands, turning men from the power of Satan unto God, and distributed food to the souls of men. In a spiritual sense he was a warlike man, a good soldier of Christ, and accouted as such, had a warfare to accomplish, and enemies to fight with; and did fight the good fight of faith, conquered, and was more than a conqueror through Christ. (Gill)

“Benjamin – which tears in pieces; in the morning he devours prey, and in the evening he divides spoil.” Morning and evening together suggest the idea of incessant and victorious capture of booty (Del.). The warlike character which the patriarch here attributes to Benjamin, was manifested by that tribe, not only in the war which he waged with all the tribes on account of their wickedness in Gibeah (Judges 20) (Keil and Delitzsch)

34.q. “I will not deny you!”

Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

Luke 22:31-32    “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,  but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Job 19:13-16    “He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.  My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.

Psalms 69:20     Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

Ezekiel 34:5-6     So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered;  they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

Exodus 19:8    All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

1 Corinthians 10:12    Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Peter, not convinced of his weakness, or that any temptation could make him guilty of such base conduct so as to deny Christ, claims with great confidence that he will not deny Christ even in the face of death. We are frequently ignorant of our self-confidence which leads us to become over-confident and safe from being tempted away from following, obeying, trusting, and relying on Jesus Christ alone. Those that are least safe are those who in themselves think they are secure.

We never know when or what trial or trouble may fall upon us. We never know how feeble and weak we are until we are tried. Reliance upon our own strength is an act of ignorance of the need for Jesus Christ in all things at all times.

It doesn’t matter what we are engaged in doing, when we go it alone and in our own strength, own ideas, own self-reliance, and own self-interest we expose our lack of reliance on Christ. How many days do we start in our own strength and our own ideas? Can we not ask at the beginning of the day before we are even out of bed for Jesus to guide our thoughts, lead our steps, and keep our hearts and minds free from that which does not honor and glorify Him alone? Can we not ask Him to show us our weaknesses and for His strengthening of our minds? Can we not ask Him to show us where we are being self-reliant? Can we not ask for His protection over the day? Can we not ask Him to continually speak into our hearts and minds? Yes, we can if we would just do it.

34.c. “So outwardly appear righteous to others”

Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

2 Peter 2:2   And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

1 Timothy 4:1-2  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared

Jude 1:4    For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God

Matthew 23:27-28 For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

2 Peter 2:3   And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Jude 1:13   wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Revelation 2:23     and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Woe unto the world because of temptations- That is, temptations will be the cause of woe or of suffering. Temptations, here, mean things that will produce sin: that will cause us to sin, or to induce others to sin. That is, such is the depravity of man that there will be always some who are attempting to make others sin; some people of wickedness endeavoring to lead Christians astray, and rejoicing when they have succeeded in causing them to fall. Such, also, is the strength of our native corruption and the force of passion, that our besetting sins will lead us astray. (Barnes)

Considering the cunning and malice of Satan, and the weakness and depravity of men’s hearts, it is not possible but that there should be temptation. God permits them for wise and holy ends, that those who are sincere, and those who are not, may be made known. (Henry)

We have been told that there will be bold charismatic seducers, tempters, and influencers as an advanced warning and instruction to be wise in God’s Word through the Holy Spirit’s leading and discern these who happily lead others to stray from truth. Man’s heart is evil, his tendencies are evil, temptation is strong. Satan is active; all these forces combine to bring about a fatal result. Thus St. Paul says (1 Corinthians 11:19), “There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” So these temptations of which Christ speaks are overruled and permitted for wise purposes, that by them the righteous may be proved and purified, and the chaff separated from the wheat. But woe to that man! Because of this evil principle which is rife in the world, no man is exonerated from the guilt of giving into temptations. He has free will; he can choose good; he can use the means of grace; he can strengthen his natural weakness, control his perverseness, overcome corruption, by the help of God always ready to be given to them who seek. The first “woe” is a cry of pity for a world in danger; the second “woe” is a denunciation of the sinner as being responsible for the evil which he introduces. We are all in some sort our brothers’ keepers, and are bound to help forward their salvation, and to do nothing which may tend to endanger their souls’ health. (Unkown)

17.n. “I will pass over you”

John 11:54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Exodus 12:11-14 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

The great deliverance from Egypt ended in the Lord’s Passover. “I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord.” What is the purpose of Ceremonial Cleansing? For them, it was tied to the Law and purification. Remember the Law pointed out their sin and there were certain legal rites and sacrifices required. The greatness of the Passover, the act of God to free and redeem His chosen from the hands of the Egyptians, was worthy of ceremonial cleansing so that they might worship and glorify God during this special feast of the Passover. ”The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The importance for us is in the blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanses us from our sin. When we believe in Him and the work He accomplished on the cross for our sin, we are forever forgiven. Ceremonial cleansing was a form of repentance. I know I have sinned. I know I want to honor and glorify God. I want to worship and celebrate my redemption, salvation, forgiveness, and promise of eternal life. I repent, turn away from my old self, and now live each day in remembrance of the great price that was paid for my redemption, the death of Jesus Christ. We should never forget this, for there is a judgment day coming and only those who have confessed their sin, repented, believed, trusted, and relied on Jesus Christ will be passed over. Eternal life awaits those who believed, and eternal torment awaits those who did not.

13.u. “Behold, a day is coming for the Lord”

Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’;and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

Zechariah 14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

In this prophecy from Zechariah we see a clear picture of Jesus Christ, the Shepherd was struck (crucified) and the scattering of the sheep took place when persecution fell on those in Jerusalem. Act 8:1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. We also see those who will be alive at His return to earth for the millennial reign, and the death of those who were striving to destroy Israel and His followers who came to an understanding of and trusted in salvation and redemption through Him during the tribulation period and were alive at His coming. “His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.” Those that come against Him will surely perish. Those that trust in Him will surely live and they will reign with Him on earth for 1000 years.

There is more definition to the timing and what will occur in Revelation about the tribulation period when the wrath of God is poured out on all mankind for their rejection of Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy, and love. We know that man has both physical and spiritual makeup. The physical dies but the spirit is eternal. Those who have rejected Jesus Christ will die physically but spiritually they will live in torment, Hell, totally separated from Jesus Christ. This is not something to be taken lightly. I recently had a conversation with a relative who said when he dies he knows he is going to hell and he said that he will only take up a small portion there. I told him he is still alive and while he still has breath there is time to change that outcome. How is it that people can take Hell so lightly? It is because they make the sacrifice, redemption, and salvation of Jesus Christ his offer of grace, mercy, and love lightly. I don’t know how it works, but Jesus Christ can soften hearts and harden hearts with the same offer of redemption, and salvation. Look at Paul the leader of and the one who carried out great persecution on the early church yet his heart was softened. Look at Pharaoh who in the light of all of the wonders displayed hardened his heart like stone. Look at your own life and how self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-satisfied you were and somehow the Word of God softened your heart to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Obviously it was not a work of your own thinking but the work of the Holy Spirit of God opening up your mind to understand the need and offer of redemption. Only God knows how this works. He is all-knowing, Holy, and just. Somewhere in all of this is a free will choice that is made deep within the heart and soul of every person. All I can say is that if the Holy Spirit of God is revealing the need and offer of redemption and salvation, do not reject it. Your eternal destiny is based on this choice.

10.f. “I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God… And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

Leviticus 26:23 And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant.

This was God’s way of telling Israel that they could run, but they could not hide from Him and His judgment. Even if they tried to dig into hell or climb up to heaven, they could not escape their responsibility before God. A high mountain (Carmel) or the bottom of the sea could not hide them from judgment. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good: An essential part of the Old Covenant was the promise of blessing or cursing based on Israel’s obedience. If Israel was in chronic, systemic disobedience, they could expect that God’s eye toward them would be for harm and not for good.

How much better is it to live under the blessings of God? Who would choose to take harm over good, and yet we do this every day we choose to walk paths disobedient to what it means to honor, glorify, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ. Walking each day with Jesus Christ is an intentional choice to deny self and live for Him. Life has a way of capturing our focus and it does it very subtly. Soon we find ourselves adopting things into our lives that are not honoring Jesus Christ or to our benefit. Keep a deep hunger and thirst for not only honoring Him but for growing in wisdom and understanding of His Word>

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.

Fear and Panic

Zechariah 14:13 And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.

Zechariah 12:4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness.

Judges 7:22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army.

1 Samuel 14:15-23 And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.

2 Chronicles 20:22 And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped.

Ezekiel 38:21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother.

Revelation 17:17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Genesis 35:5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Leviticus 26:36 And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

Exodus 23:27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

Psalms 14:5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 11:25 No one shall be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.

In scripture we often read of the power of God over the physical properties of earth and sky. God is not limited in anything. He is God. He is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine. I am reminded in these scriptures again of how powerful and mighty and awesome God is. He has great power over all there is, even the heart and mind of man. He is able to place fear and trembling in the heart and mind. He also places what can be known about Himself into the heart and mind of man. In Romans it says “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,” Our God is in control and able to overcome anything that comes our way. This is for sure. The proper mind when thinking about this is stated very clear in Daniel when the three followers told the king “our God is able to save us but even if He does not, we will not bow to you”. And again when Christ prayed for the cup of wrath that he was going to experience to be removed/stopped, but not his will but God’s. We must always put our total faith in the one who is able and rely on and trust in His perfect plan.