In 1 Samuel 15, God sends Saul the king on a mission: to destroy the Amalekites completely. But Saul deliberately disobeys and spares the king, as well as taking spoil from the battle. It even says that he builds a monument to himself (verse 12). Samuel the prophet comes to Saul and rebukes him for this. He says, among other things, these famous words:
22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."
Israel was commanded to observe feasts and perform specific sacrifices and rituals, but the point of all of that was always to be a people who were near to God; to be people who reflected his heart.
Jesus also repeated this truth to the religious leaders of his day (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). What God wants is obedience, but obedience from the heart, pure and sincere, out of love and reverence for him. God has never just wanted his people to go through the motions, he's always wanted them to be close to his heart.
After Saul's disobedience, Samuel says that God has rejected him as king and has chosen "someone better" (verse 28). God chose David, even before David was known, because he had the right heart, he was close to God.
The next chapter of 1 Samuel goes on to tell how David was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem. What stands out to me today, is how Saul reacted when he first saw Samuel.
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." (verse 13)
In Saul's mind, he was obedient to God, even though God was clear. Saul then tries to reason his way out of his disobedience and Samuel basically tells him to shut up and listen to what God says.
It makes me wonder, how often do I know what God has said to do, and I disobey? Further than that, what kind of excuses do I make to try and justify my disobedience?
Maybe my heart is like Saul's, where I enjoy God's favor and the positions he's given me more than being close to him? It's a scary thought but I bet it's partly true. So I better fix my heart.
The Heart that is Close to God
Utmost Patience
Paul boasted in the fact that he could point to a ministry that was not built by his work, but Christ's power. In 2 Corinthians 12, he continues a small boasting fest on his track record. His boasting, however, is not on his greatness, but on his weaknesses and the challenging life of an apostle. This is a sign of a true apostle, because God builds the church and he does it through those who are humbly surrendered to him; through those who allow his power in their lives. Paul says in verse 9 that he boasts gladly of his weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. This means that the power of Christ will come upon you, if you humbly allow it. There were “super-apostles” running around during Paul’s day who were very gifted speakers and affluent men but did not have the character of Christ.
In verse 12 Paul says something that I’ve probably passed over many times but today it sticks out to me clearly: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”
Building up a church is a noble thing, but it requires time. Although people are saved in an instant, the church is still full of people who are in repair. A church can have a gifted speaker, but if it lacks fellowship, teamwork, and leadership, it’s nothing more than a place where broken people come to hear a speech and maybe sing a few songs and pray.
I’m remembering today that leadership must be done with great patience. Lately I’ve been feeling frustrations in my realms of leadership, but I need to take this cue from Paul and remember that true leadership takes utmost patience. If a leader is not patient, it could be that true leadership is not taking place. In the church, I find there are lots of events and sermon series and causes for great excitement, which is great and very necessary, but a leader can’t ride the same waves of ups and downs and everyone else. They need foresight to see ahead and prepare themselves for the marathon that is ministry, and patiently run the race.
Girl Prayer
Two things strike me today as I read through the Scriptures:
- The global message of God throughout the Bible
Psalm 66 is a song of praise from Israel to the Lord for all he has done and all they have been witness to. Yet it still keeps the global perspective of God’s plan. It sounds to me like it was written on one of those emotional highs where you’re just in love with everything about God. As if it was written sometime just after all the people had celebrated and recommitted themselves to the Lord (like after Joshua’s time, or after David is crowned king). The focus is very much on Israel, but verse 4 declares that all the earth worships God. Verse 5 implores all people to “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of (all) man.” Verse 8 continues this train of thought, saying “Bless our God, O peoples.”
Israel was always meant, as promised through Abraham, to be a blessing to the nations, to all the world (Genesis 17:4-6). They were never called to be a special people among all the world that was privileged to be with God and become a secret club that pitied the rest of the world. God had chosen them to be a whole kingdom of priests, a holy nation that would bring light to the world and move all other nations to also worship God (Exodus 19:6).
Yet, in many places, we have made worshiping God into so many things that do not address the heart of God’s plan. Even when Jesus walked the earth, he commanded his followers to be the salt and light of the earth, not hermits and ascetics (Matthew 5:13-16).
This is the large scale plan of God’s.
Another thing that stuck out to me came as I read the opening chapters of 1 Samuel. Hannah says a lot of things, her husband Elkanah, says very little. I’ve heard it said that women generally speak almost 3 times as many words in a day as compared to men. To be fair, the focus of the author is to tell of Samuel’s upbringing, not to comment on why women talk so much. =D
(As a note, I never type out those smiley face things. I just thought it would somehow indicate that I was just kidding. But, whatever)
Hannah is so concerned on pouring her heart out to God Almighty, desperate to connect with him and find his favor. Elkanah for the most part is portrayed as a family man concerned with all the things a husband and dad is concerned with; mostly, keeping his family in order.
I find that this seems to be a reflection today still. I see women in church as the ones who are far more responsive to connecting with God than the men. My wife unceasingly seems to desire a connection with the Lord, while I never seem to fail trying to do things on my own, or being concerned with other things above pouring my heart out to God and desiring his presence. Some of the most powerful prayers recorded in the Bible come from women: Deborah (Judges 5), Hannah (1 Samuel 2), Mary (Luke 1). These aren’t just girly pages ripped out of girly diaries, they’re awesome declarations of God’s greatness. In her prayer, Hannah says things like, “My mouth derides my enemies...the bows of he mighty are broken...the LORD kills and brings to life...the adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven.”
She’s not butch or sporty, she just loves the Lord and has extreme confidence and faith in him; probably because she talks to him so much and knows his heart.
Following this prayer of Hannah’s, the author goes straight into showing how worthless Eli’s sons were. They were the sons of the high priest, and they completely disregarded their privileges and did nothing but seek their own selfish gain.
This is something we’ve seen since the fall in the Garden (Genesis 3). That women are far more willing to turn to God in their distress, and men are apt to suppress their God-given mandate, saying less and working slothfully.
God has a huge plan for the whole world, and his church is the primary vehicle. Yet the world (and the church) is full of men and women who are unable to reconcile these basic, ancient differences.
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O Lord, make me into a man after your own heart! Burn away the worthless tendencies in me and forge in me character that is refined like silver.
Ritual + Relationship
I don’t know why it’s so easy to wake up in the morning and follow this exact regimen of thought:
- Turn off that awful alarm on my wonderful iPhone...
- I should lay down for 3 more minutes of sleep, then I’ll feel more awake...yup, that makes sense...good call, Hanzo...you smrt...
- How many times do I have to hit snooze on this stupid thing?!...
- Sleepy eyes, makapiapia, Listerine, bedhead...I’m handsome...
- Who’s drinking all coffee? I thought we had more than this...
- Now that I’m all set, I think God is ready for me. Time for some time in the Word...should I check my email first?
Anyhow, a walk through Psalm 50 will fix all of this.
[1] The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
[2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
[3] Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
[4] He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
[5] “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
In “Crazy Love,” Francis Chan talks about trying to visualize himself standing before God as he prays. This God, who by his word summons the earth; whom before him is a devouring fire with a tempest around him; who alone calls to the heavens and the earth; seeks to judge his people, those he has chosen by covenant. When I see that this is the God who inspired the Bible on my shelf and on my iPhone and creates and summons all things, I feel ashamed at my daily morning ritual. I don’t give one thought to this awesome Creator until after I’ve brushed my hair (while he knows all the hairs on my head and how many of them fall out), after I use my voice to groan about sleepiness (and he formed the very tone of my voice). And what is God concerned with? Not the sacrifices or rituals I do, but the condition of my heart, and how close my heart is to his.
[7] “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
[8] Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
[9] I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
[10] For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
[11] I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
[12] “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
[13] Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
[14] Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
[15] and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Verse 7 echoes the Shema, the greatest verse for every good Jew. In Deuteronomy 6, following the Shema is a call to love God and obey him and to keep his Law and write it on their hearts and teach it to their children and fix their entire lives according to the Lord and his covenant. Here, God recalls this famous verse but what follows is a warning on ritual vs. relationship.
God has set his covenant before his people. But he doesn’t need sacrifices; it isn’t something he requires for his existence or purpose. He doesn’t hunger for steak or goat blood. What he does desire is “a sacrifice of thanksgiving.” This is found throughout the entire Bible (Psalm 107:22, Psalm 116:17, Jonah 2:9); that God doesn’t want mindless ritual, he wants his people to have his heart and love the things he loves (Micah 6:8).
This contrasts other gods of the time. Sacrifices were offered to other gods (like Baal, Asherah, Molech) because those gods needed flesh and blood to sustain themselves. If they received enough offerings they would bless their people; so worshipers of these false gods lead a life of fear, always wondering if their god would be pleased or angered, always hoping that their god would bless them, but it was dependent on whether enough sacrifices had been made. God Almighty is not like that. Blood is required for sin, yet God makes promises based on his own character and glory. What he desires are hearts of thanksgiving and praise, because God has crafted the hearts of humanity, and his desire is that they function as they are meant to--in worship to him. Since other gods did not craft a single human heart, what do they know what the heart needs?
Then, God flips it and talks about “the wicked.”
[16] But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
[17] For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
[18] If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers.
[19] “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
[20] You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother's son.
[21] These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
At first read, I thought the wicked people were those who weren’t Israelites. But the context tells it all. The wicked, in this psalm, are those who have heard the covenant and recited his statutes and repeated them with their own lips, but have cast them behind. They do not offer thanksgiving to God, rather, they use their mouths for evil and deceit and slander. In doing so, they have not received any divine punishment from God, so they assume that his silence shows his approval (or his weakness). But God is not like man (v.21: “you thought that [the] I [AM] was one like yourself”). God rebukes those who allegedly know him; who are allegedly his people yet don’t live like people who are glad that God Almighty dwells with them as a holy nation.
[22] “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
[23] The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
This sums it all up. God’s people aren’t mindless, ritualistic, religious people. God is glorified when his people offer thanksgiving to him; when his people delight in his presence and name. This is what it means to “order our way rightly.”
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Lord, may I live the rest of this day as a true act of worship and thanksgiving to you. I pray that my eyes be opened to true reality, that I may see as you see. Most importantly, that I act upon what is true and good. This will no doubt require me to do things I am uncomfortable with, like loving and forgiving and rejoicing in all things. Nevertheless, for your glory, amen.
Overcoming Misunderstandings
Joshua led the nation of Israel to see the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Joshua chapter 21, verses 43 to 45 boldly declare that every single word the Lord had promised to Israel had come true. Not one of their enemies had withstood this generation, these children of Egyptian slaves.
These people lived through many battles, and each battle was proof that the God of the universe was with Israel, judging nations and proclaiming his name as glorious throughout the world. Now that the land has been established and allotted by portions to each tribe of Israel, it is time for the people to begin their responsibility of being a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). It’s not time to just kick back and relax. If they thought the battles and the warfare was the hard part, they were wrong. God was the one who primarily defeated all the armies they had fought. They had to show up and believe and act faithfully, but the Lord defeated the armies and conquered the kings. Now that the land has been inhabited, it is the responsibility of the people to love and obey God in a way that is a light to the rest of the world; that the entire world may see what it looks like for God to dwell with man as he originally intended.
The last thing for Israel to do now, is for the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh to cross the Jordan and go back east to the land that has been allotted to them. These are men who have already received their portion of land, but have stuck with the rest of the people and fighting with them. They have left their homes and lands to fight with their brothers who were yet to receive a portion and inheritance. Now that the conquest is complete, they can return home, as they have fulfilled their oath. This is how it plays out in Joshua chapter 22.
Joshua exhorts them to return to their lands in peace and repeats a version of the famous “shema,” the most important verse in the Bible for the Jewish people (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Essentially, it says to love God with everything you have; heart, mind, soul, strength, everything.
On their way back, before they cross the Jordan, they set up an altar on the west bank of the Jordan. A huge altar “of imposing size” (v.10). The rest of Israel hears about this and everyone has the same thought: “after all we went through with those guys, after all they had seen the Lord do for us, they’ve gone and built an altar to foreign gods!” This was everyone’s knee-jerk reaction. No one thinks twice. Everyone gets so upset that they get ready to make war on their own brothers, their own people; all because they assumed that Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh had turned away from following God.
They meet up with these three tribes, ready to kill them all, and ask them why they have turned from God. And then the leaders of the three tribes respond.
“Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance.” (Joshua 22:21-23 ESV)
I love how their first response is not to defend themselves or get into some kind of debate. I love how their first response is to declare who their God is, and they say it twice, just in case they didn’t hear it the first time! Their response is “it’s all about the Lord, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh.” They declare that their allegiance and faith is in the one and same God as their brothers.
This episode tells me a few things:
- The hard work of life with God comes after coming to know him. The hard part of life comes after salvation and knowing God; after he cleanses the darkness from your life.
- There will always be misunderstandings in life, even from your own spiritual brothers and sisters; from those whom you expect to be on the same side as you.
The three tribes built that altar because they wanted the other tribes’ children to know that they were all one people, even though there was a river that separated them all. They built it out of reverence for God, they built it as a witness.
The other tribes got ready for war because they were zealous to protect the name of the Lord. They couldn’t stand the thought of their own flesh and blood so suddenly and foolishly turning from the God who had so powerfully been with them.
Both sides were following God with all their heart, but there was a misunderstanding between them. What matters when we run into misunderstandings with other Christians is to find out where everyone’s heart is. So often we want to justify ourselves and have God back us up and defend our blamelessness; but the issue is a matter of the heart. If both sides are following the Lord with a whole heart, both should rejoice. We will bump and scrape each other along the way, but we shouldn’t be shocked about it. We should expect it. Sometimes it’s hard when other believers offend or wrong us, because we almost subconsciously expect them to know that we’re on the same side. It often hurts the most when pain comes from those closest to us.
The only thing that will heal is if both sides can know that both are wholly committed to the Lord. Both may take different approaches or do things that may seem offensive to one another, but what is the issue of the heart? Where does the heart stand in any given issue? If we cannot resolve the situation based on the character and identity of God himself, we will always be caught on issues of morality and ethics which can be a dangerous snare (although morality and ethics are very important). It’s like having a really bad argument/wrestling match in a really small, confined space; like an epic battle in an empty barrel.
Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). And that love is God (1 John 4:8).
-fortissimo-
Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
(Psalm 47:1-2 ESV)
I love how this text says to rejoice in God so much that you clap your hands and shout, singing loudly with joy. And why are we told to do this? Because the Lord is to be feared. There’s no misinterpreting that!
Are we to have great joy in the Lord?
Yes.
Are we to shout and sing loudly?
Yes.
Are we to fear God?
Yes.
In fact, a healthy fear of God is what brings the joy and the clapping and the shouting.
Sounds confusing? Hey, at least it’s not one-dimensional!
Love is simply complicated.
The important thing to take from this is that we are not commanded anywhere in Scripture to only clap and shout and sing; and we are not commanded anywhere in Scripture to only fear the Lord.
Just another indication that a relationship with the Lord is grounded in reality.
We can’t properly rejoice in God if we do not fear him, and we can’t properly fear God if we do not rejoice in him.
