Tag: jonathan

1 SAMUEL #19: GRACE, JEALOUSY, LOVE AND INTEGRITY

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

1 Samuel 18 depicts the rise of David as a warrior and leader, and the escalating tension between him and Saul. Jonathan, Saul’s son, recognizes David’s faith and forms a covenant with him, seeing in David a kindred spirit. Despite David being the hero of the day, Jonathan, as the king’s son, was seen as the more important man. Yet, he reached out to David in an act of grace, giving him his robe and belt, symbolizing their bond and enabling David to stand without shame in the king’s court. This act is reminds us of how Jesus gives us his righteousness so we can stand without fear or shame in the presence of God.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 19

1 SAMUEL #19. 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 18:1-30.

1 Samuel chapter 18 is part of a larger section that records the development of David as a warrior and leader, and the increasing tension between Saul and David.

In number 11 in this series, we looked at 1 Samuel chapter 14, and saw that Jonathan, son of Saul was a very different man from his father. Jonathan was a man of faith. He trusted that if God wanted to deliver his people, he could do it, whatever the odds. I have wondered at times, why Jonathan, being the man he was, did not fight Goliath himself. The bible doesn’t tell us, but I suspect that Saul might have forbidden him to do it, since he was the eldest son, and thus very important to Saul. In any case, it was God’s desire to use David in that situation.

David approached Goliath with exactly the same kind of faith that Jonathan had when he fought the Philistines in chapter 14. Jonathan recognized the faith of David and recognized in him, a kindred spirit. Without any pretensions as the king’s son, and in self-confident humility, Jonathan reached out to David in brotherly love, and made a covenant with him. Remember, though David was the hero of the day, everyone around them would have felt that Jonathan was the more important man. Jonathan reaching out to David was an act of grace – he didn’t have to do it. A “covenant” was a solemn agreement. It doesn’t spell out here what exactly the covenant was. I think we can assume that it was a little bit like the old native American tradition of becoming blood brothers. Certainly, they became lifelong friends, inseparable in spirit, loyal to each other in spite of the difficult circumstances that could have come between them. In addition, after the victory over Goliath and the Philistine armies, Jonathan gave David some of his precious iron-age battle equipment.

Jonathan also gave David his robe and his belt. In those days, robes, belts, tunics and so on were actually quite precious. There was no mass produced clothing; every piece had to be painstakingly made by hand. Jonathan, son of the king, likely had more than one set of clothing, but David, eighth and youngest son of a sheep farmer, had only his rough shepherd’s outfit. David’s clothing was probably not very nice, and not really appropriate to the court of the king. So Jonathan gave David a robe and a belt to wear over his clothes, probably so that he could be at Saul’s court without embarrassment.

I think it is always worth asking: “Can we learn anything about Jesus from this passage of scripture?” I think in this place, Jonathan shows us something about Jesus, and then, elsewhere in the text, David does. So, right here, Jonathan, the son of the king, clothed David, who was the least honored son from a poor family, so that he could stand without shame in the presence of the king. Does that remind you of anything? I’m thinking of 2 Corinthians 5:21:

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:2, CSB)

Just as Jonathan imparted his own clothes to David, so that he could feel that he belonged in the presence of the king and court, so Jesus gives us his own righteousness, so that we can stand without fear or shame in the presence of God. This text, through Jonathan, reminds us of that. Jonathan’s gracious covenant with David reminds us how God has reached out to us in a covenant secured by the death of Jesus Christ.

After Goliath was killed, the armies of Israel pursued the Philistines to the gates of two of their cities. Previously, Israel had won only defensive victories against the Philistines – they had driven the Philistines out of the hill country when they invaded. However, this time, spurred by David’s feat of faith, they took the battle into Philistine territory. As they returned from the fight, the people celebrated and sang songs of victory and joy. In their songs they sang that Saul had killed thousands, and David tens of thousands.

When we looked at the psalms, we learned that Hebrew poetry and song is not about rhyme, rhythm and meter. Instead, it uses parallelism. In parallelism, a thought is stated, and then it is re-stated in a slightly different way. So that’s all that was happening in the song that the Israelites were singing about the victory, recorded in verse seven: Saul has killed thousands; David, ten thousands.

Saul should have known that this was just a poetic way of celebrating the victory. In fact, he must have known that. It was just a song, and it was typical of Hebrew songs. But it bothered him. This was a faith opportunity for Saul. He could trust that God was Lord of both him and David, and that God would be merciful and good to him even now. Before this, the Lord had used David’s music to deliver him from his torment of the mind. He had just used David to deliver the whole country from the giant, and the Philistines. He could have been thankful for what the Lord had done for him through David. But he let this poetically expressed song eat into his mind. It bothered him, and he gave in to doubt and insecurity. 18:10 says this:

The next day an evil spirit sent from God took control of Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear, and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice. (1Sam 18:10-11, HCSB)

We can see a horrifying progression happening in Saul. First, Saul was God’s chosen instrument, and the Spirit of God moved him to lead the people victoriously against their enemies. But then, he began to give in to insecurity. He tried to manipulate the people through religion; he even tried to manipulate God. Then, he stopped seeking the Lord whenever it was inconvenient. After that he flat out disobeyed God, and then lied about it. He lost his status as the Lord’s instrument, but the Lord reached out to him, allowing him to be in need, and then providing a way to meet that need through David’s music.

Previously, when the Lord used the evil spirit to try and bring Saul to repentance, Saul was able to find hope and relief by God’s spirit working through David’s music. But at this time, it seems that Saul utterly rejected God’s spirit. He chose to not live by faith. He chose to try and control his own fate, apart from God’s plans. And so when David played music for him after this, there was no relief, because Saul had cut off all of God’s efforts to reach him. Now, instead of bringing relief, David’s music made Saul worse. He threw a javelin at David, while he was playing.  Apparently, David thought this was just one of the fits that Saul had. It seems like he didn’t, at that point, believe that Saul was truly, actively, trying to kill him. So after the fit passed, David returned to Saul’s service.

Before Goliath was dead, Saul had promised that whoever killed him would be made rich, would marry the King’s daughter, and his family would be freed from taxes. But after David killed Goliath, Saul did not immediately let him marry his daughter. Instead, he added conditions, saying that David must join the army and prove himself. David’s response: “Who am I, that I should become son-in-law to the king?” was probably just the normal, proper form in such a situation. It didn’t mean David was refusing the marriage, it just meant he was proving his humility and loyalty to the king. Saul, however, ignored his promise, and had his eldest daughter married to another man. It is possible that Saul did this to try and provoke David into anger, so that David would respond in some way that could be called treasonous, after which Saul could have him executed. But if that was Saul’s plan, it didn’t work.

In the meantime, Saul’s youngest daughter had fallen in love with David. In those days, in that part of the world, a prospective groom was supposed to give goods and property to the father of the bride. This  gift was called the “Bride Price.” They did the same thing in Papua New Guinea where I grew up. In New Guinea, the price was usually paid in livestock and other property, and ancient Israel was probably similar. In chapter 17, Saul promised that killing Goliath was the bride price for marrying Saul’s daughter. Yet, Saul didn’t let him marry the first daughter, and when he finally offered his youngest daughter, Michal to be married to David, in verse 23, David said basically, that he couldn’t afford to become the king’s son in law. Probably David said this as a gentle reminder that Saul had already promised the marriage as a reward for killing Goliath. It would give Saul the opportunity to say: “No, no, don’t worry about it, you’ve already paid the bride price.”

But Saul didn’t say that. Instead, he actually demanded something more from David than the death of  Goliath. In other words, he did not keep his promise. Second, David’s statement that he was poor, and couldn’t afford the bride-price meant that Saul must have also gone back on his promise to make the giant killer a wealthy man (17:25).

Saul’s new bride price was that David had to kill 100 Philistines, and mutilate their bodies to bring back a certain gruesome proof of each death. He was hoping that the Philistines would get so angry about this that they would hunt down David and kill him.

None of this is fair. None of Saul’s treatment of David from here on out was righteous or godly. David was God’s chosen instrument – and yet through Saul, the devil was continually cheating him and threatening his life.

Even so, David voluntarily paid double what Saul asked – he killed not 100, but 200 Philistines. So Saul finally let David and his daughter, Michal get married. But even then, he treated David poorly. The law of Moses says this:

5 “When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.( Deuteronomy 24:5, ESV)

But Saul made David continue to serve in the army. So, in his hatred of David, Saul was willing to hurt his own daughter. In spite of all this, David did not become bitter, or even disrespectful toward Saul. He did not even confront him about his false promises. He continued to trust the Lord to work in him and through him. He continued to do what the Lord put in front of him to do, which in this case, was to fight in Saul’s army. And through the Lord, he was protected and blessed in his endeavors.

I want to point out a few things that come out of this particular chapter. First, let’s look at the negative example of Saul. When we close the door on God, it means we open a door to the realm of Satan and evil spirits. I don’t mean that this happens every time we make a single mistake and choose wrongly or fall into sin. But Saul persistently and deliberately rejected God over a long period of time. When he experienced the torment that resulted from that, God sent him help. But at this point in his life, he deliberately and explicitly refused the help that God sent. Therefore, it seems to me that chapter 18 records a time when Saul makes a firm, final decision to not trust God. As a result, God had no way to reach him anymore. And since Saul put himself beyond God’s reach, he was a sitting duck for the devil.

Second, we see the intention of all evil spirits – to destroy the work of the Holy Spirit. David was the instrument of the Holy Spirit at that time. The evil spirit, when given control took the most direct route – destroy God’s chosen instrument.

I think it is important for us to recognize the spiritual war that this reveals. David was aware of it in the battle against Goliath. Jonathan was aware of it in his earlier battles. The devil wants to destroy the work of God. Jesus, talking about Satan in John 10:10 said, “a thief comes to kill, steal and destroy.” Peter wrote this:

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. (1Pet 5:8, HCSB)

This world is not neutral territory – it is a battle ground. All of us who trust in Jesus are now the chosen instruments of the Holy Spirit. The devil cannot kill us all. But he seeks to undo the work that God wants to do in and through us. We don’t need to fear the devil – Jesus told us that he has won the definitive victory over Satan.

And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18-20, ESV)

Satan cannot harm us if we remain in Jesus. Therefore the New Testament tells us to be alert (1 Peter 5:8), to remain in Jesus (John 15:1), to resist the devil (1 Peter 5:9 and James 4:7) and to take our stand against all the powers of evil in the spiritual realms (Ephesians 6:10-18). We don’t need to be afraid, but we shouldn’t be naïve either. If the devil could, he would drive a spear through you too. Saul shows us the only way the devil can get at us – when we shut God out. No doubt it would have been hard for Saul, given his insecurity, to keep receiving help from David, whom he now saw as a rival, but that help was there for him. However, he was not willing to humble himself to receive it. He was unwilling to trust God’s goodness, and so he put himself into a very bad situation.

We have several positive things in this text, also. Jonathan, as I mentioned earlier, shows us a bit of what Jesus is like. He made a covenant of grace with David, and by giving David his clothes, made him able to stand without shame or fear in the king’s court. This is exactly what Jesus does for us. We do not have to be ashamed or fearful in the presence of God, because Jesus has clothed us in his own righteousness. He made a covenant with us, though we have nothing to give to him in return. David was not too proud to receive that grace. I believe that we too, should give up our own pride and our own “rights” so that we can receive the grace that is offered to us in Jesus Christ.

There is something else here. Yesterday and today I saw items in the news that bothered me deeply. People with a great deal of power are using it to impose their own personal view of the world upon others. When I read things like this, I feel angry and worried about the future. But then I think about today’s text. David was God’s own chosen instrument. Yet he encountered massive injustice. The king was changing the terms of his own promises, making things harder and harder on David, and there was no one to hold him accountable. David had no option but to live with the injustices, and they kept piling up. Even so, the Lord was with him, and there was nothing that king Saul could do that would stop God’s work in David’s life. David’s response was to trust God, and do the work that was in front of him to the best of his ability.

We are not promised a life free from hardship. But we are promised that God’s presence is with us, no matter how difficult things get, or whether or not we can consciously feel that presence.

We tend to look at David as a special person, and of course, he was. But what was most special about him was that he trusted the Lord. Do you know that the Lord does not love David any more than he loves you? If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a chosen instrument of the Holy Spirit, just like David was. There is no quality of love or grace that God gave David that he withholds from you. His grace to all of us is overwhelming. His desire to save each one of us is powerful. If you look at David and think “He was special to God,” you would be right. But you are no less special to God than David was.

Receive the grace of the Lord now. Ask the Lord for the faith to trust Him.

1 SAMUEL #12: LEGALISM VS. GRACE

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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Even when his army was victorious, Saul continued to be controlling. He imposed his own foolish impulses on others, and cost him, and those he loved. Jonathan continues to show us the way: he was willing to die for Saul’s foolish and hasty mistakes. That gives us a picture of Jesus, who did indeed die for our sins.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 12

Last time we looked at how Jonathan single-handedly attacked the Philistines. He acted out of faith, not fear, and God used that to create a huge victory for the people of Israel. The Israelites pushed the Philistines back to the edge of the hill country in fact, back to the previously held borders between the two peoples. But Saul, once again, showed his lack of real relationship with God. Because of his legalism and false religion, the victory was not as great as it should have been. Nothing spoils true good works like false religion and religious pretenses.

The situation was this: The Israelites had routed the Philistines, and were pursuing them back toward their own territory. This was in spite of the fact that the only two people who had iron weapons were Saul and Jonathan. Perhaps Saul remembered this fact. For whatever reason, even though the battle was going well – literally, miraculously well –  he became worried about the outcome, and so he made an oath and imposed it upon all the army. The oath was that no one should eat until the sun went down. It sounds very religious and impressive. The oath was supposed to show the soldiers that their mission was serious; it was supposed to motivate them. It was supposed to impress God, so that God would help them even more.

It backfired because it was a stupid idea that again came not from faith, but fear, selfishness and pride. By the way, I want to point out the fact that Saul was not content to make the vow for himself alone. Instead, he imposed his fake religion (which sounded holy) on everyone else. This is typical of people who do not live by relationship with God. Precisely because they do not have their own relationship with God, they feel that everything they experience must be a rule that everyone should follow. They don’t recognize the give and take and unique life experiences that go along with walking with God in faith. They live only by rules, and they must impose those rules on others in order to feel secure.

Saul’s oath is actually much more like a curse. He says: “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” This doesn’t sound like the voice of the Lord. It sounds more like the devil. There is an Old Testament tradition of making vows that are associated with curses. However, such vows are also associated with blessings and promises from the Lord. Saul does not include any blessings in his vow. Neither is it associated with any promises from the Lord. To put it simply, there is nothing positive about it.

Notice too, how Saul sees this as his own battle, with the Philistines as his own personal enemies. This is in contrast to Jonathan, who clearly saw the battle as the Lord’s fight, with himself simply a tool in God’s hands.

Three negative things came out of Saul’s religious pretenses.

First, the victory was not as great as it could have been. In other words, the vow had the opposite effect of the one Saul wanted. The men were weakened by hunger, so they could not sustain their offensive against the Philistines. Saul’s vow proceeded not from faith, but from the flesh. It was all about self-effort. Because of that, it was as weak as the flesh. Flesh without food is weak. So the vow flopped. Jonathan’s act of faith energized and sustained the troops. Saul’s rash vow, based in self effort and the flesh, drained them, and robbed them of strength. Jonathan himself realized this. After he himself had eaten in ignorance of the vow, one of the soldiers told him of his father’s words. Jonathan said:

“My father has brought trouble to the land. Just look at how I have renewed energy because I tasted a little honey. How much better if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Then the slaughter of the Philistines would have been much greater.”

(1 Samuel 14:29-30)

Second, because they were so hungry, when sundown arrived, the troops began to slaughter the captured livestock of the Philistines and eat without regard to the laws of Moses. Specifically, they were eating meat that had not been properly drained of blood. Moses had commanded the people of Israel to drain the blood from any animal that was butchered.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

(Leviticus 17:11-12)

The idea expressed in the Old Testament is that the life of an animal (or person) is carried in the blood. The life belongs to God, and so the blood must be given to him, not consumed by people. It is a way of saying, “Even as I take this food, I recognize that the life of this animal belongs to God, not to me. I receive it as a gift, and I give its life into God’s hands.” This was something that God still wanted his people to practice in the days of ancient Israel.

But Saul’s vow weakened the resolve of the people who had been running, fighting and marching all day long, and when sundown finally came, they were tempted to sin. They were in such a hurry to eat that they did not properly bleed out the animals. To look at it another way, Saul’s vow did not protect people from sin, but rather made them more vulnerable to it. As a result, Saul had to waste valuable time and energy getting the people to butcher the animals properly.

Third, Saul’s foolish vow led to strife when it came to Jonathan. Saul had bound everyone to his vow – even those who didn’t know about it. Jonathan, unaware of his father’s oath, ate some of the wild honey that was in the forest where they were passing through in pursuit of the Philistines. The Hebrew says that as a result his eyes became bright. This is one of those Hebrew expressions that is very obscure. The HCSB says, “he had renewed energy” which is probably pretty close to the meaning, though not the exact words. You might say, “brightened up” or “perked up.”

After the men had finally eaten and regained some strength, Saul decided to pursue the Philistines further – as he could have done earlier, if he had not subjected his troops to such hunger. Once again, Saul was simply moving ahead without regard to what God might have wanted him to do. He was acting not out of faith or his relationship with God, but rather out of a rash desire to make up for the loss of time that he himself had caused.

In the earlier part of chapter 14 we saw that Saul was indecisive. He wasn’t sure whether or not he was going to win the battle, and so he sent for the priest to inquire of the Lord. However, before the priest had finished asking God, Saul saw how things were going and told the priest to shut up while he charged ahead. In other words, he wasn’t asking God because he really wanted to hear from God, he just wanted to know whether or not he would win. Once he saw that winning was virtually a certainty, he didn’t bother to ask God. After the men had eaten he made a decision to continue the attack without even considering if it is God’s will or not.

It was the priest who had to stop Saul, and say: “Let’s ask God first.” But when they did there was no clear answer from the Lord. We know that the Israelites cast lots, trusting that the Lord would determine the result. However, we don’t know exactly how this worked. Obviously, there was some possibility that the Lord would not answer at all. In this case that’s what happened.

Sometimes – not always, but certainly at times – we can’t hear God because we are separated from Him by our own sin. If your heart is turned away from God, if there is un-repented sin in you, it will be difficult for you to hear what he wants to say to you. This was a physical demonstration of that fact. Again, I’m not saying that every time you fail to hear from God, it is because of sin. However, if you are asking God to speak and you are not hearing, the very first thing to do is to ask Him to show you if there is any sin standing in the way. We can at least credit Saul for recognizing this. Again, Saul is not 100% evil. He is a complicated man who had his good moments. On the other hand, though he was right to recognize that sin might potentially stop them from hearing God, he tried to make himself look good by declaring: “Even if the problem is Jonathan my son, I will kill whoever committed the sin.” Saul didn’t need to say this. There were certain sins that were supposed to be punished by death. But this was not one of them. In fact, eating on the day of battle was not actually a sin against God – it was Saul’s curse, not God’s. By making it into a sin punishable by death, Saul was taking upon himself more authority than God himself.

Now, a straightforward reading shows that Jonathan was the one who caused God not to answer. He was the one chosen by lot. And yet, as I just said, we know that eating honey is not intrinsically a sinful act. In addition, Jonathan was totally unaware of the curse Saul had called down on the army concerning food, so he did not deliberately or knowingly violate any oath. I don’t think the Lord chose Jonathan by lot to show that Jonathan was sinful. I think he did it to expose Saul – to impress upon Saul his own arrogance and foolishness and show him the results of it. God did not withhold his answer because Jonathan ate honey. He withheld it because of Saul’s oath. Without the oath, Jonathan’s eating would have had no significance.

So Saul’s oath weakened the army both physically and spiritually, it prevented them from hearing the Lord, and now it led to the condemnation of their greatest warrior. Let’s say it plainly: the result of Saul’s rashness was to condemn his own son to death for simply eating when he was hungry, even when that son was responsible for their great victory that very day.

Yet, even when his arrogance and insecurity were exposed in this way, Saul did not repent. He didn’t say: “I am so sorry, that was a foolish vow to make, let us ask the Lord for forgiveness and mercy.” No, he would rather kill his own son than admit that he was wrong. He continued his rashness and said, ““May God punish me and do so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan! ”

Remember those words. Nothing bad ever happened to Saul that he did not bring upon himself.

The people protested. Jonathan was the one that achieved the great victory that day. He was ignorant of the curse. He didn’t deserve to die. Notice that Saul finally backed up. We can hope that he did so because he had a tender heart toward Jonathan, and really didn’t want him to die. But truthfully, that tender heart wasn’t enough. He didn’t back up until the people protested. What really changed his mind was popular opinion. Again, he shows his insecurity.

It is quite likely that during all these proceedings, which probably took several hours, the Philistines made their escape. In other words, again, it was Saul’s rashness, harshness and foolishness that made the victory less than it could have been.

A thousand years later, Saul’s namesake, who became known by his Roman name, Paul, wrote this:

 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

(Colossians 2:16-23)

King Saul’s oath, imposed on the entire army, did indeed have an appearance of wisdom. It promoted self-made religion and severity to the body. But it was of no value. Unfortunately, even today there are people try to impose their false sense of religion upon others. I’m not talking about people who speak the truth about what the bible says. I’m talking about people like Saul, who don’t really operate out of a faith-based relationship with the Lord. These are the folks who tell you that you cannot eat meat on Fridays, or wear blue jeans in church, or that you are not holy unless you sound like they do when you pray. You must worship in exactly the same way as them.

There are certain core things that all Christians believe and agree upon. I’m not talking about things like these. But apart from those core beliefs, when another Christian insists your faith must look and sound and feel exactly like her faith, she is operating out of a sense of law and false religion, not a sense of relationship.

I have fasted many times in my life. Often, fasting is a spiritually rewarding time for me. However, a few times, I’ve been in the middle of a fast and I realized it wasn’t doing me any good. At those times, I simply quit. This is because I’m walking in relationship, not by law. The whole point of fasting is to bless the relationship that I have with the Lord. When it doesn’t accomplish that, there is no point in doing it. Once or twice, I have fasted even when I didn’t feel called to, but only because others told me they wanted me to fast with them. Those times were counterproductive, spiritually speaking.

Most people don’t make vows like Saul’s anymore. Maybe we’re too fond of our food. But the truth is, we do sometimes make internal promises to ourselves. Sometimes we let our negative emotions control us, and we act or speak rashly, or make quick, impulsive decisions that somehow bind us. You might say something like “I’ll never do something nice for that person again.” You might have almost forgotten that you said that, but as the years have gone on, your relationship with that person has soured, and you have become bitter and unforgiving even in other relationships.

Or maybe you decide because of a certain incident that you hate and distrust all men, or all Asian people, or something like that. We may not think of it like a harsh or rash vow, but it is basically the same thing that Saul did. I think we should expect the same types of results, which are not good.

But, Jonathan gives us a kind of picture of Jesus. Though he did no wrong, and in fact, was the one who delivered Israel that day, he was willing to die. It wasn’t his own sin that he had to die for, but that of Saul. The Lord protected Jonathan and delivered him through the protests of the people. However, the Lord did not protect himself when it was time to die for the sins of others. He allowed himself to be slaughtered for our sins, mistakes and failings.

It seems obvious now what Saul should have done. He ought to have repented and asked the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. That would have involved humbling himself in front of his people. But everything might have been different for him if he had done those things. If there is some way in which we have taken Saul’s course, we can still correct that by doing what Saul was too proud to do. If we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness and mercy, if we repent of our ungodly internal commitments, I am confident that the Lord will forgive us and help us.

All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.

(1 Peter 5:5-7, HCSB)

Let the Lord speak to you right now. Maybe you need to give up an internal commitment or vow that you have made. Maybe you need to realize that you are free from the invalid religious expectations of others, so long as you continue to walk and true faith and in relationship with the Lord. Remember that Jesus allowed himself to be killed for our sins, our mistakes, which are as bad, in their own way, as Saul’s. Saul remained proud, and the Lord had to resist him. But if we will be humble, he will forgive us, and lift us up in due time.

Let him talk to you about this right now.

1 SAMUEL #11: FOLLOWING IN FAITH

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment
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Jonathan lived by faith. He trusted the Lord, and gave the Lord opportunities to lead him and use him. The result was a great victory for God’s people. Today, the most important way we learn to know God and trust him like that is through the Bible.

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1 Samuel #11. 1 Samuel 14:1-23

Please read 1 Samuel chapter 14 in order to understand what we will talk about here. I recommend using the New Living Translation (NLT) because it helps to clarify some things that are a little confusing in other versions.

Last time we saw what came out of Saul when he was pressured. In that particular situation, what the Lord wanted him to do was wait in faith. He did not want Saul to try and save himself. He did not want Saul to just do something to hold things together. Instead, he wanted Saul to trust Him. But Saul tried to make something happen on his own. This revealed his internal commitment to his own way of doing things, and the prophet Samuel told Saul that the Lord could not use him to build a dynasty.

In chapter 14, Saul and his son Jonathan and the rest of the army were still basically in the same situation. The Philistines had almost cut the nation of Israel in half. The ordinary people in the region of the invasion went into hiding. Saul started out with 3,000 professional soldiers, but at the beginning of chapter 14, he was left with only 600. In other words the only difference between the situation recorded here in chapter 14 and that in chapter 13, is that now, Saul has lost two thirds of his men to desertion. All his efforts to do something on his own achieved nothing. Some might have thought of Saul’s actions as bold leadership. He offered the sacrifice. He made a move. He didn’t just sit there. But that didn’t stop a large majority of people from deserting anyway.

Now, we might conclude from this that when great pressure is upon us, the Lord wants us to sit still and wait for him, and do nothing. That could indeed be true. But we can’t make a law out of it. Sometimes the Lord may indeed want us to wait, even when things seem to be falling apart. But at other times, in almost the exact same situation, he may want us to act. The key to understanding whether you should act, or whether you should sit still is to cultivate your relationship with the Lord. The Bible is an indispensable tool in doing that. If we treated it as only a rule-book, we wouldn’t need God at all. We could just follow the book. But actually, “the book” is all about helping us follow God, not a pre-determined set of rules covering all possible eventualities.

In fact, I think that is one of the major lessons of this part of 1 Samuel. We are to walk in ongoing faith, seeking the Lord and listening to him. But Saul tried to live by rules – rules which he changed to suit himself. In chapter fourteen we have a better example: Saul’s son Jonathan.

Jonathan, is NOT a chip off the old block. He appears to be a man of great faith. Even though he saw that his father had made a mistake, Jonathan did not, from that, assume that it meant things were the same for him and he should sit still and do nothing. He seems to have had a genuine faith relationship with God. He is willing to act, but he is also willing to not act. He knew the point was to ask this question: “Lord, what do you want to do in this situation?”

We see Jonathan’s faith first in his remarks to his armor bearer, his assistant in battle.

6 “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!” (1 Samuel 14:6, NLT)

He had it on his heart to do something. He assumed that the Lord was working through that. In addition, see how he was motivated not by fear, but by faith. In chapter 13, Saul acted out of fear. He thought, “I am outnumbered already, and now I am losing men. I just need to do something.” Jonathan thinks the opposite: “It doesn’t matter how many men we have. What matters is whether or not God wants us to do something. If he does, the two of us are enough.” Jonathan’s actions were prompted not by fear, but by faith. The things he did came from the relationship he had with God.

Notice that Jonathan didn’t leave it there. He was prompted by faith. He trusted that God didn’t need 3,000 or even 600 men to defeat the Philistines. But he did want God to confirm that he was leading Jonathan to fight. So when they got closer, Jonathan gave the Lord a chance to show him, one way or another, what He wanted him to do.

8 “All right, then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,’ then we will stop and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight,’ then we will go up. That will be the LORD’s sign that he will help us defeat them.” 1 Samuel 14:8-10, NLT).

Jonathan was not following a rule book. He was following the living God. And so he made sure that he allowed space for the Lord to interact with him, to show him what to do. As it happened, what the Lord wanted Jonathan to do was the opposite of what he had wanted Saul to do just a short time earlier.

The Philistines taunted Jonathan. Basically, they shouted, “Hey, c’mere. We want to show you something.” It was basically trash-talking. If he were to climb up to their position, they would kill him. They didn’t expect him to take the bait. But this is the sign that Jonathan asked for, so he and his armor-bearer climbed up to them.

The Philistines had assumed they were just trading taunts. They didn’t really expect two people to be crazy enough to attack uphill against overwhelming numerical superiority. They didn’t count on a warrior like Jonathan, and they didn’t count on God. Jonathan and his assistant killed twenty Philistines in a short span of time and within a pretty small area. We already know from the end of chapter 13 that Jonathan had iron weapons and armor. It is possible that many of the Philistines in the garrison he attacked did not, which explains in part how he was able to overwhelm them, and also explains part of their panic. Even so, it is likely that at least a few of the Philistines had good weapons, since they were stationed close to the Israeli army. The text clearly means us to understand that Jonathan was victorious because the Lord was with him, not because of better weapons. One possibility is that Jonathan quickly defeated the soldiers who had iron weapons, and this caused the others with inferior weapons to flee.

The attack threw the Philistine garrison into panic and confusion. Perhaps they sensed something supernatural in the ferocity and deadliness of Jonathan’s attack. Their panic spread to the other Philistine soldiers as they fled. Apparently, God timed an earthquake to coincide with the assault, only increasing the confusion and fear.

Soldiers talk about the “fog of war.” In the midst of battle things are very hectic and often happen very fast and confusion develops in a hurry. The Philistines had no radios, no overhead airplanes or other modern conveniences to offset the fog of war. Things got worse for them and soon there was a general panic.

Saul, encamped some distance away with his army noticed the stir in the Philistine positions. Just a few days (at the most, weeks) earlier, Saul had been ready to do something – anything – to try and make something happen and show himself a leader. If he had listened to God, he would have heard that at that point in time, that was the wrong course. But Saul still hadn’t learned his lesson. Now was the time to act. If he had prayed and listened for God’s response, he would have known it. But Saul did not have that kind of relationship with God. Last time, Samuel told him that it was wrong to act. So now, when he should have been following up on Jonathan’s bold blow, Saul hesitated.

He sent for the priest and the Ark of the Covenant. Saul didn’t have the confidence that Jonathan had, the confidence that God would lead him. So he wanted to have the priest perform a religious ceremony to tell him what to do. Even so, as the ceremony began, the confusion among the Philistines increased even more, and Saul basically said to the priest, “Forget it. Let’s just go.”

So you see he wasn’t really serious about hearing from God. He just wasn’t sure at first if the battle would go his way. When things got to a point where it was obvious that the Philistines could be defeated, he dropped his attempt to hear from God, and instead, joined in the battle without seeking the Lord’s will. As before in his life, in this situation, Saul just looked at God as a means to an end. He only wanted to connect with God in situations where God could do something for him. When he saw all of the Philistines running away, he decided he didn’t need God’s guidance. You can see that he didn’t know God well enough to be led by him in the way that Jonathan was.

The battle became a rout. Remember, the Philistines were led by five kings, from five different Philistine cities. So, many of the professional warriors on the battlefield did not know each other, and most of the peasant-soldiers certainly didn’t. It is highly unlikely that there were any kind of regular Philistine uniforms. There would have been many different war banners, designating different leaders and army units.

Now, during the initial assault, the first garrison of Philistines were faced with only two warriors: Jonathan and his armor bearer. They lost a lot of men, and quickly fled. It is likely that those retreating Philistines ran headlong toward other Philistine positions to get away. But the other Philistine units may not have recognized them. They may have been on the lookout for enemies, and then they saw a group of unknown soldiers running towards them. In other words, the retreat of the Philistine unit that Jonathan routed was probably mistaken as an Israelite attack by the other Philistine units that they fled toward. This kind of confusion spread rapidly. Scripture records that they began fighting each other, and this is probably why.

By the time Saul and the rest of his 600 men joined in it was easy. The Israelites who had been hiding realized the Philistines were fleeing, and they came out to help also. Apparently some Israelites had joined the Philistines, or been conscripted by them. They turned on their Philistine masters. Now the victory was really on.

So in chapter thirteen, the Lord wanted Saul to wait but Saul didn’t. Now, in chapter fourteen Jonathan was not supposed to wait, and Saul hesitated when he should not have. How was he supposed to know what to do?

Part of Saul’s problem is that he didn’t approach God as a person. He treated God like a thing to be used. So, he had no idea how to understand God’s will in any situation. When I was at Oregon State University, I took a course in botany. I was given a “key” to the flora of Western Oregon. It was a book, about as thick as a bible, that could help me figure out the species of virtually any plant I was likely to see in that area. The way it worked was to present me with a possible choice, and, depending on what I chose, send me to another page with another set of choices, until my choices narrowed down to the correct answer. So I might start by deciding if I was dealing with an evergreen or deciduous plant. Say I chose deciduous. Then it would ask me to choose whether the leaves were lobed or not. Say I chose lobed. Next I might choose whether the leaves were directly opposite each other, or if they were staggered, or if they were in clumps. And so in one case I proceeded through each step, covering every possible plant I might encounter, until I narrowed it down to find out I was holding poison oak, which I could have found out just by waiting a few days for the rash to appear.

Sometimes, we are tempted to treat the Bible or religion like a “key” to life. We expect that we should find specific instructions for every possible scenario. And we assume that if the answer was “X” one time, than the next time we encounter a similar scenario, the answer will still be “X.” That was part of Saul’s mistake. For him, religion was only ever a means to an end.

But that isn’t what true faith is about. True faith is about getting to know God, and responding to him. Though the Bible is not some kind of “answer key,” it is the most important way we have to get to know God. You cannot get to know God apart from the Bible. The Bible helps us get to know the Lord – and then the Lord tells us what he wants us to know, trust or do. God’s guidance will not contradict the Bible.

The lesson here is not, “you should wait when you are pressured.” Nor is it, “you should move forward decisively when you are pressured.” No. The message is that you should cultivate your relationship with God. Then when you are under pressure and need to know what to do, you won’t be like Saul, hesitating and unsure. You can simply check with the Lord, and move forward – or not – as he leads you. Jonathan shows us the way.

This shows us how much we need to read the Bible regularly, because the Bible helps us get to know God. Again, the Bible is not like an answer key, but it is indispensable. If you don’t read (or listen to) the Bible regularly, you are in danger of thinking your own feelings are the voice of God. You might start, like Saul, using God or religion as a tool to justify whatever you want to do. It is clear that Saul practiced religion without really knowing God at all. I know I sound like a broken record, because I say this sort of thing all the time. But I am still talking with people all the time who claim that they want to follow Jesus, but they don’t take even five minutes a day to get to know God by reading the Bible. I don’t understand how you can be serious about following Jesus if you don’t read the Bible. Without something objective, outside yourself – like the Bible – you will end up thinking your own thoughts and feelings are God. You may end up thinking “Christianity didn’t really work for me.” I say: “It won’t work for you without the Bible.” Please, please, read your Bible regularly. If you are having trouble knowing how to go about it, please, reach out to me through the messaging sections on this blog site. Or, read my book: Who Cares About the Bible?

Now, I did say that the Bible is not an “answer key” but instead, the way we get to know God. So, let’s assume we are getting to know God through the Bible. How do we know if we are being led by God in a particular situation? I have some thoughts. My thoughts are not hard and fast rules, but they are questions that can help us discern God’s will in various situations. Let’s  pretend we are Jonathan’s armor bearer, and evaluate the guidance that Jonathan said he received from God:

1. Is it true of God’s nature? We can only answer this if we have begun to get to know God’s nature. We do this by – you guessed it! – reading the Bible. But the question is essentially this: Does this course of action seem consistent with what I know about God, as revealed to me through the Bible? So, Jonathan knew that God often uses the small and weak to defeat and shame the strong. Yes it is consistent with God’s nature.

2. Is it consistent with Biblical truth? Again, we need to know the Bible a little bit to answer that. But for instance, if you think you are being led to do something that the Bible says is a sin, that guidance is not from God. For Jonathan, the idea that God’s help is worth more than an army is consistent with scripture. There is nothing in scripture that labels Jonathan’s actions as sinful.

3. Is it true of the personal life of the person offering the guidance? Jonathan was bold and faithful. The guidance he got was consistent with his own character.

4. Do those close to that person testify to the integrity of that person’s life? The armor bearer knew Jonathan. He knew that Jonathan was someone who earnestly tried to follow God.

5. Is it wise? Jonathan didn’t start with a headlong attack. He set up a situation where he would be safe while he waited for God’s answer. He made room for God to tell him “no.” So, he showed wisdom.

6. Are there circumstances that confirm the word? Again in the case of Jonathan, he made it so that the guidance would be confirmed by the response of the Philistines. So he had confirming circumstances built right in to the guidance he received.

Maybe there is something else in this text for you. You might be in a difficult situation, with what seems like no way out. Although this text ends with victory for the Israelites, at the beginning of it, they were still just a step away from a national catastrophe. With Saul’s tiny army, there appeared to be no hope. So, for you right now, you might be facing a situation where things might appear hopeless. Perhaps you need to hear God speak through Jonathan: “nothing can stop the Lord from saving, whether by many, or by few.” Maybe you are tempted, like Saul, to believe deliverance cannot come until you have more – more people, more resources, more time, more money…whatever. But maybe the Lord is saying to you, “what you have is plenty. The point is not your resources, but mine.”

Let Him speak to you right now.

Is it right to make rules for others?

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

1 SAMUEL#11. SAUL’S LEGALISM. Saul let’s his insecurity drive him to impose a vow upon the Israelites. How did that work out?

honey

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Last time we looked at how Jonathan single-handedly attacked the Philistines. He acted out of faith, not fear, and God used that to create a huge victory for the people of Israel. The Israelites pushed the Philistines back to the edge of the hill country. But nothing spoils God’s work like false religion and religious pretenses. Saul again showed his lack of real relationship with God. He was worried about the outcome of the battle, so he made an oath and imposed it upon all the army that no one should eat until the sun went down. It sounds very religious and impressive. It was supposed to motivate people. It was supposed to impress God, so that God would help them even more.

It backfired because it was a stupid idea that again came not from faith, but fear, selfishness and pride. By the way, I want to point out the fact that Saul was not content to make the vow for himself. Instead, he imposed his fake religion (which sounded holy) on everyone else. This is typical of people who do not live by relationship. Precisely because they do not have their own relationship with God, they feel that everything they experience must be a rule that everyone should follow. They don’t recognize the give and take and unique life experiences that go along with walking with God in faith. They can’t go it alone with God. They live only by rules.

Saul’s oath is actually much more like a curse. He says: “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” This doesn’t sound like the voice of the Lord. It sounds more like the devil. There is an Old Testament tradition of making vows that are associated with curses. However, such vows are also associated with blessings and promises from the Lord. Saul does not include any blessings in his vow. Neither is it associated with any promises from the Lord. To put it simply, there is nothing positive about it.

Notice too, how Saul sees this as his own battle, with the Philistines as his own personal enemies. This is in contrast to Jonathan, who clearly saw the battle as the Lord’s fight, with himself simply a tool in God’s hands.

Three negative things came out of Saul’s religious pretenses.

First, the victory was not as great as it could have been. In other words, the vow had the opposite effect of the one he wanted. The men were weakened by hunger, so they could not sustain their offensive against the Philistines. Saul’s vow preceded not from faith, but from the flesh. It was all about self-effort. Because of that, it was as weak as the flesh. Flesh without food is weak. So the vow flopped. Jonathan’s act of faith energized and sustained the troops. Saul’s rash vow, based in self effort and the flesh, drained them, and robbed them of strength. Jonathan himself realized this. After he himself had eaten in ignorance of the vow, one of the soldiers told him of his father’s words. Jonathan said:

“My father has brought trouble to the land. Just look at how I have renewed energy because I tasted a little honey. 30 How much better if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Then the slaughter of the Philistines would have been much greater.”

Second, because they were so hungry, when sundown arrived, the troops began to slaughter the captured livestock of the Philistines and eat without regard to the laws of Moses. Specifically, they were eating meat that had not been properly drained of blood.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. (Leviticus 17:11-12)

The idea expressed in the Old Testament is that the life of an animal (or person) is carried in the blood. The life belongs to God, and so the blood must be given to him, not consumed by people. It is a way of saying, “Even as I take this food, I recognize that the life of this animal belongs to God, not to me. I receive it as a gift, and I give its life into God’s hands.” But Saul’s vow weakened the resolve of the people who had been running, fighting and marching all day long, and when sundown finally came, they were tempted to sin. They were in such a hurry to eat that they did not properly bleed out the animals. To look at it another way, Saul’s vow did not protect people from sin, but rather made them more vulnerable to it.

Third, Saul’s foolish vow led to strife when it came to Jonathan. Saul had bound everyone to his vow – even those who didn’t know about it. Jonathan, unaware of his father’s oath, ate some of the wild honey that was in the forest where they were passing through in pursuit of the Philistines. The Hebrew says that as a result his eyes became bright. This is one of those Hebrew expressions that is very obscure. The HCSB says, “he had renewed energy” which is probably pretty close to the meaning, though not the exact words. You might say, “brightened up” or “perked up.”

After the men have eaten and regained some strength, Saul decides to pursue the Philistines further – as he could have done, if he had not subjected his troops to hunger. Once again, Saul is simply doing something, moving ahead, without regard to what God may want to do. He is acting not out of faith or his relationship with God, but rather out of a rash desire to make up for the time lost that he himself had caused.

In the earlier part of chapter 14 we saw that Saul was indecisive. He wasn’t sure whether or not he was going to win the battle, and so he sent for the priest to inquire of the Lord. However, before the priest had finished asking God, Saul saw how things were going and told the priest to stop and charged ahead. In other words, he wasn’t asking God because he really wanted to hear from God, he just wanted to know whether or not he would win. Now, he makes a decision to continue the attack without even considering if it is God’s will or not.

The priest is the one who stops him and says, “Let’s ask God first.” Grudgingly, Saul agrees. But there is no clear answer from the Lord. We know that the Israelites cast lots, trusting that the Lord would determine the result. However, we don’t know exactly how this worked. Obviously, there was some possibility that the Lord would not answer at all. In this case that’s what happened.

Sometimes – not always, but certainly at times – we can’t hear God because we are separated from Him by our own sin. If your heart is turned away from God, if there is un-repented sin in you, it will be difficult for you to hear what he wants to say to you. This was a physical demonstration of that fact. Again, I’m not saying that every time you fail to hear from God, it is because of sin. However, if you are asking God to speak and you are not hearing, the very first thing to do is to ask Him to show you if there is any sin standing in the way. We can at least credit Saul for recognizing this.

Now, a straightforward reading shows that Jonathan was one who caused God not to answer. He was the one chosen by lot. And yet, we know that eating honey is not a sinful act. In addition, Jonathan was totally unaware of the curse Saul had called down on the army concerning food, so he did not deliberately or knowingly violate any oath. I don’t think the Lord chose Jonathan by lot to show that Jonathan was sinful. I think he did it to expose Saul – to impress upon Saul his own arrogance and foolishness and show him the results of it. Look at it this way. God did not withhold his answer because Jonathan ate honey. He withheld it because of Saul’s oath. Without the oath, Jonathan’s eating would have had no significance.

So Saul’s oath weakened the army both physically and spiritually, it prevented them from hearing the Lord, and now it led to the condemnation of their greatest warrior. Let’s say it plainly: the result of Saul’s rashness was to condemn his own son to death for simply eating when he was hungry, even after that very son had achieved a great victory.

Even when his arrogance and insecurity is so exposed, Saul will not repent. He doesn’t say, “I am so sorry, that was a foolish vow to make, let us ask the Lord for forgiveness and mercy.” No, he would rather kill his own son than admit that he was wrong. He continues his rashness and says, ““May God punish me and do so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan! ”

Remember those words. Nothing bad ever happened to Saul that he did not bring upon himself.

The people protest. Jonathan is the one that achieved the great victory that day. He was ignorant of the curse. He doesn’t deserve to die. Notice that Saul backs up. We can hope that he did so because he had a tender heart toward Jonathan, and really didn’t want him to die. But truthfully, that tender heart wasn’t enough. He didn’t back up until the people protested. What really changed his mind was popular opinion. Again he shows his insecurity.

It is quite likely that during all these proceedings, which probably took several hours, the Philistines made their escape. In other words, again, it is Saul’s rashness, harshness and foolishness that makes the victory less than it could have been.

Most people don’t make vows like Saul’s anymore. Maybe we’re too fond of our food. But the truth is, we do sometimes make internal promises to ourselves. Sometimes we let our negative emotions control us, and we act or speak rashly, or make quick, impulsive decisions that somehow bind us. We might say something like “I’ll never do something nice for that person again.” Or maybe we decide because of a certain incident, we hate and distrust all men or all Asians or something like that. We may not think of it like a harsh or rash vow, but it is basically the same thing that Saul did. I think we should expect the same types of results.

It seems obvious now what Saul should have done. He ought to have repented and asked the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. It would have involved humbling himself in front of his people. But everything might have been different for him if he had done those things. If there is some way in which we have taken Saul’s course, we can still correct that by doing what Saul was too proud to do. If we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness and mercy, if we repent of our ungodly internal commitments, I am confident that the Lord will forgive us and help us.

A thousand years later, Saul’s namesake, who became known by his Roman name, Paul, wrote this:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

King Saul’s oath, imposed on the entire army, did indeed have an appearance of wisdom. It promoted self-made religion and severity to the body. But it was of no value. Unfortunately, even today there are people try to impose their false sense of religion upon others. I’m not talking about people who speak the truth about what the bible says. I’m talking about people like Saul, who don’t really operate out of a faith-based relationship with the Lord. These are the folks who tell you, you cannot eat meat on Fridays, or wear blue jeans in church, or that you are not holy unless you pray like they do.

There are certain core things that all Christians believe and agree upon. I’m not talking about things like these. But apart from those core beliefs, when another Christian insists your faith must look and sound and feel exactly like her faith, she is operating out of a sense of law, not a sense of relationship.

I have fasted many times in my life. Often, fasting is a spiritually rewarding time for me. However, a few times, I’ve been in the middle of a fast and I realized it wasn’t doing me any good. At those times, I simply quit. This is because I’m walking in relationship, not by law. The whole point of fasting is to bless the relationship that I have with the Lord. When it doesn’t accomplish that, there is no point in doing it. Once or twice, I have fasted because others told me they wanted me to fast with them. Those times were counterproductive, spiritually speaking.

Let the Lord speak to you right now. Maybe you need to give up an internal commitment or vow that you have made. Maybe you need to realize that you are free from the expectations of others, so long as you continue to walk and true faith and in relationship with the Lord. Let him talk to you about this right now.