Impatience and Disobedience

either leads to trouble, with both you will have suffer…

5 The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

13 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” ~1 samuel 13:5-14~

thinking back as kids, i’m guessing that no one really wanted to wait for pretty much anything. i think many of can related - our birthday, Christmas, new year’s eve, halloween, and thanksgiving, to name a few. why, because the anticipation, for me, was too much to bear. i can’t say this was 100% of the time because i was taught to “be patient”, told “no” often, and reminded that “you will be very happy” if i did so, and lastly (a lot of times) that if i didn’t i would get in trouble. the last sucks because i often pushed my luck.

1st off are presents - instead of waiting to open up Christmas presents when told, i wanted to do it earlier; 2nd is food - wait for everyone else or don’t touch that as it’s for the party or so and so; 3rd halloween candy - inspecting before you try it to make sure it’s safe, nope couldn’t wait. while the last may be trivial, it does set oneself on the wrong path. the need to get what you want when you are told it isn’t the right time; making ill-advised decisions when you didn’t have all the facts/info; believing your way to be correct when it was actually fundamentally unsound.

in these verses, we see saul take it upon himself to make a decision to offer The Lord a sacrifice sooner than it should have been. because he simply didn’t listen and obey what was told to him, he lost out on God’s promise to him - an enduring kingdom on earth. instead, it was taken away and given to someone after God’s own heart.

while i was that as a child, some of the hurries and frustrations of not getting what i want when i want didn’t go away in my young adult life and it caused so may problems for me and my family. instead of waiting on The Lord for an answer, i had to try and make it on my own; forcing things to happen artificially or with force - both led to disastrous results. financially significant impacts, emotional turmoil, physically breaking down, and spiritually void.

fast forward to where i am now, i do seek what God is trying to tell me, asking Jesus to lead the way, for the Holy Spirit to provide me wisdom, discernment, and understanding. i’m in my 50s learning from the hard lessons that, like saul, comes with heavy penalties when not following instructions properly. repeating the past means i didn’t learn from it; this is why it is critical to read The Word, Pray, and wait on The Lord, and in due time it will be revealed. see my fellow brothers and sisters-in-Christ do that helps me to stay focus and be diligent in trusting the process.

dear Heavenly Father, i did experience moments in my life where you did ‘take away the kingdom’ because i wasn’t willing and able to wait, listen, and live a life of faith (not seeing and believing). thank you for the lessons gained and restoring me ‘ like job’. may i truly learn to be still, careful to hear your voice, and then to act when told to do so that you will receive the Glory and Honor and Praise for the results to come. in Jesus’ name i pray, amen!