Archive for April, 2009

These thoughts are based on 1 Samuel 14 in the Bible.

I find 1 Samuel 14 a very interesting account as it shows how God will not be put in a box by human beings, no matter how great they think they are.

Jonathan, with his armour bearer, has just achieved a mighty victory for the people of Israel because by faith he stepped out believing that God would go before them and He did. The panic was sent to cause confusion and bring about a mighty victory!
So here is my thought…
Saul as the King has the appearance of having the presence of God with him contained in his religious box of ‘human tradition’. He has the Ark of God, which supposedly guarantees him victory and also keeps the people looking to him for success. However, Saul suddenly realises when a victory is taking place by the hands of some else that in fact all he has is an empty box of tradition. God has left the building! He is off working with someone else to bring about victory because of the state of Saul’s heart!

Sadly many people today are no different to Saul – they would rather have their religious box of tradition to try and impress and control people, rather than paying the price to keep their heart right with God! The really sad part is they think they are fooling the people, but the people are smarter than we think. The people know who is bringing about the victory, they know who is carrying God’s presence, they know who God has approved of and who He has rejected. That is why when Saul wanted to kill Jonathan for making him look bad the people rose up and would not allow such a course of action. They knew all Saul had was an old empty box of tradition, while Jonathan had God’s stamp of approval.

Religious people love boxes, they carry their own personal ‘Ark’ for the God they have created to suit them. God will not be confined to your or my box of religious thinking. He will find a willing heart that is soft towards him and then step out in faith to achieve his plans and purposes!

My Prayer: Father protect me from myself. Enable me to keep my heart soft before you so that I will never try and confine you to my religious thinking. Every time I start to build a religious box please break out of it in a spectacular way like you did with Jonathan to wake me up from my own self important arrogance! Shake our generation out of its new found religious box. Be the God I know you are!

“See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”
2 Corinthians 7:11

When someone truly encounters God, godly sorrow should be the motivating force behind the salvation process. A lot of people come to God and are sorry for their mistakes but the problem is they just walk out the door and carry on living in exactly the same manner they did before encountering Him.

It’s kind of like the Pentecostal’s version of confession! If a person starts their relationship with God in this manner an unhealthy pattern can take hold in their lives. A very destructive pattern that erodes their faith in God over time, a pattern that sees them miss out on a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God receiving the greatest blessing. Let’s not kid ourselves, God can tell when we are simply using him to just medicate ourselves now and then for a little stress relief when in reality we have no intention of changing! That’s saying “I’m Sorry” from the world’s point of view.

Godly sorrow leads to salvation. Look at the qualities: earnestness, eagerness to clear our name and reputation, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, readiness to see justice done and to stand up for others. You know what I love about these qualities? They are emotive qualities. So when someone actually engages with them, passion rises and then spills out over into actions. Our external demeanor changes! You can actually see them in action! When I see these kind of qualities I can be assured of something very important, salvation is taking place in that person’s life. He or she is beginning to care more about what God the Father cares about and less about the things of this world!

I must strive to wear my heart on my sleeve more so that all can witness and declare ‘wow God is at work in Kevin’s life. He is proved innocent in all matters by the action, conduct and manner of his life, salvation is at work in him!’

My Prayer: Father please help me to never fall into that “I’m Sorry” pathetic roundabout wheel of misfortune where I just want relief but have no intention of ever changing. Help me keep my heart passionate towards you and let me experience Godly sorrow for the areas of my shortcomings as that will be the conductor for salvation to continue its process in my life.