LISTENING CAREFULLY
1 Samuel 13:13-14
Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not endure...
I've guided hunters and fisherman for going on 40 years, I've often been amazed at the people that will pay for my services and yet, pay no attention to my direction.
I once guided a hunter, Bob, for deer, and I placed him in at a tree and moved back behind him a ways to call and rattle. By the time I had sat down myself Bob got up and moved 50 yards to another tree. After calling for a few minutes, I could hear a deer coming and it came up close to the first tree, but Bob couldn't get a shot from his new location.
When we got back to camp I asked Bob, "why do you pay me?" His answer, "because I want your expertise". My response was, "save yourself some money because you are not listening anyhow". He actually took that pretty well... and we laughed... but it was completely true.
How often we get good Godly advice in our lives and just ignore it, thinking we know better than the one giving the advice. We often know right from wrong and we do the wrong out of impatience and selfish ambition.
Thus was the case with King Saul... Samuel had given him a directive, yet Saul went ahead and did it this own way... For this one seemingly small infraction God pulled Saul's lineage from the leadership of Israel. If he had only listened!
We need to carefully listen to God's directives and then patiently wait for Him to move us. It's when we follow our own heart and our own desires that we will fail.
Proverbs 15:31-33
He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof, will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.
Listen carefully and follow God!
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