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Note: This post is part of the Two Weeks of Waiting Devotional. To return to the table of contents for the devotional, click here. To read this as a downloadable ebook, subscribe below.
How long have you been waiting for whatever it is you’re waiting for? Starting to panic? Have you decided that it’s just going to be up to you to get what you want — since God clearly isn’t coming through for you? When you’re about to give up is when Satan is at his best.
In 1 Samuel 13, newly appointed King Saul was in trouble. The Philistines were about to attack Israel, and King Saul wanted to protect his people. Samuel told him to wait 7 days, but in the meantime the Philistines were assembling their army. With every passing day, Saul knew it would be harder and harder to beat the Philistines, as they added more and more soldiers.
So Saul waited the 7 days. But then he couldn’t wait any longer. The clock was ticking and the soldiers were advancing. He panicked and made an impulse decision out of fear.
He decided God wasn’t going to come through for him after all, and he offered the burnt sacrifice he wasn’t supposed to (not only did Samuel tell him not to, but because he was a king and not a priest, this was not pleasing to God). Just as he was finishing up, Samuel arrived.
And 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. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:13-14)
The Lord had been seeking a man after his own heart. He was seeking a man who would make prayerful decisions out of obedience to God, not fear. Yet when Saul made the impulse decision to give up on God and place his hope in his own actions instead, he ceased to be a man after God’s own heart.
After all of this waiting, are you still after God’s own heart?
Taking action while we wait is not sinful (unless, of course, that action goes against God’s word, like it did for Saul). In fact, God may indeed be calling you to take action — the situations we find ourselves in are not the same as Saul’s, of course. It is when we give up hoping on God and instead put our hope in our own actions — thinking we are in control — that we sin. When we make impulsive decisions out of fear, on the grounds that God is not coming through, we cease to be women after God’s own heart.
Further study + reflection
If you haven’t read or re-read it yet, read 1 Samuel 13. What excuses does Saul give for making his impulse decision out of fear (v. 11-12)? How does this show that he had put hope in himself, rather than God? What are you placing your hope in?
Note: This post is part of the Two Weeks of Waiting Devotional. To return to the table of contents for the devotional, click here. To read this as a downloadable ebook, subscribe below.
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