“But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
— First Samuel 13:14.
The biggest enemy we face as believers is not sin or the world but religion. Religion is the biggest frustration to our individual growth in following the Lord, and it is the biggest frustration to the building up of the body of Christ, the church. Instead of living a religious life, let us live by Christ and take Him in everything.
God’s heart is that we would do everything with Him, in Him, and according to Him. This is the way He wants us to do everything that we do for Him. Because Saul was not seeking the Lord in this way, he could not rule as God’s king over His people. This may seem severe, but Saul was not a person after God’s heart; he was just a good religious man doing what he thought a good king should do. His actions did not originate with the Lord. To God, however, this is what counts. Had Saul carried out his kingship by casting himself upon God, God would have established his kingdom (1 Sam. 13:13). Saul, however, was not a man after God’s heart; he was just a good man trying to do the right thing.
What satisfies God? Christ. When we have Christ, experience Him, and minister to Him, God is satisfied. Yet how many Christians today—and even churches—feel they must do this or that because it is the right thing to do, rather than because the Lord led them to do it?
Adapted from David: After God’s Heart, pages 34-35.
Tomorrow: “To Obey is Better than Sacrifice”