“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.”

(1 Samuel 13:14 NKJV)

When I inspect my Holy spirit fruit trees, the one bearing patience falls short. A few years ago, I lost the ability to hear in one ear due to Sudden Deafness. Each day my fingers swiped across my iPhone absorbing everything about hearing aids. I believed God would heal me, but in the meantime, I wanted to hear. Already blind, any hearing loss interfered with my safety when crossing streets.

Friend, it’s in the meantime when we often mess up because we lack the patience to wait on God. King Saul had the same problem. Perhaps that’s why I thought God was a bit harsh on him in 1 Samuel chapter thirteen.

Saul had a lot going on. The Philistine army gathered against Israel.  Frightened by the enormous army, the Israelites took cover in caves, holes, and pits. Saul had a small trembling army in Gilgal. He waited seven days for Samuel, the prophet, but Samuel was a no show. Like me, Saul grew impatient. Something had slowed Samuel down, so in the meantime, Saul improvised.

He offered a burnt offering to the Lord, a job reserved for Samuel. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? You or I might have done the same thing.

Immediately after presenting the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him, probably expecting a pat on the back for proceeding with the burnt offering.

Instead, an unhappy Samuel demanded, “What have you done?”

Saul rushed to explain, “The people were scattered from me, and you weren’t here. Fearing the Philistines who gathered against us, I thought they’d attack before I made supplication to the Lord.”

Sounds like good reasoning, doesn’t it? But Samuel warned the king about his foolish actions. Not only had Saul broken the commandment of God, but he proved that he wasn’t a man after God’s own heart, like the next king, David.

Both Saul and David had their share of sin, but they possessed different hearts.  Their meantime moments illustrated the difference. Saul sought his own glory, but David pursued God with a fiery passion to glorify Him.

God miraculously restored my hearing, while directing me to wait on the expensive hearing aids. But my meantime moment resembled that of Saul and not David.

Do you want to be a woman after God’s own heart? Then let’s ask God to light a fire in our hearts so we can pursue Him passionately, especially in those meantime moments.

Heavenly Father, light a fire in me that won’t be extinguished by those meantime moments. May I pursue You with a passion I’ve never felt before. Draw closer to me as I draw closer to You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

DIG DEEPER

Read 1 Samuel 13:1-14.

HIKING THE TRAIL

We can pursue God by living to glorify Him. What is one thing you can begin doing differently today to pursue His glory with a passion?

RELATED RESOURCE

When we desire a closer walk with God, we will be met with enemy resistance. The time you set to pray will be interrupted. Your schedule will expand leaving no room to open your Bible. What do we do? We put on the spiritual armor. I’ve created a beautiful printable with a daily prayer addressing the believer’s armor. It can be yours FREE here.

t

Originally posted on August 13, 2021 @ 3:00 am