To Encourage You

1 Samuel 14:40 “And the people said to Saul, ‘Do what seems good to you.’”

I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying, “Do your own thing.”  Another way people put this is “Whatever turns you on!”  They’re popular sayings, but can be foolish ones, as so many who have followed this path in life can likely attest. 

And this isn’t a new thought, as the verse above, which was written around 3,000 years ago, demonstrate.  This verse is from an account in the early kingship of Saul as he led Israel into battle with the Philistines.  Saul had developed a pattern in his rule of doing what he thought was right, while disregarding the Word of the Lord.  It was the very same pattern his nation as a whole had followed when they sought to have a king for themselves like all the other nations around them.  “Do your own thing” could have been a motto for both the nation and their leader, for that’s exactly what they had done. 

As for Saul, earlier he had defied the Word of the Lord by making unauthorized burnt offerings instead of waiting for the prophet Samuel to do so as he had been commanded (1 Samuel 13).  Now, in 1 Samuel 14, Saul had made a rash vow that, under threats of a curse, none of his soldiers were to eat anything on this day of battle until victory over the Philistines had been complete (1 Samuel 14:24). As a result, the men became famished and refused to eat when they happened upon an abundant supply of honey in a forest.  However, Jonathan, Saul’s son, had not heard his father’s vow, and so he ate of the honey to the consternation of the rest of the army.  Later, when what Jonathan had done was revealed to Saul, Saul, again rashly, declared that his son should die.  Because Saul’s actions were obviously so preposterous, his army resisted his command and redeemed the life of Jonathan. Another outcome of Saul’s rash vow was that his army eventually became so hungry that they ate the meat of the spoil of the Philistine’s army, including the blood that was in the meat, which was a direct violation of the Law of God (Leviticus 17:12).  

In short, Saul’s rashness as he did his own thing inevitably led to more harm than good.  His good intentions weren’t enough, for without the wisdom of God to govern his (and our) good intentions, what we think is so good can turn out to be very, very bad.  As Proverbs 14:12 reminds us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”  That’s what’s wrong with so many religious systems in this world that are not guided, first and foremost, by the Word of God.  That was the problem with the religion of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. Time after time Jesus rebuked them with the words, “You have heard . . .  but I say unto you.” They were following a strict system of dos and don’ts but in their efforts to “strain out a gnat,” they were “swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:24). In other words, as they tied such heavy burdens on people in adherence to the Old Testament laws about clean and unclean foods, they themselves were violating the greatest law of God which was to love Him and love their neighbor. In fact, they were so misguided that they murdered the holy Son of God. 

So, what about you and me?  Are we led each day by the Word of God, or is there some other system of belief and self-created philosophy that we are following because it just seems so good to us?  Are our own ideas the rules we are so sure to follow, while at the same time we disregard the perfect Law of God? Do we see ourselves as “good” people because we obey our own rules in life, while neglecting the fact that our hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9)? 

May God help us to peer deep into His Word and have our minds washed and spirits renewed as only God’s Word can do.  And may He free us from the tendency to do that which seems good to us, for what seems good to us isn’t what really matters.