But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(James 1:22-23)
I don’t think King Saul intentionally wanted to disobey God. He really
thought that he had followed God’s commands in the defeat of the Amalekites. He
had just given into some reasonable expectations of his soldiers. Saul had
deceived himself. That is the tragedy of the story in 1 Samuel 15.
Almost obeying is not fully obeying. How often do we fall into the trap of
rationalizing the reasons not to fully obey God? “If I only had a better neighbor,
boss, spouse, or parent; then I would be able to obey God. If only I had an easier
job, less yard work, a better car; then I would be able to faithful to church. I could
go on, but then someone would accuse me of meddling. The point is, “if-only’s”
cannot be our excuse for obeying God fully. If we have an “if-only,” James says in
the verse above, we are deceiving ourselves.
There is a promise for being faithful to the will of God. Paul says “ And let us
not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose
heart (Gal 6:9).” Being fully obedient to God is not easy, it usually is not fun, and
it often faces opposition from those that misunderstand what we are doing. But if
we fully obey God to the best of our ability, then we will reap the bounty of God’s
blessing in our lives. So do not give up in doing the work of God.
Pastor Greg
