Midweek Minute
Heart Trouble–
Millions of Americans suffer from heart disease. Signs include high blood pressure, shortness of breath, and chest pains. Failure to monitor the symptoms can be fatal.
There’s another form of heart disease that is just as fatal.
KJV 1 Samuel 13:14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.
For all of Saul’s strengths, he had an inward flaw, his heart. Shortly after becoming king, the symptoms began appearing. Fearing the loss of his troops in a critical battle with the Philistines, he took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice because Samuel had not arrived in time (v. 8). It probably made complete sense at the time. It must have seemed like “the right thing to do.” Yet “he had not kept that which the LORD commanded him.”
A man (or woman) after God’s own heart is foremost a person committed to doing things God’s way, in God’s time, even if that makes him a loser in the eyes of men. This is precisely what Saul was unwilling to do.
But he is not alone. Many of God’s children get impatient with God. They want action; they want results. Driven by the fear of losing, they presume upon God the same way Saul did.
- If I don’t marry this guy, I may never get married.
- If I don’t go along with my employer’s deliberate deceit, I may lose my job.
- If I don’t correct some of my son’s answers, he may not make the grade.
- If I let on to being a Christian around them, I may not be able to live down the harassment.
- If I don’t compromise my principles a little, I may not . . .
Decisions. In the course of life, we make hundreds of them. Are any of yours showing signs of heart disease?
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