YET HONOUR ME NOW, I PRAY THEE, BEFORE THE ELDERS OF MY PEOPLE

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, i pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. 1 Samuel 15:30

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 44-46

God’s plans are always better than our plans. According to Isaiah 46:10, He declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. Therefore, it is better for us to leave Him with the planning. The Lord had a good plan for the children of Israel; no human king would rule over them, He would be their king. The children of Israel rejected His plan and requested for a human king like the neighbouring nations.1 Samuel 8:5 says and said unto him, behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Since they requested for a human king, God gave them a human king. The first king (Saul) tore a prophet’s garment ( 1 Samuel 15:27) ; the second king (David) killed Uriah and took his wife although, he later repented ( 2 Samuel 11:5-27) ; the third one (Solomon) married so many strange women ( 1 Kings 11:1-2) , in other to cater for them , he increased the taxes and the people groaned ; the fourth one ( Rehoboam) swore from the first day that he would increase taxes even more (1 Kings 12:11-13). If only they had allowed God to be their king, they would have enjoyed peace.

Saul had one big problem; he was a people pleaser. God told him to destroy everything in Amalek, when he got Amalek, he left the fat cows, and Agag because the people persuaded him to do that. Because he did not want to offend man, he ended up offending God and that cost him his throne. When he got back home, he invited Samuel to a sacrifice and that one refused to go with him. Samuel’s presence at the sacrifice would have validated him before the people. Because Samuel refused, he began to beg. 1 Samuel 15:30 says Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, i pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. Instead of begging God for forgiveness, he was begging Samuel to honour him.

Saul was only concerned about receiving honour before men not before God. He cared about people’s opinion of him not God’s opinion of him. In what ways are we acting like Saul? We know what is right; because we want to please people, we do what is not right. As a Christian, you know you should not go to nightclubs, because you do not want to offend your friends, you went to the birthday they threw in a nightclub. Is one not honouring his friends and dishonouring God? As a Christian, you know it is wrong to dress provocatively, because of your fans; you dress provocatively to entertain them. Because you want to sell albums or want to be accepted by the media, you lower your standard. May God have mercy! Humans may accept us but they cannot take us to heaven. We cannot disobey God because we want to be accepted. We cannot lower God’s standard just because we want to be recognized
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PONDER: In what ways are you and i lowering God’s standard just to be accepted in our places of work, family, and church?

Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus.