Disobedience

When Saul didn’t follow the order of Samuel, offered the sacrifice himself in stead of waiting for Samuel out of fear that the Israel would all slip away, Samuel said to him,
“You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
1 Samuel 13:12-14

Indeed, I pity for Saul. He showed great confidence in God as he collected only 3000 men against Philistines’ thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore. When Samuel didn’t show up himself after the appointed seventh day, the Israel began to step back. His disobeyed Samuel’s command from God, but is it really unforgivable?

Maybe it is beyond the topic of forgiveness. This is the awe a leader should have, as Saul, as David, as Moses, as Samuel, and all the powerful leaders in the history of Israel and contemporary missionaries.

We can do nothing to hinder God’s plan of His goodness will; a concealed message lies in Samson’s story in the Judges as well as Jonah’s . From a writer, “In Jonah’s disobedience the sailors in the ship prayed to the Lord and entered into a life of faith….In Jonah’s angry obedience, the Ninevites were all saved.”Obedience will not laud me anything, “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

I may, or had, lost my credit and merit due to my disobedience, which can explain my pity for Saul and my own sufferings. Nevertheless, I am still expecting to witness and be astonished at the miracles in my journey revealing the goodness of God.