A Changed Heart

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

A CHANGED HEART

1 Samuel 10:8-13

8 "Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do." 9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" 12 A man who lived there answered, "And who is their father?" So it became a saying: "Is Saul also among the prophets?" 13 After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.

NIV

This is part of a lengthy narrative about the selection of Saul as the king of Israel. Here again, we see something that happened to Saul, not of his own making, but of the transforming power of God. We are told that as Saul turned to leave, God changed Saul’s heart, and all the signs that Samuel had given were fulfilled on that day. We know without a doubt that we cannot change our hearts as hard or diligently as we try. We say as well as sing that we have decided to follow Jesus, repenting over and over, then telling ourselves that there is no turning back. Of course, it is our choice to follow Jesus. When he walked the earth and came upon James and John as they were mending nets, he told them to follow him and he would make them into fishers of men, and they followed him, but their hearts were not transformed instantly. However, we are told that Saul's heart was as soon as he turned to leave Samuel. Once again, we know we cannot put God in a box, expecting him to work the same way in everyone’s life, although he does not change. His power is always the same, has always been the same, and will always be the same. Still, it is God who changed the heart of Saul, and it is God who has and is and will change our hearts. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, he is at work transforming our hearts so that we are holy and pleasing to the Father. It is true that the moment we made that commitment, when we repented, asking God to forgive our sins and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, becoming born again, our hearts were changed. We no longer wanted our old life because we knew that life would lead us to eternal death, and following Jesus would give us eternal life. Why would we turn back to death when we have life? Still, we also know that it is the power of God working in us that changed our hearts. He is the one who instills that desire to stay the course. He is the one who speaks truth into our hearts. He is the one who directs our path, showing us the way we should walk. As Peter tells us, we are a people belonging to God. Let us keep our hearts open so the Spirit can have full access to do that which he will with us, so we will be more like Jesus.