The Mission

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

THE MISSION  

1 Samuel 15:24-35

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD." 26 But Samuel said to him, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!" 27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors — to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind." 30 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God." 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD. 32 Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites." Agag came to him confidently, thinking, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." 33 But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD at Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

NIV

What kind of king would be afraid of his people, unless he did not behave like a king that had been anointed by Samuel under the direction of the LORD? Sure, now Saul wants to ask forgiveness after Samuel told him that he had rejected the word of the LORD, the LORD has rejected him as king. “Please forgive me, I gave in to the people,” But we notice he still had not accomplished the mission the LORD sent him on. Agag, the king of the Amalekites, was still alive. Samual took care of that and put Agag to death. Our lesson today has two points. First, we noticed that although the LORD rejected Saul as king and Saul was no longer pleasing in the sight of the LORD, until the day that Samuel died, he mourned for Saul. Perhaps it would be good for us to mourn over those who are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Although in this age of grace, all can come to him and he will not reject them. Because of Jesus, none will be rejected who repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Then, if we mourn for them, it would be for those who have not come to Jesus but reject him. If we are mourning for them, we would then not judge them, or condemn them in any way; in fact, we are told to love them. Maybe, just maybe, our love will show them Jesus, even without words. The second lesson is about the fact that the LORD was grieved that he made Saul king over Israel. We know we are in Christ and he is in us, and we have the Spirit dwelling in us, as we have been born again and promised eternal life. But we also know that the Lord our God has sent us on a mission. Of course, it is not to destroy anyone, but our mission is to follow him, whatever that means individually. We all have the mission to bring the truth of God to the world, to share about Jesus everywhere we can. But each of us has been given a personal mission in life that we need to accomplish, or at least diligently work toward all the days of our lives. Each of our missions could be many things, such as the mission to help others, to encourage others, to pray for others, to serve others, as well as so many more. It would take a book to fully explore the many missions of God. We certainly do not want to think the Lord would be grieved because we failed and did nothing to get that mission accomplished, or did it halfway, or half-heartedly, or even became afraid of the people. What would they think about us? How would we look to them? Would they think we were foolish, trusting that much in the Lord that we diligently employed ourselves to our mission in life? We might have some fellow believers think we are so heavenly minded, we are no earthly good. Why would we want to be earthly good when the unbelievers are so earthly good that they are not heavenly-minded at all? It does not matter what mission we have been sent on; we should be on that mission plan, striving for that mission all the days of our lives. How can we even think the Lord would tell us we no longer have any mission and we should just sit and wait to die, so we can live? That would be a sad life, never to have a mission, but to be useless. Let us remember to mourn for the lost, yet diligently labor on the mission the Lord has given us.