Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / June 13 - The Obedience We Cannot Replace

Transcript

June 13 - The Obedience We Cannot Replace · Bible Chat Devotional

• 0:02
  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
• 0:06
  rooted in Scripture and relevant for today, June 13th.
• 0:11
  The heart behind the action. Let's be honest for a second.
• 0:16
  It's possible to look like a good person on the outside,
• 0:20
  while the inside tells a completely different story.
• 0:23
  Good grades to impress parents, helping with chores because
• 0:27
  someone's watching, Being kind to a person's face while talking
• 0:31
  about them behind their back. We've all been there in some
• 0:34
  form. And Proverbs chapter 17, verses
• 0:37
  23 and 24 cut right through it. A wicked man accepts a bribe in
• 0:43
  secret to pervert the ways of justice.
• 0:45
  The discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but the eyes of a fool
• 0:49
  are on the ends of the earth. The fool's eyes are scattered,
• 0:53
  always looking for the angle, the shortcut, the thing that
• 0:56
  looks good but costs nothing. The wise person keeps their eyes
• 1:00
  on what actually matters, truth, integrity, God.
• 1:04
  Then there's King Saul in First Samuel chapter 15.
• 1:08
  God gave him a specific command, completely destroy the enemy and
• 1:12
  everything they had. But Saul decided to keep the
• 1:15
  best livestock, supposedly for sacrifice.
• 1:19
  He did some of what God said. He left out the inconvenient
• 1:23
  parts. And when Samuel confronted him,
• 1:26
  Saul had a ready explanation. It was for a good reason for
• 1:30
  worship, but God wasn't impressed and Samuel said one of
• 1:34
  the most important things in all of Scripture.
• 1:37
  First Samuel chapter 15, verse 22.
• 1:40
  To obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of
• 1:44
  Rams. Partial obedience is still
• 1:47
  disobedience. Doing the right thing for the
• 1:49
  wrong reason is still the wrong thing.
• 1:52
  God isn't fooled by religious activity that masks A
• 1:55
  disobedient heart. This is so relevant for us
• 1:59
  today. We can show up to church, follow
• 2:02
  the rules publicly, use the right language around Christian
• 2:06
  friends, and still be completely out of alignment with God in our
• 2:09
  private lives. Not because we're bad people,
• 2:13
  but because we've confused behavior management with heart
• 2:16
  transformation. God doesn't want your
• 2:19
  performance. He wants your heart.
• 2:22
  A heart that genuinely loves Him, genuinely seeks His wisdom,
• 2:26
  and genuinely wants to obey. Not to earn something, but
• 2:30
  because that's who you are from the inside out.
• 2:33
  That's the kind of life that holds up.
• 2:35
  That's the kind of person who becomes someone others trust and
• 2:38
  God uses. Let's pray.
• 2:42
  Heavenly Father, thank you for seeing past our actions straight
• 2:46
  to our hearts. Forgive us for the moments when
• 2:48
  we've done the right things for the wrong reasons, or obeyed
• 2:52
  only the parts that were convenient.
• 2:54
  We want more than that. We want hearts that genuinely
• 2:57
  love you, that pursue wisdom, and that obey fully, not out of
• 3:01
  obligation, but out of love. Transform us from the inside in
• 3:06
  Jesus name, Amen. When a loved one's marriage is
• 3:11
  under strain, you may not know what to say, but you can still
• 3:15
  know how to pray. The Marriage Intercessor series
• 3:18
  gives tender, faith filled language for standing before God
• 3:22
  when misunderstanding, distance, conflict, and wounded hearts
• 3:26
  threaten a covenant. These prayer scripts help you
• 3:29
  intercede with mercy, wisdom, and hope, asking God to soften
• 3:33
  what is hardened, heal what has been bruised, and restore peace
• 3:37
  where tension has taken root. From broken communication to
• 3:41
  division to emotional repair, reconciliation and renewed
• 3:45
  strength, this series is for every prayerful heart carrying
• 3:48
  another couple before the Lord. Pray with clarity, stand with
• 3:52
  compassion. Believe for restoration under
• 3:55
  the hand of God. Order now on Amazon or visit
• 3:58
  prayerscripts.org. Now I invite you to spend time
• 4:06
  with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan.
• 4:10
  Proverbs chapter 17 verses 23 to 24 World English Bible A wicked
• 4:16
  man receives a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
• 4:21
  Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the
• 4:25
  eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.
• 4:28
  First Samuel Chapter 15 World English Bible Samuel said to
• 4:33
  Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people,
• 4:37
  over Israel. Now therefore listen to the
• 4:39
  voice of Yahweh's words. Yahweh of armies says, I
• 4:44
  remember what a malek did to Israel, how he set himself
• 4:47
  against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.
• 4:51
  Now go and strike a malek and utterly destroy all that they
• 4:54
  have, and don't spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant
• 4:58
  and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
• 5:03
  Saul summoned the people and counted them in telling 200,000
• 5:07
  footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek
• 5:12
  and set an ambush in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, Go,
• 5:17
  depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you
• 5:20
  with them, for you showed kindness to all the children of
• 5:23
  Israel when they came up out of Egypt.
• 5:27
  So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
• 5:30
  Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah, as you go to Shur, that
• 5:34
  is before Egypt. He took Agag, the king of the
• 5:37
  Amalkites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with
• 5:40
  the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared
• 5:44
  Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle and of the fat
• 5:47
  calves and the lambs, and all that was good.
• 5:50
  And we're not willing to utterly destroy them, but everything
• 5:54
  that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly.
• 5:58
  Then Yahweh's word came to Samuel, saying, It grieves me
• 6:02
  that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back
• 6:05
  from following me and has not performed my commandments.
• 6:09
  Samuel was angry, and he cried to Yahweh all night.
• 6:13
  Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning.
• 6:16
  And Samuel was told, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold,
• 6:20
  he set up a monument for himself, and turned and passed
• 6:23
  on, and went down to Gilgal. Samuel came to Saul and Saul
• 6:28
  said to him, You are blessed by Yahweh.
• 6:31
  I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.
• 6:34
  Samuel said, Then what does this bleeding of the sheep in my
• 6:37
  ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?
• 6:40
  Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites.
• 6:44
  For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle
• 6:47
  to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the
• 6:51
  rest. Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay,
• 6:54
  and I will tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.
• 6:57
  He said to him, say on Samuel said, though you were little in
• 7:01
  your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of
• 7:04
  Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over
• 7:07
  Israel, and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, Go and
• 7:11
  utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against
• 7:15
  them until they are consumed. Why then didn't you obey
• 7:18
  Yahweh's voice, but took the plunder and did that which was
• 7:21
  evil in Yahweh's sight? Saul said to Samuel.
• 7:26
  But I have obeyed Yahweh's voice, and have gone the way
• 7:29
  which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek,
• 7:32
  and have utterly destroyed the Amalkites.
• 7:35
  But the people took of the plunder sheep and cattle, the
• 7:38
  chief of the devoted things to sacrifice to Yahweh your God and
• 7:42
  Gilgal. Samuel said, Has Yahweh as great
• 7:46
  delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
• 7:49
  Yahweh's voice? Behold, to obey is better than
• 7:53
  sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of Rams.
• 7:57
  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is
• 8:00
  as idolatry and terraphim. Because you have rejected
• 8:04
  Yahweh's word, He has also rejected you from being king.
• 8:08
  Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed
• 8:12
  the commandment of Yahweh and your words, because I feared the
• 8:16
  people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my
• 8:20
  sin and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.
• 8:24
  Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have
• 8:27
  rejected Yahweh's word, and Yahweh has rejected you from
• 8:31
  being king over Israel. As Samuel turned around to go
• 8:35
  away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe and it tore.
• 8:39
  Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the Kingdom of Israel from
• 8:43
  you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better
• 8:46
  than you. Also the strength of Israel will
• 8:49
  not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent.
• 8:54
  Then he said, I have sinned yet please honor me now before the
• 8:57
  elders of my people and before Israel, and come back with me,
• 9:02
  that I may worship Yahweh your God.
• 9:04
  So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped Yahweh.
• 9:08
  Then Samuel said, Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to
• 9:12
  me. Agag came to him cheerfully.
• 9:15
  Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past.
• 9:18
  Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so your
• 9:23
  mother will be childless among women.
• 9:25
  Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh and Gilgal.
• 9:30
  Then Samuel went to Rama, and Saul went up to his house to
• 9:33
  jiber of Saul. Samuel came no more to see Saul
• 9:37
  until the day of his death, for Samuel mourned for Saul, and
• 9:41
  Yahweh grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
• 9:46
  Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
• 9:49
  everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
• 9:52
  you, share it with a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so
• 9:56
  you won't miss the next conversation.
• 9:58
  Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope, and
• 10:01
  walking daily with Jesus.