February 17th

Wait on the Lord

⁸Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. ¹¹And Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹²then I said, "The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." ¹³And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."  1 Samuel 13:8-14 NKJV 

Whenever you are tempted to act rashly without waiting on the Lord for something, remember this story about Saul.  Saul and the Israelites were preparing for a fearful battle with the Philistines.  The people were trembling with fear and Saul was having a difficult time keeping the army from fleeing.  In his impatience and fear, he breached God’s protocol by making an offering that only God’s priest Samuel was to offer.  Saul’s rash decision and disrespect to God cost him his kingdom.  

We can learn a lot from Saul’s failure.  God has a time and a purpose in all things.  God establishes certain protocol that must be followed in order to secure his favor and blessing.  Abiding by God’s protocol is a way of being respectful to God.  Saul was not a man after God’s heart, and he demonstrated that when he broke a known commandment about sacrifices in a vain attempt to get God’s blessing.  Saul apparently doubted that God would come through for him. 

All of us are guilty of breaking God’s commands in attempt to gain the benefits of his blessing at one time or another.  We have to get in the habit of waiting on God and showing him due respect as we submit our requests to God.  Paul wrote: 

⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NIV 

We are to approach God by prayer and petition with thanksgiving.  When we do so, we will receive a supernatural peace from God that will help us to wait on God’s timing for the things we are asking for.  

Pornography and other sexual entertainment offer shortcuts to some of the benefits of sex without the love and commitment of marriage.  Often people get hooked on the material during adolescence, because they feel unable to neither wait for marriage nor resist the pressure of the sexual urges building in their bodies.  By indulging in it, they fail to wait on God’s best for their lives.  As a result, they are pierced with all kinds of lusts that make them slaves to sin. 

Learning to wait on God is a necessary discipline to learn along the path of freedom from sex addiction.  It requires that we must shut down the input sources of lust and start relying on God to help us deal with the issues we’ve been trying to medicate with porn.  With God’s help, we can put sex back in the context of marriage exclusively and learn to wait on God for our sexual needs and desires.   

Saul lost his kingdom because of impatience; so don’t forfeit your inheritance in God for whatever shortcut the devil is offering you.  Remember David’s words in Psalm 37:3-4 NKJV:  ³Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. ⁴Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.   

Questions for further thought:

• Considering how fear affected Saul in the above passage, how does fear influence our decisions to indulge in sexual sin?
• Explain how fear and faith (trusting in God) are opposites.
• Waiting on God requires us to do what with our free will?
• When we reject God’s commands and indulge in a forbidden thing, what character trait does that illustrate? (James 4:6)

Prayer:

“Father in Heaven, I confess that I have not waited on you for the following things in my life:____________(list).  Please forgive me for these sins and the sin of pride and fear.  I put my trust in you for all things today.  Please help me to honor that trust by waiting on your best for my life every day.  Thank you that no one who puts his or her trust in you will be ashamed.  In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”