Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

9 April 2024

Reading From I Samuel 9-12

“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”

–I Samuel 10:5-7

     This happened to Saul just as the Lord had predicted through Samuel the Prophet.  This life changing experience set Saul on the right path at the beginning of his reign as king over the united kingdom of Israel.  What an extraordinary case of an Old Testament saint being changed and empowered by the Spirit of the Living God!  This did not guarantee, however, that he would always be faithful in obeying Yahweh. 

     Eventually Saul went his own way and that course of action led to his disastrous downfall, the royal authority being removed from him, and the horrific tragedy of a king taking his own life.  It is recorded in I Chronicles 10:13-14, “So Saul died for his sin against the Lord, because he did not keep the Word of the Lord. He had asked a woman who spoke with spirits what he should do. He did not ask the Lord. So the Lord killed him, and gave the nation to David the son of Jesse.”  A heartbreaking observation is that Saul in fact killed himself whereas here in Chronicles the Word of the Lord says that God killed him. 

     I believe this to mean that the justice of God was carried out as it always is: actions set in motion consequences and God uses the law of sowing and reaping to work all things together according to His plan.  As Paul wrote in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  In the beginning, Saul obeyed God and was able to hear direction from Him.  When he followed a different path, continual and compounding sin caused static in the line of communication with the Lord and eventually only a prayer of repentance would have been heard by God.

“Lord, may I be ever mindful of the consequences of my actions.  I pray that the conviction of the Holy Spirit prevent me from giving into temptation.  Keep me on the right path.  Pour out Your Holy Spirit upon me in abundance but I pray that I would persevere and not grow weary in doing good. When I falter, please bring rapid course correction.  Amen.”

 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

–II Peter 1:3-11