I hope that all of you are enjoying your Januaries, if you are not--I would challenge you to spend some time looking for things to rejoice in...I hate the cold, and I hate snow, so I have spent the past few weeks asking God to allow me to find joy in those things.
I have been shocked by the contentment that I have been given in those things.
Ask me about it sometime.
In terms of Bible Reading tonight, I spent a lot of time reading about the demise of Saul. It really is a sad story, that isn't so unfamiliar as we would like.
Basically, God chose a humble man who had the ability, but not the desire to be king.
God gave him success after success and he blessed him...until somewhere Saul got cocky.
Just before the judge, Samuel, tells Saul that God has rejected him, he uses a phrase that should haunt most of us...
“Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the LORD?
~Chapter 15
The part that catches my attention is at the beginning--it is the phrase "although, you were once small in your own eyes... Meaning that Saul was humble when he began his rule.
The rest of the speech implies that Saul no longer sees himself as small--he sees himself through prideful eyes.
When Saul ceased to see himself as small, his life began to fall apart. As Saul's pride grew, his ability to be a good king grew smaller.
Saul stands as a challenge for all of us to see ourselves as small--to know that we are but one minuscule life that lives and breaths by the grace of God.
Anything that we are, we are because of him!
We are small, we had best remember that.
yes.
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