9 “But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs–everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”
1 Samuel 15:9 (NIV)
Saul was instructed to destroy EVERYTHING belonging to the Amalekites (1 Samuel 9:1-3), including the Amalekites themselves. Saul disobeyed the Lord by keeping the “good things” to sacrifice to the Lord (1 Samuel 15:15). He thought he was doing a good thing and that it would be okay. But if God had wanted Saul to save the good stuff for a sacrifice, He would have asked Saul to save the good stuff for a sacrifice.
There are things in our lives God instructs us to let go of or destroy. The despised or “weak” things are easy to get rid of, but we tend to want to hold onto the good things. Maybe we make up excuses so that it actually seems godly to keep these things in our lives: “Well of course I should date this guy or girl who doesn’t love Jesus. I can share God’s love with him/her at the same time so he/she can eventually become a Christian.”
Athlete, even if we think we can use these things to bring God glory, when God tells us to let them go, we’ve got to let them go. We need to trust God and trust that He’s asking us to let these things go for a reason. We may not understand why God is asking us to let go, but we do understand that God has our best interest in mind.
Prayer to consider today: Father, please open my eyes to the things in my life that You want me to get rid of. Give me the strength to let go of the things that are difficult to let go. Let me remember that You are my true satisfaction and You have my best interest in mind. Lord, I want to be obedient to You and all that You ask of me.
Reflect: Has God ever asked you to get rid of something that you just didn’t want to get rid of? What was that?
Challenge: Spend some time in prayer (including silence to listen) and ask God to reveal anything in your life that needs to go.
Outreach Challenge: For a whole week, don’t go through the drive through. I know it’s convenient and easy, but the convenience takes away the opportunity to have an extended time to talk with someone. Take the extra time to park, walk in and be intentional with your conversation and order your meal to go.
