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"And
Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do
return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the
strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your
hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver
you out of the hand of the Philistines" (1
Sam 7:3).
When
Samuel called upon the Israelites to return unto the Lord,
they were first given a personal choice. The choice was to
return unto the Lord with all their hearts. Similarly,
we can choose either to do something to our spiritual lives or
to remain at status quo, living in a humdrum manner which at
best would lead us to fear and uncertainty. When we choose to
return to the Lord, we are to be serious in doing so with all
our hearts. This is the only way. Anything short of a hundred
percent commitment is not acceptable. If we have this settled,
the other conditions will fall in line. All our wrong doings
in the past are not important any more. We should not cry over
spilt milk. There is no way that we can undo them. What we can
do is to forget about all the wrong doings, learn from the
mistakes and move on. We can make amends by avoiding them and
not to repeat past errors. The Lord is gracious to forgive and
forget. Symbolically, the Israelites poured water on the
ground. They treated their past sins like "spilt
milk" (or "spilt water" in this case) which are
not retrievable. Moreover, when we offend another brethren, we
have to make right through apologies and seek forgiveness. It
is in obedience to the teaching of our Lord Jesus. "Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye
may be healed" (Jas 5:16a).
After
returning to the Lord, the people were to put away the strange
gods from among them. What were these strange gods? As much as
they were during Samuel’s time, these strange gods are real.
The idols in our life may not necessarily be a carving,
painting or a visible object. It could be something or thought
that we have in our hearts. This would include pride. Anything
that we put in greater importance to God is an idol. Now, when
you honestly list them on a chart anything that we prioritize
above God, are there not many? The scripture says: "Put
them away, not aside!"
We are
then to prepare our hearts unto the Lord. This means having
fellowship with Him through daily prayer and reading of the
Bible. God does not want us to have head knowledge only. We
have to believe, commit and abide by God’s commandments.
Again we need a self assessment on how our actions tally with
that of what we have been instructed to do. Humanly speaking,
it is very difficult. Even Paul has this problem. He was a
spiritual giant in comparison, yet he said: "For the
good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not,
that I do" (Rom 7:19). Thanks be unto God, His laws
go after our inner man. We ought to decide for ourselves to be
determined with a strong will, wanting to observe His words
and to demonstrate so in our deeds. "For I delight in
the law of God after the inward man" (Rom 7:22). By
God’s grace He will see us through. If God can use Paul and
all the other saints to the fullest, why can’t He use you
and I? The question is whether we have a willing heart. "I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind
I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
sin" (Rom 7:25).
With
both idolatry put away and our hearts prepared towards God,
serving our Lord comes naturally. Our renewed desire is to be
faithful servants as the motivation comes from God through our
inner man. Our objective is to serve Him with our best
ability. We will find our service enjoyable and effective, and
learn to take comments constructively. Someone has to do the
job, so why not say: "Let it be me"? Nothing is too
small or demeaning. Our primary purpose is to please God.
Amen!
Encouragement
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