Recovery Devotional 306 Unfit to Lead

JMD Devotional 306 1 Samuel 15:28,29 Unfit to Lead

And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.

Numbers 23:19 (AMP) God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?

By men’s standards, Saul was a fit king; but compared to the degree and stature that God intended for humanity (God’s image), he falls into utter depravity with the rest of us. We are at the mercy of situations; when they change in the slightest we are forced to either change our minds, back-peddle or lie about our commitments. Our promises are extremely frail and our ability to deliver feeble. A righteous man delivers what he promised even to his own hurt; but that integrity is rare among men. We are like this because in our own selves we are weak. Who is the Strength of Israel but God in us? David succeeded where Saul failed because of his dependence upon God over himself. The only way we can be fit to lead is in submission to the Almighty.

Dear God,

Like Saul, I tend to rely upon my own reasoning and resources; I cave in to people’s opinions, and I try to justify my actions by citing circumstance: on all counts wrong! You are the greatest part of me; Your living in and through me transforms this retched and unreliable person into someone more like Jesus. Help me to be fully yielded to Your rule and reign in my life; completely dependent on Your power and fully committed to Your Kingdom. Not only are You the strength of Israel, but You are the strength of James.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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