A KING’S REASONS FOR DISOBEDIENCE 2
DIVINE DELAY
I welcome you to the part two of the discuss we started in the first episode of this article. We started looking at the common factors responsible for believers’ disobedience to the words and commandments of the Lord with reference to the life of Saul, the first king of Israel.
Saul had just disobeyed a very clear instruction from God (through Prophet Samuel) to him. And when Saul was confronted for his disobedience, he gave three reasons for disobeying the Word of the Lord:
“And Samuel said (to King Saul), What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that THE PEOPLE WERE SCATTERED FROM ME, AND THAT THOU CAMEST NOT WITHIN THE DAYS APPOINTED, AND THAT THE PHILISTINES GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER at Michmash…” (1Samuel 13:11)
Saul attributed his disobedience to God’s Words to PEOPLE’S PRESSURE, SAMUEL’S DEALYED ARRIVAL, and THE PHILISTINES’ THREATH. In this episode, we will be looking at the second reason for Saul’s disobedience, a reason which also has led and still leading to the disobedience of many of God’s children. I call this second reason DIVINE DELAY.
“AND THAT THOU CAMEST NOT WITHIN THE DAYS APPOINTED”
While the second reason given by Saul for his disobedience was the seeming delay in the arrival of Prophet Samuel, every careful student of the Bible would agree with me that Prophet Samuel was a representative of God. The instruction which Saul disobeyed was actually not Samuel’s words but the outright Word of the Lord. So Samuel’s apparent Delay was God’s apparent delay.
God through Prophet Samuel had promised to come in seven day’s time. And for this promise Saul had waited one, two, three…even up to the dawn of the seventh day for the arrival of Samuel, but Samuel delayed to show up at the expected time when Saul wanted him to arrive. Even though the time appointed time set by Samuel for Saul to wait had not yet expired; Saul was beginning to give up hopes on the arrival of Samuel. Before the arrival of Prophet Samuel, Saul had already concluded: If he had not arrived up until this time, the hope of his eventual arrival can no longer exist.
Actually, it was this seeming delay that gave birth to PEOPLE’S PRESSURE. Pressure began to mount on Saul. There was not only pressure within; there was also pressure without. Time was running out. The soldiers who have stayed with him thus far have started slipping away. People were already complaining of his unreasonable “idleness” called waiting. Agitation and emotional instability were now setting in. what must he do? He had just two options to choose from: to wait in obedience for the arrival of him who had promised or bow under the weight of pressure. Unfortunately, Saul opted for the later! He couldn’t wait till the end. God was too slow for him. So what did he do? He disobeyed the Word of the Lord.
Beloved reader, between the time of God’s promise and the time of fulfillment lies the processing time. The processing time is that time when God’s promises seem not to be in view. Again, God’s timing is not human timing. God lives in Eternity while humans live in time. As heavens are way far higher than the earth so are God’s ways higher than the ways of men. And a thousand days are like a day before Him. When God through Samuel told Saul to wait for seven days; God actually wanted him to wait perfectly. The number “7” represents perfection. God’s processing time is what men call delay.
Hear me, GOD CAN DELAY! By delay I mean He might not come at the expected time of men. After God had promised Abraham that he would have a child, it took the next twenty five years before God came through on His promise. Unfortunately, Abraham had sinned before the arrival of God’s promise. And the disastrous and painful consequence of his momentary disobedience is still with us today! Ishmael was the product of their impatience and disobedience and from Ishmael came Islam-the religion of sword! The whole world till today is still suffering gruesomely from the bloody and merciless sword of Islam. Note, impatience is costly. If you are not patient in life you will eventually become a patient. What you don’t learn by patience you will learn as a patient because you will have compulsory patient’s patience when you have wounded yourself because of impatience.
GOD CAN DELAY! He delayed in the case of Lazarus. He did not come when the family and friends of Lazarus had expected to see Him. The sisters of Lazarus had sent message to Jesus when Lazarus was sick so that Jesus could come instantly come and heal him especially when Jesus was a good friend of Lazarus. But Jesus did not show up until after Lazarus had died and buried away against all hope of resurrection. Eventually Jesus did come! He came at HIS APPOINTED time for His uttermost glory. God can “delay” but He does NOT deny! God CAN do all He wills to do at anytime; but sometimes He might not be willing to do all He can according to His Own prerogatives.
Dear reader, the processing time of divine promise is always characterized by pressure. While your blessing is undergoing processing, there is always the accompanying pressure-both within and without to shift ground before the end of the processing time. For instance, a mature single waiting on God for the right man or woman as the right partner will be under the pressure of age, family, friends and hormones. He or she begins to hear different voices of opinions which are normally contrary to the will of God. Age will be running out, people will begin to run out, emotion also is not left out in the running… Processing time is also a pressure time. And with these pressures come the temptation to “take charge” of one’s life at the expense of obedience to divine instructions.
While Samuel delayed to come, Saul became desperate because the few people with him had begun to leave. Therefore, he “forced” himself and offered sacrifices. As soon as he finished, Samuel arrived. The consequence of Saul’s disobedience was a colossal loss! We will still look into the disastrous consequence of Saul’s disobedience after we have considered the third reason for his disobedience. But I pray for you as I do for myself, may we not have changed before our change comes! Delay brings pressure, pressure brings temptation to disobedience.
Are you presently going through any delay in any area of your life? Please wait on God and wait for God. Do not allow delay to deter you from the ground of Obedience. Don’t disobey the will of God because of delay in marriage, child-bearing, financial breakthrough, academic success or ministerial breakthrough. Don’t lose your chastity because of delay in marriage. Resist the temptation to listen to satanic advices in order to have children. Say “No” to bribery and corruption in the way of achieving success. Don’t give in to temptations to get money through unjust means. Even if your “Lazarus” seems to be dying and the Saviour has not shown up, still wait on God. It is better to die waiting on God than to live in the disobedience of self-management. Saul paid dearly for it. A problem, big or small, solved the way Christ (The Word of God) instructed to be solved will be solved forever followed by HIS REST. A problem solved in an assumed, supposed, human reasoning way will be postponed or suppressed for a while. The later will be worst.
DELAY IS NOT DENIAL. WAIT, I SAY, ON THE LORD.
Watch out for the next episode.
Thank you for reading!