Around The Corner

By Jamie Carte
This week's topic: Finishing Well

"Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do." 1 Samuel 10:8 (NIV)

God had given Saul specific directions from the prophet Samuel on how to win in a battle Saul was going through. Saul was instructed to go to Gilgal and wait on Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice unto God. Then Saul would be told what to do next in his life. But in 1 Samuel 13:8-14, we find that Saul did not wait and did not follow what the Lord told him to do.

“He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command.” (NIV)

Saul did not wait on the timing of God's direction. He started looking at the situation around him. He began to see, in the natural, the men beginning to leave; the men he was counting on. He began to fear and think, “My enemy is going to come into this territory and attack me.” Then he began to feel, “I will take matters into my own hands and not follow The Word given to me. It’s getting too late, The Word or promise given to me is not happening, I will just stop waiting and believing that God will come through for me. This is just taking too long!”

Is that where you are right now? Are you like Saul, looking at how hard it’s getting? Are you beginning to move according to what is going on around you?

Saul’s promise was coming. The manifestation of his promise from God was on its way; it was moving on the road toward him! His promise was almost there when Saul decided to quit waiting, watching, believing and speaking what God said. His breakthrough was on its way. The change in his situation that he had been waiting on was just a few moments in time from him, and Saul gave up and canceled it all to discover that “Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived.”

That’s what God wants you to know. He knows what time it is. He loves you and He will keep His Word – will you? Are we going to give up because it looks like it is getting late? Are we going to try to make a breakthrough happen by ourselves and in our own power?

Decide today to dig your spiritual heels in the ground and not give up! You shall finish strong!

Scripture Of The Day: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." - Psalm 27:14 (NIV)