Trusting God

Today I read 1 Samuel 15 in my quiet time. God told King Saul to attack the Amalekites and destroy all the people and livestock. Instead of doing everything the Lord said, Saul kept some of the livestock alive - probably for his own use. Needless to say, God was not pleased with him. Often, the "to obey is better than to sacrifice" theme is what gets talked about this passage, but I felt the Holy Spirit convicted me that this passage was also about trusting God.

Saul was tested with a command that seemed, for lack of a better word, weird. He could obey the sovereign God who gave it to him, or he could take matters into his own hands. Sadly, he did the latter, and he was punished for it.

Lately, I have been struggling with trusting God by obeying his commands. In a situation I am going through, I have been faced with two seemingly equally good options. But there is a command behind one of them. I tried to take matters into my own hands, and be the ruler of my own life. That did not work. I was, like Jonah and Saul, disobeying God for the sake of the supposed happiness I would feel. Christians cannot be truly happy outside of God's circle of boundaries.

I was miserably striving to make myself happy apart from God. Then I was blessed an awesome prayer time with God this morning. I realized that I was sinning, and that is better to obey and do what feels harder to me, than to take the easy route and disobey. I need to show my faith through what I do. I need to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding.

Thanks for not letting go of me, God!