Bone Hard

Bible Reading:  I Samuel 15:1-9

     Key Verse: Verse 9 – “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.”

      Key Words: But Saul 

To ossify means to become bone hard.  It is a synonym for being stubborn.  Such people often respond by saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.  I’ve already made up my mind.”

Saul was obstinate; he wanted to conduct the operation his way.  Even if he did have the noble intent of wanting belatedly to sacrifice the animals to God, that wasn’t what God wanted.  For that reason Samuel reminded him that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (verse 22).  What the Lord wants is obedience.  God knew what was best.  It wouldn’t be until the end of the story Saul would realize this basic principle.

Failure to listen and learn has crippled many people.  Ego plays a big part in the life of an individual who refuses to be open to helpful insights and specific instructions.

Samuel said, “Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (verse 23).  Stubbornness makes of one’s own self-will an idol to be obeyed rather than the Lord.  Only as our will is yielded obediently to the will of our Master can we perform as obedient servants.  He must always be the object of our veneration; the one we obey.  Conscious disobedience is literally a form of idolatry, because it makes self-will, the human “I,” into a god.

A cardinal sin of Christians is failure to be under authority to those God has placed over us.  In every organization there has to be a chain of authority.  Those under authority who act rebelliously or disrespectfully are resisting God who ordered the structure.  All things are to be done decently and in order.  When God orders the order, honor it.  No person should be in authority until they are under authority.

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞Remember, being a good servant means we should not be hard-headed or hard-hearted.