{"id":33087,"date":"2024-10-21T22:00:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-14_1-23-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-10-08T19:53:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T02:53:31","slug":"1-samuel-14_24-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-14_24-46\/","title":{"rendered":"When Spirituality Goes Overboard"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel\u00a0 14:24-46 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 14:24-46.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 14:24-32 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be any man who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-32:\u00a0 Saul makes his army vow that while they are pursuing the Philistines, they will not eat anything until evening.\u00a0 Now there are times in the Bible when God calls people to fast, or when individuals like Jesus, Daniel, or Moses fasted.\u00a0 In those times, it was for the purpose of drawing near to God and getting centered and focused around God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 In Saul\u2019s case, however, this fasting campaign was centered around Saul\u2019s own ego, as suggested by him when he says no one is to eat anything \u201cbefore I have avenged myself on my enemies\u201d (v24).<\/p>\n

Not just that, but from a practical perspective, it was foolish for Saul to require his army to go without food while risking their lives to fight in battle.\u00a0 For this reason Saul\u2019s army was faint (v28) and exhausted (31).\u00a0 Even Saul\u2019s own son Jonathan points out the foolishness of Saul\u2019s initiative (v29-30).\u00a0 The foolishness of Saul\u2019s plan was further evidenced by the fact that Saul\u2019s army couldn\u2019t take it anymore.\u00a0 It was too big of an ask, too much pressure, and in verse 32 Saul\u2019s army goes out of control, pouncing on the livestock of the Philistines and eating all of it including the livestock\u2019s blood, contrary to the Jewish law (v32).<\/p>\n

So Saul\u2019s requirement that his army not eat was both selfish and foolish.\u00a0 This was pride-fueled hyper-spirituality lacking wisdom and God-centeredness.<\/p>\n

From this we can learn a number of lessons:<\/p>\n

First, be careful not to send troops into battle when they\u2019re not properly equipped or fed.\u00a0 That goes not only for physical equipping and food, but also spiritual equipping and food, including feeding on the Word of God, which is sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10).<\/p>\n

Second, true spirituality is not self-centered, but God-centered.\u00a0 Third, true spirituality is not pride-driven hyper-spirituality that sounds very spiritual while lacking any practical wisdom.\u00a0 Fourth, when spirituality is misguided, it can result in placing unnecessary and unhelpful burdens on people.<\/p>\n

By the way, the fact that Jonathan, one of Saul\u2019s top soldiers and a senior officer in Saul\u2019s army, had not heard about the oath Saul had bound his army to (v27) suggests that Saul\u2019s communication system was broken.\u00a0 For any team to be effective, good communication is essential.<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 14:33-35 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then someone said to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by eating meat that has blood in it.” “You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.”
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the\u00a0LORD\u00a0by eating meat with blood still in it.'” So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul built an altar to the\u00a0LORD; it was the first time he had done this.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 33-35:\u00a0 When Saul was privately anointed as king by Samuel, he didn\u2019t build an altar.\u00a0 When Saul was publicly announced as king by Samuel, he didn\u2019t build an altar.\u00a0 Here we see the first time that Saul builds an altar, and it\u2019s in response to a messy situation that he was at least partly responsible for creating.\u00a0 That\u2019s another sign of shallow, immature spirituality: you only get spiritual when there\u2019s a crisis.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, when trouble comes look to God, but don’t just look to God when trouble comes!\u00a0 Look to God in every season, because we’re always in need of Him and He is always worthy of our worship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Samuel 14:36-46 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.” “Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied. But the priest said, “Let us inquire of God here.”
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Saul asked God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel’s hand?” But God did not answer him that day.
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul therefore said, “Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today.
\n39\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As surely as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0who rescues Israel lives, even if it lies with my son Jonathan, he must die.” But not one of the men said a word.
\n40\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul then said to all the Israelites, “You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here.” “Do what seems best to you,” the men replied.
\n41\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul prayed to the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, “Give me the right answer.” And Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared.
\n42\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken.
\n43\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” So Jonathan told him, “I merely tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now must I die?”
\n44\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Saul said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan.”
\n45\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die–he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.
\n46\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 36-46:\u00a0 Saul\u2019s army was devoted to Saul.\u00a0 Even when Saul gave orders that could put their own lives at risk, Saul\u2019s army would say to Saul, \u201cDo whatever seems best to you\u201d (v36, 40).\u00a0 But when Saul moves to have his son Jonathan killed for eating a little honey (v44) (which violated an oath that Jonathan did not know about \u2013 v27), Saul\u2019s army would have none of it (v45). To me it is sad that Saul\u2019s army had more of a heart to protect Jonathan than Saul did.\u00a0 I suspect in part it’s because Saul\u2019s pride was hurt and his ego was bruised at the thought that his own son would disobey his orders.<\/p>\n

When your pride is hurt or your ego is bruised, be careful what you do next.\u00a0 Look to God for wisdom and perspective, lest you do something you regret.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, I pray that I would be careful to avoid hyper-spirituality that lacks God-centeredness or practical wisdom.\u00a0 Please help me to check my motives before going forward with anything risky.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 14:24-46.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n1 Samuel 14:24-32 (NIV)
\n24\u00a0\u00a0Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
\n25\u00a0\u00a0The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground.<\/p>\n

On verses 24-32:\u00a0 Saul makes his army vow that while they are pursuing the Philistines, they will not eat anything until evening.\u00a0 Now there are times in the Bible when God calls people to fast, or when individuals like Jesus, Daniel, or Moses fasted.\u00a0 In those times, it was for the purpose of drawing near to God and getting centered and focused around God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 In Saul\u2019s case, however, this fasting campaign was centered around Saul\u2019s own ego, as suggested by him when he says no one is to eat anything \u201cbefore I have avenged myself on my enemies\u201d (v24).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33090,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33087\/revisions\/33090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}