"This is what the LORD of the Heaven's Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt." 1 Samuel 15:2
Have you ever been wronged? Was there a time or maybe you still have the desire to "settle the account" with your enemy? It is our human nature to want to avenge ourselves when we are wronged. Whether the offender is someone we know or a stranger, it is normal to want to get even or make them pay for what they have done.
The hardest thing about being a Christian is trying to be a vessel of the Living God while in human skin. Knowing in your heart the Lord is Maker and Defender is one thing but waiting on Him to take action is another. The LORD says He is going to settle the account with the Amalekites from the time of the exodus from Egypt. (Exodus 17:8-14) Those who were harmed in the battle are long gone and will not know their loss has been justified.
Wanting revenge or being caught in the wait for God's justice can rob us of our freedom in Christ and our effectiveness in His Kingdom. It becomes a chain that shackles us to our pain. It is not only imperative to our freedom in Christ to trust the LORD to redeems us but to accept His timing of the settlement. The waiting is the hardest part.
Like the Israelites who fought in the battle against the Amalekites, we might ever see the settling of our account come to fruition. We can't live our life waiting for the moment of redemption of our pain. Staying chained to the pain or being lost in the waiting game allows our offender to continue hurting us. Make the decision today to remove the shackles of revenge and trade them for the light and easy yoke of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
Wanting revenge or being caught in the wait for God's justice can rob us of our freedom in Christ and our effectiveness in His Kingdom. It becomes a chain that shackles us to our pain. It is not only imperative to our freedom in Christ to trust the LORD to redeems us but to accept His timing of the settlement. The waiting is the hardest part.
Like the Israelites who fought in the battle against the Amalekites, we might ever see the settling of our account come to fruition. We can't live our life waiting for the moment of redemption of our pain. Staying chained to the pain or being lost in the waiting game allows our offender to continue hurting us. Make the decision today to remove the shackles of revenge and trade them for the light and easy yoke of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
19 Comments:
Good morning, girls. I really don't like to be the first one to post a comment on here...but I have to get ready for work (school). This morning's reading was full of revealed truths, yet I have a question too.
I underlined the following beautiful truths, 1 Sam 15:29...the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind for he is not human that he should change his mind.
I Sam 16:7 ..The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
These scriptures point out the character of God.
Yet, I am wondering why...years after the Isrealites have fled Egypt. Wendy, as you pointed out, those who fought the battle are gone. I am thinking that is the same with the Amalekites, the ones who opposed Israel when they came from Egypt, aren't they gone too. Why punish their ancestors? Could they still be carrying on the bitter battle much like the "Hatfields and McCoys"?
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
Nancy
Waiting on God to settle my accounts for me has always been difficult. I am a very task-driven person: action/reaction. Bad behavior/consequence. I'm wronged/I avenge. I wish I was a more patient person. Over time I've come to understand that God's justice is so much more effective than mine. I see when reading Wendy's post that FORGIVENESS plays a huge roll in removing the shackles of revenge.I cannot say I hold grudges, but probably because I avenge myself so quickly I've sent the ball back into their court. I pray for the Lord to help me in this area.
I underlined 1 Samuel 16:14. Regarding the Lord sending the tormenting spirit to Saul that filled him with depression and fear. I have people I care about who have depression and others who show signs of it; and I've never wanted to believe that the Lord could send such a spirit. I like to think that satan would be behind such an insidious thing. Depression confuses me; are there dark areas the afflicted person needs to revisit from their past to get beyond the depression? Or do they need to be on medicine because once the depression hits the chemical balance in their brains is altered? This subject has weighed on my heart for a while, and to now read that God sent a tormenting spirit to Saul really makes me more confused.
My intentions are not to offend anyone out there suffering depression - I just am pondering.
Morgen - MN
Question to Brandee: your Danish Swirls? How many does that serve? Hosting a bridal shower for my niece and considering making these...
Morgen
Good Morning!
Nancy, Back in Exodus 17:14-16, the LORD had told Moses, "Write this on a scroll as someting to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven...The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from genereation to generation." In Deut. 25:18 God was speaking through Moses and reminded him about what the Amalekites did to them when they were coming out of Egypt. "They cut off all who were lagging (children, elderly) behind; they had no fear of God."
"You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!" (NIV)
God was carrying out what He said he would do. The Amelekites were people descended from Esau.
Today's reading had so many truths to ponder over...Saul's incomplete obedience was disobedience in God's eyes. Ouch! How many times do we want to obey partly?! Maybe we speak nicely to our parents and serve them; however, our thoughts say otherwise and border on selfishness. Or quite honestly, are plain selfish!
"The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." He knows us through and through. He knows our thoughts...our actions don't mean anything to Him if our thoughts are not not obedient to Him.
Looking forward to a new week with all of you! Praying that each of us is filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit today! Love you! Lori - AZ
Morgen,
I too struggled with the Spirit leaving Saul and God sending an evil spirit to torment him. I can't answer "why" or what is behind depression today, but in the Old Testament, the Spirit came to those whom God chose to serve Him and was a temporary help. With the risen Lord, the Spirit that fills Gods chosen people is a permanent help. Jesus said "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will being you" (John 14:16-17)
Thus we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and He is with us forever; He does not depart.
I saw in Saul's torment a foreshadow of the Peace that Christ brings. Every time David played the harp, the tormenting spirit would go away. David, being the earthy ancestor of Christ, was able to send the evil spirit away for a little while, while Christ was able to cast out the demons completely.
I don't know if today's depression is caused by tormenting spirits. I think there are some mental maladies that definitely are; sociopaths, some schizophrenia, maybe others, but I think it would be a mistake to think all mental maladies are from evil spirits. Some periods of depression are trials that we endure for a little while to make us stronger in Christ. Many devout Christians have suffered from depression and by turning to Christ in prayer, they are eventually lifted out of the pit (in His timing) and have become powerful witnesses.
I think we need to lift all of our family and friends who suffer mental anguish of all kinds up in prayer and the Lord who heals (Yahweh Rophe) will answer our prayers for them.
Have a blessed week,
Karen, CA
Oh my goodness there's a wealth in today's reading. So many thoughts and truths revealed. Wendy, and ladies, I've benefited from all you've written so far. Thank you for further nurishing my soul.
Although my pen has been writing fervently this morning, it was 1 Samuel 15:24 that led me to write my post this morning. Saul says, "I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded". How often has fear of the people dictated my actions? How often has people pleasing sacrificed being real, and holding to truth been sacrificed for being loved and accepted? A compromise is made, but the choice is wrong.
As a recovering people pleaser I feel Saul's fear and his attempt to earn the favour of man. A soul is lost to satisfy others.
I'm thankful to say, longer does the 'fear of the people' hold me captive. It may still steal seconds, but it does not demand my destiny.
Finally I'm learning to accept the Lord's unconditional love and the opinion of others, although still valuable, no longer validates my life.
""I have loved you with an everlasting love". Jer. 31:3
Resting in His love for me,
Joy
Morning ladies,
First I want to say that I also marked a lot of the same passages you all did. I have always liked the one where the Lord says that He looks at the heart and not at the outside. How often we judge based on the outside and not the inside. I know I was a very judgmental person years ago. It was rooted in my own insecurities of myself and I am so thankful that I know who I am in Christ. I still struggle sometimes with the line between being judgmental and when to confront about sin. I have a family situation that borders on that. I struggle with knowing if I am judging them or letting them continue in their sin that is taking them down the wrong path. Any thoughts?
I also marked in 15:22-23 where Samuel is telling Saul that the Lord wants obedience, not offerings and sacrifices. We can sacrifice time in church activities, serving, doing all kinds of things, but what God wants most from us is obedience to His voice. I may be doing all the "right" things on the outside, but am I walking in obedience to His voice? Again, he knows our hearts.
The last thing is the passage about God's spirit leaving Saul and Him sending a tormenting one. I read this passage for the first time a year or so ago and it confused me so much that I emailed Beth Moore at LPM to see if someone could explain it to me. I did get a response back, but it was saying that they did not have the chance to answer all the questions and urged me to seek my Pastor's council on it. I never did and here I am reading it again :) I struggled with this because it said that the Lord sent it. I guess when I read it this morning I saw how when God's Spirit left the tormenting one came upon him. He was walking with the Spirit and I imagine for it to leave him was a HUGE change in his life. I just finished a book by Karen Kingsbury called "When Joy Came to Stay." It is a great book and the subject is depression. It is about a woman who spirals downhill into a breakdown and ends up having to be in a mental hospital to get her life back and sort through her past. The book was so good and it dealt with how when we let things in our life build up and not deal with them it can cause us to break down. She had been basically lying to her husband the whole time they were married about having a child that she gave up for adoption during a year they were separated. It was just so good and it clearly showed in a fiction setting how the lies and the pain that we let fester in our hearts and minds can destroy us. I have learned that when you shine the light of truth on the dark places of your heart the bondage that has on your life is broken. After I had my son I spiraled downhill. The weight of the abuse, the relationship with my dad, the effects of all the bad choices I had made since then, the battles that plagued my mind from insecurity, people pleasing, impurity, all of it got me to a place where I had to seek counseling. I never took medication at that time, but I did go to counseling once a week and was in God's Word and the healing truth's He showed me help me to overcome my past and open up my whole self to my husband. As I healed our marriage healed. God had me facing many things that John did not know and were very hard to walk through, but God is faithful and as I walked through it and John and I walked through it, we are closer now than ever.
I am currently on a very low dose anti-depressant drug to help me sleep and to battle anxiety. Over this past year as MOPS Coordinator I have had major stress issues. I am a perfectionist through and through and although I know God had me doing MOPS for a reason, the stress it caused in my life was unbelievable. This week is our last meeting of the year and I will not be doing leadership anymore. I only have one more year to even be in the program anyway. I have learned that my personality does better in behind the scenes type service for God. I love sharing what God has done in my life and for me, but being in charge and the stress that goes with it is very hard. I don't think God wants us to have to be on medication to serve Him :) I think once I get to sleeping and the stress is taken off my shoulders I will be able to get back off the meds.
Ok, I wrote a novel, sorry :) Hope you all have a great day!
Wonderful point Joy on the people pleasing! I also made a note of that too as a recovering people pleaser myself!
Morgen, the danish swirls makes 32 little ones. I would say you would want at least two per person, they are kinda small once you cut the rolls in fourths. They are wonderful! Hope you all enjoy them :)
Every sickness and disease was nailed to the cross! We are no longer in bondage to sin, death sickness or disease.
We as children of the Most High God through the power of the Holy Spirit must believe the scriptures until they manifest in our lives. God knows the way we will take and when he is through with us we shall come forth as pure gold!
Whatever we do, let's keep our eyes on the promises of God! God is faithful to all who will call upon his name.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Debbie - North Carolina
Oh, thanks gals for your insights. Great reads... Karen I appreciated the "trials we endure for a little while" as a reason for some depression. Also, Brandee thanks for sharing your experience. That was very helpful to my questions.
You gals ROCK!!
Morgen
Also to Brandee: regarding your family situation whether to confront and weighing whether it seems judgemental to confront: is the person a Christian? That would make a big difference to me. As a believer we need to accept loving "spankings" from other Christians. Would you be able to do it in a loving way, and would they know you are coming from a biblical standpoint? If they are not believers, I think that's tougher. Do it after much prayer and petition and out of love only is what I'd suggest.
I have appreciated the dialoge bout depression. I have a freind who suffers from bouts of depression. I just couldn't understand why? She had a great family, a beautiful home, a loving husband, a job she liked. What does she have to be so depressed about. Even though I didn't understand it I would call her frequently tell her she was loved by God and so many people.
I judged he was missing in her life and tried to tell her how much God would help her through a relationship with him and prayer. Thinking perhaps I could talk her out of the darkness and bring her into the light.
Then at 50 I had my first bout of depression. It is in my family, but I never struggled with it myself the first 50 years.
It was an eye opening experience for me. It was the first time in my life I truly could not control my health. What bothered me the most was that I could not feel God's presence. It bothered me so much that I started a journal crying out for him. It lead me to the Psalms in the Bible. I wrote down verses that cried out to the Lord and placed them around the house. That's where I found him. I felt like I was in a dark deep hole and no matter how hard I tried to climb out I kept slipping and sliding. My physician referred me to a psychiatrist...(so embarrassing to me at the time) I was prescribed an anit-depressant and something for the terrible anxiety I was experiencing. He also had me make an appointment with a certain therapist from a counseling service within the practice. God works in wonderful ways and the therapist he referred me to was a Christian and she used scripture throughout our time together. She helped me understand that if you have the knowledge that God exists, and the faith to believe he is always there, even if you cannot feel his presence, there is always hope. I will never forget this and share it as often as I can with others. Why? did I experience depression? I truly believe it is from a chemical imbalance in my brain. All I know is that it served a purpose in my life. I was humbled to care for my mom in her dying days. Which I know I shared already. We were able to come full circle in our relationship during months I cared for her in our home...and was at peace when she passed away. I took a leave of absence from my job for a year and decided it was time to retire from the position I held for 23 years. You see I did not know how to let go of a job that had become so much a part of my life. I was starting to feel I needed to leave but I didn't know how and when. The depression became an out for me. Not the one I would have chosen...one more honorable would have been better. Once again a very humbling experience.
I think God knew I needed to be humbled to serve my mom...do I think he caused the depression ...No. do I think he allowed it in my life...perhaps...did he use it to bring positive outcomes in my life...you bet, I have no doubt. (Read Romans 8:28)
I went off the medication and suffered another bout a year ago...an even deeper depression. Once again, I was humbled. But this time I knew God was there...there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Both times my relationship with God became stronger. I learned soooo much.
I am currently on an anti-depressant and an axiety medication. I plan on staying on them this time. Some people need to take insulin for diabetes, blood pressure meds, heart meds, etc. truly taking meds for a chemical imbalance is not any different.
I am a believer in Therapy as well. I never thought I needed it if I had a relationship with God. He had already brought me through so much. However I believe he works through Dr's and therapists as well and places those people in our lives that build us up, encourage us, and help in the healing process. She also gave me some great gudidance info. when it comes to negative thinking. Look up "Cognitive Distortions". A wonderful tool to keep thoughts more positive. We all have one or some.
Perhaps I needed to experience depression so that I knew truly what struggles people have with it and that our circumstances are not always what cause it. I have boldy shared this struggle and how God powerfully is working in my life inspite of it or perhaps I should say because of it. Mental illness is so sadly misunderstood. It seems once I have shared my story others step forward and share their struggle or at least tell me someone they know has anxiety and depression. So I know I am not alone. I am so thankful to be in relationship with our Lord and Savior. He helps us walk through the valley of the shadow of death. (read Psalm 23). Brandee thank-you for your honest sharing of your struggles in life. I would not want to go back and relive some of those struggled times but I do know how much they have strengthened me and pulled even closer to our God.
Love from Debbie in Illinois
Deb, I struggled with telling my doctor what I was dealing with this past year. I kept thinking that being a Christian and so close to God I should not have trouble leaning on Him and I should not have so much stress. But it seemed the harder I tried the worse it got and I was breaking down. My health issues with the sinus infections contributed to it too. I felt like I was falling apart and I needed to sleep and the Trazadone has helped me get more rest and feel better. I pray to be off of it soon, but for right now I need to get my health on tract and I need it to keep me from being over stressed. I will lift you in prayer and know that I understand.
I wanted to pass on a link of a song that our worship Pastor and choir sang at service yesterday. I am sure some of you have heard it and have sung it at your church, but it was the first time I had ever heard it. I could not help but lift my hands and sob at the message of this song. The Power in the Name of Jesus! Through His name we have the victory! I am about to bust today, you ever feel so overwhelmed and close to God you feel like you are going to explode? I am there today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpE0sHWxBNQ&feature=related
Morgan, it is a LONG story and it is about my sister. Is she a Christian, honestly I don't know. I know she grew up in the same home I did and when I was a kid I was baptized but never understood about the relationship with Jesus that I have learned as an adult. I considered myself saved when I was 30 instead of when I was 10. I am just not sure where she is or if she knows and understands. It has been a matter of prayer for a long time. My niece, her daughter is now my little sister because my parents adopted her. She got pregnant again from another man and has moved in and and out with him the past 9 10 years. They did end up getting married and now live with his parents because they lost their apartment. Like I said it is just a long story. I pray for her and do my best in the relationship but we are so far apart and so different that it is a real struggle. Just not sure what to say to her most of the time.
Morgan, it is a LONG story and it is about my sister. Is she a Christian, honestly I don't know. I know she grew up in the same home I did and when I was a kid I was baptized but never understood about the relationship with Jesus that I have learned as an adult. I considered myself saved when I was 30 instead of when I was 10. I am just not sure where she is or if she knows and understands. It has been a matter of prayer for a long time. My niece, her daughter is now my little sister because my parents adopted her. She got pregnant again from another man and has moved in and and out with him the past 9 10 years. They did end up getting married and now live with his parents because they lost their apartment. Like I said it is just a long story. I pray for her and do my best in the relationship but we are so far apart and so different that it is a real struggle. Just not sure what to say to her most of the time.
Sorry for the double post :)
Thanks,Lori! :>
I have struggled with depression for a long time. I finally realized that I needed to see a Christian counselor. This has been the best thing for me because I've been able to go back and receive healing from a lot of past experiences from when I was a child. (sexual abuse, feeling abandoned, rejected, and my mom passing away). I had formed my own opinion and belief system about God that kept me in bondage. My depression was so bad that there were days I wanted to end everything. I would pray that God would just take me on. After revisiting "my past" and asking God to bring healing to a lot of areas in my life, my relationship with God has grown more than what I have ever thought that it would. I now know that I am his princess and my past he is going to use for his glory! I've already been able to help younger girls in my life. God will restore what the locusts have eaten! God is so incredibly good to us. As for depression now, I still struggle with it, but I am realizing that God breaks things off of me during this time and I have to totally rely on him. I am a work in progress, that's for sure...
One thing about depression medicine and antianxiety pills. I really believe that they leave you in a place of complacency. (feeling of self satisfaction, but unaware of trouble). I think these types of medications can leave you numb and not able to feel pain. Healthy people experience pain. To grow closer with Christ, sometimes we have to experience pain. I am not completely against them, but if they just cover up the pain, you may not be able to realize what God is trying to show you.
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis.
Thank you Brandee, Debbie, and Anonymous for sharing your stories.
Dear Lord,
You see us, you know us, you meet us in our circumstances. You love us, you fight for us, you hold a banner over us that declares us to be yours. You are everlasting, all knowing, all compassionate, all wise. Please hear the prayers of your children. Release us from our captivity. Instill our doctors, psychiatrists, psychologist, pastors, family and friends with wisdom, compassion, empathy, and truth that we may bear each other's burdens and share each other's sorrows. Bless these women for opening their hearts and sharing their stories. In the name of Jesus we pray,
Amen
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