Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
The hubris that is within man’s heart to argue with God and with what God says is true can only stun our minds. The Word of God has many accounts of people who had clearly received God’s instructions and did the exact opposite. There is a corrupted instinct in mankind to want to take over something God said to do. We tend to want to rewrite God’s commands to suit our personal interpretation of what we deem relevant in what God said. Our egos are truly the enemy of our beings. We read in scripture the terrible choices that people make, even though they have been told not to make those choices. From Adam to ourselves, this has been going on forever.
King Saul was told exactly what to do. Here is the ‘WHY’ Saul was to destroy Amalek and his kingdom. 1Sam. 15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. The judgment that God wanted carried out upon Amalek and his kingdom was a strict instruction to destroy everyone and everything. 1Sam. 15:3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. As harsh as this instruction was, Saul had substituted his own opinion and interpretation for God’s Word. 1Sam. 15:9a 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.
Saul made the same choices in other situations where he would get a clear instruction from Samuel as to what God had said to do, and Saul would do something else. Like most people, Saul had a – What would people think? – fear in his life. 1Sam. 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men, and so I gave in to them. The peer pressure was too great for Saul, and the need to be accepted by men was greater than the need to be accepted by God. Many of us will buckle to peer pressure even though God’s Word is sending us in the opposite direction. At this point, our opinion becomes our God.
There does not seem to be any patience in our hearts to wait for the promises of God to take place. The Lord said that a time will come when the impatience of man will dictate their thoughts. 2Pet. 3:4 “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation. God is even accused of being slack with His promises because people live with the instant gratification that is prevalent in this world. 2Pet. 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. There is a four-hundred-year gap between the prophetic words of the Old Testament prophets promising a new covenant, and the time Jesus showed up to redeem mankind and give us a new covenant. God’s timing is hard to get our finite minds around, but all the promises of God are yes and amen. 2Cor. 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
God’s Word is infinitely more trustworthy than any human promise ever made. God Himself says He is not a liar and has no need to change His mind about that fact. Num. 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. We tend to value our opinion above all else. We claim that we are reasonable, and when given the honest facts about a belief, we will accept the truth and go on as perfect citizens in this world. No, not so. A lot of people will cling to the lie of their opinion that they have become part of, because they cannot face the fact that they were tricked or deceived into living a part of their lives in a false existence. One of the horrors that German civilians faced after the Second World War was admitting that their leadership had systematically tortured, robbed, and murdered millions of people of the Jewish race. It was only after the conquering armies had made the citizens help clean out the concentration camps of the piles of corpses, bones, and personal belongings that they started to change their beliefs. The lies they believed had been exposed by the shocking truth they faced.
We are living in an era of the ridiculous. We have become numbed by the fools, blaggards, and sycophants who are leading the chorus of praise for all that is outrageously decadent and obnoxious. Isa. 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Not only are the declarations of humanism bitter, but it has become rancid to the point that many want to check out of this world by committing suicide. The majority of the dissatisfaction within the heart of mankind is that people value their opinion above the Word of the Most High God. Even though people suffer from their ignorant choices, they would still rather sit on the throne of their heart than let God move onto that throne and rule in wisdom and righteousness. Our opinion is just an opinion, but God’s Word is life and life-giving. Choose life and live.
This is an excellent writing. Saul was not obedient to the instructions of God and therefore lost his kingship and his life. Our opinion will fade away but God’s Word will never die. Will you choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or will you choose your opinion.
Thank you for writing this!
Good question, Kathleen, Christ as your Lord, or your opinion?