Hell-Bent: I Did it My Way!

 

I Did it My Way

Have you ever decided that you were going to do something your way regardless of what anyone else says or does?  Sometimes people do things their own way, when they are well aware that God would not want them to act in this way, but they go ahead and do what is in their mind to do.  There are those who think they know better than God, how, or what to do in a given situation. So they choose to do things their way instead of God’s way, and somehow they’ve convinced themselves that God will see it their way.  Let’s consider the story of an Israelite King that decided to do it his own way.

The king’s name was Saul.  He was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel the prophet to be king over Israel.  When he was little in his own eyes he did fine, but there came a time when he got big in his own eyes and decided to start doing things his own way.  He was told to totally destroy the Amalekites for the way they had treated Israel.  He was not to spare a man, women, child, or animal.  He went out and defeated the Amalekites; he killed all the people, but he spared the king, Agag, and the best of the sheep, cattle, lambs, and all that was valuable.  But everything that was worthless he utterly destroyed. 

To Lord spoke to Samuel the prophet saying, I regret that I have made Saul King of Israel.  The prophet was angry and cried out to the Lord all night long for Saul.  The next morning he went to meet the king.  Upon arriving someone told Samuel that Saul had gone to Carmel to build a monument to himself.  This is what happens when we get so big in our own eyes that we do things our way despite Godly counsel or the Word of God.  But notice, you still see the man of God crying out to God all night in prayer for a backslidden king. 

Finally Samuel catches up to Saul, and Saul says to the man of God: “May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.”  Samuel then asked: “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle that I hear?”  Saul said: “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the “people” spared the best of the sheep and cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.  Notice now in Saul’s answer, he doesn’t use the word “I”, he uses the word “They”—you see, it’s always someone else’s fault when we choose to disobey God. 

And then, there is always some great excuse: “They spared these animals to sacrifice them to the Lord”.  Right!  Samuel had heard enough of this self-righteous king’s rationalization of his disobedience.  He said: “Stop! Be quiet!  I’ve heard enough.  Why have you swooped down on the spoil, and done what was evil in the sight of the Lord?  Of course Saul rants on about his righteousness saying: "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” 

The question must be asked: Why did you bring Agag back?  He is an Amalekite, in fact, the king of the Amalekites, and he was supposed to be killed.  Oh, but Saul was doing this thing his own way.  Samuel responded to this by saying:  1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NRSV) "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the LORD? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. ²³ For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

Like Saul, many people have decided to take matters into their own hands and do things their own way without regard to what the man of God said or what the Word of God says.  They are bent on doing it their way—a more fitting term would be: They are “hell-bent” on doing it their way.  Whether it’s tipping God rather than tithing (tithe means 10%), or coming to church only when I feel like it, you know, once in a blue moon.  It may be a bad attitude or un-forgiveness, but whatever it is, you’ve decided to do it your way.

Well, let me show the end result of the man that done it his way.  Samuel turned away from Saul to leave after rebuking him; Saul wanted the man of God to go with him, but Samuel said no.  As the man of God was walking away Saul grabbed his (Samuel’s) robe to hold him back, it tore his robe.  Samuel turned around and looked Saul in the eye and said: “The Lord has torn the Kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

To be continued…

Mike Sanes 

Pastor, The Harbor Worship Center