The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 23 OCTOBER 2024 – TOPIC: FINISHING THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS
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THE DAILY FOUNTAIN
DAILY DEVOTIONAL OF THE
CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2024
TOPIC: FINISHING THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS
READ: 1 SAMUEL 15: 10-35 (NKJV)
15:10. Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
15:11. “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul [as] king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
15:12. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
15:13. Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed [are] you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
15:14. But Samuel said, “What then [is] this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15:15. And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
15:16. Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”
15:17. So Samuel said, “When you [were] little in your own eyes, [were] you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?
15:18. “Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
15:19. “Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
15:20. And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
15:21. “But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
15:22. Then Samuel said: “Has the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, [And] to heed than the fat of rams.
15:23. For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from [being] king.”
15:24. Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
15:25. “Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.”
15:26. But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
15:27. And as Samuel turned around to go away, [Saul] seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
15:28. So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, [who is] better than you.
15:29. “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He [is] not a man, that He should relent.”
15:30. Then he said, “I have sinned; [yet] honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”
15:31. So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
15:32. Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
15:33. But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
15:34. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
15:35. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
THE MESSAGE:
Because of his disobedience concerning the Amalekite mission, the Lord greatly regretted that He had made Saul king. Samuel went to Gilgal to confront Saul who claimed that he had performed the commandment of the Lord. But when Samuel asked Saul about the noises coming from the animals which he heard, Saul confessed that he had allowed the people to bring them to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel rebuked Saul for disobeying God’s command by bringing Amalek’s King, Agag and some animals back. As Samuel wanted te leave, Saul held his robe and it tore. At that Samuel informed Saul that God had torn the kingdom of Israel from him. At Saul’s insistence, Samuel remained for Saul to worship the Lord. But Samuel killed Agag in Gilgal and returned home to Ramah. Saul’s partial obedience was counted as disobedience by God, so Samuel had to finish the destruction of Agag that Saul spared.
Which of God’s businesses have you left unfinished? God may have told you to do something and you have not fully complied. Confess your sinful act and go on to complete your God-given task. Do you have any unfinished business in your home, school, Church or office? Stand now and finish it!
PRAYER: Help me dear Father; to finish what I have started
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