Topic: God’s Ordained Authority [Charles Stanley Daily Devotional 13 November 2019]

God has our best interests in mind. His plans for each believer are meant to bring fullness of life. Yet He didn’t create us to be robots, programmed to blindly follow Him. No, the Lord grants us the choice of whether to obey Him. Our human nature tends to choose a self-centered path that turns away from God’s authority. But in doing so, we miss His best for us.

Consider the life of Saul. God chose this man to be king and provided guidelines for him to follow. Though Saul knew the Lord’s instructions, he chose to do things his own way. At times his sin was unquestionably deliberate, such as his attempt to kill David out of jealousy. At other times, however, his rebellion seemed less clear-cut. For example, despite God’s order to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites and their animals, Saul spared the best of the herd, with the justification that he intended “to sacrifice [them] to the Lord” (1 Sam. 15:3, 15:21).

The choice to disobey cost Saul the throne and eventually led to his destruction. He chose the road that he thought was best, but as we know now, the end result wasn’t worth it. We can learn from his mistakes. Partial obedience is actually disobedience. And any disobedience falls in the category of rebellion, which is sin.

Though our circumstances are different from Saul’s, we face the same types of choices each day. We’re just as vulnerable to the lure of temptation. But if we choose to live God’s way, the Holy Spirit will help us follow His lead and listen for His voice. And there we will find fullness of life.

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