BEWARE OF INCONSISTENCY
INTRODUCTION:
We will continue our series on the Book of 1 Samuel.
We are now in the second half of chapter 14.
We will be focusing our lessons on the inconsistencies displayed by the decisions of King Saul.
His inconsistencies as the King brought about harmful consequences to Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
The word "Inconsistency" means a person who is living a life of contradiction.
I was speaking one time to a friend whom I have not seen for a long time.
I asked him, "Are you a Christian?"
He said, "Yes, I am"
I asked, "Have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior!
"Yes, I am"
"Do you smoke?"
"Yes. I do."
"Do you still think liquor?"
"Yes. I still do!"
A person is inconsistent if what he believes is not compatible to his action.
To Christians, inconsistency in life is very detrimental or harmful to our testimony for the cause of Christ.
According to the Barna research, 86% of teens claim that they are Christians but they act differently.
Out of those who claim they are Christians, only 34% are born again.
And only 3 out of 5 say that they believe the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches.
At the same time, many Christians embrace the views that are inconsistent with what the Bible says.
For instance, two out of three stated that Satan is not a living being.
They believe that Satan is merely a symbol of evil.
That is being inconsistent with what the Bible says.
Also, about 60% argued that a good person could earn eternal salvation through good deeds.
That is incorrect.
We are saved by faith alone not of works lest anyone should boast.
Brothers and sisters, beware of inconsistencies from what the Bible teaches.
People close to us are hearing what we are saying and watching what we are doing.
When they see a fault line to our words or actions, they will have a negative outlook on Christianity altogether.
When this happens, our Christian witness will be weakened and become ineffective.
That is why we must beware of any inconsistency in our profession of faith with what the Bible says.
We must be watchful between the discrepancy of our words and actions.
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) "Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."
Christ is consistent.
Christ does not change.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We must do the same.
We must be consistent in living holy lives for the rest of our lives.
We must be consistent in abhorring evil.
We must be consistent in doing our utmost service for God.
We must be consistent in believing the foundational truths from the Bible.
When we are consistent with our Christian testimony, our outlook for the rest of the New year will always be great.
Regardless of the many trials and difficulties we will go through this New year, we can face them all with courage.
Regardless of the many temptations we face, we can overcome them all because we are consistent.
I cam upon a cartoon regarding the inconsistency of a company executive.
The man said, "The shipment will be delayed. We were supposed to order the trucks to get loaded at 9:00 a.m., but we accidentally ordered the truckers to get loaded at 9:00 a.m."
They were so used to a delayed shipment.
And so, when finally, they were on time in loading the truck, they considered this as an accident.
Inconsistency is a habit we need to break if we want a properous New Year.
Somebody said, "It is hard to trust honesty of inconsistent person."
Indeed, when a person is inconsistent, it is very hard to trust him really.
And so, we need to look for people who are honest, consistent and trustworthy.
People who can be trusted from the beginning until the end.
And that is why we must learn from the life of King Saul and his fall from grace.
What made him inconsistent in life and how can we avoid such inconsistencies of life?
We have been following his life for many months now.
We all know that he was the first King of Israel chosen by God and anointed by priest Samuel to lead the people of Israel.
The entire legacy of his kingship lies in his hands.
And yet, he mishandled it.
In fact, he started well as a good king, but after some time, he wavered in his personal integrity and his spirituality.
He started to deviate from the original plan of God and made many foolish decisions that affected his judgment, his decision making and ultimately his kingdom.
Today, we will look closely at the latter portion of chapter 14 where we find him binding the people under oath so that they could not fight back the enemy.
WHAT WAS WRONG WITH KING SAUL
1. HE MADE A FOOLISH DECISION.
1 Samuel 14:24-30 "24 Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food. 25 The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. 26 When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out; yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. 28 Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.” 29 Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”
In these verses, we find the Israelites in distress because of their King.
He told them something that will not be much help for his troops in fighting the Philistines.
Instead of giving his soldiers the much needed encouragement and motivating them to victory, King Saul put them in great anguish.
Unknown to him, he was in fact paralyzing them for battle.
Why? What did King Saul said to them?
He said in vs 24, "Cursed be anyone who eat food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies."
He was binding the people under oath not knowing that they were becoming weak in battle.
They needed food to eat in order to have energy for battle, but he was taking that away from them.
That was a very foolish decision for a king to make.
How can his solders fight the enemy with an empty stomach?
It was inconsistent to his leadership as their king.
And so, when the entire army entered the woods and found honey on the ground, they were in great distress.
But for fear of the oath, no one dared to eat the much needed energy food.
They just stared at the honey oozing out of the honeycomb.
No one put his hand to his mouth because they were bound and paralyzed by the oath from their king.
However, Jonathan, Saul's son had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath.
It is true that what you don't know won't hurt you.
And so, he reached out the honeycomb with the end of his staff and ate.
When he raised his hand to his mouth, his eyes brightened and he regained his physical strength.
The people just watched him ate.
It was then that one of the soldiers told him the oath that his father gave them.
“Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.”
And Jonathan knew right away that his father created the trouble for the entire country.
King Saul made a foolish decision.
If only they were allowed to eat the honeycomb, their eyes would have brightened and their strength replenished.
If only they were not bound by that foolish oath, they would have plundered their enemies and the slaughter to the Philistines would have been great.
You see, the inconsistency in the life of King Saul was detrimental to their victory.
That is why we must beware of any inconsistency in our lives if we want to live victoriously.
We must beware of making foolish decisions.
This brings us to Lesson No. 1.
IN ORDER TO AVOID MAKING FOOLISH DECISIONS, WE MUST TRUST GOD'S COUNSEL.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight."
The reason why King Saul made a foolish decision is that he did not trust in the counsel of God.
He acted on his own.
He followed his own selfish instinct.
He was thinking more about taking revenge against his enemy through his own reasoning.
And the only way to do that is to bind his troops with an oath so that they will keep on pursuing the enemy until the work is done.
He had a good intention, but he did not know that this oath was backfiring and all the more weakening his entire army.
This oath became a curse to his own troops not a blessing.
If only he trusted on God to give him victory.
In the same way, God does not want us to make foolish decisions in life.
Because every foolish decisions we make will always backfire.
And every foolish decision we make is a sign of our inconsistency to the cause of Christ.
God wants us to trust on His good counsel in order to overcome making foolish decisions.
We must trust the Lord with all our heart.
We must not lean on our own understanding.
In every thing we do, we must learn to submit to Him and God will make our paths straight.
There was a story of a Massachusetts doctor and Harvard graduate who was suspended for leaving a patient on the operating table.
He was midway through spinal surgery when he left the patient.
The reason? He wanted to deposit a check at his local bank.
At that time, there was no on line bank transaction yet.
The state board of medicine said that this doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, posed “an immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare.”
In fact, he left the patient with an open incision in his back.
At the same time, the doctor left behind a surgeon who was not qualified to complete the surgery.
After his 35-minute trip to the bank, the doctor returned to the operating room and finished the surgery within a few hours.
But the doctor’s license to practice medicine in Massachusetts was suspended by the board.
Of course, he will have a chance to appeal the decision.
But this is another example that much schooling does not necessarily bring wisdom.
They might be wise in their own eyes but not before the eyes of God.
Because true wisdom comes from the Lord alone.
And our daily decisions will determine our ultimate destiny.
Your life tomorrow will be the direct result of the decisions you make today.
And so, we must trust God's counsel for our lives this 2017.
Read God's Word and gain wisdom.
Proverbs 28:26 Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
We have learned first of all that King Saul made a foolish decision as a sign of his inconsistency.
But we can avoid making foolish decision by trusting on the everlasting Word of God.
2. HE WAVERED BACK AND FORTH MAKING DECISION.
1 Samuel 14:31-39 "31 That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Mikmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. 32 They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. 33 Then someone said to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that has blood in it.” “You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.”34 Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still in it.’” So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this.36 Saul said, “Let us go down and pursue the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive.” “Do whatever seems best to you,” they replied. But the priest said, “Let us inquire of God here.” 37 So Saul asked God, “Shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel’s hand?” But God did not answer him that day. 38 Saul therefore said, “Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today. 39 As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives, even if the guilt lies with my son Jonathan, he must die.” But not one of them said a word.
There was a story of two men had an argument.
To settle the matter, they went to a judge for arbitration.
The plaintiff made his case.
He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning.
When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, "That's right, that's right."
On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, "Wait a second, judge, you haven't even heard my side of the case yet."
So the judge told the defendant to state his case.
And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent.
When he finished, the judge said, "That's right, that's right."
When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, "Judge, they both can't be right."
The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, "That's right, that's right."
The judge wavered from one position to another.
To waver means to shift from one opinion to another, to be indecisive, or to hesitate.
And that is what King Saul did.
Notice that in verse 31, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines, they were all exhausted from battle.
And so, they pounced on the plunder and butchered all the cattle and the sheep they could find and and ate them together with the blood.
When King Saul was told about what his troops did, He reprimanded them that they had broken faith.
But this was not about the oath that he said, but about his troops eating meat with the blood in it.
He was wavering from his original position.
He was blaming his troops that they have sinned against God for eating meat with the blood in it.
He was not taking responsibility for his own foolish decision.
Saul wanted to continue the battle with a night raid on the Philistines.
As a leader, he should have been the one to suggest that they pray about it first.
But we read that it is the priest who brings up the matter of prayer.
However, when they inquire of God, they do not receive an answer.
Saul reasoned that one of his men has sinned.
And so, he makes an additional oath that whoever it is, even if it is his own son, Jonathan, he must die.
He keeps on adding one burden after another to his men.
What an inconsistency for a King.
This brings us to Lesson No. 2 WE MUST NOT MAKE PROMISES THAT WE CAN'T KEEP.
The problem with King Saul is that he made promises that he was no able to keep.
And those promises involved his entire troops.
And so, when it backfired, everyone was affected including his son, Jonathan.
Many times, we do the same thing.
We make a lot of promises to others and many promises are made to us.
Sadly, too many promises are broken on both ends of the equation.
We break our promises to one another.
We break our promises to God.
But God never breaks a promise to us.
He never waver.
He never change His mind.
Numbers 23:19 (NKJV) " “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?
I came upon this quote from Lessons Learned in Life:
"If you made a promise, keep it.
If you have love, cherish it.
If you said you would call, do it.
If someone confided in you, respect it.
If you did wrong, apologize for it.
If you want trust, earn it."
That is what consistency in life is all about.
When we follow Christ in our lives, we become consistent Christians.
It all starts with a new believer attending and participating in worship to God.
Then, he becomes faithful in the solid Biblical teaching ministry of the church.
Then, he learns how to pray, how to read His Bible, how to study, meditate and memorize God's Word.
Then, he discover the necessity of fellowship, of service to God and witnessing his faith to the lost.
Consistency is an ongoing process of transformation in our mind and character through God's Word.
Consistency is a lifetime achievement.
We are consistent in church attendance.
We are consistent in our giving.
We are consistent in our service.
We are consistent in our holy living.
We are consistent in our private and public lives.
Consistency does not happen instantly or suddenly but it takes time and great effort to achieve.
Here is another quote:
"People with good intentions make promises but people with good character keep them."
It is our character that will prove that we are consistent in everything we do.
And it is our character that we need to develop consistently.
The Scripture also tells us:
Ecc. 5:2-5 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few."
Be careful with what you say or promise.
Always keep them because God hears everything you say.
So far, we have learned that
King Saul made a foolish decision.
But we can avoid making foolish decision by trusting on God's Word.
Secondly, we learned that King Saul wavered back and forth in making a decision.
But we can avoid wavering by not making promises that we can't keep.
God never breaks a promise.
3. HE HAD DIFFICULTY DEFENDING HIS OWN SON.
1 Samuel 14:40-46 40 Saul then said to all the Israelites, “You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here.”
“Do what seems best to you,” they replied. 41 Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim, but if the men of Israel are at fault,[d] respond with Thummim.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. 42 Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son.” And Jonathan was taken. 43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” So Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now I must die!” 44 Saul said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan.” 45 But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death. 46 Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land. The third thing that King Saul did was that he had difficulty defending even his own son, Jonathan.
In these verses, we find Saul wanting to know who had sinned among them.
And so, he and his son Jonathan stood on one side while all the people stood on the other side.
If the fault was on him and Jonathan, the Lord will respond by Urim.
If the fault was on the men of Israel, the Lord will respond with Thummin.
Then, Jonathan and Saul was taken by lot while the men were cleared.
And when the lot was cast between him and Jonathan, Jonathan was taken.
When Saul asked Jonathan what he had done, Jonathan responded that he tasted the honey with his staff.
And this was in violation to the oath he bound Israel from the start.
Saul was determined that his son Jonathan must die.
He did not even tried to defend his own son.
He did not even consider the great deliverance that Jonathan did for Israel against the Philistines.
He did not even consider that Jonathan was not there when he made an oath.
In a sense, Jonathan, was completely innocent.
But Saul still insisted that he had to die.
This was inconsistent for Saul being his father.
And Jonathan, out of his own integrity, accepted his fate.
However, it was Saul's men who interceded and asked to spare the life of Jonathan.
It was his men who said that not a hair of his head will fall to the ground.
King Saul was wrong, but he was NOT willing to admit it.
What mattered to him only was himself and not the people that he loved.
This brings us to Lesson No. 3: In Order to be consistent, WE MUST BE WILLING TO ADMIT WHEN WE ARE WRONG.
Admitting we are wrong requires humility and confession of sin.
This is the only thing that will make us right with God and correct our inconsistencies.
Because when we admit we are wrong, we do not blame others.
We take the responsibility for our sins not to get away from it.
An author said:
"There are three things you should never break: 1) TRUST, 2) PROMISES and 3) HEARTS.
King Saul broke these three things by his inconsistencies.
There was a story of two college roommates.
They just had a very tough exam and decided to go to the campus tavern to have a few beers and relax.
When they parked the car, the rider pointed out a sign that prohibited parking in that area.
Since he usually lent the money to pay off his roommate’s large collection of parking fines, he was annoyed.
“Don’t worry,” the driver assured him. “I won’t be getting any more parking tickets ever again.”
“How do you figure that?” the other retorted sarcastically.
“Well, I looked at the problem scientifically, collected the variables, studied the data and came up with the solution that will eliminate any further encounters with the law.”
As he walked away, he added, “I took the windshield wipers off the car.” (Reader’s Digest, “Campus Comedy,” 1982.)
That’s a classic example of how we wrongly attempt to deal with our sin!
Quite often we go right on sinning, but we try to skirt around the consequences of the sin.
Instead of dealing with the real problem, we work overtime at inventing ways to get away with it.
Job understood this when he said in the last chapter of that Book.
Job 42:1 (God's Word translation) "Job speaks: "I admit that I was wrong. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will ask you, and you will teach me. 5 I had heard about you with my own ears, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. 6 That is why I take back what I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry.”
Job admitted that he was wrong in his outlook with God.
Job admitted that God's ways are beyond understanding.
He said, "I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry."
He even prayed for his friends who criticized him severely.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job twice as much as he had before.
He was a man who was consistent with all that he does in spite of the difficulties he went through in life.
Here is another quote for us to think about:
"To admit that you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before."
When we confess, we do not cover our sins.
We do not blame others.
But we admit and expose our own sins.
When we accept our own responsibility for our sins, we overcome our inconsistency and we grow spiritually.
That is what King Saul never learned to do.
That is why he keeps on getting lower and lower.
CONCLUSION: You are building a life one day at a time, and God is looking for consistency.
Are you consistent in Bible reading, consistent in prayer, consistent in church attendance, consistent in Christian fellowship, consistent in giving and consistent in sharing your faith?
God is looking for reliable men and women who will serve him faithfully all the days of their life.
Yes, through Christ’s death for us on the cross, there is forgiveness for us when we fall.
And yes, God’s grace covers all of our failures and all of our sins.
But let us strive for consistency in our walk with God all the rest of our days.
Let me end with this verse:
1 Corinthian 4:2 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
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