Proverbs 3:5 Series

Last week, one of our main lessons was to consider God in everything. Let me ask this question, how involved is God in our lives today?? Can you give an example??

We are to consider God in everything because the Almighty Loving God is involved in our everything!

In our passage today, we will revisit how Jonathan considered God but more importantly how his father King Saul saw God’s involvement in his life.

How do we see God in our daily lives? What is really priority number one in our daily lives?

Before reading our passage, let us together pray our commitment to the Bible……

Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 14…. Read along with me v12-23…..

As we noted last week from v12-14, Jonathan considered God and God’s leading in his actions. God answered Jonathan’s request for a sign and God acted on His promise.

What did God do for Jonathan and his armor-bearer??

God protected Jonathan and his assistant and gave their enemy the Philistines into their hands.

Now, look again at v15….. What else did God do??

God made the Philistine army panic!

We’ll come back to Saul in a moment; let us also note from v23… What else did God do?? God rescued Israel against their enemy the Philistines! Rescue indicates a few things: God protected; God actually fought; and God won the battle!

God was completely involved with His Chosen People! This we know for sure because God tells us He was active in the lives of the Israelites! Jonathan knew God was active in his life; but what about his father Saul?

Isn’t it interesting what God also noted for us. God also noted for us what Saul did in v17-20! What did Saul do? Saul found out who started all the commotion. Saul started to seek God’s counsel.

But what do we note happened in v19-20? When Saul heard the enemy panicking more and more, Saul pulled away from seeking God and he went to battle with his army. Why did Saul do this? Saul thought the circumstances allowed him to do things on his own.

God tells us He was involved in the lives of the Israelites but God also tells us Saul stopped seeking God! God did not have to tell us what Saul did but He did; I believe to teach us a lesson. You see, Saul and the Israelites may have won the battle at that time (actually the battle was won by God) but look briefly at v52…. Saul’s life was bitter with an ongoing war! And we will note soon that God will take away Saul’s rule of Israel.

The lesson is simple isn’t it? Last week we noted that we are to consider God in everything through prayer, by His Word, and through circumstances. What can we do wrong? Like Saul, we can miss out on God’s awesome work when we start to seek God's counsel but then we just put God away as if we don't really need God!

We can summarize the lesson for us with our Scripture of the Week: Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Let us note that this command is not just a one time thing; we need to trust the Lord always and not lean on our own understanding!

We can be hard on Saul, but like Saul, how often do we lean on our own understanding and not only miss out on the awesome work of God but also end up bitter in life? Note that when we are bitter, those around us will be bitter as well. Are there areas in our lives in which we just lean on our own understanding?

Before we worship with our Offerings, let us quietly ponder and pray to the Lord about areas in our lives. Do I truly consider Jesus Christ’s involvement before I take action with my:

- relationships

- work/education

- finance

- appearance

- entertainment

- rest & relaxation

- food and drink

Spend some time with god right now.