Post Sunday March 29 2009

1 Samuel 13:11-12 "What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

A great picture yesterday of the destructive nature of Pride and Envy that Pastor Mike put forth for us and the evident reasons for wanting to leave it behind! The verses above start out with those four words that normally aren’t put together because a compliment is about to follow. “What have you done?” How many times have you heard that sentence? It is normally asked because there is a mess that you made that now needs to be cleaned up or someone is pointing out that we are in a place in our life that is just downright bad news. King Saul finds himself in that situation being asked “What have you done?” The what he did was disobey the command of God. Read the whole chapter to get a better picture, but focus in on Saul’s response to Samuel question in verses 11 and 12. Do you see his answer….

“I saw…”
“I thought…”
“I felt…”

The major issue of Pride and Envy was that “I” factor, the “me” factor, the need to live and reign in “Meville.” It is that protecting ourselves, making ourselves look good, exalting ourselves and convincing ourselves and others that if we had “this” or “that” that we would be so much better.

Here is the difficulty with this thinking:

1 Chronicles 28:9 "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

God knows exactly what is going on within our hearts. He knows exactly why we are attempting to paint ourselves in this light or this shade of color. He knows exactly why we tell people that if we had this position or if we had this amount of money that then we would, or if only we would have known about this then….and you fill in the blank, I know I can fill in my blank with numerous answers I’ve given over the years. But the truth of the matter is God knows exactly what my heart is thinking and why it is thinking it. It amazes me sometimes why I even try to continue on with the charade because God knowing my heart is sort of like this…

We have all been watching TV when suddenly there is a breaking news story and the News Copter is following a police chase. They are becoming more and more common place on TV. There is typically the criminal driving over 100 MPH weaving in and out of traffic on the highway and the police car or cars following after him (it is always a “him” not to be chauvinistic but there has only been one Thelma and Louise).

Now we are just sitting eating our bowl of cereal waiting for the guy to drive into a roadblock, or to lose control of the car or pull over somewhere and start to run, but we know that even if the police lose him, the helicopter won’t, so we are just thinking it is only a matter of time before this guy gets caught. But what about the guy in the car? What is he thinking? His foolishness keeps his foot on the accelerator because he is thinking, I can get out of this, if I can only shake this police car. What he is failing to realize is that the entire nation can see him on CNBC right now, it isn’t what is directly in his rear view mirror it is what is watching him from above, his every move is being watched. It is only a matter of time.
King Saul fell into that trap. He only saw, he only thought and he only felt what he wanted to see, think and feel. He failed to wait a moment in order to ask God what He saw, ask God what He thought in order to better drive his own personal feelings to that of God’s feelings and will. God has a wider view of the picture, in fact He has the whole picture fully in focus at all times. Take a step back before you allow pride to spur you on to something or before you allow envy to consume your heart.

I really appreciated Pastor Mike’s honesty when he shared the story of his time as a police officer and how he was not given a position within the force that he wanted and he almost acted out in pride but stopped himself and because he did God granted him a wider view of the picture and Mike was able to see the good in the situation as opposed to only his pride and potential future envy. Before you act out in pride, take a step back. Hold back the words that are about to come out of your mouth. Hold back on telling everyone how you know this or that. Take a step back and let God search your heart and let God give you a wider view of what is going on.

If pride and envy haven’t already caught up with you to burn you, they will. Stay humble before God and others and allow God to exalt you in His due time and when He does you’ll have that bird’s eye view and be able to see a much larger view of the landscape. You’ll be grateful for it too…..

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. Do you have someone in your life that you trust enough to ask them if you are overly prideful or envious? Are you willing to ask them?
2. What are some practical steps you can take to leave behind your unnecessary pride and envy?

pastor e