Miracles alone cannot give life change

Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” - 1 Sam 19:22-24

iv. A person can be affected by the power of God (resulting in amazing experiences), but not surrendered to the power of God, which results in a change of life. - Guzik

Saul prophesying was remarkable because he had been so nonspiritual. Yet God was able to use him in a miraculous way. I'm often skeptical of people that perform miracles or have especially observable spiritual gifts because I know it doesn't mean they are any closer to God than I am - only that God would like to use them in that instance. I wonder about their true spiritual condition because I know the danger of being able to be used by God but not surrendering to Him.

When I look at my own life I plead, "God, I hope that I am not one of these that can be used by you for an amazing experience, but is not surrendered to you." Leading worship on Sundays or at whatever event can be performance based. That is, you perform because you have to, and in His grace He grants you a remarkable time.

I want to be unquestionably surrendered and experience life change. That is the kind of life I want to have and I could care less if I perform miracles.

Old Places

And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him. Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night. 1 Samuel 19

David never returned to the palace until he was king of Israel - some 20 years later! From now until the day Saul dies and David is crowned, David lives his life as a fugitive. - Guzik

After I moved away from my family in Orange County I would return every so often, and less and less as the years went by. I grew up in my grandparents' house, which was different than the house my family lived at. It had been several years since I had seen it so I took a drive over. The large house had been abandoned for nearly 10 years. In the back yard stood the remains of the wooden patio we would often play in as kids. The north fence still had a kind of dirt berm that used to be the junk pile area.
I remember the sin that happened there - my abuse as a child. "Oh Father, the sin that is on this land: forgive it and restore it to what you want it to be." And He has.

David's return to the palace after 20 years must have evoked some serious memories. "Oh God, the sin contained in these walls: forgive and restore." And so the Lord had.

Decision Making

1 Samuel 14:15 (NKJV) 15 And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling.

Ministry - it truly is a series of difficult conversations. How I would love to pray, "Oh God, make everything perfect," but then, where was my part? In the praying? Was there something more that I could have done?

In the past I have postponed decisions to the last possible second so I would feel the most informed. A failure to act can have worse consequences than making a bad initial choice.

I work with our musicians and when one of them is struggling in skill and performance how do you approach that situation? My hope is that he would get better on his own. Or perhaps I can send him training material. No, I must speak with them and intervene. After I have boldly made a decision and acted on it, as Jonathan did, I can say, "I've done what I can."

Often we wait around for God to do what we can do. But God will often do miracles - what He alone can do - if we will do what we can do. - David Guzik

Peer Pressure

Then [Saul] waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering.
- I Samuel 13:8-9

Saul took matters into his own hands when he saw the people scatter. Leaders need to maintain stability for their people. When the people sway (and they will sway) you need to remain steadfast to what the Lord would have you to do. Even if all the people left, Saul's whole organization crumbling, it would have been better for him to remain faithful to the Lord. The consequence - the Lord had planned to bless him with someone on his throne forever, but now he will lose that honor. It amazes me, the sins we think are so small and the large consequences they have. His children would die (including Jonathan!) and the throne would be passed on. Oh what a different world it would have been if Saul had remained faithful one more hour.

We might just imagine that in the early part of the week, Saul explained his thinking in a pep talk to the troops: “Men, we’re going into battle against the Philistines. They have more men, more chariots, more horses, and better swords and spears than we have.” So we have to trust God and make a quick attack before they can get organized. Soon Samuel will come and lead us in sacrifice before God. Then we’ll go out and whip the Philistines!” But it didn’t happen like that. The days dragged on, and Samuel hadn’t come yet. The troops were losing confidence in Saul as a leader, and beginning to scatter. Saul felt he was in a lot of trouble! - David Guzik

Teamwork Insights

Jon Wee, & Owen Morse. (2007). Juggling People - Secrets for Successful Teams. Cost Engineering, 49(8), 38-39.  Retrieved February 6, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1331814561).

If you want to see true teamwork in action, watch a two-person juggling act. After all, there are few activities where you count on your partner more than, say, throwing chain saws to each other. Do the wrong thing or send the wrong signal, and things come crashing noisily to the ground... or worse. But when two jugglers are working well as a team-when they're communicating and cooperating and each is doing his or her role perfectly-a rhythm happens. Each person thrives on the others good work, and compensates for each others mistakes. This give and take, complete with sharp knives flying through the air, is like when a company's team is firing on all cylinders.

Seckel, S. (2007). Characteristics and Responsibilities of Successful e-Learners. Journal of Instruction Delivery Systems, 21(2), 22-26. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

E-learners must convert the “here I am, teach me”
frame of mind into a “here I am, let’s learn together”
mindset (McCormick, 2004) in order to elevate their
individual and collective potential success while
becoming comfortable with how to learn through
online communications.

Deuteronomy 13

If...your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers...you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.

I was going through a struggle in my faith to the point of considering suicide. My best friend asked me a series of impersonal questions to determine how serious I was about any self destructive behavior. His query grieved me; I thought he didn't care about my crisis except that I didn't hurt myself.

He did the right thing. His commitment was to doing what was right regardless of how I felt.

This is the closest example I can think of where righteousness has been exercised over the allegiance of a friendship. It is weak in comparison to having to kill one's own friend. It is discouraging to imagine putting my best friend to death—to tell everyone of his error and to throw the first stone. I think that after the loss of my friend it would cause me to attempt to draw close to God seeking comfort in knowing that He is righteous.


Eliminating sin from the population prevents the population's destruction. I can not think of any biblical examples where this law was carried out.

Numbers

In the past I have remembered the book of Numbers as only containing seemingly uninteresting lists of procedures, names and numbers. After a careful second look I have found some exciting events and verses capturing the hearts of Moses, the people of Israel and God each for one another. Other information it contains are laws regarding vows, offerings, feasts, and complaints of Israel.

Numbers records six major instances of complaints against God by Israel during their time in the wilderness from the first census in chapter three. The format for most of their griping is as follows: the people complain; Moses has a reaction; God sends a judgment; the people repent.
These are the complaints:
The people complain to Moses about their circumstances and some are consumed by fire until Moses prays for them. They complain about having no meat so God sent quail—lots of quail. Moses complains to God about the people here (11).
Aaron and Miriam complain about not being used by God like Moses, Miriam is then struck with leprosy. Moses demonstrates great compassion toward her in asking for her healing (12).
The people complain about the spies' report and their fear of dying—those who complained are sentenced to die in the wilderness. Moses' response is to ask for forgiveness on the people from God noting that God's reputation might be damaged (14).
In a rebellion similar to Miriam, Korah rebels complaining about Moses and Aaron being in charge and having special access to God. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with others were swallowed up by the earth. Here, Moses asks God not to honor Korah and the rebels' offerings to show that they are not the ones chosen to represent God to the people. The people complain about Korah being judged and a plague kills 14,700 of them before Moses instructs Aaron to make atonement for the people (16).
The people complain about having no water. Here, Moses strikes the rock twice and receives the sentence of not being able to lead the people into the promised land (20).
The people complain about being in the wilderness and God judges them with the fiery serpents. Moses prays for the people at their request, then makes a bronze serpent at which they may look to receive healing (21).
God notes that including their complaining in chapter 14 some of the people had already tested him ten times.

My initial reaction to their complaining is to ask, "Why didn't they just trust God to provide their food, land and leadership?" Then I realize that whenever I sin, I am not trusting God to provide for my needs. If my sin is to lie, perhaps my complaint is, "God, why did you put me in this situation where I might look bad?" If I commit adultery my complaint might be, "God, why haven't you satisfied me with a wife or a wife that pleases me?"
I think I will try to verbalize these complaints when I am tempted to sin in the future. God will likely respond to my complaint which may cause me to cling to Him.

Concerning Moses' reactions the only pattern I see is the frequency with which he turns to God, falling on his face and seeking counsel from God. He truly had a personal relationship with God and was consistent in seeking God's will. During half of the instances he shows great compassion for the people and the other half he shows his anger. One interesting verse on the matter is in 12:3 "(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)"

There are several illustrative stories in Numbers: the guiding of the cloud with the appearance of fire around the tabernacle (9), Miriam being struck with leprosy (12), the spying out of the land (13), the Amalekites defeating Israel (45), Korah and his followers being swallowed by the earth (16), Aaron's blossoming rod confirming his divine calling (17), the donkey speaking to Balaam, Phinehas thrusting a man and woman through with a spear to stop a plague (25), and information on the cities of refuge (35).

Some of my favorite verses from this book are below.

11:23 "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.'"

14:12 "I [God] will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit [Israel], and I will make of [Moses] a nation greater and mightier than they."

Personally, I would have taken the deal God was offering Moses above. Moses ended up asking God to forgive them. Moses may have shown grace in knowing his own tendency to sin.

14:18 "The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression: but He by no means clears the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation."