OPEN
HEAVEN DEVOTIONAL FOR TODAY
VESSELS
UNTO DISHONOUR
MEMORISE:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise". Psalms 51:17
READ: 1 Samuel 15:1-28 (KJV)
1 Samuel also said unto Saul,
The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now
therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the
way, when he came up from Egypt.
3
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them
not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and
ass.
4 And Saul gathered the people
together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten
thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of
Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
6 And Saul said unto the
Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you
with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came
up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 And Saul smote the Amalekites
from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
8
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all
the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people
spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but
every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
11 It repenteth me that I have
set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not
performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord
all night.
12 And when Samuel rose early
to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel,
and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone
down to Gilgal.
13
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I
have performed the commandment of the Lord.
14 And Samuel said, What
meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the
oxen which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They have
brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep
and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have
utterly destroyed.
16 Then Samuel said unto Saul,
Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lordhath said to me this night. And he said
unto him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said, When thou
wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of
Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
18 And the Lord sent thee on a
journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight
against them until they be consumed.
19 Wherefore then didst thou
not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in
the sight of the Lord?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel,
Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord
sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed
the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the
spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly
destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the
voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin
of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy
words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, I pray thee,
pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I
will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the
Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27 And as Samuel turned about
to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
28 And Samuel said unto him,
The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it
to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
BIBLE
IN ONE YEAR:
Hosea 5-9
MESSAGE:
Amongst the people you find in
church, some are unto honour while others are unto dishonour, as we see in 2
Timothy 2:20: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of
silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to
dishonour.
God, however, is not the One
who makes some vessels unto honour and others unto dishonour. Rather,
people, based on their behaviour toward God and His instructions, choose for
themselves if they will be unto honour or unto dishonour. There
are many people who say that since God is merciful, and His mercies are new
every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), they can commit sin multiple times and
ask Him for mercy multiple times.
Therefore, they commit sin
purposely, trusting that when they ask for mercy, God will have mercy. Some
even say things like, “God, forgive me for what I am about to say.” They
know it is a sin, but they ask for forgiveness and go ahead to say it. People
like this are trying to make a fool out of the Most High God and will become
vessels unto dishonour if they do not repent.
The wages of sin is death
(Romans 6:23). Even if a Christian gives a big sacrifice or worships God
deeply, if his or her heart is still in a sinful state, the wages of sin remain
death. In today’s Bible reading, God told Saul to
kill all the Amalekites, but he decided to play on God’s intelligence by saying
that it was the people who brought the king of Amalek and the choice animals
back with them to Israel.
We see the result of the
disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:28: And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent
the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of
thine, that is better than thou. Saul
begged Samuel to let him worship God, but it was not out of true repentance. He
only did that because he did not want to be embarrassed in the presence of his
followers.
In the next chapter, you will
see that as much as Samuel pleaded on his behalf, God still asked him to anoint
a new king as his replacement. God later sent an evil spirit to torment Saul,
as he had become a vessel unto dishonour. Beloved,
be careful. Don’t toy with sin, and don’t try to play on God’s intelligence so
that you don’t end up like Saul.
REFLECTION
Do you still indulge in the
things that God has been warning you about? Beware, so that you don’t become a
vessel unto dishonour.
© 2024 Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of
God, one of the largest evangelical Churches in the world, and also the
President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.