The Consequences of Not Hearing
Today’s reading: I Chronicles 8-10; John 8:37-59
13 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. 14 He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. I Chronicles 10:13-14
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” John 8:47
Hearing the words of God is evidence that one is of God. Disaster awaits the one who will not hear.
The Book of I Chronicles opens with a meticulous genealogy of Israel as we have been seeing. There are not many details about all those individuals until we come to Saul. Then the writer zooms in on the final hours of Saul’s life. His life ended the same way he lived it during the long years of his reign. He disregarded God’s commands. He sought guidance from a medium rather than from the Lord. He led the nation to defeat and died in agony by suicide. Three of his sons died at the same time. The threat of imminent defeat and death did not serve to awaken Saul to his need to repent and turn to the Lord for mercy and deliverance.
The Jews listening to Jesus reacted negatively to His every claim. They hid behind their status as descendents of Abraham. They were sure that God was their father. Yet they were already plotting to kill their Messiah. They considered Jesus to be the one who was illegitimate, not themselves. They drip with self-righteousness. As the Apostle Paul would later write, “ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” II Corinthians 4:3-4.
Privilege and status did not make Saul faithful or obedient. He grew harder as his life unfolded and he left a shameful legacy to his nation. Many of the Jews in Jesus’ day did not believe the Truth when He lived among them. We can learn from these examples of foolishness and blindness, but will we? Let us learn and humble ourselves to hear and do what God has said.
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