MAN OF GOD OT gOD OF MAN

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*MAN OF GOD OR gOD OF MAN.*

*Scripture Treasure.*

1 Sam 14:28-29 *Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day. And the people were faint.*

*Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.*

*Insight and Highlight.*

Proverbs 29:2 *When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.*

*Scripture Commentaries.*

The man of God, Samuel, had earlier given Saul a mandate that suggests he could do as he wished for God was with him, 1 Sam 10:7.

His first mission after his anointing was to start from *".... the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines:, 1 Sam 10:5.

His commission was a desperate effort to strengthen Israel’s resistance to the growing Philistine threat among many others.

Saul, however, oppressed and lord himself over his subjects, he was a god of man rather than a man of God.

King Saul took up the office of the man of God by declaring a fast for his troops as they faced the Phillistines, 1 Sam 14:24.

Jonathan, son of King Saul, was not aware of this fast, but God had done great exploits through him, destroying the Phillistines.

Jonathan's war exploits over the Phillistines was with his one and only armored bearer.

Jonathan assured his armored bearer, saying in 1 Sam 14:6 *"....for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.*

Jonathan alone, with his young armoured bearer in contrast to king Saul's six hundred men, made the Phillistines *".....trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.* 1 Sam 14:15.

1 Sam 14: 13 says ,*".....and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him.*

The watchmen of King Saul watched from afar *".....and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.*, 1 Sam 14:16.

God had won Himself a victory with just two men instead of Saul's six hundred who had been made to fast for the same battle.

Instead, for Saul to be glad, he instead asked who was missing among his men, and they found out it was Jonathan and his armourbearer that were missing.

More worrisome was the weakness of the men of Israel who went with Saul because of their fast.

lnstead for Saul to be glad, he sought God seeking answers to a battle God had won and for some reasons only known to him alone, but God did not answer.

Saul, by his conduct, became a totalitarian, a god of man who chose to oppress rather than impress God in the hearts of the people.

He sought to kill his own son through whom God had wrought a miracle.

It was sad to read Saul say in 1 Sam 14:39 *For, as the Lord liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people that answered him.*

No wonder God will neither hear nor answer him, even after he had built an altar unto the Lord, 1 Sam 14:34-37.

The people revolted against him in favor of his son, Jonathan. They resisted Saul, *".....So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.*, 1 Sam 14: 43-45.

The failures of Saul are many. His attitude to his own son and those who were his army was another indication of a king who had fallen from honor to dishonor.

Be a man of God, not a god of man.

*Remorse corner.*

Saul, because of his hatred and jealousy, shifted battle away from the Phillistines, the very people he was raised as king to fight, 1 Sam 10:5.

1 Sam 14: 46 *Then Saul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own place.*

*Call to Word action.*

He remained a king who never fulfilled the purpose for which he was made king because he became a god of man, oppressing his subjects.

The war and hostilities against the Philistines outlived him.

1 Sam 14: 52 *And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul:...."*

*The Christian clarion duty.*

A man of God impresses the fear of God in people's hearts. The god of man oppresses the people. He instills his fear, instead of God's fear, in the heart of the people.

*Prayer*.

Help me so that l will not destroy the purpose for which l was called to fulfil, in Jesus name.

Good morning all and have a blessed day today.

God bless you.