03/05/12

Respecting the Lord's anointed

2 Samuel 1:1-14


In yesterday's message we read about great anointed men and women not doing they work well in the Lord all because of their weakness to the things of the flesh and today we receive a message about respecting the Lord's anointed. We read in today's message how angry David got with the young man who claimed to have killed Saul (he claimed to have helped Saul who was wounded severely to die). You may say these two messages contradict each other but they do not; to make things clear and that we do not sin, the Lord has been graceful to give us this message today.

We need to understand from the life of King Saul and David relationship with him so as to understand why we can discern people but never judge them. Doing this to ordinary people is one thing but doing this mistake with anointed Men or Women of God is very dangerous.

The worst moments for me are those when I called to rebuke or correct an anointed Man or Woman of God. I know at these times I spend hours and hours praying and thinking of every word that I need to speak so that I do not speak a word more or a word less than what I need to.

We see the relationship between David and Saul was very complicated. It was more like Tom and Jerry where one wants to eat or hurt the other but at the same time they have great love for each other. Saul first loved David and even made him his son in law mainly because he was anointed and the favour of the Lord was on him. David too hated Saul because Saul wanted to kill him, had made his life miserable and had him running all the time. Saul hated David so much that he did not even respect his own daughter but gave his daughter (wife of David) to another. But we see at the end David shows great love and respect for Saul that he killed the man who claimed to have taken Saul's life.

We may ask why David did this for we also read that the Spirit of God left Saul and he was no longer a Man of God, not only that but a tormenting spirit from the Lord (also known as destroying spirit, they are Angels of the Lord that dwell in the third level of Heaven) was making life miserable for him. Even in these circumstances we find David respect Saul and called him the Lord's anointed for he was revealed about the U turn which Saul would take just before his death.

Saul at the battle after getting defeated did not want to fall into the hands of the enemy alive not because he was afraid of them but knowing what they did to those captured in the battle, he did not want that to happen to him for he was once anointed by the Lord (Samuel had anointed him) and he respected himself for that, therefore he preferred taking his own life than letting the enemy abuse a once anointed person and then take his life. Even though this death was on Saul by the Lord due to his mistake of communicating with the death and was prophesied by the spirit of Samuel with whom he tried to communicate.

Even the U turn of Saul was confirm by the spirit of Samuel. Samuel told Saul that he would die along with his sons but also told him that they would be with him after death. Samuel was a great Man of God and he was not in hell nor was in Heaven. The task of getting the Bible together was started by Samuel. Although Job and Moses wrote the first books yet it was Samuel who started the first school of Men of God who did the task of collecting these books and thus started the process of making the Bible. The spirit of Samuel was asleep waiting on the Lord (for we all will enter Heaven together after the Judgment) and Saul and his sons were not going to hell but were saved by the Lord and went to sleep after death.

It is not necessary all Men and Women of God are like Balaam who forsook the Lord unto death due to his craving of the flesh. Many may be like Saul who will do a U-turn the last moment and if we are found speaking against them (their anointing) then we can get into real deep trouble.

The Lord does want us to blindly follow anointed Men and Women of God for everyone is in small or great percentage operating also in the flesh. We need to discern everything that they say with scriptures like the people of Berea did with Paul. Everything that Paul spoke about the Lord they checked with scriptures to confirm.

Let us discern the teaching and works of people with scriptures even if they are great anointed or famous Men and Women of God but at no point let us be judgmental of their life (meaning of their salvation) for only the Lord knows at the nth moment who will sleep in Him and enter Heaven, and who will not.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord Jesus, as man You discerned the Pharisees and the Sadducees and even rebuked them but yet You said You did not come to judge. Even on your second coming it is not You who will judge but your Word will judge all mankind. In the Bible we read many times You have got angry against your people and punished them but You also saved them. The people whom You sent to punish, when they did more than what was allowed You showed us how brutally You dealt with them. Lord, we pray we your people do not judge people but judge their words and their works according to your Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
1 Samuel 28:10-19
10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17 And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.
19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 31:2-6
2 And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.
3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.


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