God hates the bleating of sheep

Now, before you lash out at me, thinking I am attributing to God a stance He does not take, just hear me out and I trust you'll catch my drift here. It's been a while since I've blogged, so this has been swirling around in my head for a while.

God loves all His creatures, even the stupid, wooly guys that baaa at you. He even loves me, faults, foibles and all. The longer I live, the more that amazes me.

God and I have this thing going. I asked Jesus to be my Savior on August 26, 1982. Since then, He's been trying to get me to look and act like Him. I was warned that this process was coming. In some areas, He is having good success. In other areas, He probably wonders how I dress myself every morning. He gently woos me by the Holy Spirit so I will change without a whole lot of fuss, muss or general commotion. Sometimes, when the gently part doesn't work, He breaks out the heavier stuff, anywhere from the trusty old "clue-by-four," to stopping just short of nuclear weaponry. There are things in our lives He just doesn't want in there and will work the rest of our lives to get rid of them, 'cause until then, we will be tripped up or hindered in our personal lives in a way that doesn't please Him.

I've been thinking about the first king of Israel, a guy named Saul. He was a guy from the neighborhood, you could say. Kinda tall and lanky (I Sam 9:2), but a regular guy nonetheless. Once God caved to the people in I Samuel 8:9 about having a king at all (God was the only king they really needed, He reminded them), He told the prophet to make Saul king. They anointed him and gave him the speech about all the things he shouldn't forget once he gets there (like we try to do to politicians today...STILL doesn't work!), blah blah blah. Fast forward to I Samuel 15. God has an assignment for the king. This is the Phil Paraphrase--

"Saul, you know the Amelekites, right?"
"Right."
"They've been a thorn in our side ever since Exodus 17, right?"
"Right!"
"I want you to go and kick their butt. EVERYONE'S butt. I want you to turn that joint into a parking lot and I want everyONE and everyTHING killed. Got it?"
"Got it!"

Sounds easy enough. Saul gathers 210,000 men and goes at it. He was doing great. Then it happened. It says;
"And he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly;" 1 Sam 15:8-9 NAS He went about 90% of the way, then decided he'd do God a favor and give Him some of the best of what the enemy had to offer. Shoot, God wouldn't get His anthropomorphic panties in a wad over one lousy heathen king and some dumb old sheep, would He? Let's find out...

Early the next morning, after the dust had settled from the battle, Samuel the prophet is having his quiet time with God and God tells him about the events of yesterday. Samuel at this point is beyond old, so he's not into the whole war thing anymore. He didn't SEE what Saul did, but God told him to confront Saul and let him know that GOD was watching and He's not pleased. Samuel goes to meet Saul as he comes back and Saul greets him with an enthusiastic "Samuel, good to see you! God bless you, man! I took care of it. Mission accomplished!! (v 13)" Samuel replies with that prophet's tone of voice that nobody really wants to hear;
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" 1 Sam 15:14-15 NAS Saul was busted and he knew it! So he does what we do so often...pass the buck. "Oh. yeah. that. Well....the people took the best stuff so it could be sacrificed to the Lord YOUR God" (15:15) Yeah, yeah, it was them, not me that disobeyed.

The exchange goes on, but point is, God points things out to us so we can erradicate them from our lives. Some things are small and God doesn't push as hard on those things. They're also not near as hard to get rid of as some others. But, as noted earlier, there are some things that He just can't stand to have there, cause it keeps us from looking like Him, that keep us from having a good testimony before the community or the church. Sometimes, that's the stuff that keeps us from getting a good night's sleep. We know what He told us. We know what the Word of God says about that thing. But we go as far as WE can or WE want, then stop. Nobody else knows you didn't REALLY forgive that creep, but God does. You name your own poison, we all have at least one, many of us, more than one. We get like Saul. We hear what the command is, we know that the enemy in our lives is to be completely taken out, killed, deep sixed. Then we go at it and all is well, until... Yup, WE decide that we're not going all that way with that. We try to justify it by saying that we saved the best of what there was. God doesn't want or need the "best" of what belongs to the enemy! If we finish the task and go full out with God, people might think we're crazy. But, next time we come to God for our quiet time, God says; "what's up with all the bleating of sheep I'm hearing??" The bleating of sheep, the reminder that we DIDN'T do everything He asked or commanded. The sound of compromise. That we're busted and we know it. And God will keep replaying that sound every time until we get sick of hearing it and go all the way where God is calling us, doing what He's told us to do.

You say; "But I can't do that!" You know what? You're right! But the power to do what God calls you to do comes from the God who calls you to do it, just for the asking! That Holy Spirit that tries to woo you first? He's the one with the power. When you believe in Christ, that same Spirit lives in you to enable you to do what God wants. (He's also the one that does the whispering in your inner ear about what God wants to fix in your life...)

When it comes to a good night's sleep, it's the counting of sheep that is reported to work. The bleating of sheep will keep you awake. Let's make the decision to obey God. Once the sheep are quieted, we can sleep soundly, knowing we're in the center of His will and He is pleased.

It's almost time...

Time has flown by! It's almost time again for the National Association of Letter Carriers' Food Drive, coming up Saturday, May 8th. Because of the generosity of our customers, we're approaching the ONE BILLION pound mark in our donations, all of it going to local food pantries where it was collected. You can make your plans now on how you can help those in need in your area. More to come, but had to put a bug in your ear, so to speak, as it's coming soon!