Heralds Digest

  “ So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?” 1 Samuel 15:17 NKJV Anyone who understands king Saul knows that he was a goal getter. And the life ambitions of goal getters are simply finishing well, irrespective of how they start. Unfortunately, Saul failed to finish well because of misalignment between his goal and that of God. But how is “ When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? ” anything to do with goal getting? Being little in one’s eyes implies prioritizing God’s goal, instead of promoting personal ambitions. Truthfully, it is earlier to maintain being little in one’s eyes when personal achievements and accomplishments are out of the way. And while king Saul cannot keep these distractions out of the way, Saul of Tarsus did quite well with preventing personal ambitions from invading the space of God’s goal. Little wonder the late...

  “ So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. ” John 13:31-32 NKJV There is always a good feeling and accomplishment when a god-given assignment is completed in a god-honoured approach. Jesus started His earthly ministry by prayer and fellowship with God; and by the acknowledgment “ Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him “, He had no doubt God has been glorified by His obedience and attention to details. Unlike Jesus, Saul started well; but ended foolishly: “ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever ”. 1 Samuel 13:­13)” Unfortunately, in pursuit of God’s vision and assignment in life and ministry, we are all easily tempted to struggle with the shar...

  “ Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord answered, “There he is, hidden among the equipment.” So they ran and brought him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.”   ­I Samuel 10:22-23 NKJV The portion from the Lord is always better than the people portion because it is double: double promotion (human intelligence plus divine inspiration), double prosperity (human enrichment plus divine prosperity), and double power (human strength plus divine empowerment). When Saul was little and uninfluenced by the people, the Lord sought him out and promoted him to relevance and the general acceptance of the people. Whenever we have to struggle for the people’s acceptance and get engaged in political maneuvering, we will have to settle for just the people’s portion with its consistent and annoying servitude or compromise. Whereas, it is always better to hide our potenti...

  “ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them .” I Samuel 8:7 NKJV When Sir Winston Churchill said ‘ Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’, theocracy wasn’t spared the rot. The struggle has always been the thorough management of the decadence in human governance. In any of the different forms of government, it is possible for God to influence governance or the mechanism for deciding state policies and the means by which those policies are enforced. Even today, man is quick to engage in the blame game of shifting faults around for the mess in his home, workplaces, and institutions. Whereas, the Lord is saying “ My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways ” (Proverbs 23:26). Whenever any believer delights himself in the Lord, especially amidst the negl...

  “ The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray. The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, But diligence is man’s precious possession .” Proverbs 12:26-27 NKJV If material wealth and physical properties are the best dividend of diligence in life, then those on the Forbes list have got a renewable source of income as Consultants. Human relation is a vital dividend of diligence, and its precious possession is peace. While meditating on why the scriptures say “ The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting ”, everyone can attest to the challenge of pursuing peace in human relations, especially among the people within one’s inner circle. For example, Judas was a thorn in the flesh of Jesus’ discipleship or human relations, but Jesus successfully managed him with His precious possession of peace. Those who have misinterpreted diligence as diplomacy have always reaped temporary delights with permanent disgrace. Whereas,...

  “ When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it .””  John 11:­4 NKJV The raising of Lazarus from the dead teaches the importance of believer’s faith in the glory of God. Since we, probably, see more of the gruesome gloom in our system, developing a stable and consistent faith in the glory of God is always rare. Even when Martha had testified to Jesus “ But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You (John 11:22)”, she still later responded to Jesus’ instruction “ Take away the stone ”: “ Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days ” (­John 11:39). Notwithstanding, Jesus brought the dead Lazarus back to life, in line with His declaration “ This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God“ . Even though life’s challenges, economically, socially, and politically, as dead experiences, are hard, they are often the brightest paths to ...

  “ And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord. ” I Samuel ­2:21 NKJV The asking and releasing of Samuel by Hannah to the Lord teaches that a man’s soul is truly not satisfied by material blessings. These blessings, including material riches, political relevance, academic achievement, family enlargement, etc, can only establish our social, economical, and academic relevance. Although Hannah was emotionally devastated by her rival’s provocation and competition for the fruits of the womb, she became fully satisfied by keeping her gifted fruit of the womb with the Lord. It shows that until the soul is visited by the Lord, he remained stranded and unsatisfied. If only the heart knows what brings true satisfaction to the soul, he will no longer seek satisfaction from broken cisterns. When Bernhard Langer (one of the best golfers of his generation) said ‘I had won seven events in five differe...