Hello! Sorry for my long absence in the world of blogging. But… I don’t have the Internet at home, so it has been difficult for me to find time to upload anything to my site. I have been doing a lot of thinking, whether that is good or bad, I do not know. I do know though, that God has been showing me many things that I have never expected to even consider when it comes to my faith in Christ, and the result of that in my life. Throughout this past week I have been reading through the books of Samuel. And it has been very enlightening, encouraging, and challenging. But there has been a bit of scripture that seemingly jumped off of the pages and has stuck with me for the past few days.

You may not know the story told through Samuel’s books, so please let me give you a very brief upbringing to this point which I will have you read in just a few seconds. Basically… Israel is without a king in the beginning of the book, but like any nation, they fight wars and have many conflicts which they must deal with. In the midst of all of this, they begin to look away from God (God being what is in place of their king, and the reason they do not need one) and hope to have themselves a king which will lead them into victory! This being something which turns their trust from God and to man, is ultimately sinful, because they doubt God and what He has told them.

Eventually God grants and chooses for Israel a king which He sees as fit. Around the time that this all actually happens, the people of Israel become aware of the sinfulness and lack of trust they placed in the God who delivered them and provided for them. They begin to cry out, doubting God would ever love them again, but then… Samuel  tells them this… (I hope it rocks your world or paradigm as it has rocked mine)…

1 Samuel 19-22-

And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 

I hope this is hitting you hard. God does not want His people to sin, right? God called Israel His own though, correct? After being called His, they were to follow after God. When they sinned against God, they knew that they failed to respect or accomplish what they thought God to be expecting from and of them. But instead of hearing  condemnation, they heard a powerful word of encouragement. “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord.” Do not turn! That is so powerful. Even though you have failed to do exactly what you think God is expecting you to do, do not turn from God. Your failure is expected! Do not allow your failure to cause you to stop following the one who is pleased that you are one of His people. 

It is in these moments of failure, that we turn to lesser things. We turn to these things, because they do not condemn us like we think God will condemn us. But remember this. “For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has PLEASED the Lord to make you a people for himself.” Isn’t that amazing! God will not condemn you! It has pleased Him to save you, and He just wants you to follow Him and love Him in return. That is all! Be encouraged. Christianity is not about living to a perfect expectation. In fact, that expectation was never meant to be met. Instead live your life as the person you are. A person who is claimed and saved by the living God!