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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Seize
the Moment
(I Samuel 14, Deuteronomy 30)
by Karl J. Forehand
In the movie, “Lord of the Rings – Two
Towers,” Frodo has the same conversation with several people. It goes something like this, “I don’t want
to be chosen to carry the ring – I didn’t ask for it.” In one encounter, Gandelf tells him, “You
HAVE been chosen – that is an honor in itself.” He goes on to explain that no one would choose it; but he is
responsible because it is his.
Most people would not choose the path they
are on. Even Jesus, in his humanity,
said “If it be possible, let this cup (suffering) pass from me.” In God’s economy, we do not choose the
calling – He chooses us. We may not
have ever chose that path – but, we have to seize the moment!
In 1st Samuel, we find King
Saul between blunders. Shortly before
he assumed the priestly duties and was scolded by Samuel. Because of his blunder, most of the
Israelites are hiding. Saul is
sitting under a tree, picking his nose with about 600 men. They are without arms and without a
blacksmith to make any more. The
Philistines offer to make tools for them, but only for a price.
Later in 1st Samuel, we see
that Saul makes a rash oath for people not to eat. This almost costs him the life of his son. Then, he is told to destroy Amalek
completely. He only partially
completes this task, causing Samuel to speak for God and say “I regret that I
have made you king.”
In the midst of these incidents, while
Saul is licking his wounds, Jonathan (Saul’s son) has a victory. With no leadership, no past successes, and
no real hope; he decides to seize the moment. The ultimate results of his simple act are that when the David
and Goliath incident happens, the Israelites are 210,000 strong instead 600
weak.
As the Philistines begin to surround
Israel, God leads Jonathan and his servant to a valley. The Philistines invite him up the size of
a ridge.
So the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his
armor bearer and said, "Come up to us and we will tell you
something." (I Samuel 14:12)
You know what that means. They were luring him into a trap. You can almost see their anticipation to
ambush the son of the King. Jonathan
responds.
And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Come up
after me, for the LORD has given them into the hands of Israel." Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and
feet, with his armor bearer behind him; and they fell before Jonathan, and
his armor bearer put some to death after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer
made was about twenty men within about half a furrow in an acre of land. And there was a trembling in the camp, in
the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders
trembled, and the earth quaked so that it became a great trembling. (I Samuel 14:13-15)
Saul’s men reluctantly join in the fight. Other people come out of hiding. What is the result?
So the LORD delivered Israel that day, and the battle
spread beyond Beth-aven. (v.23)
Instead of seizing moments, we often
get stuck in moments of time. The
victories of the past can cause us to live on our past successes. We relive our high school athletic
accomplishments. We tell stories
about the times we actually succeeded in the past. Some of us relive our past failures. We become paralyzed by our past mistakes, afraid that we might
repeat them. To make the picture
complete, we often have anxiety for the future. When we are stuck in past or future moments, we miss the
opportunities of today.
The big question – will you
seize your moments?
Seizing
the Moment
- Realize the
direction is not elusive.
"For this commandment which I command you today is
not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up
to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe
it?' "Nor is it beyond the sea,
that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make
us hear it, that we may observe it?'
"But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart,
that you may observe it. (Deut.
30:11-14)
God’s direction, in our lives,
is just a moment from being spoken.
It is usually burning in our heart.
God does not hide His will from us, he places it in our hearts. We don’t have to pilgrimage to heaven to
find it – we don’t have to swim across the ocean – it is very near. His will
are things like:
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Tell them
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Show love
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Reach out
-
Forgive them
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Tell them you love them
You are about to say it – you
know what to do – seize the moment!
2. Understand you have a choice
"See, I have set before you today life and
prosperity, and death and adversity;
in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His
ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that
you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the
land where you are entering to possess it. (Deut. 30:15-16)
The choice is “set before
you.” What is the choice? It is the choice to truly live or to
die. If we choose to love God, walk
in His ways and keep His commandments, we are promised that we will live and
multiply and receive God’s blessings.
The choice is ours.
We avoid the choice. We say, “I’ve failed before, it might
happen again.” We think “I better
just rely on my past successes – that was a good one back there – I shouldn’t
risk failing.” We become stuck in a
moment and miss the opportunity. The
moment passes with the opportunity.
We have to be ready to make the affirmative choice to live, and to
live in the center of God’s will.
When we put off the choice, we
don’t realize:
3.
Not choosing is
a negative choice
"But if your heart turns away and you will not
obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall
surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are
crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.
(Deut. 30:17-18)
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