信仰の手引き（英語・English）
Saul Who Abandoned God’s Words
Author
goodnews2
Date
2025-01-19 21:19
Views
627
King Saul Followed His Own Thoughts
Around 1,000 B.C., God anointed Saul as the first king of Israel. A few years after he became king, the prophet Samuel came to visit him.
“God has anointed you as king over Israel, so now you must listen to the words of the Lord. Go now and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
Saul gathered over 200,000 soldiers and attacked the Amalekites. He took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and destroyed all the people.
However, he spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and the oxen. When God saw this, He told the prophet Samuel.
“I regret having set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.”
Saul spared what seemed good to his eyes. Why did he do this?
It is because his heart was not one with God’s. If Saul’s heart had been the same as God’s heart, he would have thought, ‘These lambs are plump and good. It would be a waste to kill them. But since God has commanded me to kill them all, I will obey.’ However, Saul followed his own thoughts so, God abandoned him, leading to his miserable and tragic end.
Those Who Believe in Their Own Thoughts Over God’s Words
When I was young, our country was mired in poverty and faced many hardships after the Korean War ended. I often experienced hunger due to a lack of food. Out of desperation, my friends and I would sneak into other people’s fields to steal and eat apples and persimmons. However, my heart was deeply troubled by the sin of stealing. So, I attended early morning prayers, confessing my sins to God and asking for forgiveness. But I couldn’t be certain that my sins were truly forgiven.
Therefore, I began reading the Bible extensively. I read it once, then twice, and continued to read it until one day, I discovered in the Bible that when Jesus was crucified, He washed away the sins of the world. That is when I realized that my sins had been washed as white as snow.
From that moment on, I started sharing with others the fact that “our sins have been washed away. God sent Jesus to cleanse all our sins and declared us righteous.” Unfortunately, people still followed their own thoughts by believing they were sinners, and did not believe in the words of the Bible.
God’s Verdict
In 2012, I attended the Ghana World Camp where I met the President of Ghana. He told me:
“Pastor, I am acknowledged as the President with the strongest faith in Ghana, but I have to confess that I have sins. If I have sins, I know I will go to hell, and that terrifies me.”
“How do you know you’re a sinner, Mr. President?”
“I committed sins, so am I not a sinner?”
“No, sir. In Ghana, does the person who committed
a crime judge himself for his sin? Judgment for sin is made by the judge. Similarly, it is God who is the judge for your sins, Mr. President. In fact, God has spoken a verdict regarding your sin.”
I opened Romans chapter 3 verses 23 and 24, and showed him:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
“This verse is the verdict for sin. Mr. President, you have sinned and must receive punishment for it. However, Jesus was crucified and died, washing away all your sins, sir. Therefore, God has declared you righteous.”
That day, the President accepted these words as they were and received salvation.
To Believe and Accept the Word as It Is
The most important thing in our belief in God is to forsake our own thoughts and accept the Word as it is. When God’s thoughts differ from ours, we should let go of our own thoughts and follow His will. When we align our hearts with God’s and become one with Him, He works in our lives. However, if we even slightly add our own thoughts and harbor a different heart from God’s, He cannot be with us.
Today, most churches teach that Jesus was crucified for our sins, yet they also teach that we are sinners. If Jesus was crucified because of our sins but we are still considered sinners, it implies that Jesus failed. He did not fail to cleanse our sins. He said in John chapter 19 verse 30, “It is finished,” and then passed away on the cross. Now, all we need to do is believe and accept what Jesus has said and done. Instead of following our own thoughts like Saul, let us believe and follow God’s Word as it is, living with gratitude and joy.
