FAITH CAPSULE: Rebellion has its root in rejecting the word of God.

1 Samuel 15
 
When there was a great need for water for the Israelites, God commanded Moses, saying, “…speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water…” (Numbers 20:8) God’s command is His word, which should not be violated. Moses went to the rock as commanded by God.At the rock, “Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock…” (Numbers 20:11) Moses struck instead of speaking to the rock. God responded, “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12). Every action upon the word of God counts before God.
God also commanded King Saul to go and attack the Amalekites with a specific command that stated, “…utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill bothman and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, and camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3) God’s command is God’s instruction and it cannot be diluted. God knows better than the one who delivers the message. King Saul went and destroy all but sparred the best sheep and oxen. Saul committed an act of incomplete obedience. Incomplete obedience is also a failure to obey God. In response to King Saul’s act of disobedience, the word of God came for him through Samuel, “…has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:22-23) Incomplete obedience is rejecting the word of God. Rebellion has its root in rejecting the word of God. Is it possible, in any way that you are having a trace of rebellion in your approach to the word of God? There is a way out of rebellion and that way is in hearing the voice of God that is, hearing what the word has to say or what the word of God is saying. “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,as in the day of trialin the wilderness.” (Psalm 95:7-8)
Despite all that the Lord God did in bringing them out of the bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel entered into rebellion and became lost in the ways of God. To be lost in His ways is to gain an exit out of His rest.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to be a vessel of dishonor; not to work the works of a rebellious one.