Day 136: Defeating Sin

Romans 7; 1 Samuel 16; Psalm 61

It is a daily battle, a constant fight, against sin.  Paul talks about how he knows what he should do, he agrees that it is the right thing to do, and yet sin takes a hold of him and makes him do the wrong thing.  Overcoming sin is super hard--that's a given.  But one of the things I've found is the that more a person defeats sin, the more times they battle sin and win, the better they are able to accomplish it.  I'm not saying that it will be easy, but in a sense, the more we see the beauty of being free from the sin, the more motivated we will become to break down all of the sin.  The hardest thing is making that initial choice, taking that first step away, performing that first conscious effort to eliminate a sin.  But as the scriptures we've been reading have talked about, it's so worth it!

God cares so much for his people.  Even in the little things, God provides.  For example, when Samuel was going to find a new king, he was worried about Saul finding out.  God didn't say, "Oh, Samuel, saddle up and be tough." No!  Instead, God say, "Ok, I gotcha, well then take a cow and say you are offering a sacrifice, that will fool them."  Could God have protected Samuel no matter what?  Of course.  But Samuel needed or wanted some sort of protection, maybe he knew he would need it, and so asked The Lord to provide.  In the same way, we sometimes need some earthly protection, like insurance.  Is buying insurance saying that I don't believe that God will protect us?  No, instead, we are just preparing for the earthly disasters that God tells us this life is full of.  Same deal with Samuel.
Then, Samuel thinks that the big brawny son is going to be chosen king.  He has the look, but God knows his heart and has chosen another person.  David wasn't even prepared for his role, he wasn't looking for it, God laid it upon him unexpectedly.  God may have something in store for you, he may have already laid an opportunity in your lap, but you are reluctant to take hold of it because you feel ill-prepared for it.  God knows your heart and he often uses the unexpected to do great things.  You may think that someone else is way more qualified to do that thing, but God reminds us here that he knows our hearts and judges us by them, not our outward appearance or qualifications. Trust in the Lord's decision.

It is so awesome that this psalm may have been one of the songs the David sang to Saul during the time of this reading from Samuel.  This bible reading thing is so awesome.