Intimacy with God

20Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.21"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal." 22Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much 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.… 23"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."

1 Sam. 5:20-22

This scripture highlights Saul’s fall from grace. He was chosen by God as king over Israel. He had been blessed and used by God. Unfortunately, instead of this making him humble and grateful and growing in love for God , he only grew to love himself more. Jesus says in John 14:21 21

"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

Many Christian desire to experience more of God in their lives. They desire that He discloses Himself to them in spiritual intimacy but they do not want to fulfill the requirement: Keep his commandments….. not just the 10 commandments but the Law of Christ.

If we do not obey the law of Christ in our daily lives we cannot and will not experience true intimacy with God no matter how much we long for it. Living in disobedience is idolatry, it is like occult sin aligning us with the enemies of God and if we do not repent and stubbornly persist in disobedience our end will be like Saul’s: God will reject us. Not because He hates us but because by persisting in disobedience we will lose our love for God and forsake our trust in Him and will in fact reject Him. Maybe not so much in words but by the way we live our lives.

Let us therefore love God, not by outward religious ceremony to please humanity, to get power or to look good in people’s eyes, but by true obedience to the Law of Christ. Such obedience can only come if we rely on His help and keep our eyes firmly on Jesus so His Spirit can work out both the will and resulting Godly acts of obedience in our lives.