May 11
1 Sam 10:1-11:15 | PS 107:1-43 | Prov 15:1-3 | John 6:43-71
The other day a patient called to find out her pathology results from a procedure that she had with me a week before. After telling her that the results were benign, she asked me if I remembered what I said to her as she was falling asleep on the operating table. I honestly didn't recall. She is an Orthodox Jewish woman who she reminded me that she was extremely anxious as she was in the OR. She told me that after talking with her and calming her down, that I reminded her that God's presence was there in the OR and I prayed that she would indeed feel His presence. They were then giving her the drug to help her drift off and she stated that she still has tears as she told her family how she felt His presence at that moment. Do I say these words every time? No! There are times that I just converse. There are other times that I pray. Other times I approach it as I did with this patient. My desire is to be led by the Spirit, not to approach things with a fixed approach. Though through the years there are probably phrases and verses that I use more than others, my desire whether in the OR, whether in my office with patients, or in our church building is to be led and be sensitive to His leading. The question we must ask as we go through our lives is whether we try to place God into our fixed lives, or whether we allow God to place us where He wants us to be. Are we willing to yield to His will, or do we desire for Him to satisfy our own will.
Saul is anointed as king, and we see the varied response in 1 Samuel 10:26-27, "And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. But some rebels said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace." Realize the main difference between the two, was those valiant men had their heart touched by God, they were open to His leading, while the others who scoffed, were not. When a tribe of Israel is threatened, we once again see the Spirit of God leading in 11:6, "Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused." We will soon see many of Saul's faults, but at this moment of time, he allowed himself to be led by the Spirit. Jesus stated what it means to be drawn by the Spirit in John 6:43-44, "Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." Like the rebels who refused to follow King Saul, we see the response of those who refused to allow Jesus' words to penetrate in 6:52, "The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”" We then see the contrast between those who left Jesus in 6:60, "Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”" and those who remained with Him in 6:68-69, "But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”"
The truth is there are certain things you should have prepared in your mind, according to Scripture. You should know your own testimony, your reason for having hope in Jesus, and be prepared to explain the gospel message. When you discuss these it should be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. How you enter into that conversation, how you navigate it into the things of God, and the specifics so you can relate to the actual person you are talking to should not be rehearsed but should be led. If you rehearse it you will more than likely get frustrated when your script falls apart. This goes with reading Scripture, evangelizing others, fellowship, etc. We should try hard not to approach things with a fixed construct. Instead we should allow His Spirit to lead us. When Scripture doesn't make sense realize every time that it does indeed make sense, as He is always right, and we are definitely not always right. Life apart from the Spirit is difficult and frustrating, while life in the Spirit is exciting and satisfying. We should also never throw up our hands in frustration. Yielding to the Holy Spirit is a process, as their is still a lot of self in all of us.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: