Don't force the issue

Samuel to Saul 1 Samuel 10:8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

1 Samuel 13:12 (Saul Speaks)I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.

Tom Petty says it best in His song: The waiting is the hardest part

The waiting is the hardest part,
Every day you see one more card.
You take it on faith, you take it on the heart,
The waiting is the hardest part.

Waiting on God. My biggest struggle. I believe it is one of the tallest hurdles we as Christians in a post modern, constant change society face in our walks. Why? We don't wait on anything else, so the discipline of waiting is not practiced and refined. We can easily be misled to think that our spiritual disciplines, like waiting, can be totally divorced with our actual life. But if we can not wait and listen to our children, friends, and people in our life that we can see, touch and feel; does it seem likely that we will do that before the throne of God who we can not engage with our natural senses?

When I look at the sin of Saul's unlawful sacrifice in the above verses, I can see shades of it all over my past life. This is what it looked like to Saul: His world demanded action, because a Philistines invasion was coming. Saul knows He has been told to wait 7 days and until Samuel arrives to sacrifice offerings to the Lord. Saul sees the fear mounting around him and figures that the 7 day part is good enough, so he does not wit for Samuel and "forces the issue" in his own strength and timeline. Saul was not a priest, and he was trying to operate in Samuel's calling from God. Saul, like many of us, tries to justify it as partial obedience which simply does not exist. Faith requires full obedience that allows God to move in our lives to accomplish His will. When we force the issues we are not followers of Christ, we are assuming His lead.

So let's stop for a second and think through the decisions and battles we face in our lives today. Are the decisions you are making your thoughts and directives or God's? If they are yours, are you willing to wait for God to lead you or will you simply just force the issue? Are the battles that you are fighting your's or God's?
How will you know unless you wait on Him to direct you?