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The Key to Your Destiny
Victoria Boyson
www.boyson.org
Learning to honor the authority that God has placed you under could be the key that unlocks the door to your destiny!
Before God promotes us, we will be tested
in the area of authority. He will test us to see if we will respect and obey those in authority over us, even when we disagree with their decisions. God blessed Saul when He put Samuel in authority over him, but Saul did not
seem to realize it (see 1 Samuel 15:1). As king, Saul was given authority over the kingdom of Israel, but he was still under the authority of Samuel, whose job it was to lead and guide Saul.
It was Samuel's place to
bless Saul with God's favor in the battles he would fight. And it was Samuel who spoke and gave Saul the word of the Lord. God used Samuel to give direction and wisdom to Saul's leadership, and to tell him when he should fight
and when he should not. Even though Saul was king of Israel, God was in control. God made Saul king but He wanted Saul to work with Samuel to guide the people into all that He had for them.
For Men or For God
In 1 Samuel 13:6-10, we see Saul's first act of disobedience toward the authority that God had established for him. When Saul saw his men leaving him, and Samuel had not yet come to bless them with a burnt offering, he was
distressed. He took matters into his own hands and offered the burnt sacrifice himself. Out of fear, because his men were leaving, he stepped out of the realm of the authority that God had established for him.
Just as
Saul finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. "'What have you done?' asked Samuel. Saul replied, 'When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that
the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, "Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor. So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering" ' " (1 Samuel 13:6-10).
Saul became impatient with the leadership God had put in authority over him. He saw that the needs of the men he led were not being met by Samuel. His eyes were on the situation at hand and not on God's abilities. The
needs of his men were not being met, but the authority to meet their needs had not been given to Saul. God had given that place to Samuel, and even if he was late in performing his duties, it was not Saul's place to assume that
responsibility. Samuel's delay in coming was a test from God and Saul failed the test.
Before God can trust us with any type of leadership position, we must first learn to be led - not by the needs of men, but by the
authority of God. If we cannot learn submission to authority, we will never be trusted with authority. Like Saul, we must learn to submit to the authority God has placed us under, even if we do not agree with the way they are
doing things. Why? It is God who places men in positions of authority and He knows what He is doing with us. "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has
established" (Romans 13:1-2).
David's Kingdom
"'Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him; either
his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed' " (1 Samuel 26:9-11).
David knew that he would someday be ruler over the
people of Israel, but he refused to be ruled by impatience even when he saw Saul's sin. He knew that God would establish his authority over the people and he did not want to receive it any other way. He also knew that as long
as Saul was still alive, he was alive because God wanted him to be. He was determined to respect the authority that God had established, no matter what.
We must never rebel against the authority that God has established,
even if that authority is negligent and our intentions to help God's people are the very best. We must never take any authority position that is not rightly established by God. Like David in 1 Samuel 26:11, we must respect the
authority in the church as being God's anointed.
This is a lesson Saul refused to understand, and he paid dearly for his disobedience. He felt pressured (see 1 Samuel 13:12) by the people to disobey the Lord. David felt
the same pressure from his men, but refused to disobey God (see 1 Samuel 26:8). It was David's kingdom that would endure, not Saul's. David's kingdom, through Christ, will endure for eternity because of his obedience. Saul's
kingdom was short lived and is now just a story in history. "But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's
command" (1 Samuel 13:14).
Saul's story can benefit us if we learn to wait in order to receive all that God has promised to us. We don't want to be a half-baked muffin! We want to be mature fruit! A part of waiting on
the promises of God is submitting to the authorities that God has established in our lives. Our spiritual maturity is revealed through patience when dealing with the authority we are serving under.
Your Turn is Coming
If you truly love the Lord, you will submit to the authority He has established over you. Perhaps God is testing you to see if you will honor Him with a good attitude and praise Him in spite of your disappointment.
It could be that God has something much better for you than what you have hoped for. Our dreams are usually smaller than His. And in spite of the pain of disappointment He has to bring to us, He wants us to receive all that
He has for us, not just what is easy for us to get. God can see your end from your beginning. And you can be confident that He knows what He is doing with you. Be patient and continue to trust Him; your turn is coming. Your
destiny is on the horizon.
Don't lose heart! God loves you and He will do what He has promised He would...if you do not give up! We have nothing to gain by giving up!
I have to say, as a postscript to this message, that there are exceptions to this teaching. If you are in a truly abusive situation, you can, like David, flee for the sake of your own heart (see 1 Samuel 19:11). Forgive and release the offending authority for the pain they have caused you, and move on to whatever function God has established for you in your future.
God is well able to take care of any situation we leave in His hands. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:14). If we plead for God's mercy for them, then God will bless us!
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