When God says Move On

Work has been a bit crazy the last couple days. We got an email that basically said that this company (who we develop software for as well as the website to process orders) was offering a special promotion deal and they were wondering how to process it with our website. They sent this email out to 1,500 of their customers... only problem is that the website isn't set to handle those. So, I have spent the last couple days learning how the website functions and working on creating a new and updated system so that they can process these orders. It's crazy! haha I don't know what he was thinking when he sent out all those emails... oh well. It did make me laugh. I guess at times like this, stress just isn't even an option because it is just so far out. Anyway, it's been going well and I am enjoying the variety. 1 Samuel 16 has been a good reminder to me that when God makes it clear that He wants us to move on, we need to do just that. Take a look at verse 1...

Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons."

It was also a good reminder to me that my focus needs to be both on my heart and the hearts of others, because that is the only thing God cares about. If I am to be Christ-like, I need to do the same. See God's instructions to Samuel in verse 7...

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Verses 14-16 are a bit confusing to me. It says "an evil spirit from the Lord."

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. Saul's servants then said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. "Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well."

I don't know if this means that God has turned Saul over to Satan kind of like Paul talks about with the immoral believer in 1 Corinthians 5:5... or if God is just tormenting Saul's conscience. I was reading a book recently that suggested that it was Saul's conscience and that Saul chose not to deal with it properly and instead used the harp as a distraction. While the point is valid, that we often use distractions to avoid doing what we need to do, I don't think this is the case. I tend to think it is like 1 Corinthians 5:5. It seems like the Lord had given up on Saul at this point, and allowed him to reap the consequences of his sin, but I would think that His purpose in this was to bring Saul back to full repentance.

I am so thankful for God's forgiveness. I was listening to a sermon in the car yesterday and today, and there was a part where the pastor talked about how our forgiveness needs to be as God's forgiveness where He says He will remember them no more. What an amazing, unconditional gift! Obviously, we shouldn't be dumb about it either... if there is a sinful pattern in someone, I think we are to address that in the spirit of meekness or gentleness (Galatians 6:1). It did challenge me to take forgiveness... and how I forgive a whole lot more seriously. I want to be so filled with Him that my forgiveness to others is a representation of how He forgave me.