"He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, 'Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings'... As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, 'What have you done?' And Saul said, 'When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed... so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.'"
Sometimes we often found that our God may be a last minute God because He wants to stretch us in our faith. In the same way, Samuel knew that he would return on time, but Saul didn't. Some of us might wait for some of His promises to happen for many years and then we started to give up when nothing had happened, and we gave up without knowing that His promise will come a day away or even few minutes away!
At Osprey Point, MD, I jumped into the pool and decided to do some breath-holding exercises under the water. So I quickly swam underwater halfway and popped up! So I knew I had to be mentally prepared, so I decided to gulp some air and swam underwater with my eyes closed. It was pretty long, so I had to come out of water to find out that the other end is only an arm-length away! So my third try, I went all the way! My fourth try, I went all the way, and then gulp for some air and went all the way back! In the same way, it is how God stretches us through our failures to increase our stamina, so that we may finish the race in faith!
Because Saul didn't exercise his faith, he lost the race. Samuel said, "But now your kingdom shall not continue." He didn't just failed one test, but he failed others. He spared some sheep and oxen when Samuel instructed him not to spare any! So like the swimming coach, the Lord rejects Saul from the team for not exercising his faith.
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