James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (NIV)
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First, Saul failed to obey God fully in 1 Samuel 15:9, yet he told the prophet Samuel he had obeyed.
Next, in 1 Samuel 15:30, he chose to value how he looked in people’s eyes over how he looked in God’s eyes.
Finally, in 1 Samuel 18:9, he allowed jealousy to overtake his heart toward David. He deceived himself.
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I am finally going to finish this blog that has been in my drafts for at least two months. I didn't want to throw this one away because it is a real problem that I have and know all too well about. It is something I need to be reminded to do every day before I even leave the house. I think I got the verses, stuff about Saul, and prayer from one of my Bible study websites way back when. They spoke to me then and they still speak to me now.
I want God to examine my heart and motives instead of me doing it. When I check my motives, it is all about what I want and on my own strength. When God examines them, then I can be sure it is from Him and I can do it. Ever since I have been wanting to write this, I can say I am getting better at giving my motives to God and listening to Him.
There were and are times that I think about doing or saying something but then I pray about it first and then do what God says to. Not only does it have to do with checking them, it also has to do with the wisdom you have. If it is the same thing you have done over and over and it still hasn't worked, then why do it again for the same reason. You have to have the wisdom to know what and when it works too. You are growing when you keep checking your motives. You put those baby motives aside and come up with motives that work for that certain situations. Every person is different and you will realize that with the wisdom that you have.
That is why you have to examine you motives overtime before you do something. I know take a few weeks to even a month going over my motives, both before and after I do what I wanted to. I know that it is better to do what God tells you to do at that moment but if it is really something God wants you to do He will bring it back to mind or not let you forget about it. I can tell you that I have refused things before and God brought them back to my mind a few months later telling me to do it on this certain day or for this certain reason. God does that sometimes so He can change our motives. We might want to do the thing or say the things because it will look good for us but we don't think about the other person. God tells us to wait and makes us think about the other person for a few moments and might in the process change our thinking. Our motives might be because we want something from a person, when really God is just saying to us this person deserve this because of what she or he has done in their lifetime. You don't need anything back after doing or saying this.
That is actually how Saul felt in the little phases that I put on this entry. Saul had disobeyed God because He wanted something else but yet told Samuel he had done what he was told to get approval by Samuel. He chose how to look in the people's eyes around him instead of God's eyes. That is very important to think about when we examine our motives too. How do we want to look to people and to God? Does it matter either way? Yes, it does. we should want to look great in God's eyes and forget about the people around us as long as we know we are doing what God wanted us to do in the first place.
If you keep doing the same motive over and over without going to God first it can lead to feelings and emotions like jealously and leave people that you should have cared about in the first place deceived. When we don't examine our motives it could lead people to sin and we, ourselves, are sinning because it isn't what God wants us to do. Even if it is the right thing, maybe it isn't the right time. I can't say that I am prefect at it yet or if I will ever get there because I probably won't because I am human. The thing I can do, though, is at least try. I can take my motives to God every time I feel like they are coming on and then go from there.
We will make mistakes and read or hear God wrong but that is when God teaches us through our mistakes and forgives us. He is a Loving God and we need to see that in things like this. It is out of God's heart that He teaches us things because He wants us to be in His Image the best we can be. I love the prayer that I can from the same lesson and put on here too. We do need to humble ourselves and seek God's wisdom and submit to His ways that is what examining means in this context. We need to open our eyes to see that we are too dependent on ourselves and not enough on God. The only way that we can know if our motives are right with His motives is walking with Him every day of our lives.
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Holy Spirit, help me humble myself, seek Your wisdom and submit to Your ways — not what appears to be right to me. Open my eyes to see when I’m too dependent on my own strength. I want to hear You, see You and walk with You every day, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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