[5] And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
[6] For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
1 Samuel 15:22-23 NKJV
[22] So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
[23] For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Two facts stand out from above verses: God punishes disobedient children; and disobedience and obstinacy against God is regarded as horrible as the sin of Witchcraft before God. That is, the sin of Disobedience and Obstinacy is equated to the sin of Witchcraft before God. So, when Saul wilfully disobeyed the Lord and was apparently obstinate and arrogant against Him, he was rejected the way a witch would be rejected.
As children of God, we often miss it. We often err. We are often overcome by the flesh to disobey His apparent instructions, but the Holy Spirit always ring a Warning Bell in our heart, He is so faithful to prod our heart and give us restlessness and spiritual discomfort, as a signal that we have missed it or we are overspeeding and approaching a dangerous bend.
I have experienced this several times. And whenever, a child of God is patient enough to listen to the advice of the Holy Spirit and turn back immediately from the wrong way, he does not receive any punishment from God, but he may lose some things or pay a little physical or spiritual price for not asking properly before going in that direction. But he will not be seriously scourged.
However, amidst the household of faith; amidst the children of God are several hardened witches and sorcerers who have attained that status by their habitual act of perpetual disobedience and obstinacy to God’s direct instructions.
They have been regarded as commiting sins of disobedience and obstinacy as horrible as the sins of Witchcraft and Idolatory. Having their ways all the time; making their decisions and following their own instructions, completely at variance with God’s order. They have shut the mouth of the Holy Spirt. They have gagged the instructions of the Spirit of Grace, always walking in the opposite directions of His counsel. They are children of God.
They go to church, sing in the choir, teach in the Sunday School, labour among the church workers, lead fellowships; BUT THEY ARE IN SINS REGARDED AS WITCHCRAFT BEFORE GOD. So, they are Witches and Idolaters in the househld of God.
So, a lot of these children of God are undergoing the Lord’s chastening and many, who are still arrogant and not yet broken, would regard the chastisement as attacks from the devil, while some who are able to look inward and see their mistakes and see the whole unpalatable situations upon their life as the righteous chastening of the Lord, would be able to approach the Lord for Mercy and grace.
Apparently, a lot of God’s children suffer for their act of wilful disobedience and obstinacy. A lot of God’s children are still walking and living in the consequences of not following the Lord’s instructions fully. Habitual disobedience to the apparent instructions of the Lord amounts to stubbornness and rebelion against God. And it carries serious consequences in life.
Every disobedience to the ways of God results in constant set-backs and retrogression to that child of God. So, lack of progress and spiritual and physical stagnancy in some people’s life, is not the work of enemies, but the consequences of their stubbornness and rebelion against the ways and instructions of God.
Some years ago, a young sister who was about to get married was instructed by the Holy Spirit never to sleep overnight and never to dress up in her wedding gown on the wedding day in her family house, but should sneak out to a naighbour’s house and sleep there overnight and dress up there and walk out there into the car that would take her to the church for the wedding.
She knew the Lord had said so, so she was in her family house, playing and preparing with her friends till late in the night when she secretly sneaked into a naighbour’s house with all her wedding gown, shoes and bag and everythng hidden in a bag. There, she slept overnight and dressed up early in the morning in her wedding gown and from there, driven to the church.
After the whole wedding program, she had been instructed to walk into her family house in her wedding gown and remove it there. She followed every instruction the Holy Spirit had given to her for that day, and everything went well for her. She became the first lady to have that type of wedding ceremony in the entire large polygamous house. All others before her had never been successful to do that.
It was few days after the wedding that her mother heard from a family member that an elderly wicked woman in the family house had vowed that she would not have the wedding on the day she had it. But the Lord God, who had known all the evil plans of the woman had instructed her daughter never to sleep in that house on her marriage eve, but in a naighbour’s house.tr Definitely, that wicked elderly woman was disappointed and whatever her wicked intentions was distrupted that night.
Another sister, some years ago, was warned never to make a noisy wedding; she knew the Lord whated her to involve mostly ministers of God and family members and few friends. But she desired to blow the trumpet so that everyone could see the great thing the Lord had done for her.
O She had said she would not make noice about it according the Lord’s instructions, but she came back later to her pastor to say she had “just only made about 300 Invitation Cards” Then the pastor raised an objection. 300 hundred IV? Won’t those who collect the cards bring their friends and family? Eventually, it turned out to be a societal wedding with a lot of people turning up and becoming highly glamorous.
However, the sad consequence was that “some well-wishers” deposited something in her body that day and she got pregnant and lost her first baby as a result. While she was pregnant, the Lord had revealed to her pastor that the baby in her womb was deposited there on the night she wedded, and the baby was not from Him, but a demonic agent.
The Lord had already showed how the baby looked like to the Pastor and had told him to organize a major prayer meeting against the child in her womb. The Pastor wrote down everything he saw including the instructions he received from God. And he organized the prayer meetings, with the husband and the wife present.
The prayer point the Pastor raised was that they should pray against any agent of darkness the enemies have sent into their midst; that the agent of darkness is coming, but that he should not come, that the Lord should send him back. Everybody prayed the prayers including the pregnant woman and her husband.
When the man came to inform the Pastor that the baby was still-birth, the Pastor went inside and bring out his dairy where he had written the revelation and instructions the Lord gave him and showed the man. The Lord, later had mercy on the lady and gave her better children, but she paid the price of her disobedience and obstinacy.
Surely, the devil does mounts up a lot of oppositions against God’s children, when that happens, the Lord Himself would rise up and fight for them; but some of the time, many of these oppositions are direct consequences of our refusal to listen to the instructions of the Lord and a direct open-door to the Chastening of the Lord God Himself.
Some people are approaching the wedding altar with the wrong person, and they know it, but they think, they have gone too far and can not turn back. Wilful disobedience and obstinacy will make them face a life-time consequences.
It is better to back off early or even anytime before the Altar. Such person may just have to pay some serious price that is better than a life long dire consequences of marrying a wrong person.
What are you doing that you are not suppose to do? Where are you working that you are not suppose to work? Who are you walkign with that you are not suppose to walk with? What business have you involved in that the Holy Spirit had warn you severally to desist from? When the Holy Spirit warns and one persists, then, the consequences of wilfully disobeying will be grievous.
But turning back early or at the prompting of the Holy Spirit is an evidence of humility and submission to the Lord.
Aphorism CITY 