Wisdom And Doors - Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Now, Saul did what almost everybody does.

Even people who don't want God in their lives at all. Whenever they're facing a terrifying decision, they pray. You know, now's the time to pray.

So Saul figures now's the time. I'm going to entreat the Lord. I'm going to pray.

And he didn't get an answer. By the way, if you don't really have a sincere relationship with God and you kind of view God as your adversary almost all the time, and then you're facing a difficult decision and something's kind of scary, and now you want to pray, don't be surprised if God's not real eager to answer you. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. J.K. Rowling says this, it's our choices that show who we truly are far more than our abilities. Wayne Dyer writes, our lives are the sum total of the choices that we have made.

Boy, don't you know that? Virtually everyone in here, if you're one of those really happy, content people, and most days for you are all good days, and you look back in your life with a great deal of joy, you made a lot of good choices. If you're one of those people that, boy, you look back and you see a lot of regret, and you think of some of the choices you made, and those choices were so profound that they've made your life difficult from that moment on. We really are the sum total of our choices. The question is, how do we make the best choice?

How do we go through the right door? Should I or should I not be dating this person? Should we get married?

Should I take that job? What school should I send my kids to? What should be my major? How should I take care of my aging parents? What specialist should I see?

Which church should I attend? And on and on. From ancient times, people have been so overwhelmed by choices that they have consulted what they hoped would be supernatural sources to help them make the right choice and to know the future. They consulted people who could read palms and other people who said that they could read the stars. Some said they could read tea leaves, and even a few said they could read the intestines of animals and help you make better choices. They consulted oracles in those days.

Not much has changed. We have people in our day that are still looking for tarot cards to help them make an important decision. Ouija boards are not quite as popular as they once were. And in fact, in our day, you can call this psychic friends hotline.

But if they were psychic, shouldn't they call you? God made it clear to the nation of Israel that he would not tolerate that kind of decision making. First of all, because it didn't work, but most importantly, because from God's point of view, there is a tremendous difference between faith and superstition. And so he was forbidden from Israel to ever use those kinds of sources to make decisions. But by the way, they were a lot like we are.

They went and did it that way anyway. I want to look at one of the most bizarre examples in the Bible of making a bad choice. First, Samuel 28. The context is found in the first couple of verses.

It says there that it came about in those days that the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war to fight against Israel. And Achish, who was the king, Achish said to David, know assuredly that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men. And David said to Achish, very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And so Achish said to David, very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Now, the story of this is David is hiding out with the Philistines.

He's hiding from Saul. The Philistines are the archenemy of Israel. You remember, David even feigned madness among the Philistines. And so Achish says, we're going to do battle with Israel.

And by the way, if you really want to be one of us, you're going to do battle with us. And David said, OK, just imagine from David's point of view, the place that put him in. I don't think Davis is David was very sincere in his remark, but he said it anyway.

There's another set of circumstances are very important. Verse three, now Samuel was dead. So the wisdom of Israel was Samuel. You see, he is the he is the kingmaker. He is the prophet priest. He is a very important person. And it says that he was dead in Israel.

All of Israel lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritist. Sounds like Saul's doing the right thing. He said, OK, I'm getting all these people out.

Everybody, you see, everybody on the psychic friends hotline out. He removed a lot of them. It seems like he's doing something right, but not really. And then it says the Philistines gathered together and came camped at Shunem and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped at Gilboa. And when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. Ah, he's approaching a door. He just realizes their army is way stronger than he ever anticipated it.

And you know what that made him? The same thing it makes you whenever you're facing an enormous decision. A decision about how you'll be employed, where you'll live, who you'll marry, how you'll face whatever diagnosis or disease that you have.

Notice immediately before you get into that decision, what do you feel? You feel fear. His fear is overwhelming. It says that he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.

It's emphatic here. And when Saul inquired of the Lord. The Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. Now, Saul did what almost everybody does, even people who don't want God in their lives at all. Whenever they're facing a terrifying decision, they pray. You know, now's the time to pray.

So Saul figures now's the time. I'm going to entreat the Lord. I'm going to pray. And he didn't get an answer.

By the way, if you don't really have a sincere relationship with God and you kind of view God as your adversary almost all the time, and then you're facing a difficult decision and something's kind of scary and now you want to pray. Don't be surprised if God's not real eager to answer you. That's what happened to him. He got no answer. He got no dreams. The Urim is the Urim and Thummim of the high priest could say yes or no type of thing to it or a prophet.

No one helped them. It says, And then Saul said to his servants, seek for me a woman who is a medium. Wow, that was fast. Didn't the Apostle Paul say in the New Testament, you should pray without ceasing?

I mean, isn't that the point? So I was like, I don't have time for that. I prayed. He didn't give me an answer. Find me a medium.

We would never do that, would we? Desperate people do desperate things. And so he says, find me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor, which is right near Mount Tabor.

There's one I know of. She was kind of famous. Saul then disguises himself by putting on other clothes. And he went and two men with him and they came to the woman by night and they said, conjure up for me, he says, please and bring up for me whom I shall name to you.

Wow. The woman said to him, behold, you know what Saul has done. How he has cut off those who are mediums and spirits from the land.

Why are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death? The very person that she says is her arch enemy. King Saul is the person who's dressed up to try to forward and says, could you help me, please? Any port in a storm. You see, the idea that I can go to someone like that, the arch enemy of God.

Personification of evil, someone who deals with, in a sense, demonic spirits, all that. Could you help me? I'm so afraid I just don't know what to do.

I don't know what choice to make here. And the woman's like, because this might be a setup. Saul vowed to her by the Lord.

That's how low will sink. He vowed to her by the Lord. He entreated the name of the Lord and said, I promise for heaven's sake on the name of God.

Wow. Saul vowed to her by the Lord, saying, as the Lord lives, there shall be no punishment come upon you for this thing. Then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? And he said.

Bring up Samuel for me. Oh. There's a there's a lot of problems here, but that's a big problem for her. See, she's much more used to your grandmother. You see, or an uncle you had.

And then whether it was actually involved with evil spirits or she had someone in the room, it got all dark. And then you'd hear, you know, Bill, Bill, this is your uncle Louie. You know that she's used to that kind of thing. What am I going to do with Samuel? You know, first of all, I'm pretty sure this fellow knows Samuel. And he knows what Samuel sounds like. You know, what am I going to do here?

I mean, look, I can't really do this stuff. So when the woman saw Samuel, he comes. Now, notice, Saul is the one who conjures him up, not the woman. Saul said, conjure up for me, Samuel.

The woman hasn't done anything yet. She's thinking, what am I going to do here? And all of a sudden, there's Samuel. And it says, when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. She was surprised. It scared her.

This stuff doesn't happen. And the woman spoke to Saul and said, why have you deceived me? You're Saul.

She thought, boy, they're both going to get me here. And the king said to her, do not be afraid. He says, but what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see Elohim coming up from the earth. Elohim. See, it says there in the English, a divine being. Elohim is the most common name for God in the Old Testament.

Elohim. It can apply to God. It can apply to angelic beings. It does in the Book of Psalms. She said, I see Elohim, a divine being.

She's just shocked by all this. And he said to her, what is his form? And she said, an old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel. And he bowed his face to the ground, and he did homage. You have to ask yourself the question, because this is one of the most bizarre sections of the Old Testament.

Why? Why did this happen? You see, what was going on here? I don't want to speak for God, but I think that God wanted Saul to hear the truth one last time. He's going to hear the truth, because when Saul dies, by the way, you're going to find in the Old Testament it says, one of the reasons that Saul dies is because he went to the medium at Endor. God said, that's enough of you for Saul. But Saul is going to hear it for the last time. It's just a shocking, amazing passage.

So then notice what's happened. After that, Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me of bringing me up? And Saul answered, I'm greatly distressed. The Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me and answers me no more, even through the prophets or by dreams. Therefore, I have called you that you would make known to me what I should do. I have a decision to make, and I don't know what to do.

And I'm afraid. But in that statement, didn't he already answer his own question? He said, God doesn't walk with me anymore.

I don't know what to do. He answered it himself. Samuel's going to point that out. Samuel said to him, why then did you ask me since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary?

What do you possibly think that I could do for you? You see, it's an amazing statement. So he tells him. He says to him, he said, the Lord has done according as he has spoke through me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and he has given it to your neighbor, to David. And he says, and as you did not obey the Lord and did not execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, so the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, he said, the Lord will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines. Therefore, tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me.

There's a euphemism. You will be with me indeed. He says, the Lord will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. And then Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, and he had not eaten food all day and all night. What do we learn from this encounter?

One would be this. Be careful treating the Lord as your adversary most days of your life. And then when you're facing a really difficult decision, think he's going to be real, real cooperative with you because finally now you want to pay attention to him. The second thing I think you'll learn is that some decisions are really stressful.

He's feeling an enormous amount of stress, and if you've been through a really hard decision, you know what that's like. Desperate people, again, doing desperate things. The other thing I've learned from here is normally, and I get into this a lot with folks, you know what, most people will say something and mean something else. Most people when they have really difficult doors to walk through in their life will say to me, I just want to know what God's will is. But when you really talk to them, that's not really what they want.

What they really want me to say is, here's what I think they really mean. I want God's will to line up with my agenda. That's what I want. So how do I get God's will to line up with my agenda? And then I'll say it's God's will. See, it's wonderful.

That's what I really want. I think there's another thing, too. We're tempted to use superstition to spare ourselves anxiety. See, superstition seeks to use supernatural means, usually not, though, for purposes, for their own purposes. That's what superstition is. Faith is completely different. Faith seeks to surrender to God's purposes.

Two completely different kinds of things. We need to run from superstition and we need to wait in faith. I can remember reading this just a couple weeks ago in a book I was reading and I thought it fits perfectly. There was a man in the book and he said that he dated a woman for the very first time and he liked her. He really liked her. And while they were out on the date, his favorite song came on the radio. And so what he did then after they had the date, the next week, he said to God on a particular day, God, if I hear that song on the radio today, that will mean she's the one for me.

That's superstition. He heard the song. He heard the song. By the way, she never dated him again and she married another guy within a year.

So the song really didn't produce what he was hoping. You see, we're tempted in areas like that to do things just like that. We're more superstitious than we ever think we are. You probably know that. You happily walk under ladders, things like that.

You should. I mean, not if someone's on it. They're carrying a concrete block or something.

No. One of my favorite remarks was that Groucho Marx said this, very insightful words. When a black cat crosses your path, it signifies that the animal is going someplace. That's truth. Princeton philosopher Walter Kaufman says that many Americans suffer from a word that he gets credit for. Metaphobia. Many, many Americans are afraid to make decisions, he said. They're almost paralyzed by decisions. And yet choosing and making decisions is part of our personhood. It defines us. And God wants us to choose well.

That's the whole point. You see, that's the way God operates. It's kind of amazing the way the Bible really works. It works differently than you think. You won't go anywhere in the Bible and do something like this listed.

Six steps to determine if he's the one. You won't find that in the Bible. You won't find five ways to choose the best job for you. The Bible's not helpful like that. And the reason is really simple. Because God wants you to grow by making your own choices. That's the whole point. Part of the growth process is to make choices. We know that when we raise our own children. As they go into the teenage years and be gone, they have to make their own choices. If you make all the choices for your child at 25, they will never grow up.

You see, they have to do that. That's why the Bible's not that helpful. In fact, in many ways, when it comes to a big decision you're making or choice, the Bible won't be any more helpful than Yogi Berra.

I mean, Yogi Berra said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. The Bible's sort of like that. Well then, how are we helped in this? Is there anything we can find in the Bible?

Yeah, a great deal. Something very important. Go with me now to James chapter one. James chapter one. Familiar passage. Verse two. He starts with his conclusion.

What he wants us to do. James writes, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. When you encounter various troubles. You see, consider it all joy.

Like, that seems odd to us. But whenever you're facing a trial, inevitably you're facing a choice. If you've got danger in your life, tragedy in your life, trials in your life, every one of those come with choices. You're facing it, and now what do you do?

The choice is yours. He says, consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials. He said, because you have to understand what's really going on. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, that endurance will have its perfect result, that you'll be perfect and complete and lacking in nothing. In other words, this whole thing's going to help you grow up spiritually. So you should be joyful. God is going to use this trial, this tragedy, this difficulty, and help you grow.

But when we see that, we say that's nice, but I don't feel that, and I still don't know what to do. So what's he say? Verse 5, but if any of you lacks wisdom. You see, that's what I need. If I'm going to make a choice, I need to have wisdom.

That's what I need. I need wisdom. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, it'll be given to him.

What? Yeah, he says God will supply the wisdom you need to make right choices. That's an amazing promise in the Word of God.

God will supply the wisdom to you to make right choices in your life. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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