Do As I Say Not as I Do . . .

There is much confusion today in the church between having God’s anointing and having God’s approval.

There is no prophet that has come close to the relationship that God had with Moses

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 NASB – 10 Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Yet Moses had an anger problem . . .

• He killed in anger: Exodus 2:14 NASB – 14 But he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known.”
• He shattered the original 10 Commandments: Exodus 32:19 NASB – 19 It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and [the] dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
• He struck the rock in anger. Numbers 20:9-11 NASB – 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.

His anger kept him from the promised Land.

Numbers 20:11-12 NASB – 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. 12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

Saul Was God’s Anointed King

1 Samuel 9:16 NASB – 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel; and he will deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have regarded My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

But God removed Saul for his disobedience

1 Samuel 15:11 NASB – 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.

David was God’s Anointed King and a man after his own heart.

• 1 Samuel 16:13 NASB – 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
• 1 Samuel 13:14 NASB – 14 “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

But despite being devoted to God, David also chose to be a mass murderer as a man of blood shed.

Maybe it was because of being a shepherd alone in the fields, he learned that the only way to deal with threats was to eliminate them completely.

• 1 Samuel 17:34-36 NASB – 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued [it] from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized [him] by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”
• 2 Samuel 8:2 NASB – 2 He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.
• 2 Samuel 11:14-15 NASB – 14 Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah. 15 He had written in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

Because of his Sin, God would not permit David to build His temple

1 Chronicles 28:3 NASB – 3 “But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’

Worse yet, his children followed in his foot steps. Ammon and Absalom would become rapists, with his daughter and concubines rape victims, Absalom would become a murderer and a Solomon a sex addict. As a result of his personal sin, David became an absentee father who looked the other way.

• 2 Samuel 13:12 NASB – 12 But she answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful thing!
• 2 Samuel 13:32 NASB – 32 Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, responded, “Do not let my lord suppose they have put to death all the young men, the king’s sons, for Amnon alone is dead; because by the intent of Absalom this has been determined since the day that he violated his sister Tamar.
• 2 Samuel 16:21 NASB – 21 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.”
• 2 Samuel 16:22 NASB – 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
• 1 Kings 11:3-4 NASB – 3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father [had been.]

The unspoken theology is that when someone is anointed by God, they will carry God’s blessing in all they do. Even the most anointed leaders are not to be followed blindly. As quickly as God places one into office he just as quickly removes someone from office. And when God does remove them from office it is not because of a conspiracy, it is because of their sin. Sound familiar? However contemporary politics and the church is an issue for another post.