Thinking Highly of Yourself

And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” —1 Samuel 15:17-21 NLT

In our reference verses today, the Prophet Samuel had rebuked King Saul because Saul had taken animals from the enemy’s camp, even though his directions were to utterly destroy everything—including the animals. (If this were written in this day and age, Saul’s directions would have been to dispose of all the enemy’s wealth. Let’s empathize—that must have been a very hard instruction for him to follow!) Nevertheless, when confronted about why he didn’t follow the blueprint given to him by God, King Saul didn’t even cite greed as the reason why he disobeyed. Instead, he said, “my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord.” In other words, he blamed his troops as the reason for his disobedience. Saul was the leader God had ordained and when you are the one God gives directions to, you cannot blame anyone else when the directions aren’t followed. (Remember when Adam tried to do that with Eve?) Poor King Saul really had a problem succumbing to peer pressure! Why is it so easy for many people to succumb to peer pressure?

Something stuck out to me as I was reading our reference verses this morning. Apparently, the Prophet Samuel could at very least see why King Saul kept succumbing to his peer pressure. The first verse referenced today quotes Samuel as saying to Saul, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader...?” This statement alone brings two facts to light about purpose and destiny. Number one, when someone is seeking to live according to purpose, it usually places them in positions of authority and, more often than not, that authority is, not just over an assignment but, also over other people. Number two, peer pressure from other people, especially when someone thinks little of themself, has potential to completely derail a person from their life purpose. Let’s take a second here to say: “Not you and not me. We will completely fulfill our purposes here on earth, in Jesus’ name!”

When purpose places you in positions of leadership (which it is very likely that it will), the key to not being influenced by peer pressure is being able to think highly of yourself—instead of thinking little of yourself the way King Saul did. That is to say that one can be in a position of prominence and still not think highly of themself. In the Bible, that is why God very often spoke to those who were called and chosen, saying things to them like, “Do not be afraid,” “Be strong and courageous,” “Do not be afraid of their faces,” “I am with you wherever you go.” God often made these promises to those he called to keep them reminded of who they were and to let them know that what he told them was ultimately going to work. This way, they would not stumble due to elements like peer pressure along the way. I believe you and I should also keep these promises in mind as we go about following the blueprints God has given us for our lives. Let us try not to ever compromise what is in our hearts for the sake of finding favor with others. Do this by believing in yourself and following the directions God has placed in you. It is just like what the Prophet Samuel ended up saying to King Saul in our reference story today: Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Lots of Love, XO