Disobedience Brings Mental Anguish

“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command (1 Samuel 13:13-14).”

Workplace stress isn’t new and depending on your role in your place of employment some stress can seem more difficult than others. Pile on top of that personal stresses which can range from your marriage to your children, your extended family, friends, and the list goes on and on. Stress is not new, King Saul suffered work related stress which turned into depression. Think about it, he was Israel’s first king and he was put in charge of governing them. The children of Israel had enemies and one of their enemies were the Philistines which Saul and his people would war against. Saul’s army consisted of about 3000 men compared to the Philistine army which consisted of 30,000 men with chariots and horses. Unfortunately because of Saul’s disobedience in not following the Lord’s directions he would not experience success and suffer great mental anguish.

God had appointed and anointed Saul as king and because of his disobedience he and his men were routed (they failed). Saul’s disobedience led to depression and ultimately to God’s rejection. If King Saul had simply followed the command of the Lord instead of acting on his own he would have escaped the oppression of depression caused by his disobedience.

Take a lesson from the life of King Saul “to obey is better than sacrifice… (1 Samuel 15:22b)”. Don’t allow sin and disobedience to rob you of mental peace.