The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/1_samuel/13.htm

I was a firefighter for 18 years. We were a semi-military organization and we had rules that guided our actions.

We wore uniforms, badge on the left breast, name plate on the right breast just above the pocket. The fire department patch was on the right sleeve, and if you were an EMT, the EMT patch was on the left sleeve. Non-EMT’s had an American Flag Patch on the left sleeve, the heart side.

Your uniform had to be clean and pressed. Everyone wore a black belt, black Oxfords or Wellington Boots, shined. We even had our own shoe shine station in the engine room; shoe polish, rags, and buffing brush provided. We even had an old fashioned barber chair in the locker room; even though he had retired, one of the former Assistant Chief’s that had served in WW2 had learned to cut hair in the military, so he gave free haircuts at the fire station.

At 7a.m., you were required to be in the kitchen for morning briefing, uniform on, bunker gear hanging on the side of the truck you were assigned to, and ready to go in the event the bell hit at 07:00:01.

By 7:30, we were on the engine room floor, sweeping it, whether it needed it or not. Then we took chamois’, and wiped the apparatus down, whether they needed it or not. We had a strict routine for checking the apparatus to make sure it was ready to go in the event of a fire, and after we checked the trucks, we had a maintenance report to complete to document that we checked the trucks.

Then we cleaned the station, dusting furniture, wiping down tables and countertops, sweeping the kitchen and locker room floors, cleaning the latrine, vacuuming carpets, and emptying trash. And after all of that was done, and only after it was done, did we take our morning coffee break.

If we found something wasn’t right in the process of all this, we reported it to the shift officer to obtain guidance on how to remedy the problem. We didn’t just correct things on ourselves (except in an emergency when someone’s life depended on it), we received instruction from the shift officer to make sure the solution was appropriate, in the department’s best interest, fiscally responsible, and according to policies and procedures.

Pretty much every job has rules the employees have to follow, but I know some aren’t so rigidly enforced. In the fire service, the citizens we protect depend on us. We have to be prepared to respond, and making sure we are prepared means there are strict guidelines that must be followed.

Who cares if our shoes aren’t shined? Well, if we relax on the shined shoe rule, what will that lead to? Maybe a fireman will decide that if properly shined shoes aren’t that important, they can just wear sneakers to work. And if they get away with wearing sneakers to work, maybe they don’t have to wear a complete uniform, or a clean one, or one that is pressed and presentable to the people that pay our wages.

And if when we’re checking our trucks, we find that one of the compartment doors isn’t lining up properly, and even when it is shut, it is still partially ajar. So, you decided to fix it yourself, to take care of the problem so the shift officer will be proud of you. You work on the latch, but you somehow make it worse and now the compartment door won’t shut at all. And to make matters worse, the bell had just hit with a caller reporting a structure fire, and you have to respond in a truck with a compartment door swinging wide open with the chance of expensive firefighting equipment falling out onto the roadway.

There is a reason for rules. There is a reason for policies and procedures. Even something that may seem so minor to someone on the outside and may seem like micromanagement, is likely critically important to the mission. As they used to say, “Yours is not to ask ‘why’, but to do.”; in other words, do what you’re told without fail.

We may not understand every rule and command God gives us, but trust me, there is a purpose behind it. It may be like the circumcision rule where God commanded infants to be circumcised at 8 days old, and now science has proven that the agent that clots blood is the highest in our system when we are 8 days old. Maybe the rule is for our health, like eating scavengers who might just lead to cancer, or IBS, or Crone’s disease. And maybe some rules are simply there to see who we will side with, God, or Satan.

And in this chapter of 1 Samuel, Saul disobeyed the rules. And as you read it, it seems to be quite minor; he offered some sacrifices to the Lord that were not authorized. But in the grand scheme of things, that was important. Sacrifices were the job of the priests; yes, you may bring something to be sacrificed, but it was the job of the priests to offer the sacrifice appropriately and ceremonially.

And the heart of the matter was truly that Saul didn’t confer with God. Saul found himself in a tight spot, and instead of praying and asking for guidance, Saul took it upon himself to perform an act that he though would help him. The way I see it, and I might be wrong, but Saul was kind of treating the sacrifice like an idol; he didn’t consult with God, he didn’t pray for help, he perceived the sacrifice itself would bring him good fortune, when in fact, only God can bring us good fortune. Saul should have followed the rules. He should have consulted God. He found a compartment door that wasn’t closing properly, and he tried to fix it himself.

And he made it worse.

And to quote a line from the movie Backdraft, “You see that flash of light in the corner of your eye? That’s your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear.” And so Saul’s reign was heading towards the end. Samuel plainly told him that God was looking for a ruler who was after God’s heart, someone who would follow God’s lead and not his own.

We may not know the reason for all of God’s rules, but you can rest assured there is a reason for them. He is our Heavenly Father, and just like our earthly father who had rules for us to follow, you can rest assured that God’s rules are there because He loves us, and He wants us to lead happy and healthy lives.