#DailyDevotion God Wants To Give You A New Heart
July 26th
Read 1 Sam 10:1–27
1Sa 10:3-7 ESV Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. (4) And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. (5) After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. (6) Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. (7) Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.:9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.
One does not encounter the Lord without being changed. Saul encountered the Lord, moreover the Word of the Lord in the person of Samuel. Having been anointed by Samuel for the purpose of being king, he was later anointed by the word of Samuel with the Holy Spirit. He prophesied and he became another man. You see, God gave him another heart.
David would later describe it, Psa 51:10 ESV “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Paul would say, 2Co 5:17 ESV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” And again, Gal 6:15 ESV “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
God intends for all of us to be made anew. It is necessary. We are totally corrupted by sin and are unable to change ourselves. If we are to change, if we are to be born again or born from above, it must be God’s doing. Only God in Christ can make us acceptable, blameless and pure before himself.
John writes, Joh 1:12-13 ESV “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” He testifies that this is not our doing or man’s doing but God’s doing in Christ. Jesus would say three chapters later in John, Joh 3:3-6 ESV Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Lord Jesus accomplishes this at baptism where we are joined, connected, made one with his life, death, resurrection and ascension. Just as Saul was anointed with oil and the word of God we are anointed and made new people, a new creation through baptism, the Word and the Spirit.
Lord Jesus Christ, may we live out our lives as new men, new creations which you have created when we were baptized by you. Amen.