Do Not Turn Aside
"And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty." - 1 Samuel 12:20-21 ESV
I have been involved in a women's Bible study at my church and our preaching pastor has been preaching through 1 Samuel(Check out his sermons here: http://www.desertspringschurch.org/messages/) and over and over again I've been reading/hearing these words "do not turn aside" or "they turned aside" and those have stuck out and stuck with me. Over and over God told His people:
"You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess." - Deuteronomy 5:32-33 ESV
"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you." - Deuteronomy 11:13-17 ESV
Multiple times God promised to bless them if they walked in His ways and followed after Him, not turning aside to follow after other gods, empty things that cannot profit or deliver, He would bless them and if they did turn aside they would suffer the consequences of disobedience. (Check it out here: http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=turn+aside&t=ESV#s=s_primary_0_1) Also included in these verses are ones that say that they did turn aside from following God or every so often there was a king who did not turn aside from following the Lord and His commands.
So what in the world does it mean to "turn aside". It doesn't say that they did a 180. It wasn't as if they were following hard after God and then said "I will not do this anymore!", turned totally around and walked directly opposite to what God had commanded. At least, not at first. I think it is more the idea of what we might call "side tracked". I get side tracked way too often, sometimes to the point of getting on line to look up or check for a certain thing, then checking facebook or email while I'm on there, getting drawn in and finally getting off having not done what I originally got on the computer to do!
We have this purpose, this goal, but something happens along the way and our attention gets shifted elsewhere. We turn aside from what we are pursuing because something else, for the moment, seems more interesting, more attractive, more urgent. The problem is that as we give in to those "moments" they become longer and somehow we find ourselves thinking that we don't have time to pursue God but the fact is that we have gotten side tracked with things that might be good but not what is best or things that are "empty that cannot profit or deliver".
So it begins like that we look somewhere else for just a moment, we think, but Satan is cunning and knows that we can be drawn away a little at a time much better than just challenging us to turn totally away from God. So if your reaction to God saying "don't turn aside to the right of the left" seems a bit strict; know that God knows our hearts. The Bible says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 and "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23
I have been involved in a women's Bible study at my church and our preaching pastor has been preaching through 1 Samuel(Check out his sermons here: http://www.desertspringschurch.org/messages/) and over and over again I've been reading/hearing these words "do not turn aside" or "they turned aside" and those have stuck out and stuck with me. Over and over God told His people:
"You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess." - Deuteronomy 5:32-33 ESV
"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you." - Deuteronomy 11:13-17 ESV
Multiple times God promised to bless them if they walked in His ways and followed after Him, not turning aside to follow after other gods, empty things that cannot profit or deliver, He would bless them and if they did turn aside they would suffer the consequences of disobedience. (Check it out here: http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=turn+aside&t=ESV#s=s_primary_0_1) Also included in these verses are ones that say that they did turn aside from following God or every so often there was a king who did not turn aside from following the Lord and His commands.
So what in the world does it mean to "turn aside". It doesn't say that they did a 180. It wasn't as if they were following hard after God and then said "I will not do this anymore!", turned totally around and walked directly opposite to what God had commanded. At least, not at first. I think it is more the idea of what we might call "side tracked". I get side tracked way too often, sometimes to the point of getting on line to look up or check for a certain thing, then checking facebook or email while I'm on there, getting drawn in and finally getting off having not done what I originally got on the computer to do!
We have this purpose, this goal, but something happens along the way and our attention gets shifted elsewhere. We turn aside from what we are pursuing because something else, for the moment, seems more interesting, more attractive, more urgent. The problem is that as we give in to those "moments" they become longer and somehow we find ourselves thinking that we don't have time to pursue God but the fact is that we have gotten side tracked with things that might be good but not what is best or things that are "empty that cannot profit or deliver".
So it begins like that we look somewhere else for just a moment, we think, but Satan is cunning and knows that we can be drawn away a little at a time much better than just challenging us to turn totally away from God. So if your reaction to God saying "don't turn aside to the right of the left" seems a bit strict; know that God knows our hearts. The Bible says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 and "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23
The Lord is the only one who understands our hearts and knows our enemy. He doesn't give these commands for fun to with hold good from us but to protect and bring us good. O that we would hear and obey.
Dear Father, please, help us to seek You above all things, not turning to the right or the left but keeping our eyes fixed on You. Help us to know that You are good, always acting in love towards us. Help us to follow hard after You for You are the only One who knows our hearts and knows what we most need. Help us to guard our hearts, please turn them, daily, toward You. You are worthy and O so much better than anything else that could momentarily hold our attention. Help us to know how deep Your love is for us and walk with You today and always, in Jesus name, amen.
Amen friend! I am always blessed as I read your posts! Thank you for this!
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