How long will you mourn?

Here's our new Precious Prodigal post for July 15, 2014: How long will you mourn? #timetomoveon #letitgo Please "Share" this post using this "ShortLink" = http://bit.ly/W8jPYu

1 Samuel 16:1 "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?"

Samuel was the last judge over Israel before the people demanded a king. The reasons they gave for rejecting Samuel were that he was too old to serve and his sons too dishonorable to take his place. (1 Sam 8:1)

That first king of Israel, Saul, started out great in potential and small in his own eyes. However, he finished great in his own eyes and small in God’s. At the end of 1 Samuel 15, we find that God has rejected Saul as king, and Samuel is broken hearted and mourning.

It’s doubtful Samuel’s mourning started with God’s rejection of Saul. Samuel had served God faithfully all his life. In his old age, the people rejected him, and he couldn’t take comfort in his ungodly children. Now God had rejected the king He told Samuel to anoint.

We know about rejection, don’t we? The rejection may even have come from friends or family. In fact, the most painful rejections of all come from those who should love us. Samuel was “too old.” But it could easily have been something else.

You might be “too” young, “too” damaged, “too” different, or “too”…fill in the blank. Your husband walked away, your parents abandoned you or you’re judged by mistakes you’ve made in the past…that you are doing what’s right now doesn’t seem to matter. Whatever the reason for the rejection, it hurts, doesn’t it?

Neither could Samuel take comfort in his sons. They were dishonest, they took bribes and “perverted justice.” (1 Sam 8:3) Whatever hopes and dreams he had for them were never to be fulfilled. Although the people rejected Samuel without cause, they had plenty of reasons to reject his sons. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

Now the king Samuel had ordained and invested in had done what was wrong, and God had rejected him from being king. Samuel had reason to mourn and he did. Once he had pronounced God’s judgment on Saul, he didn’t see the king again for the rest of his life. But that didn’t stop him from mourning. (1 Sam 15:36)

That’s when God asked his grieving child, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?" (1 Sam 16:1) God didn’t wait for an answer before telling Samuel to “fill [his] horn with oil and go..." Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit, so God was telling Samuel it was time for him to get busy doing what God had for him to do and to do it with a fresh anointing of the Spirit.

I don’t know the person you’re mourning today. It might be the spouse or the prodigal child who walked away. Maybe it’s the parents who neglected, harmed or abused you. It might be your sister or brother, your best friend, your church, your pastor or the people you’ve served. Whoever it is, my question to you is the same: “How long will you mourn?”

But you don’t know how much they hurt me!  But my heart is broken over the relationship that isn’t there with my kids! But I trusted them, needed them, loved them, and continue to long for them! And it hurts so much! “How long will you mourn?”

I know it hurts. How could it not hurt when you love that person and you’ve been rejected? But you and I can’t make a relationship happen when we’re the only ones who want it. Whatever your reason for sorrow might be, how long do you plan to mourn?

Maybe it’s time to get a fresh anointing of God’s Holy Spirit so you can do the work God has planned for you. Because, make no mistake about it, He does have a plan for your life. Your sorrow doesn’t mean God’s finished with you or that you can quit. Maybe it’s time for you and me to take that mourning and lay it aside.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, lay aside your grief and ask God to show you His plan for you?