The Shema
Hear O Israel!
The Lord is our God – the Lord Alone.
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart,
With all your soul,
And with all your might,
And love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.

1 Sam 19:23, And he proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 
	In this morning’s passage, we have Saul set upon that journey to kill David by his own hand. Before he could do so, the Spirit of God came upon him to the point that he was absolutely deterred from his evil plan. He could not thwart the plans and purposes of God to ultimately place David on the throne of Israel.
We are considering this passage with the desire in our hearts to come into a greater bedrock reality of the Sovereignty of God. His Omnipotence, His Omnipresence, and His Omniscience stand as the foundation of our faith and our trust and our reliance upon Him to meet the needs of each day as it unfolds before us. 
We can make plans and set up the course of our walk, however it must always, always be with the certainty and obedient reverence to His will being done. When we say, “Lord willing” that is exactly what we learn needs to be the focal attention of our hearts. Each day is always “Lord willing.” Each plan is always “Lord willing.” Each step forth into this realm by our feet is always “Lord willing.” 
	As we read last week in Prov 16:9, we can make all the plans that we want. We can set up all the schemes of how we will do this or that, how we will save for retirement, how we will afford that new car, how we will promote the efforts of our business, but to what end? Everything we plan is worthless in the grand scheme of our walk on this earth. It is all just that, thoughts and ideas and conceptual knowledge of what our minds portray as the thing to do. 
	And please do not misunderstand me. Making those plans for the future, devising what seems to be the most appropriate way to honor God as stewards of all that He has put into our hands, how to spend money, or fund savings, or travel to this or that place, or any of that ilk, is a great thing for us as humans to do. However, we must do so with all the focus of our hearts and minds being set upon what The Lord wills to be done. Not our will, but His will!
	Prov 16:9, The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. 
	Man can make all kinds of honorable decisions, as well as those self-centered indulgent schemes, but The Lord is The One Whose Word stands forever. His will is always accomplished! His plans always come to fruition! His decisions are always put into place, without fail, without any doubt, no matter what the course of the weather or the financial markets or the onslaught of enemies! 
	Our ideas and our plans so often fall apart as the winds of change, the rumors of wars, the fears of the masses, the unpredictability of natural disasters, and the decline of economic systems into recession or depression can completely wipe out every resource at our disposal. We may have great ideas about the course of doing this or that, even for the glory of God, and then wake up one morning in physical distress or disease or illness blasting asunder our abilities to do anything that we have devised.
But, the Word of the Lord, the Divine plan and purpose of God is not hindered by anything and everything of His determination is done and final! It will not change! It will not be thwarted! It will not deviate! Because of this, even the steps of every man, woman, and child on this earth is ordered by and under the direction of God.
	 Again, we turn to the Proverbs, in Prov 19:21, to see how fully the futility of man’s limited abilities to accomplish anything is set against the Omniscience of God. Prov 19:21, Many are the plans in a man's heart, But the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.
Man can plan and plan and plan, with many of those plans being good and founded in the depths of human wisdom and understanding. But the fact remains that all the plans of humanity are frail and without any true standing against the magnificent and perfect and uncompromising counsel of Jehovah. He determines what will be done, and it is done! Man hopes, and man wishes, and man thinks of this or that and tries to accomplish as much as possible. 
God, on the other hand, speaks and it is done! God determines, and it is final! God declares, and the whole universe bows down to Him in complete acquiescence to His will.
	The Prophet Isaiah highlights the course of this consideration in Isa 46:8-13. Please turn to it so we can read the heart of God that was expressed by His prophet.
	Isa 46:8-13, "Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. "Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness. "I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel. 
	The Prophet of The Lord delivers the very heart of God to those who will but listen. There is no way that any person can question the fact that God rules and overrules. The very course of the history of nations is in the hands of Jehovah. He calls forth those nations who will do His bidding in response to carry out the plan of God from before even anything was created. These nations, thinking they are doing their own thing are truly just the tools of the Omnipotent and Omniscient Creator of Heaven and earth as He summons and dismisses according to that which is His will for the eternal reality of all mankind. 
Consider, again, just very briefly how God directed those nations to take the people of Israel into captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful monarch of his day was under the direction of God in the manner of how God would deal with His Chosen People. That king could only do what God commanded as the Lord even directed the steps of that oligarch. No one and nothing is outside the scope of the direction of God in terms of where to go, how far to go, and when to stop.
	As well, in this passage, we see the folly of humanity set against the Righteousness and the Holiness of Yahweh. All must acquiesce to the Sovereignty and the honor and the majesty of Jehovah. All will truly come to know the full extent of their meager and pitiful plans of world domination against the Divine Lord of all. He allows mankind to go so far, but no further as they only bring into place that which serves to accomplish the bidding and the established heart of God on this, His earth.
	In Jer 10:23, the Prophet joins in this refrain with a most simple, yet all-encompassing declaration of truth. Jer 10:23, I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. 
	The truth is that no matter how much a person may proclaim that they control their own destiny, it is ever the Lord at work to will and to do all that is necessary to bring to the forefront, without fail, His perfect will. The person may think that they are choosing the manner of doing this or that to accomplish the great goals of their hearts, but the Lord is the One Who is in control. 
When we walk in accordance with His plan and His will, we will see the wonderful fruitfulness of that walk. However, if we choose to try to circumvent the Lord, or run away, in the opposite direction from what the Lord declares, we will soon find that our steps fall right into line with what was always divinely ordered for the will of God to be brought forth in full bloom. 
	The key for us, however, in this reality, is that we do have that choice to honor God and seek His will and His way and His glory and His honor and His praise and His adoration in the manner in which our steps are ordered on our so brief sojourn on this earth. 
	Or, we can try to do that, which is doomed from the very onset of even our thought processes. We can try to order our lives apart from the guidance and the direction and the will of God. That, however, will only bring about the discipline and the manifested correction of God in the lives of those who have declared that He is both Savior and Lord of our lives. We cannot run away from what God has ordained for us. We can fight and scream and deny this truth to the utter exhaustion of our body and soul and spirit, but God will have His way, no matter what! 
	I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. 
The course of our sojourn on this earth is to be the recognized surrender to the Lordship of God to the point that our lives are willingly His to do with as He so deems the perfect and blessed step of obedience into each day. He, Alone, is in control! He, Alone, knows the end from the beginning! He, Alone, knows what is absolutely the best and most rewarding walk of each day of our lives.
	This brings us to one of the most urgent statements of Our Lord Jesus Christ to those who will listen and obey. Please turn to Matt 7:21-23, so we can deliberate on this together. Let us do so with hearts that are seeking for the will of God to be done in the manner in which we live our lives on this earth. This will be the testimony that we present to others which pleases God in the evidence of the truth that God, Alone, is worthy to be honored and adored and obeyed! 
	Matt 7:21-23, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' 
	This brings to the forefront those who label what they are doing as the work of the Lord. These people use the name of God as the cover sheet for everything that is the course of their scheming and self-aggrandizement. They present themselves in the cloak of Christ, and yet they are just trying to manipulate and to enrich themselves and their esteem in the eyes of the populace. They really try to get away with any and all sorts of shady and ill-conceived ideas of both denying the power and the person of Christ, while at the same time attaching His glorious name to those foul and putrid schemes of whatever it takes to make a buck on this earth. 
	They may present themselves as the workers of miracles and the soothsayers of this age, but they will not be able to hide themselves in the cloak of their deception before the King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ will not countenance the use of His name in the course of human exaltation and exploitation. There will be that day in which all will be presented in the light of Christ, and that which is not of Him will be separated and cast away. No scheme of humanity, even with the name of Jesus attached to it will stand against the might and the awesome power and purity of the judgment of God. All will be open to the full and penetrating gaze of the One Who judges perfectly aright!
	This was so evident in the manner in which the Lord used the chief priests and Pharisees in the course of bringing into place the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. This is recounted in John 11:47-53.
These religious leaders, who were so well learned in the scriptures, were actually the means by which the Messiah came into His place of crucifixion, resurrection, and then glorification. They thought they were serving the purposes of God in a completely different manner in the apparent protection of their place of honor and esteem in the eyes of the people and in the eyes of their Roman conquerors. 
But God had something completely different at the heart of their choices and interactions and deliberations. God’s eternal plan was at stake, and these learned leaders could not but follow the course that was set before them, even as they thought they were taking the matter of this interloper into their own hands.
John 11:47-53, Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him. 
	We close, this discussion, with the great proclamation of the love of God that is detailed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 13. We will read this wonderful promise of God to all. We do so with the heart that puts the truth that God has all things well in hand. It matters not what man may try to do, how man may try to manipulate, how man may try to hinder and prevent the work of God from coming into place. God is God! His Word stands forth as the focal beacon by which we can fully and wonderfully and blessedly and obediently walk on this earth to His praise and to His glory and to His honor.
	1 Cor 13, If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. So be it and Amen! 

This morning’s benediction is 2 Tim 3:16+17. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Amen.