FBC Daily Devotional – September 21, 2021

Our Legacy and the Burden of Unresolved Wrongdoing

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. I hope your day yesterday went well and you got your week off to a good start. Today, I want us to think about our legacy, what we're gonna leave behind some day. You know, one of the sad things that often happens at the end of a person's life is they know that their life is ebbing away and it's not gonna be long before they enter into eternity and their mind is troubled, their heart is troubled because they know that they have wronged some people in their lives and they What's really sad is when they can't do anything about it.

The people they've wronged are you know, they've gone on before them, passed away or they're so far away that they can't communicate with them or they've lost touch with them. But that's sad enough. But how sad it is when as the person is lying there and life is ebbing away, what comes to his mind is people he's wronged, loved ones, friends, family, acquaintances and they play over and over in his mind and he wants to get that settled.

More than one person in that condition has picked up the phone or had someone call for them and asked some so-and-so to come to their bedside and there at the bedside the the dying person confesses to them how they wronged them and asks for their forgiveness and and that's a wonderful thing when the wronged person grants it.

It's a sad thing when the wronged individual was so badly treated and so terribly wronged that he won't even go to that person's bedside to allow the person to depart this world in peace. That's a sad legacy to leave behind, to have a bunch of loose ends, untied up, a bunch of offended people, wronged people that hasn't been made right with them.

Samuel’s Blameless Legacy in 1st Samuel 12

Well, that's not Samuel's legacy and we see that in 1st Samuel chapter 12. He begins, this chapter begins with Samuel calling the Israelites together and he says here I am, here I am, he says witness to me in verse 3, witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed, that is the newly anointed King.

He says whose oxen have I taken or whose donkeys have I taken or whom have I cheated, whom have I oppressed and from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes. Somebody, if I've done this to anybody, step forward and I will restore it to you.

That's quite an invitation. That's quite an invitation. You would certainly expect that if somebody, if Samuel had stolen somebody's donkey or somebody's oxen or taken a bribe to judge a certain way that the wronged party would step forward.

But nobody does, nobody does. Instead they said you're blameless, you haven't cheated us or oppressed us nor have you taken anything from any man's hand. That is a wonderful legacy to leave behind. Now, by the way, you should note that you remember one of the reasons why the people of Israel demanded a king like all the other nations, even though Samuel was a great leader, a good judge and he was just, he was righteous, he was fair, he was true to God and to God's people.

But one of the reasons that the people insisted on a king was that Samuel's own sons didn't follow in Samuel's footsteps. But that doesn't come up here. It doesn't come up here. It's a recognition that Samuel's not responsible for what his adult sons have done in the path that they've taken.

Samuel's responsible for his behavior, what he's done. And so he asks people, if I've done wrong, if I've done anybody wrong, please tell me how I've done you wrong. I want to make it right. And nobody comes forward.

Nobody comes forward. What a wonderful, and by the way, I would not assume in that that Samuel never did anybody wrong. I would assume from it that anybody that Samuel might have done wrong, he got it right with that person and so it was a done deal.

It was settled. It was done and forgotten long ago. It's the way it ought to be. But anyway, this is Samuel's legacy. Nobody steps forward. Nobody comes forward. I trust that that'll be our goal as well.

Making Wrong Right Before It Is Too Late

So even today, even today as we think about this, it'd be wise of us to reflect back and think, is there, is there a wrong that hasn't been made right in my life? There's somebody I've wronged. I know it.

Holy Spirit will bring it to your mind and and and it's, it's still, it's still a fracture. There's still a fissure. There's still no, no healing because you haven't, you haven't dealt with your part in the wrongdoing.

Let's not wait till we get to Samuel's place. Before we deal with those things. Let's deal with them quickly. Our Father and our God, what a testimony this is to us to hear of Samuel not having anybody, not having anybody come forward and say he's wronged them.

May that be our goal. May that be our desire. And Father, if something needs to be made right today, I pray that it would be. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't be left to linger any longer. We pray this in Jesus name.

Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your Tuesday, and I trust God will bless you in it. Good day.