The Dungeon of Desperation

Desperation leads us into dungeons we would otherwise never venture into.

Take a look at King Saul, a man who was gifted the throne of Israel on a platter of gold; he made two mistakes, both mistakes came as a result of his desperation to please the people instead of the God who made him king.

Prophet Samuel told him to wait for him at Gilgal, so that an offering can be made to the Lord.

He gathered men for battle. The men however developed cold feet through impatience.

He felt he needed to hurry the men into battle by assuring them God was with them.

He made the sacrifice the prophet should have made.

Then the prophet arrived. Words were exchanged and the prophet made it clear that he had his eyes trained on pleasing the people instead of pleasing God.

Saul, in his classic nature insisted the prophet should wait and pretend all was well for the benefit of the people.

He was a chronic men pleaser, a man too insecure to see that all things had been handed to him on a platter of gold.

The second time, he was given an instruction by the prophet to fulfil the oath of Moses concerning the Amalekites. Again, he pandered to the people.

Destroy everything was the instruction but he spared some animals and even Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

Then he realised David's popularity and prospect after some women sang that David had killed his tens of thousands. He saw the threat to his throne and he decided the threat had to die.

He started subtly, pushing David to battle with the Philistines by promising him his daughter in marriage. At a point he got so desperate that he threw a javelin at David and even at his own son, Jonathan for daring to love David. His desperation made everyone around him to question his sanity.

David escaped from one of his plots and decided he wouldn't wait for the King to make another attempt on his life. He ran to Nob, lied that he was on King's business and got bread and the sword of Goliath. In response Saul killed all the priests of Nob.

He accused them of aiding and abetting his enemy despite the fact that they explained to him that they had no idea David had fallen out with him.

He didn't consider that the priests served a higher purpose than him. He would have killed Prophet Samuel too when he went looking for DAVID in the prophet's House.

The challenge he had was that the prophet was full of the Spirit of God and the spirit arrested him when he got there. Saul was desperate to keep what had been taken away from him.

Eventually he had a war to fight with the Philistines and he wanted to know what God had to say. He had killed all the priests and ostracized all the Prophets. He had cut off his own access to God out of desperation and had to resort yet again to consult a witch.

He never learned. It was as if he was programmed to walk in error all the days of his life.

Many Believers are like Saul today.

They are desperate for a miracle and they would do anything to get it. Imagine a born-again Christian who is full of the Holy Spirit consulting a medium in order to get pregnant and have a baby.

This lady met this man who collected 10 million Naira from her. He gave her something to eat and she began to bloat up in the tummy area. She assumed she had gotten pregnant by supernatural means. When it was 9 months, she went to meet the man so that she could give birth to the baby.

The man demanded another 20Million naira. She didn't have the 

money and she began to look for a way to sell off her properties in order to meet up.

This was when she met the brother in Jean's and T-shirt. She told him her story and asked him to loan her the money.  He said, "Let me pray with you."

She said, "The man said if I go anywhere for prayers, I will die. What I need is the money not prayer.”

She didn't see what desperation had done to her. She didn't see the reality of the error she was walking in. Well, she didn't get it and she didn't make it.

I have seen several men and women making decisions out of desperation in the name of becoming rich or getting a promotion or getting a child.

They would dine with the devil willingly while convincing themselves that they did what they did out of putting effort into actualizing their dreams.

Desperation is not a fruit of the spirit. Ananias and Saphira were desperate to be commended by the leaders of the church. They lost their lives as a result.

Desperation is a path that leads to destruction.

Again, outside of eternal life, nothing we are so hung up on in this life will last or endure.

Always remember this!

I love you

-GSW-