A Time To Move On
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” -- 1 Samuel 16:1
How long does it take you to get over something? It’s not a trick question. Everyone is different. But sometimes we can get so caught up in the past, that we can’t let it go and move on.
I’ve always admired people who are able to shake the past off and move on. I’m a clinger until I’m done and then, well, I’m done. For good. What about you?
The prophet Samuel was mourning Saul. The king had gone against God’s instructions so God decided that Saul no longer would rule the Israelites. God is God. When He decides something, that’s it.
Samuel had a harder time moving on. God gave him some time and then pushed him forward. God had things for Samuel to do, like go anoint David as the new king.
There is a time to mourn. There is a time to move on. A sweet friend went through a devastating divorce last year. She struggled mightily. Then she met someone and now she’s remarried. Happy. She has moved on. Will it work out? I don’t know. No one does. But she wanted to move forward and she did. I admire that.
Some people want to dwell on a past they can’t change. They want to rehash it again and again, as though somehow they’ll come up with explanations or a way to change it all. Life doesn’t work that way. We can’t go back. We can’t rewrite the past.
Saul betrayed God. Saul decided he knew better than God and it didn’t work out so well for him. There was no going back. There was no undoing what he’d already done. God moved on and that was that.
Why did God choose David, a ruddy faced boy, to be the next king? Think about it. David was a man after God’s own heart. David’s heart was right. Was he perfect? Obviously not. But David loved God and that, along with confession and repentance, make up for a lot of things.
What are you holding on to? Let it go. Give it to God and then let it go. Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to move on. And sometimes that’s the best thing you can do.
