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Let's be realistic today. Not every Christian is happy. Some are absolutely miserable and yet they seem to follow Christ. How can this be? Then we all know of someone who has lost his or her way. They’re gone! Once thriving, succeeding and growing in Christ and now we know not where they are. Something does not seem right---considering all the promises of God. This just can’t be normal!

In our Bible reading today, we find some of the saddest comments in the Bible. Samuel says to Saul, “God would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time, but now your kingdom will not endure.” There, you see the intention of God, the will of God, the purpose of God and Saul’s God-given destiny, but now, it’s not going to happen. Could that happen to you? Could you miss God’s destiny for your life.

Go back just a few years to the day God called Saul. It was an ordinary day. Saul’s family had lost some donkeys and his father had sent him to search for them. After several days of searching, they could not find them. Finally, giving up and about to return home, his servant says to him, “Let’s go to the man of God who lives in this town. Maybe he can help us find them”

God had already spoken to Samuel and told him that the next day, a man would come searching for donkeys and this man was to be king over Israel. What do donkeys and kingship have in common? Nothing. But God was working a man’s destiny through the ordinary circumstances of life. Saul had no idea what was about to happen. There were absolutely no thoughts in his head about becoming a king. He was just looking for donkeys. Then upon their meeting, Samuel poured oil on him, symbolizing that the Holy Spirit was coming upon him to be king. This was the beginning of God’s destiny for Saul.

God has always done things like that. In the most unlikely moments and with the most unlikely people, He calls and people respond and suddenly the future is loaded with potential.

Adam was tasked and called to subdue the earth.
Abraham was called to become a great nation.
Gideon threshing his grain, in the cover of darkness for fear, was called to be God’s deliverer for Israel.
Moses, tending sheep, in a desert, heard God tell him to lead the people of God to deliverance.
Esther is miraculously brought into the king’s palace. God calls upon Esther to save the people of Israel from extinction. And there are many more...

This is how God works. He calls people. If you haven’t already heard it, you need to know that this very day, God is calling for your life. You may already have some idea of what that is or you may not. Long before Saul went to see Samuel, God saw his life and he had chosen him for a purpose. That is destiny!

Callings are not all the same. Just as the Body of Christ is described as having many members and each member is not the same so God’s destiny for each of us is not the same.

Why does God pick the people he does? When he picked Saul, Saul was described as being little in his own eyes. He was humble in heart. When Saint Francis was asked why God called him he said, “God picks the weakest, the smallest, the meanest of men on the face of the earth, and he uses them.”

Never limit your faith to who you are or what you have. God is so good at doing impossible things through limited people.

Once one is called, financial security, location, notoriety, applause and power become increasingly less important. Obedience becomes the primary issue.

If you won’t obey, nothing will happen. There is no destiny without obedience. Jesus said to each of his disciples, “Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.” There is no making without the following. If one is unwilling to follow, nothing is going to become of your destiny.

“God would have established your kingdom for all time-if you had only obeyed.” - (paraphrase of 1 Samuel 13)

This was why Saul was finally rejected. He would not obey. The blessing of God is in obedience. When he was small in his own eyes, he was lifted up by God and when he was big in his own eyes, he was brought down by God. The blessing of God is in obedience.

Once you become disobedient, you lose a sense of God’s blessing and there goes your joy. I am convinced that it is fundamentally impossible to be unhappy with life if Jesus is really in charge. Of course, life will have its ups and downs, but inside there is the presence of Christ that gives life its purpose.

Jesus said to his followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Teaching them to obey Christ was foundational to their destiny.

Your destiny is not guaranteed. It is conditional upon your obedience. Your calling may never come to fruition unless your heart is fully committed to the Lord.

The world is full of bitter people. Each of them has a story about who is responsible for their sad situation in life. Behind all that bitterness is an angry soul. Angry at life, willing to blame anyone---even God, but not themselves---for life’s problems.

What did Saul do after his disobedience? He blamed the people. Samuel the prophet was coming to lead the offering of the sacrifice. The pressure was on. The Philistines were about to attack. The men following Saul were about to scatter and so Saul went ahead without Samuel.

How much pressure does it take for you to compromise? Ask yourself that question.

Here’s the reality check. Life is not a game of cards in which some are dealt a good hand and others are not. It’s not a slot machine that if you hit it long enough, your luck will come in. It’s not a toss of a coin, hoping the good side comes up.

Life is a destiny, a calling lived under God, in the will of God, for God and for His purpose. If I am blaming others or life or God for what’s wrong, I have an excuse not to change. The life lived under God is a blessed life.

Never do we approach life from a position of strength but of weakness and dependence. We always need the Lord.

Psalm 20:7
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Are you a “fleecer”? You know, the kind of person who assumes that everything positive that happens must be the will of God? If it works out, it must be God’s will. If not, it must be the devil!

Never let the opinions of others alone be your guide for life. Yes, get the best advice you can. Take responsibility for your life with God and with men. There is power within you to hear from God. Never let the word of prophecy alone guide your decisions and actions.

There is a crisis in every man’s history, at which it will assuredly be made manifest on what ground he is resting, by what motives he is actuated, and by what objects he is animated.

Remember, God wanted Saul’s kingdom to endure. It did not. Saul was tested by circumstances and so are we.

Years ago, I read an article written by a very successful Baptist pastor in the USA. He had planted a new church and he was succeeding beyond what anyone thought possible. His organization thought, a man like that should be in a big city church. He was offered and accepted a larger church with greater potential and he said it lasted 9 months and was the most miserable 9 months of his life. He was attracted to the images of success but had forgotten that his success was because he was where God wanted him to be.

The symbols of this world’s success are never a core component of one’s destiny.

Sometimes this test is time. Can we wait, as Saul was told to wait, or will we run ahead and do it our way? Since the very time of Adam, man has been tempted to assert his independence from God. We stubbornly resist accepting what we ourselves have not chosen. It is so difficult to wait unless waiting is our idea.

If you patiently wait, believingly, expectantly, you will find that the waiting is not in vain, and that the Lord will prove himself a Counselor both wise and good.

Some people get off track. They lose sight of their destiny. Some find their way back. Saul never got back on track. Was this destiny? He became a miserable man. Are you miserable this morning? If so, you are either out of touch with God or purposefully ignoring God’s voice.

There is only one thing in the world that can hinder the Christians from walking in victorious fellowship with God and being filled with the Holy Spirit---and that is sin in one form or another. There is only one thing in the world that can cleanse him from sin and enable him to live a life of liberty and victory- and that is the Blood of the Lord Jesus. [paraphrased)

I finish this all by coming back to the heart. It’s all about the heart---having a heart for God. That’s what we’ve been talking about for the past few weeks. God looks for people who have a heart for Him.

You can live a normal yet supernatural life. God adds a dimension to lift you above the common and ordinary. The supernatural dimensions that only the Holy Spirit can bring. Several years ago, while reading the book of Acts, I wrote a sermon called “A Normal Day of the Unusual”. What they did with God and what God did with them was normal for them but absolutely unusual in the world.

You have a destiny that has a supernatural component because it has a God component. Don’t let anyone talk you into taking an easier road. Don’t ever give up when things seem to hang a bit. Let your heart run for God and keep your eyes on Jesus because He can finish what He started.