Feared and Revered

# 120 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 10:2 "When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, 'The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"' (1 Sam 10:2) Isn't it interesting that Samuel sends Saul off on a kind of royal scavenger hunt. This scavenger hunt includes a total of three stops, and each one of these stops is to be considered a sign. These signs were an acid test of prophecy. If just one of them would not occur as Samuel stated, it would've nullified anything else said and put him in the company of false prophets. De 18:22 says, "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” On the other hand, if these things DO come to pass, then Samuel is verified as a true prophet and Saul ought to be afraid of him, that is, he ought to revere him as someone who speaks as if God were speaking Himself! Jesus warned us about false prophets in these last days. In Mr 13:22, He said, "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” So what do we do? How do we guard against false prophets? We do not need to go on scavenger hunts or wild goose chases! We have the Bible, the Word of God, which contains all the confirmed signs we shall ever need. 2Pe 1:19-21 reminds us that, in the Scriptures, “we have the prophetic word confirmed,” and, “prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks as if God were speaking. It's words are to be feared and revered.