Conviction or Offense?

This morning I was reading from 1 Samuel, and saw something interesting. Here are the verses - 1 Samuel 17:24, 26-28 NIV:

[24] "Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
[26] David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
[27] They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
[28] When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

I had recently read about the anointing of David by Samuel, and the first person that Samuel saw when he went to Jesse's home, was Eliab, and he was greatly impressed by this young man's appearance and apparent strength. Yet here we see what was in his heart. He like everyone else were filled with fear when they saw Goliath. He had no faith in God, didn't turn to God, didn't believe that God could rescue them. He saw things only as a man. When he was confronted by his lack of faith by the statement of David, rather than recognizing his sin and wrong belief in humility, he instead yelled at David, and called him conceited.

This is a great example of how some people react to the word of the Lord. Rather that accepting it and allowing their hearts to be moved, they rail against it and try to attack the one who brings the word of the Lord, and the conviction it brings. Eliab was confronted by his fear and lack of faith by his youngest brother and he didn't like it, and didn't recognize the hand of the Lord, or the word of the Lord. He only knew he felt bad inside and so struck at the messenger - David.

How often do people change the channel when they are listening to someone who has the word of the Lord, and the are struck to the heart by their words, but rather than embrace and listen, they change the channel so they aren't convicted in their hearts by the words. How often do people leave churches because the Preacher has unknowingly exposed their fears or lack of faith and rather than confront these, the people have moved on so they didn't have to listen and be convicted. How often will people, when challenged and experiencing conviction by someone's Word of the Lord, choose to be offended and try to attack the very person who brought the Word, looking for error in that person's life so they can disqualify them as a messenger.

Conviction by the Holy Spirit is not a fun experience, for He lays bare our sins and unbelief, but He does this to heal us. It is similar to a cancer surgeon who, when he does surgery, goes all the way to the root of the problem, and works to remove every last cancer cell so that he can heal the person and eradicate the cancer. The Holy Spirit, although thorough is also gentle, for He provides us the opportunity to deal with our stuff love and over again. In Eliab's case, he was given the chance to look into his own heart when Samuel didn't choose him to be king, primarily because of what God saw in his heart. Eliab could have heard that and decided to root out anything that wasn't Godly, but apparently he didn't go there.

In my experience, the Lord will address an area of my life, and if my response is to be offended rather than convicted, He will just bring it up again until I am ready to deal with it. He does this because He loves me and wants to see me grow into the man He knows I am, and He knows this issue will affect me and cause me trouble or stunted growth, or limit my fruitfulness.

So let us not run from those words, or experiences that reveal our weakness, fears and unbelief, but rather let us turn to God, recognize His promises are true, and that He loves us, and allow His Word to change us. Let us recognize our sin, embrace conviction and choose to live by faith in the Lord, the lover of our souls.