According to Merriam-Webster.com, a people pleaser is someone who has an emotional need to please others, often at the expense of their own needs or desires.
We often struggle to wait on God’s timing, feeling the need to take control.
People pleasing, driven by fear, impatience, and the desire for approval, can lead us astray, as seen with Saul in 1 Samuel 13, which cost him his kingdom.
In contrast, Jesus chose faith and submission in the Garden of Gethsemane, showing the importance of trusting God over our emotions.
Contents
Saul’s Disobedience
You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command
1 Samuel 13:13
With Saul, we see how he chooses his own understanding instead of leaning on the Lord in different decisions he makes as a king. He relies on Israel and their approval rather than the approval of God just as Israel may have seeked to have tried to fit in and have the approval of nations around.
In this situation of 1 Samuel 13, Saul was to wait on Samuel but saw the fear of man and how they were beginning to scatter after a fight with the Philistines. Instead of being patient or having faith in God, he chooses to take matters into his own hand and do what only priests should do.
He takes on a role that was not appointed to him and does a task of presenting an offering to God which was not what God commanded him to do. Just as he finishes doing the offering, Samuel comes and rebukes him.
Saul’s heart was on pleasing Israel and was not turned to God and his commands.
Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands
We can lean on trying to take situations into our own hands when situations get hard, we become impatient, we no longer have trust in God, or many other scenarios where we have our hearts turned on what we want as the outcome rather than what God’s will is.
Seasons of waiting or persecution are hard to fight through. We want to find the ways out of it and take control of the situation. Or, We can want others to praise us when we figured out the ways to “win” our own battles or emerge from the struggle we are in.
Fighting a battle you feel you are losing and seeing people scatter around you can be disheartening and can lead to us trying to figure things out.
Yet, what are we saying about God as we do this?
We are saying that he is not victorious because it was not in our timeline. We are saying he is not all powerful because the situation isn’t approving how we feel it should. We are saying God is not good because we don’t feel good.
However, if we choose to not wait and rely on the Lord, we can choose to do the wrong thing or prematurely receive an outcome that isn’t ready for us.
The Consequences of Impatience
If Saul only waited a little longer and prayed in that time, God would have brought victory to Israel and he would have received the respect and growth in his army. He would remain as king and not have endured the animosity he felt towards David.
David would not have had to be on the run for years in fear of his life.
Our decisions in the moment can lead to tremendous outcomes that can be avoided. If he turned his heart to the Lord, he would have more than less.
In the end, Saul receives the loss of being king and the role being given to someone who would listen, wait, and commune with the Lord than with their own feelings and earthly insight towards the situation.
Jesus’ Example in Gethsemane
As I think about Saul’s decision, I think about Jesus’ decision in the garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knew what was to come. He was terrified and his disciples were not able to stay awake with him. He had to go through this on his own. He could have taken the situation into his own hands.
He was God! He had the power to figure out something else. However, he chooses to go to God in prayer three times. He does not stop at the first time but goes back until he is confident in what his father needed for him to do.
After going to see his disciples still asleep the second time, He could have decided to sleep alongside his disciples and wait until later to figure it out. He could have chosen a selfish desire of preserving his own life and running away. He could have chosen to have God find someone else to do it.
But, He knew if God had another way he would have told him to go about his business and keep teaching, healing, and loving on his people. But instead, Jesus had to come to the hard outcome of knowing he had to die for our sins.
Though it was not easy, he knew in the end it would be worth it. It would mean more for us than the less he would have received by choosing to react on the human emotions he was feeling.
And in the end, he sits on the right hand of God in heaven.
Deception Of The Heart
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.
JEREMIAH 17:9
Our emotions are deceitful and fleeting. It sways us to actions that make sense to us in the moment, but in the long run leads to death which is beyond cure.
Reflection Questions
1. When the Lord searches your heart, what does he find?
2. Does he find you choosing to continually try to take control and lean less on faith in him?
3. Does he find you wanting to please others and choose to do whatever it takes to keep them satisfied?
4. Does he see you trying to fight battles on your own without him?
5. Does he see you leaning on the status of your emotions more than his Word?
6. Does he see you deciding to calculate how to be victorious rather than praying?
Conclusion
We need to be content in whatever he has commanded us to do even if in the moment it may be hard. His will is better than our own.
We may have to go through it alone and watch as others sleep or scatter. But we know that even if man forsakes us, God never will.
We must continue in our circumstances with strong faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, and know that God will do what is best!
We shouldn’t depend on people’s approval; our trust should be in God alone.
