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Uncontrolled Zeal
1 Samuel 21:2
"And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)"
The story from the verse above first takes place when Joshua led Israel to conquer the land of Canaan. After Joshua conquered Jericho and Ai, the Gibeonites knew that they would be destroyed because they were no match for God and Israel. The plan they contrived was to pretend that they were from a far country. They put on old clothes, brought moldy bread, and told Joshua that they had taken a long journey and wanted to make a treaty with Israel. Joshua unwisely made this treaty and later realized he had made a big mistake. God honored the treaty, and the Gibeonites were not to be destroyed when Israel invaded the land of Canaan.
Though the Scriptures do not tell us the exact story, it seems that Saul in his zeal tried to destroy the Gibeonites. In his zeal, he ignored a treaty that even God honored. According to the verse above, Saul had slain several of the Gibeonites in one of the battles while he was a young king. Though in his zeal Saul desired to honor the Lord, it led to sin, and the payment of that sin brought famine in the days when David was king.
This story shows us the importance of controlling our zeal with truth. We certainly need people who have a zeal for the LORD. In present day Christianity it seems that many Christians have a greater zeal for the world than they do for the LORD. However, we need some Christians who have a zeal for God. We need Christians with a zeal to fight sin. We need Christians with a zeal to lead people to Jesus Christ. We need Christians with a zeal to obey God's Word. We need Christians with a zeal to fulfill their obligations in the church. We need Christians who are zealous in their hatred of sin. The fact is, it would be great if every church had people who were filled with zeal.
However, zeal must be tempered with truth. If zeal is not tempered with truth, then zeal will lead to sin. I have watched men of God compromise truth because of their zeal to see souls saved. I have watched young Christians compromise the principle of separation for the sake of trying to get someone to church. In many cases, these Christians had a sincere desire. However, their sincere desire was not tempered by truth. If truth does not temper zeal, then zeal will lead to compromise.
Truth should always be the guiding factor in every Christian's life. The truth that I am talking about is the Word of God. The Word of God must be the guide that determines your actions. When the Word of God guides zeal, then zeal can accomplish great things for God. Yet, when zeal runs rampant without being tempered by the Word of God, then zeal will eventually lead to sin.
Christian, God wants you to be zealous for Him, but be sure that your zeal for God is tempered by His Word. Don't let zeal go unchecked, rather let the Word of God be the reins that pulls your zeal back when it will lead to sin or compromise. Zeal is a powerful tool that can be used by God, but uncontrolled zeal will lead you to sin. Be sure that with everything you do you allow the Word of God to be the guiding factor that determines whether or not you should do something.