1 Samuel 23:7 (NIV) Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

King Saul had become obsessed with trying to kill David because he was jealous of him. This forced David to run for his life, often hiding in caves and in the wilderness. One day, Saul heard that David was in the town of Keilah, which was a city enclosed by walls. David had gone there to rescue the people from the Philistines, who had attacked them. David and his men did rescue the people by defeating the Philistines, but someone ran to tell Saul that David was in Keilah. When Saul heard this, he declared that God had delivered David into his hands. In reality, God had done no such thing.

The Word of God tells us that God had rejected Saul as king because of his disobedience. On more than one occasion, King Saul had disregarded God's specific commands and instructions. The Word also tells us that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, which meant that God was no longer with him because of his heart of disobedience (1 Samuel 16:14). Saul also knew the Lord was with David (1 Samuel 18:12). So the question is, how could Saul have believed that God had delivered David into his hands? He tried to put on God what he himself wanted to believe, even though it made no sense. It was a false word. That's something that I have heard a lot of people do. People have ascribed ridiculous things to God that are of their own thoughts and will. I have even heard people say that God has "said" things that directly contradict His Word. For example, I once heard a man say to a group of believers that God had told him to divorce his wife and marry another woman. It's amazing how delusional people can get when they get away from the Lord to go after what they sinfully desire. Then because they have identified themselves as followers of Christ, they try to legitimize their sin by saying that God told them to do it.

Be very careful about what you say that God has said or what you say He has showed you. When you legitimately feel a prompting from Him with a word or with a certain course of action, be careful and just say, "I feel that the Lord is leading me in this certain direction." Avoid saying, "God said..." or "the Lord told me..." Once you say that, you are putting words in God's mouth and you'd better be sure that it is Him saying it. Remember how God felt about Job's friends who spoke things to Job as if speaking for the Lord. God rebuked them and it took Job praying for them for the Lord to forgive them. Stay in close relationship with Jesus because when you do, you won't have to declare what you think God has said. He will just sovereignly guide you into His perfect will as you put your trust in Him.

Pastor Joey Vazquez