Saul then removed his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel; he collapsed [and lay] naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" - 1 Samuel 19:24
Are you familiar with the axiom, "the end justifies the means?"
King Saul wanted to kill David and so he sent his troops to find him. Each soldier Saul sent found Samuel instead and was, as a result, left in a trance. When no one returned to Saul with the news of David's location, the king eventually went on the search himself, but ended up naked, in a trance, on his face before the prophet of God.
As with Saul, most often the problem with our "means" is that they eventually have an "end," and that end is not usually a good one! Our means or "ways" can leave us naked and stupefied and unproductive before the world, as well as ashamed before God.
Only God's ways can be followed to a positive conclusion, and His end is never "stupefaction," but rather a satisfying clarity of purpose and peace. Examine your path and ask yourself, "What will be the end of my means?"
All human sin seems so much worse in its consequences than in its intentions. - Reinhold Niebuhr
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