How are we to look upon failure in light of Saul’s kingship over Israel? What is God rejecting in Saul? Can we ever fail completely before God? Since God chose Saul as king over Israel didn’t he already know that Saul wouldn’t be a faithful king? Is Saul’s kingship an illustration of how apart from Jesus Christ we are unable to follow God? What traits did Saul exhibit that led to his turning aside from God? What does Saul’s failure mean for me today? How do I reject God as Saul did by choosing my own way over the way that God desires for me? How can I guard my heart from turning aside from God? The reading of 1 Samuel chapter 15 caused me to ask a lot of questions about who God is and His sovereignty. It is easy to look at the story of Saul’s kingship and think that he was cheated out of ruling Israel. The choice I make on a daily basis to either follow God’s commands or seek my own glory and way was the same choice that was faced by Saul when he was king over Israel. Saul chose to seek out his own way apart from God. I believe that God is sovereign and whatever He chooses to do is wholly right so when I see that the kingdom was taken away from Saul I can trust that God did it for His purpose and glory.
“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22,23 The disobedience and disrespect that Saul has developed towards God becomes evident in 1 Samuel 15. When God told Saul to go and destroy the Amalekites completely not leaving anything alive his actions are contrary to God’s command because Saul and his men let the king of the Amalekites live and kept the choice of the flocks to sacrifice to God. Saul thought that what he wanted to do for God was better than what God desired him to do. Saul’s words we not marked with thanksgiving to God for what He did rather they were filled with pride at the accomplishment of his own hands. Even after confronted with his sin Saul was more concerned with what other people thought of him instead of what God thought of him. It is easy to play the role of a perfect person for a crowd of people making them admire you and look up to you all the while you are dying on the inside from a declining relationship with God. At the center of Saul’s failure was his lack of a desire to love God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength.
When Samuel confronted Saul and told him that God had rejected him as the king of Israel Saul seeks another chance to make things right but God had already chosen someone to replace Saul. In 1 Samuel 16 we follow Samuel as he heads to Bethlehem where God said the next king of Israel lived. Samuel is meeting the sons of Jesse expecting the next king to have the strengths and qualities that men look up to but God’s choice was again unexpected because David, the one chosen as the next king by God, was the least of the sons of Jesse. There is encouragement found knowing that God searches and knows the hearts of men because so often we think that what we see on the outside is all that matters in life but the treasures of God are different than what is prized by men.
The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David the day he was anointed by Samuel while the Spirit of the Lord left Saul and he was terrorized by an evil spirit from God. What does this mean that God sent an evil spirit upon Saul? God ordained or allowed Saul to be tormented by a demon, depression, or something else which points again to God’s sovereignty in all things. I find it interesting that whenever Saul was tormented by this evil spirit he was comforted by David whom the Spirit of the Lord was upon. Have you ever been around a christian who greatly encouraged you to seek and know God in a greater way? When David was around Saul did he point to God in all things and help Saul look away from himself and back to God? There is great power that God displays through christians who are wholly devoted to Him.
What do you place your hope and trust in? I implore you to seek out Jesus Christ as your only way to find lasting peace in this life. As John 3:16 explains, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” If you have not come to a point where you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to find hope for today and an eternity I ask you to think about it today because this one thought and question is paramount to your future.
