A Tale Of 2 Kings And 2 Hearts

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Over the course of the 7 days of waiting for the prophet the armies of Israel began to lose their confidence.

They were able to count and no doubt they understood the simple math. The Philistines had 10 times more chariots than they had men. The Philistine horsemen, alone, numbered twice that of the army of Israel and the number of men in the Phillistine camp was innumerable, like sands on the sea shore.

It shook them up a little bit. What they needed was a king

whose confidence was in God. They needed a king that would remind them of Gideon’s great victory. They needed a king that would tell them the stories of old, how Jericho’s walls came tumbling down. Someone who would remind them that God is well able.

But instead, as their confidence crumbled so did Saul’s. Over the course of 7 days the people of Israel began to scatter. We learned in our text that, when it was all done, Saul’s army had shrunk from 3,000 men to just 600 men in 7 days. It was the pivotal moment in Saul’s life. It was the pivotal moment when his heart would be fully revealed.

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He would either place his trust fully in God and believe that God could still save or he would panic and do something rash.

I can just imagine King Saul, looking out over the Philistine camp with its innumerable host and watching his army dwindle day after day. When the seven days began he was facing impossible odds but, with each passing day the situation got worse and worse. It was more than he could bear.

As his army got down to just 600 men, with no evidence that Samuel was going to show up, Saul took it upon himself to offer the sacrifices that Samuel was supposed to offer. He decided that it was up to him to preserve his army and save his nation.

He got impatient with waiting on God and decided to help God out. That’s never a good idea. That was the day that exposed the fundamental problem with Saul’s heart.

His trust was in himself, not in God! His faith was in his own

abilities, not in God. He had more confidence in armies,

horsemen, and chariots than he had in God. That was always the problem with Saul’s heart. It mirrored the heart of Israel.

They had more confidence in a king than they did in God. So Saul offered the sacrifices and as soon as he finished offering the sacrifices, the man of God showed up.

He was never running late. He was never going to abandon Saul. He was always going to be right on time! But when he shows up to offer the sacrifices and deliver the battle into Saul’s hands he discovers the rash actions of Saul. Samuel was beside himself. He knew that God would have delivered more than just a battle to Saul if he had trusted in the Lord, he would have established his throne forever if only he had trusted God.

God delivered the nation of Israel by the hand of Gideon and only 300 men against impossible odds. If he did it before, he could have done it again. God doesn’t need armies to insure victories, God doesn’t need impressive numbers to cause kings to kneel in surrender, he only needs the faith and trust of his own people.