"Spiritual Suicide"
At the close of the book of I Samuel one of the saddest stories in the history of the nation of Israel is told. Saul, the once highly blessed of God, king of Israel, commits physical suicide atop mount Gilboa (I Samuel 31:4). The man that was anointed of God (I Samuel 10:1), given another heart by God (I Samuel 10:9), used by the Spirit of God (I Samuel 10:10; 11:6), and humble in the beginning (I Samuel 9:21; 10:23) commits this ultimate act of despair.
However, his slide down the path of sin began when his own self-will caused him not to keep the commandment of the Lord and intrude into the Priest’s office (I Samuel 13:8-14). He lost his reasoning ability, making a rash oath(I Samuel 14:44). He directly disobeyed the voice of the Lord by not eliminating Amelek, instead sparing him and "the chief things which should have been utterly destroyed."
This open disobedience by the king caused Samuel to utter those now famous words: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king" (I Samuel 15:22,23).
His jealousy led him to try to kill David, falsely considering him an enemy (I Samuel 18,19). And, his anger caused him to try to kill his own son Jonathan (I Samuel 20:33). He later, brutally commanded the slaughter of 85 Priests and all the inhabitants of their city (I Samuel 22:17-19). His last irrational act prior to his suicide was consulting the witch of Endor.
Recognizing that the Lord no longer was with him, he turned to Satan’s counterpart to give him counsel. But even through this unlikely source he hears from the departed spirit of Samuel who soundly condemned him and prophesied his doom. Saul reacts by falling down and "was sore afraid"(I Samuel 28:20). This bizarre encounter leads him into the final episode of his life as he ends it all by committing physical suicide.
This is Satan’s ultimate goal for the child of God. Ending their God-given life in shame and utter despair is Satan’s plan and unfortunately it is not an uncommon thing to hear of suicide among many today and especially the young. As a matter of fact, it is the leading killer of teens in the U.S.A.! One mortician recently told me: "The majority of suicides never make the news, most are hidden in shame."
However, it is obvious that Saul’s physical suicide began by his acts of self-will, disobeying the Lord, and finally rejecting His Word! "Spiritual Suicide" always takes place first, before anyone is found committing physical suicide! Underline always! When anyone gives up on life, they have previously rejected the ways and wooing of the One who is the very Author of life, the God of the Bible. Giving life, whether it be physical or spiritual is God’s business!
Saul, obviously received eternal life from God when "God gave him a new heart", and the Spirit of God then repeatedly used Saul. These two acts of God prove that he truly was a child of God. But, Saul’s "Spiritual Suicide" began when his self-will opened up an opportunity for the devil to direct his thoughts and actions leading him down the treacherous road of rebellion and witchcraft ending ultimately in his Satanically motivated self-destruction!
‘No man in the Bible had so many opportunities thrust upon him to make a success of life, and no man ever so missed them and deliberately abused them as this man Saul. The down-slide of Saul is the old familiar story of pride, egotism and abuse of power leading to moral degradation and ruin’ (Herbert Lockyer).
Saul was Satan’s Number 1 target in the nation of Israel at that time. Eliminate the leader and the followers will flee in disarray! I Samuel 31:7 attests to these despairing facts: "And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them." A similar thing occurred when Jesus was taken by the Jews, as the disciples fled fearing the Jews (Mark 14:50; John 20:19).
Satan’s primary target is God’s leader for he knows by past experience that he can inflict the most damage through destroying the one whom God has chosen to direct and lead His people. All the more why we should pray for and uphold those whom God has chosen to be our leaders, the Pastor and Deacons of our local church and the government officials He has ordained to be in positions of authority.
Many of the lessons from the life of this fallen king of Israel are important, but none as important as our simple childlike obedience to the Word of God! Saul, of all people should have known the testimony of God’s past leaders as written in His precious Word. The testimony of Moses in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 was available then to Saul which specifically emphasizes the importance of God’s Word being placed in our hearts:
"And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart: And thou shall teach (lit. engrave in, impress on) them diligently to thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, And thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Moses’ repeated emphasis on the continual guidance and presence of the Word of God is truly significant!
He again attests to this very need in Deuteronomy 11:18-21: "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, when thou lie down, and when thou rise up, And thou shall write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth."
However, in Deuteronomy 17:18-20 the Lord gave explicit, precise instruction to the king of Israel: "And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel."
This thorough and complete direction to the king must have been thoroughly and completely violated by Saul, for his complete disregard and rejection of the Word of God would have been circumvented had he followed these protective commands from the Lord who knew ahead of time what it would take for the king to succeed.
Likewise, the next leader of Israel, the successor of Moses wrote: "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success." Joshua here prescribes the only way to God’s prosperity and success, it is through continual meditation on the Word of God, making it the continual focus of our mind! He tells us that meditation is necessary for us to be able "to do according to all that is written therein". It is the only way we can actually obey the commands God has written in His Word!
That is a very powerful and most significant statement! But, let us ask ourselves about some of the commands we find in the writings of Paul: "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2); "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14); "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Ephesians 4:23); "Put on the new man" (Ephesians 4:24); "Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11); "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5); "Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth"(Colossians 3:2).
How do we fulfill these seemingly impossible commands given to each and every believer? This type of spiritual success comes only by memory and meditation on the "This Book of the Law" the written Word of God! The supernatural faith required to obey these supernatural commands comes from Joshua’s simple time-proven formula for spiritual success!
Saul would never have ended his physical life by this desperate act of suicide if he would have honored and followed the already existing Word of God. But, if we take a closer examination of our own lives, could it be we are already committing the same sin of neglecting Joshua’s simple formula? Is memory and meditation of Scripture a vital part of our daily obedience to God’s commands? Can we really have success and prosperity without Joshua’s formula present in our lives? The answer is obvious. If we are to obey God’s direct command we must have these two activities working in our every day life!
But, listen, Joshua was not the last one to speak of memory and meditation of the Word. No, David the successor of Saul relied heavily on these principles of meditation: "In His Law doth he meditate day and night...and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psalm 1:3) Again in Psalm 119 meditate/meditation on the Word of God is mentioned 7 times. Solomon, too, followed in his father’s footsteps commanding and entreating us to put the Word within us on many occasions in his book of wisdom, the Proverbs: 2:1-6; 3:1-4; 3:21; 4:4; 4:20-22;
6:20-24; 7:1-5.
Jeremiah also shows his fervor and intensity for putting the Word of God within him: " Thy Words were found and I did eat them, and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by Thy name O Lord God of hosts" (Jeremiah 15:16). "But His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." (Jeremiah 20:9)
Paul too, in the New Testament commands us to: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly" (Colossians 3:16), he also exhorts: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). In I Timothy 4:15, Timothy is exhorted to "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." Peter, too, commands: "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby" (I Peter 2:2), and James gives us this important demand from the Lord: "Receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save your souls" (James 1:22)
However, the most important teaching concerning memory and meditation of the Word comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Luke 4:4; 4:8; & 4:12 He shows us by example how we can have victory over Satan by quoting the Word of God to him when he tempts us. Remember, anything Jesus would have said would have been the Word of God, but He chose to quote already written and revealed Scripture showing His mastery of the Old Testament text in a time of great temptation. He was all man and all God. He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" by utilizing the Word of God when Satan attacked Him. He was victorious in His practice by employing the Truth of the Word of God!
He also gave testimony to the power of the Word of God in His preaching: "Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3); "If ye abide in Me and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7); "It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, they are life." (John 6:63)
This last quotation of the Lord’s is one of the most significant statements He has ever made concerning the power and importance of His Word for He put this Word on the same level as the Spirit, notice He did not say the Word is an instrument of the Spirit, no, He said "It is Spirit", and on top of that He said "It is Life." This reveals to us His evaluation of His Word, He put it on the same level as Life and the Holy Spirit Himself!
This same truth is found in Paul’s writings in Colossians 3:16: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly" the result being "Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Again in Ephesians 5:18,19 Paul commands: "And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit" the result "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." In these two passages Paul demonstrates the fact that the direct result of being filled with the Spirit is the same as being filled with the Word! So, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, get filled with the Word!
This powerful truth underlines the teaching of the entire Word of God, from Moses in Deuteronomy to Jesus’ Practice, Preaching and Praying and throughout His earthly ministry for in John 17:17 His last night before the Cross, He prays: "Sanctify them through Thy Truth, Thy Word is Truth". Here he is praying for God the Father to sanctify the disciples through the precious Word of God! Successful sanctification for us too, comes only through our digesting the Word of God!
So, if we want to have spiritual success we will not commit "Spiritual Suicide" by neglecting this vital practice of memorizing and meditating on the Word of God. Saul’s eventual physical suicide was due to his committing "Spiritual Suicide" first of all, and we too, in degrees can be committing the very same sin if we are neglecting this most necessary practice of memorizing and meditating on the powerful and most precious Word of God!
Ten Rewards for Memory & Meditation on the Word of God:
1. You will have good success (Joshua 1:8)
2. You will prosper in whatever you do (Psalm1:3)
3. You will excel in wisdom (Psalm 119:97,100)
4. You will have power over sin (Psalm 119:9-11)
5. You will discover how to live (Proverbs 4:4)
6. You will be led by the Lord (Proverbs 6:20-24)
7. You will be kept in your sleep (Proverbs 6:20-24)
8. You will commune with the Lord when awake (Proverbs 6:20-24)
9. Your profiting will appear to all (I Timothy 4:15)
10. You will be filled w/the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, 19; Colossians 3:16)
Meditations Four Steps:
1. Memorize the Word of God (James 1:21) Master the text by engrafting it permanently in your heart
2. Visualize the Word of God (Proverbs 2:1-6) Picture in your mind’s eye the value of the Word of God
3. Personalize (John 15:7) Place yourself in the passage by using personal pronouns-I, Me, My
4. Harmonize (Psalm119:54; Ephesians 5;18, 19; Colossians 3:16,17) Allow the Holy Spirit of God to form a melody in your heart using the Word of God for the Spiritual song’s lyrics.
