If you have ever been in a situation where you must totally wait on and trust God, then you know how hard that can be. King Saul found himself in one of those situations where he must trust God.
This will be a test of his character as king of Israel. He is Israel’s first king ending the period of the judges where the areas if Israel were loosely organized. Israel wanted a king because of the threat from the Philistines.
The Lord warned Israel that there would be negative consequences of a having a king. The nation did not accept the corrupt sons of Samuel as their leaders. Despite the warning of the Lord through Samuel the nation Israel made Saul their king.
They made Saul their King. He was tall and from a good family. He was their leader. He was the kind of leader they could put their trust in, that is outwardly impressive. King Saul got off to a great start. He began humble and with the Spirit of God on him.
At the beginning of his term as king he saved Jabesh-Gilead from the Ammonites and from the disgrace of all their men having their right eye gouged out in the terms of surrender. Saul rallied 330,000 men to strike down the Amorites and deliver Jabesh-Gilead.
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. (1 Samuel 11:1-15)
There was great initial acclaim for King Saul. His kingship was dramatically renewed at Gilgal. Now we come abruptly to the end of King Saul’s glory days. The glory days were short lived. The story of Saul is the story of a spiritual leader who is disgraced. Saul is tested and he fails the test. As a result of Saul failing the test the dynasty will pass from his family.
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:13-14)
Of whom much is given much is required. Saul’s test will be a difficult one, but really anytime we must wait on God for an intervention it is difficult. It was difficult for Moses at the Red Sea waiting for the sea to part. It was difficult for Noah to wait for the flood to come. It was difficult for Abraham to wait for God to provide a lamb in the thicket.
The Philistines are furious.
Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. (1 Samuel 13:3-4)
So King Saul who had assembled the people as one man, blows the trumpet summons the people to join him.
The Philistines had 6,000 charioteers and soldiers as numerous as the sand. Saul’s troops were quaking with fear.
When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. (1 Samuel 13:6-7)
Now for the test. Saul was to wait 7 days for Samuel to come. Saul was watching his army melt away before his eyes. Unless the people knew God was with them the panic would increase. It was almost the final hour of the appointed 7 days and Samuel had not yet come.
King Saul went ahead and made the sacrifices himself. Samuel confronted Saul about his blunder.
He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel. (1 Samuel 13:8-11)
Some Bible versions say Saul’s response to Samuel was “I forced myself” and some say his response was “I felt compelled to make the offering.” In Saul’s previous battle victory, it was the Spirit of God that moved him. Now he forced himself to act.
Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” (1 Samuel 13:11-13)
Samuel arrived on the scene, but Saul already committed the sin. Saul jumped ahead of God’s will. He disobeyed!
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. (1 Samuel 13:14)
Saul was the King of Israel. He was obligated to wait on God and his will. Israel had asked for a human king, but God is still the ultimate king of Israel. Israel is God’s people. Other kings trusted in their own wisdom, their own will, not King Saul king of Israel. Israel is God’s people. Israel must wait on God. Israel’s earthly king must be submissive to the divine king.
There is a timeless principle at work here. God expects his leaders to seek him and obey his will. Saul was out of step with God. We cannot overemphasize the value of hearing from God’s voice. We all must be walking with God.
There is tremendous turmoil in trusting in your self-efforts. Everything is out of alignment when we stop trusting God. We become the soldier out of step with the army. We are the musician in the symphony playing out of key. Disorder and havoc are the result of trusting self rather than God’s will.
Train yourself to spend time with God and to hear from God. Because Saul did not hear from God, he is about to make some costly mistakes. Because he was not walking closely with God, he is about to put his life into complete chaos.
In this instance it will cost his inheritance the kingdom. No longer will his family be the ones who rule in Israel. It will also cost him the throne. The mistake will personally disqualify him as king.
If Saul was close to God, it would not matter that his troops dwindled from 3,000 to 600. That would not matter, Gideon won a battle with less by trusting in God. Saul’s son Jonathan ends up asking the Lord for guidance and wins the battle with only 1 other, his armor-bearer.
Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” (1 Samuel 14:6-7)
Because Jonathan was in the will of God he went forth and God gave him complete victory. Where Jonathan trusted God Saul felt compelled to act on his own.
Saul makes a dumb pledge that anyone who tastes food before the battle is over will die. Jonathan was not there when the pledge was made. They enquire of the priest who discusses Jonathan violated the pledge. Saul’s response is Jonathan must die.
The people will not tolerate this. Saul made a rash pledge out of the will of God so they will not let Jonathan die. When the Holy Spirit controlled Saul’s life the nation gathered together as one man. Now they will not allow Saul to carry out his foolish pledge. The bigger they are the harder they fall. Saul was on his way down.
His pledge not to eat drove the people to sin. They were eating meat without the blood drained and they sinned. He made the altar the first time.
That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Mikmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. 32 They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. 33 Then someone said to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that has blood in it.” “You have broken faith,” he said. “Roll a large stone over here at once.” 34 Then he said, “Go out among the men and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still in it.’” So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this. (1 Samuel 14:31-35)
Stepping out of the will of God makes a compounded amount of trouble for Saul. Not all troubles come from disobedience, but that is the cause of much trouble. It makes for a challenge to check your life. Are you giving God control of your life, or taking control like Saul did?
When you are in control of your life, instead of trusting God you invite disorder in your life. When God is in control of your life you can have peace in the midst of the storm. The flaw in this tall outwardly impressive king was he was acting in his own power and strength when he should have been trusting God.
We must trust God with every detail of our lives.
