Real People - Real Problems - Part 7 Dealing With Haters Series

Real People- Real Problems

A study of 1 Samuel

Part 7

I Samuel 10:26

“Dealing with Haters”

In the movie Lonesome Dove

Dan Suggs, his brothers and Jake Spoon

Rode up on a couple of farmers plowing their fields

Dan and the boys had already killed some horse traders and stolen their stock

They were riding the ragged edge and it would soon catch up with them

But for now

Dan rode out to talk to these farmers

Who by the way

Stopped what they were doing and came out to welcome him

He immediately started shooting and kills both of them

One of the brothers turns to the others and says

“ Old Dan sure hates Sob busters

The other brother confirms this hatred and says”

“Hates their guts and livers”

These men had done no wrong

Dan simply hated them

Because of what they were

Not who they were

And it was Dan who had the problem

Not those innocent farmers

This is where we come to today

As we continue our study of 1 Samuel

Please turn to 1 Samuel

Chapter 10

As you are turning, let me recap just a bit

Israel had rejected God’s Kingship and Samuel as there Judge and had asked for a King

Like all the other nations had

And so God told Samuel

Give em’ one

Tell them what will happen

Tell them they won’t like it

But if they insist

Give them what they want

So

He did

And them God used a bunch of donkey’s to get Saul son of Kish into the place he wanted him to be

And he placed Samuel where he wanted him to be

So that they could have their king

We saw that God first dealt with Saul on a personal private level

Changing his heart

And then we saw that Saul when it was time to make it public

Hid instead

We have to give him a little credit here

He had not asked for the job of King

He had not run for office

Or even in his wildest dreams expected to be made King

So

He was extremely overwhelmed

And so he hid

Theologian Matthew Henry sates that Saul quite likely hid because

1) He felt unqualified to do the job he was being asked to do- expand on this and tie to our own insecurities

2) He felt a bit of uneasiness or even fear that this new position would place him in a place of envy from his neighbors and fellow Jews- maybe afraid of success

3) He knew that Israel had sinned by rejecting God as their King- so he may have been uneasy leading a bunch of people who had rejected God

4) Israel was in a tight spot , the Philistines , the ammonites and many other countries were constantly waging war on and taking the people as slaves as well as plundering their possessions --so maybe he was afraid

But for whatever reason --he hid

But none the less he came out of hiding

And when he did

The people accepted him

Even praised him

And he was anointed as their King

This brings us to today’s text

1 Samuel 10:24-27

24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the LORD has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!”

And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

25 Then Samuel told the people what the rights and duties of a king were. He wrote them down on a scroll and placed it before the LORD. Then Samuel sent the people home again.

26 When Saul returned to his home at Gi-be-ah,( The Hill of God)a group of men whose hearts God had touched went with him. 27 But there were some scoundrels who complained, “How can this man save us?” And they scorned him and refused to bring him gifts. But Saul ignored them.

Let’s read verse 27a again

27 But there were some scoundrels who complained, “How can this man save us?” And they scorned him and refused to bring him gifts.

I want to talk about How to Handle Haters.

People who dislike you for ---what you are not ----who you are

The term haters is actually a word used mostly by teenage girls and spoiled rotten musicians and athletes

Who when critizezied for their loyalty to a certain singer, actor or team

Will call those offering that criticism haters

Regardless weather the criticism is warranted or not

The spoiled celebrities often call people who disagree with them, their lifestyles

Or their decisions haters as well

For today

Let’s think of haters as

Someone that is jealous and envious not necessarily of who we are but ---what we are--

We will have people that just don’t like us personally