I believe God wanted the success of Saul when Israel asked for a king. He went so far as to describe how the king and the people would experience His blessings. I Samuel 12:13-14 "Now, therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God." God offered the best of opportunities to Israel, even in their rebellion. The problem with Saul is the condition we read in 2 Timothy 3. Saul would have a form of godliness, but he'd deny its power. Saul would be pleasing to the people, and God would even cause him to be a military victor for Israel; sadly, Saul was not a man who'd place The LORD of utmost importance.
When I read Saul's life, the passage in Matthew 7 comes to mind. "On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." When Saul is anointed as king of Israel, it is prophesied that he would prophecy, "The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you be changed into a different person" 1 Samuel 10:6. That prophecy was fulfilled as we read verses 10-12. The question was asked, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" Everything we read about Saul at the beginning shows him as a man with a semblance of godliness.
As we continue to read the life of Saul, we move further away from a man who began his position as king prophesying and being "changed into a different person" to one who'd move in his power, disobey God's commands, and lived filled with wrath, resentment, and envy.
Saul's life never truly exemplified a man of faith, though he was offered the opportunity to prove himself righteous. His rash behavior in 1 Samuel 13 in offering a sacrifice before going to war when that duty was the priest's job given by the LORD Himself. Immediately after Saul does this, Samuel rebukes him, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God... For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever." Saul's choice to disobey God and do what was not his right may have appeared righteous, but the consequence was severe. God would not establish him on the throne for Israel forever. The test for Saul was in the waiting. Oh, waiting can be a killer for many of us. The day that Samuel would come, Saul's patience would extinguish, and he'd sin against the LORD. If only he'd waited a little bit longer. Aren't we all guilty? It's not a little thing.
How many times have you wished you had waited? Impatience can destroy our dreams and even God's desires for our life. We may get some semblance of what God would have given us, but we may find later it was not the whole of what He desired for us. Saul would remain king, but the relationship with God's servant, therefore God, Himself, would begin to wane.
We may find ourselves in situations where it appears justifiable to act in an ungodly way, and we excuse it as acceptable for whatever reason. Remember, God has established His teachings through His Son, and those teachings can never be substituted for what we think is correct. God will not be mocked. We see the cost to Saul. We also pay the price for partial obedience, which is no obedience.
In Samuel 15, Saul is offered another opportunity to show godly character and obedience to God. Samuel instructs him to "punish Amalek for what he did to Israel... now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." Unfortunately, next, we read, "but Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed." In the same passage where the title of this devotion comes, Paul writes (2 Timothy 3), "men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money..." We see this exemplified in Saul and the men who went along with him to keep what was good for themselves in direct disobedience to the Lord.
In Jesus' parable of the seed and the soils, we see some seeds fell among the thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants. These seeds actually developed into the appearance of godliness in men and women. They received God's truth with gladness, but the concern for riches and their worries over life caused that faith to be choked out. That, too, is a choice. Much like Saul, he had a direct word from the Lord and allowed greed to choke obedience out of him. He is not alone in this. Many people find that the concerns of this world and the prosperity they desire to give them an appearance of godliness, but they find themselves far from the Lord. I believe Jesus was talking about men and women who actually believed and confessed Him as Lord but then allowed themselves to stray from the faith due to greed and worry over the cares of this world. They refused to offer these cares to their Lord, as He commands, 1 Peter 5:6. The one to whom they surrendered their life.
Let's continue to look at 1 Samuel 15 and read what God says about Saul, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." Saul had an opportunity to repent and correct what he'd done to sin against the LORD but lie instead. He concretized his ungodliness by saying to Samuel, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD." Samuel will call him out if we continue to read, while Saul will continue to make excuses for his disobedience.
We will know the difference between true godly character and the appearance of it by true and broken repentance. We have all heard the question, "are you sorry or just sorry you got caught?" Saul was sorry he got caught. There was no true repentance to be found in the conversation between him and Samuel on Saul's part. In what could be repentance, he simply makes another excuse. And then Saul insisted that he obeyed after getting busted.
The words spoken to Saul have a beautiful place in our lives on a daily bases. "Has the LORD as great 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." God wants his children completely obedient. He is not looking for a form of godliness that shines, puts money in the offering plate, shows up at Thanksgiving to feed the poor while walking in abject disobedience to Him, and calling ourselves His children.
Saul had the kingdom torn from him that day. He stated that he did what he did because of his fear of man. This was a statement connected to his "repentance." Remember, repentance owns responsibility. All fingers are pointed at me, with an honest expression of ownership of sin.
Back to Saul, the old and new testaments address the fear of man. Proverbs 29:25 tells us the fear of man is a snare. We see that with Saul, yet he remained responsible for his disobedience. You will never read Saul take responsibility. We, too, can not use that as an excuse. Jesus tells us not to fear those who can kill our bodies but cannot destroy our souls. There are replete warnings about giving into the fear of man. Saul teaches us and offers us hope and not to follow his example. Paul says to Timothy, "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, love, and self-control." Saul did not exemplify walking in power, love, or self-control, and he had the privilege of being filled with God's Spirit. He was the king o Israel.
Sadly, coming back from this was not an option for Saul. Samuel leaves Saul's presence, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." Saul was offered an opportunity to show himself suitable to become the King God could honor, but he chose to fear man, greed, and impatience, and they all cost him. They also proved he was a man who had the appearance of godliness, and maybe one Jesus may say, "I never knew you." That may be hard to wrap your head around, but could it be possible? Why or why not? This is why I believe this is so. In 1 Samuel 28, when Saul uses the medium of En-dor to bring up the spirit of Samuel from the dead, here are the words of Samuel, "the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath..." In our New Testament words, there was an appearance of godliness in you, Saul. You even were used to prophesy, but you were not MINE. Perhaps you think I've added to the thought. What say you?
Men and women of the old testament are an amazing guideline for our living unto the Lord today. Read their stories, and pray about what God teaches you through them. And walk away from what they did wrong and embrace what they teach you about obedience. What does Saul's call to godliness, but turning his back on all God wanted to do with him and through him, teach you?
Comments