To Encourage You

1 Samuel 13:11-13 “Samuel said, ‘What have you done?’ And Saul said, ‘When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.” So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.’ And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.’”

Have you ever wondered why people do the destructive things they do? What motivates them? Why do we make such poor choices sometimes? Thankfully, the Bible shows us the reasons by giving us stories of people who were very bad examples so that we, hopefully, won’t follow them. One such bad example is Israel’s first king, Saul. In the account above, we have a situation that played out after Saul, through his son Jonathan, had poked one of Israel’s greatest enemies in the eye. It was early in Saul’s reign. At this time Israel was being oppressed by their enemies, the Philistines. Saul ordered Jonathan to attack one of the Philistine garrisons. Jonathan did just that and defeated them – and that stirred up a hornet’s nest as a result. The Philistines’ response was to gather their troops into a mighty army that was “like the sand that was on the seashore in multitude.” As the Israelites took account of this situation, they were terrified. We are told that they went into hiding “in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and cisterns.” Others completely deserted and fled. And the remainder who stood with Saul did so in much trembling. It was not a pretty sight. Meanwhile, Saul had been commanded by the prophet Samuel to go to the city of Gilgal and wait seven days. It was at that time that Samuel promised him that he would meet Saul, sacrifice burnt offerings to God, and give him further guidance regarding what he was to do (1 Samuel 10:8). The commands were clear. It was the direction of God. But Saul looked at his situation and disobeyed. He jumped the gun on Samuel and offered the burnt offering himself, although he was forbidden to do so in his capacity as king.

So why did he do it? Why disobey the clear commandment of God? Why act so presumptuously and rashly when to do so was to act in defiance of God’s commands? Well, Saul did have his reasons, and it is those excuses that he uses to justify his actions in his words to Samuel above. And what were his reasons? It’s all summed up in the following statement: “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’

The first reason was that his eye was on the people instead of on the Word of God. They were abandoning him. He was being left alone. It was a very uncomfortable situation. And so it often is when we find ourselves in the minority – or even all alone – when obedience to God’s Word will put us in such a place.

But then the second excuse – Samuel had not yet come. As the threat of harm pressed in on him, Saul was unwilling to wait. He must have thought that Samuel had forsaken him and that his word could not be trusted. So have you ever been there? Have you doubted the things God has told you, and acted as if His Word couldn’t be trusted?

And finally, Saul saw the Philistines. Their overwhelming numbers concerned him greatly and so he chose to walk by sight rather than by faith, although obedience to God is always the other way around. Saul foolishly “forced” himself to offer a burnt offering, in clear disobedience to God. He acted against everything in him that was telling him to act with restraint. He went beyond the Word of the Lord for all the wrong reasons, for there are never good reasons to disobey the Word of God.

So, what about you and me? As we face the challenges that are inevitable in life, will we follow God’s will no matter what that means for us, or will we act in other ways for reasons that do not honor our Lord? Will we trust our own ideas, look to the ways of the world, or conversely, look to what God has said? Will we trust His utter truthfulness, or act rashly because we doubt what He has clearly said? And will the way things look push us to fear and disobedience, or will we look beyond the things we can see to the invisible God who is sovereign over all? We have lots of bad examples we can follow. But remember, those bad examples are given to us so that we won’t follow them and foolishly go the way of those who don’t know or trust God.