To Encourage You

1 Samuel 28:16-19 “And Samuel said, ‘Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.’”

Have you heard of the sin of presumption? David talked about it in Psalm 19:13 where he prayed, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!”  To be presumptuous means to be overconfident.  It means to take something for granted. It’s to assume things will turn out ok for you in the end.  Perhaps David was thinking of Saul when he wrote these words for it’s the kind of sin that marked Saul’s life.  He continually failed to heed God’s Word, and then forged ahead with his life as if there would be no consequences.  

In the passage above from 1 Samuel 28 we see where such presumption led him.  Here we have a conversation between Saul and the prophet Samuel, but it happened after Samuel was dead!  It is one of the strangest passages in all the Bible. The occasion was war between Israel and the Philistines.  Saul was terrified.  He saw that his armies were overmatched and the future looked bleak. So, in his desperation, he calls out to the Lord for help – but he gets no answer. Saul had made a habit over many years of disregarding and disobeying God’s Word that had come to him through such means as the words of the prophet Samuel. As a result, he now sees himself boxed into a corner as a consequence of his sin. So, when he gets no answer from God, he goes to a medium, of all things, to seek spiritual direction. He asks the medium to call up Samuel from the dead, and so, strangely, Samuel responds to the medium’s summons. But it’s not a message of hope Saul receives. Rather, it’s a message of certain doom.  Samuel gives Saul the same message in death that he had given him in life. It was a message of judgment because of Saul’s sin.  Saul found out that God’s Word is fixed. God doesn’t stutter. He doesn’t reconsider the things He has already said. And He’s nobody’s fool.  Though God is merciful, He is also just.  Although He gives us opportunities to listen to Him, those opportunities are not unlimited, so we are to make the most of them (Ephesians 5:16).  

In a similar account from the New Testament Jesus talks about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus in the following words: “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.  And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’  But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’  And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’  He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31).  

You see, we do not choose the opportunities that God gives us to respond to His Word.  We aren’t in control of the time or the place. But if we neglect Him, if we act presumptuously, we are venturing into dangerous territory for we have no idea when our opportunities may end.  The way He has chosen to speak to us is sufficient for us to believe.  We should not assume we’ll have time later. We should not assume that we’ll get to call our own shots.  

So, have you heard the message of the gospel?  If you have, have you listened and believed? If not, don’t assume you’ll have time tomorrow. Don’t presume on the mercy of God. If you’ve heard the message that can bring you salvation, “Behold now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Don’t follow the example of Saul, who, so sadly, found himself to be in a time when it was too late.