Saul is… Well, he’s a bit of a pickle. Most of the time when I read his story, I’m left wondering what the heck God was thinking when he picked him to be king of Israel, but then I remember a king for Israel was not God’s idea for a gift. He wanted to be the gift and they asked for a king like Saul. And oh boy, did they get what they paid for. I mean, the man was literally hiding with the luggage when he was supposed to be presented as king.
Saul is not without skills or prowess. He inherits a situation that’s wildly out of control and to start, genuinely does his best, leading Israel to some fantastic victories. But the same fear and insecurity that had him hiding in the luggage quickly unravel his leadership and legacy to Israel’s suffering. Saul’s anxiety repeatedly yields faithlessness to his own destruction. We see that as soon as 1 Samuel 13 when Saul has been given specific instruction to wait for Samuel before going into battle.
Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and his men were trembling with fear. Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.
Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him, but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”
Saul replied, “I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle. So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”
“How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 13: 8-14)
At a first glance, with our modern sensibilities, this can seem rather unfair to Saul. Samuel was late. Saul’s men were leaving. The enemy was coming. Saul had to do something, right? Was it fair for Samuel to come down so hard on him for doing the offerings?
But I’m reminded of another time when God’s people faced what seemed like insurmountable odds while their numbers for battle dwindled. A few books prior in Judges, Gideon was also facing tremendous odds. And this time had a very different outcome.
The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. (Judges 7:2-8)
After this, Gideon leads his men to fantastic victory and it’s exactly as God said. No one else can take the credit for the miraculous thing that’s just happened. God is glorified and the Israelites get a reprieve from their oppressors. And Gideon was faithful to what God was doing.
With that in mind, Saul’s impatience and fear is absolutely tragic.
He wasn’t taking the initiative in a tough situation. He was letting fear of his image and capability rob him of an opportunity to give glory to God. Just like Samuel said, how foolish.
I want to scoff at Saul, but so often I’m guilty of the same sin. When my anxiety’s up, my faithfulness ticks down until I have myself convinced that it’s up to me and me alone to do something. It’s so mind-numbingly easy to do that most of the time I’m well into bungling the problem myself before I even remember God, let alone ask him to help me.
But that should always be our first step in trial, calling out to God. True, most of us (hopefully) won’t be facing down giant armies with dwindling numbers like Gideon and Saul. But like them, we have the same opportunity to give God glory through our trust and faithfulness. Whether it’s trusting God to provide for our finances, our families, our hopes, our dreams, our jobs, our relationships, the things we hold dear and desperately want to succeed will always be safer in God’s hands than our own.
Saul and Gideon started in similar places, both men from humble backgrounds being asked to do what seemed impossible. But their attitudes couldn’t have been any more different. Gideon started from a place of anxiety and trepidation but continued giving it over to God until he trusted God without a second thought. Saul started from a place of anxiety and stuffed it under an image of control and capability until it all came crashing down in a moment of testing.
May we learn to treat our resources and efforts like Gideon and trust them to God, knowing that he will make the way that he’s prepared and that he wants good things for us along that path. Let us leave our Saul tendencies at the door, that need to react suddenly and brazenly to protect our image of strength. Because, quite frankly, our own strength wasn’t really anything to sneeze at anyway.
God does not call us out in faithfulness and then leave us hanging. He always has a way forward. May we be steadfast and steady to see it.
Let’s find some joy,
A
Avalon Robinson Author 