If there’s one old testament story that scares me, it’s our next one, about Saul: how it’s possible to lose your life-destiny.
This isn’t about heaven and hell; that’s not the issue here; but about losing the life-destiny God has planned for us. Which is why we need to read it, feed on it, confront it…
Saul could have been a fantastic king. He had all the makings of a leader. He’s physically impressive (10:23-24). Yet he’s modest (9:21, 10:16; `You were once small in your own eyes`, Samuel reminds him later (15:17)). He has good family relations (ch9), he’s self-controlled (10:27,11:13). He doesn’t want power (10:22), and in 11:5 he’s still doing his own ploughing like one of the Judges, not having it done for him like a king. (That will change.) If there’s one troubling note early on it’s that spiritual matters aren’t high on his agenda; he seems remarkably unaware even of Samuel’s existence till his servant points out that they’re actually in Samuel’s town, 9:6, and even then Saul seems to see Samuel purely as someone with special gifts he can hire. The superb Australian writer John Hercus sees Saul as a classic case of the kind of straightforward, gifted man who feels no need of God and would rather He didn’t get involved.
But God takes Saul on a training course in His presence and guidance, and in the process `the Spirit of God came upon him in power` (ch10). And when the first occasion comes for him to lead as a king, he does so brilliantly (ch11).
But….. there’s just one command God has given him to obey. (This starts to sound like Adam and Eve in Genesis.) It’s a command to ensure that, even though Israel have foolishly gone for a king, what the king does will still be directed by God: he must wait, says Samuel, `until I come to you and tell you what you are to do` (10:8). One thing commanded, and, like in Eden, it’s a command that, when it comes to the point, might not seem entirely wise. And so at the crucial, difficult moment (13:7-8), rather than wait in obedience – and faith – Saul ignores it. But this is critical; he is Israel’s first king, and (like with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts) the importance of the obedience that stems from faith has to be made clear at the very start.
(There is another major lesson here: the importance of waiting until we sense clarity about what God wants. Saul, I’ve just been reading, `hadn’t understood that God was teaching him to seek His face, no matter how long that would take… Everyone that wants to fulfil God’s ministry has to know how to wait patiently for God.` Acting ahead of God’s will (usually without prayer), in the flesh, can have unfortunate results. Writing these notes has made me hold fire on sending an email, because – once I‘ve stopped to think – on reflection I don’t feel I know if it’s what God wants.)
The sad thing is Saul’s motives aren’t bad. (Eli, also a disastrous leader, had a good heart too.) But that matters less than neglecting God’s clear command. So he `compelled` himself (13:12; it seems he was uneasy) to disobey God, to take action without Samuel. And the huge consequence, Samuel tells him soon afterwards, is `Your kingdom will not endure` (13:14). Because nothing matters more in a leader than obedience to God; than leading in a way whereby, ultimately, it is the Lord who is King.
But the story goes on. God will still give Israel a deliverer, it’s just not Saul, it’s Jonathan (ch14). And in the next 2 chapters (two difficult ones, at least for me), Saul starts to act like a king, but of the wrong, egoistic sort. (Power corrupts?) In ch15 he will `set up a monument in his own honour`, and in ch14 he utters a curse on anyone who eats `before I have avenged myself on my enemies` (what about God?). The result of that action is his starving army breaking God’s law by eating food with the blood still in it. It’s a puzzling story – God gives a great victory through Jonathan, but then is silent at a crucial moment, and Jonathan is revealed as the reason why. (At which point Saul nearly kills him – is this Saul’s guilty conscience rebounding into severity towards others, as a leader’s guilty conscience can?) As far as I can see, God’s aim here is to help the people learn that the king’s spiritual authority, though real, is not absolute, hence their challenging him at the story’s end. But that `vote of no confidence` is a sign that Saul’s leadership is going wrong.
Then again, this is also when, for the first time, Saul worships God by building an altar (v35). Good? Yes, but God looks for more from a leader (from us!); He looks above all for obedience. And that is what ch15 is about. In ch15 Saul is called to carry out God’s judgment. (On Amalek, whose vicious hearts [Deut 25:18] Satan tried to use in Exodus to stop Israel reaching their meeting place with God at Sinai.) If we’re in leadership, we may well one day have to obey God’s judgment by implementing church discipline, and (if we have good hearts) we will not find that easy at all. But a leader must obey God in this too (see for example 1 Corinthians 5). And this chapter raises a second issue: in so doing, it’s crucial that we don’t benefit personally.
Saul fails on both counts. When Samuel appears, Saul starts sounding very spiritual (`The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’) Then, when Samuel points out his disobedience, he blames `the soldiers` – another collapse of leadership (15:15,21,24). `I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them` – whereas the true leader will risk their own position to do all they can to see that righteousness is done. But most importantly, by making that choice he was overlooking God’s commands. And as the chapter goes on, we see that Saul’s expressed desire to worship (vv25,30) can’t make up for this. Deep down he doesn’t have a gut-level, passionate concern for careful obedience to God’s Word; and so in the end he has to be set permanently aside. His destiny as a leader is now – lost.
(Of course God always has Plan Bs for us if we repent. But it’s possible for Saul to make matters even worse, and later, as we’ll see, he will.)
So what we learn from this tragic history is this: nothing counts more in leadership than obedience to God. ‘Does the LORD delight in [acts of worship] as much as in obeying the LORD?… Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king’ (15:22-23). Like I say, to me this is one of the most terrifying histories in the old testament. Nothing is worth the loss of our prime life-destiny with God.
So Lord, please help each one of us to realise when a moment has come when that is in fact the issue…
