Adventures in Wonderland, #8

Hopefully, you read through 1 Samuel 15, as suggested last week, if not do a quick read through to get the gist of the storyline.  Saul has just disobeyed God in a big way, and as a result God has torn the kingdom from Saul’s line.  This whole story ties in so well with everything we’ve pondered, thus far.  The theme of obedience (or disobedience, as the case may be) is the whole focal point of chapter 15. 

There are a few key verses to compare and contrast.  Read carefully and see if you can pick out those things that relate to what we’ve discussed.

Samuel said (to Saul), “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made head of the tribes of Israel.  Your God anointed you king… (1 Sam. 15:17).

And God said to Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument to himself (15:12).”

Saul said (to Samuel), “I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God (15:30).

Here are a few of my own thoughts:

1. There was a time when the Lord God was very personal to Saul.  Something happened that this personal God became impersonal and distant.
2. When God was still personal, Saul saw himself with humility (he was little in his own eyes).  He recognized he wasn’t king material, BUT GOD saw something Saul didn’t.
3. Because God was huge in Saul’s life, and Saul was humble, the Lord raised him up to King.  God + me = amazing possibility.
4. It appears, reading between the lines, that Saul “forgot” how he got where he was (this is crucial to humility:  may we never, ever forget how we got where we are).  Saul forgot from where his victory, even his very breath and every heartbeat, came.
5. As a result, Saul’s dependence shifted, his “greatness” was magnified and he built a “monument to himself” to celebrate, not an altar on which to worship the Lord his God.
6. Consequently, Saul's desire shifted from pleasing God to pleasing people.  God is now small, and Saul and others are HUGE.
7. With this dynamic in play, Saul’s mindset and reversal of roles set him up for disobedience.

Here are God’s words to Saul through Samuel (vs. 23):  Rebellion (disobedience) is as the sin of witchcraft.  Insubordination (a lack of submission) is as vanity and idolatry.

There it is:  Pride leads to a lack of submission, a lack of submission results in disobedience.

At the end of the day, the heart of the man, or woman, of God is the issue:  the blackness of the sin of pride and idolatry.  There is a cure – ownership, confession, repentance (turning about-face) and placing God in his rightful place.  There it is in black and white:

Humbly yielding in reverence before the Lord Almighty the giver of every gift; this then, is the drink that turns the key that opens the door.

What a great adventure awaits the one who walks through!

Just one more problem...