The Marvelous Message

The downfall of King Saul is marked with pride, presumption, and foolish hastiness. Rather than trusting the will of God, he became reliant in himself and in others. He also treated the commands of God with flippancy and irreverence. Because of this, Saul was tormented with nightmares and faced an onslaught of depression. It is stated in 1 Samuel 16:14, “ Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him  (ESV).” This has been the point of much contention because some wonder over how God could do this. The Bible reveals that God is not the author of temptations (James 1:13) nor is there any darkness in Him (1 John 1:5), so how do we make sense of such a statement? We must realize the implications of the first part of verse fourteen which said that God's spirit left Saul. The departure of God's favor and presence meant that Saul would undoubtedly experience anxiety and fear. Due to the hardness of his own heart, God's hand of ...

There are times when we try to complicate the simple call of following Christ. Rather than faithfully heeding to His Word in humble obedience, we are like Naaman who just couldn't believe that to be healed from his leprosy meant only to exercise trust in God's command and wash in the Jordan river seven times. He sought to question why it was such a little demand and he wanted to be the object of some grand spectacle. It is so imperative as believers in Christ to remember that it is not about us! Oh how often we either try to add “how-to-get-spiritual-quick formulas” to our faith, or we attempt to throw in sneaky loopholes to whole heart commitment, so we can appear to be chest deep in the fruits of the Spirit, when all the while we're just grazing the surface of the Christian walk. This is what Saul did in 1 Samuel 15. Rather than stay focused on carrying out God's command to entirely wipe out the Amalekites, he started to come up with his own assumptions of what seeme...

For the past several weeks, we have studied about King Saul's behavior and foolish choices found in 1 Samuel 13-14. In these chapters, you will see that self reliance, pride, and impatience would begin to control Saul's steps. Probably though, the most glaring testimony of his fall from being a godly king and a faithful servant of the Lord is recorded in 1 Samuel 15. There is no set time-line given as to when this took place during Saul's reign. Only that from the very beginning of the chapter, Saul is commanded by God, through the prophet Samuel, to completely destroy the Amalekites. Not a single person or livestock were to be kept alive. Because of their cruel and wicked treatment of the Israelites, during the days of Moses, God had declared that judgment would fall on the people of Amalek. There were no spoils to be had in this battle, only that Saul would, “. ...claim everything they have for God by destroying it (1 Samuel 15:3 / GWT)” Upon hearing the Lord...

Once again, Saul's son, Jonathan, was the first one to strike a blow to the Philistines. In 1 Samuel 13, he fought under his father's direct orders, but in chapter 14, he chose to attack a Philistine garrison with only his amorbearer by his side. While everyone else was hiding and biding time, Jonathan slew over twenty men. He then witnessed an earthquake that shook the region and caused a chaotic scene within the camp of the Philistines. Once it was established that the Philistines were in great confusion---some fought each other while others fled---then King Saul commanded the Israelites to attack them. The tides had turned and Israel gained renewed vigor on the battlefield. In fool-heartiness and flippancy, Saul commanded that no one would eat anything until they had reigned vengeance down on his enemies. His brash statement would prove to be costly , because in time, his entire army would become weary and weak with hunger. Not knowing of his father's command, ...

Saul was not always that jealously vicious king children often hear about in Sunday school. At one time, he was humble, perceptive, and bold. Yet, because he made a foolish and hasty decision to offer an unlawful sacrifice to the Lord, Samuel prophesied that Saul would ultimately lose his throne to another (1 Samuel 13). Many conjectures may be made over what went on in Saul's mind once he realized the gravity of his brash decision, but the fact is that instead of fully repenting over his sin, he let the wound fester by allowing doubt and bitterness lodge in his heart. After Samuel's rebuke, Saul camped out in Gibeah with only six hundred men. They were a ragtag team with little weapons and dampened spirits. It is not known whether Saul was planning an attack, standing his ground, or simply hiding from the Philistines. What is certain is that his son, Jonathan, would manifest heroic bravery and unflinching faith. In 1 Samuel 14, Jonathan chooses to fight instead of sit idl...

Who doesn't love an “underdog story” where there's a nearly impossible challenge overcome by an unlikely hero? We often attribute such news to the example of David and Goliath. It is encouraging to read about a faithful and humble boy being anointed king and then defeating an enemy that was literally of gigantic proportions. In Sunday schools across America, there are numerous lessons taught on the call and courage of David. In light of this, we don't hear much about his predecessor. All that some Christians know is that Saul was an angry and jealous king who tried to have David killed multiple times. They don't realize that even Saul's back-story was one of lowliness. He came out of one of the most insignificant households in Israel (1 Samuel 9:21). His family was poor and his tribe small. True he was very tall and handsome, but in his own eyes, he was unnoticeable (1 Samuel 15:17). Though he was anointed king, he was not pridefully eager to accept the royal r...