Giving The Lie

Today we continue our reflection on this past Sunday's sermon.

Saul was the leader that God appointed in response to the people's demand for an earthly king. Yesterday we considered overviews of some of the chapters in First Samuel; today let's look at some of the verses- I think you'll see a pattern emerging.

"When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met Saul; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying" (10:10).

"So they inquired further of the LORD, 'Has the man come here yet?' And the LORD said, 'Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage'" (10:22).

"When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger" (11:6).

"Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba...So all Israel heard the news: 'Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost'" (13:3-4, italics mine).

"...'What have you done?' asked Samuel. Saul replied, 'When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling... I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering'" (13:11-12).

"Saul said, 'May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan'... the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death" (14:44-45).

"Samuel said...'Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?' 'But I did obey the LORD,' Saul said" (15:17-20).

"Saul replied, 'I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel...'" (15:30).

"Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him" (16:14).

There are other Scriptures, but I'll just reflect on these. You may want to add insights of your own as well.

Light does not fellowship with darkness. We see that the Holy Spirit of God could not remain on Saul because Saul was engaging in behaviors contrary to the counsel of God through Samuel the prophet.

Sheep are not authorized to lead shepherds. In his desperation to please people, Saul allowed the persons under his authority to make decisions AND he ignored the counsel of God as he carried out those decisions.

Where does the buck stop? At the top. Even though Saul's rationale for sin was the need to keep the people happy, the consequence was not the destruction of the people: it was Saul who lost the kingdom, Saul who lost the glorious presence of the Spirit of God, and Saul who received the rebuke and punishment from the hand of God.

So, as was stated by Pastor Benji in the sermon, it's the responsibility of the church to speak up when the actions of leaders are contrary to the plan and program of God. My prayer is that our leaders in church, and our leaders in the nation, will remain submitted and obedient to God. We may not like all their decisions, but it is critically important that they follow the voice of God and not the voice of man.