“How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!” – 1 Kings 10:8 (NIV)
In yesterday’s devotion, we learnt how Saul walked into his destiny and was totally unaware of the blessings that awaited him.
In the beginning, it appeared that Saul had some excellent characteristic traits. Traits of obedience, respect, politeness, and modesty (1 Samuel 9:3, 7, 18, 21). Over time, however, King Saul changed and allowed his character to degenerate into one of self-exaltation, self-deception, arrogance, and self-centeredness (1 Samuel 15). He disobeyed the Lord’s instructions. Saul succumbed to what can be described as ‘situational ethics’. He acted according to what would bring immediate results and what he believed rather than what God had commanded him to do.
Moreover, in 1 Samuel 13:11-14, Saul displayed impatience and assumed the role of the prophet Samuel. He offered sacrificial offerings to God in Samuel’s absence, totally forgetting or disregarding God’s order of responsibilities. Additionally, in failing to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock and opting to spare King Agag, King Saul demonstrated he had forsaken his God-ordained destiny. He rejected God, and God rejected him as king (1 Samuel 15:26).
King Saul’s inability to act according to instructions and principles in difficult situations was the core of his eventual demise. His decline into madness, and his rejection as King, eventually propelled him to commit suicide (1 Samuel 31:4-5).
Brothers, there are many life-changing lessons one can garner from King Saul’s failures, including ‘partial obedience is disobedience’, ‘disobedience can terminate God’s plan for your life’, ‘do not deflect blame, take responsibility for any self-commissioned ungodly actions’, ‘do not resent those who disagree with you,’ and ‘do not assume the role of your spiritual leader’.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching me with Your Word. Help me to guard my destiny forever so that I may be able to fulfil my purpose on this earth. I want to walk according to Your instructions and guidance. Be my light and strength today, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
Read: 1 Samuel 2:9; Proverbs 4:23
Bible Reading Guide: Proverbs 11:29-31; Proverbs 12:1-7; John 7:14-44; Judges 14; Judges 15
