Good Weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
“Consequences” is a very important word in life, isn’t it my friends? It’s something good parents try to teach their children very early in life. Sadly, as our world continues to decline in moral values, rarely are people facing consequences for their dishonesty or their breaking the law or their rebellion or disobedience. So much so that too many people doubt they will ever be held accountable before God for their behavior. But let’s rejoin Saul and Samuel, right where we left them yesterday, to see what God says about accountability and consequences.
1 Samuel 15:26 is the very clear, strong declaration the old prophet of God Samuel made to young king Saul: “You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!” Yesterday we looked closely at the problem. King Saul, the first human king of Israel, had been given very clear instructions from God, through Samuel, for a specific mission. (1 Samuel 15:2,3) While Saul had fulfilled part of the mission, he had made his own decision to NOT fulfill all God had told him to do and then Saul sought to explain his disobedience as an improvement of God’s directive for his benefit and that of his army.
That leadership decision and the actions which followed, as Saul took king Agag alive as a prisoner and allowed his soldiers to keep the best of the cattle and sheep of the Amalekites, was viewed by God as insubordination, a direct rejection of God’s instructions. The CONSEQUENCE for that leadership insubordination was God’s REJECTION of Saul as king over Israel.
That does not mean Saul was removed from his role of king, but rather God withdrew His Holy Spirit from Saul and Saul was left without any help from God in this overwhelming role as the first king of Israel. It’s important we understand that Saul’s insubordination had disqualified Saul from being trustworthy in God’s estimation. Do we realize how important trustworthiness is to God for all those in leadership?
So, Samuel called for the king of the Amalekites, Agag, to be brought before him and Saul. Agag was a wicked man and he had led the Amalekites in terrorist attacks on the Israelites many times, especially attacking women and children. Now it was time for Agag to face the consequences of his evil. Samuel said to Agag, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.’ And Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD at Gilgal. Then Samuel left for his home in Ramah, but Saul went to his home in Gibeah. Until the day Samuel died, Samuel did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him.” (1 Samuel 15:32-35)
My friends, do we understand the significance and scope of what happened here and its relevance to you and me today? While many people may feel they get away with a wide range of evil without any accountability or consequences, that is never the case with God! Multiple Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, assure us that every person will ultimately stand before God to give account for everything of their lifetime! (Hebrews 4:13 & 9:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:11-13)
For those people who have trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross to atone for their sin and have sought God’s forgiveness through Jesus, they are forgiven by God, and they will not face judgment for all their evil which has been covered by the blood of Jesus. Their advocate is Jesus Christ! (1 John 2:1,2; 1 Tim. 2:5) For those who have not fully trusted in Jesus there is nothing they, or anyone else, can do to atone for their sin thus they will stand fully accountable before Holy God without an advocate.
Did you notice, my friends, that as Samuel and King Saul parted ways that day, each heading to their homes, it was the last time they ever saw each other! That means Saul was heading home to continue his kingship role having lost the only two honorable advisors in his life who had helped him with any success he had experienced.
God had removed His Holy Spirit from Saul, and Samuel would no longer be available to Saul as a prophet of God giving Saul counsel from God. Saul was totally on his own with only other men to walk with him in his kingship role and responsibilities. But God was not abandoning His people.
Unknown to Samuel and Saul, God was working in the life of a young boy, preparing him to be King in Israel. This boy would be very different from Saul. This boy had a tender heart which sought after God’s heart. He was a shepherd boy and God was nurturing his heart, preparing him first to know God in a remarkable way, then learning to trust God and finally learning to be courageous in God’s strength. We’ll meet that boy tomorrow…
We don’t know exactly how long it was between the end of 1 Samuel 15, as Samuel and Saul left each other and walked their separate roads home, until Samuel received his next message from God, but I assure you it shook Samuel to the core when God spoke to Samuel with very specific instructions. Samuel’s record says this: “Then the LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with anointing oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (1 Samuel 16:1)
Samuel was mourning both for Saul and for Israel. Samuel loved the people of Israel and had faithfully served God and led the people his entire lifetime. (1 Samuel 12:2) It was so painful for Samuel, in his old age, to now see the people of Israel being led by an arrogant young man who had turned away from God. Samuel could remember back to his childhood when other leaders of Israel had done the same thing and it ended in disaster for Israel. Samuel was mourning for what he anticipated was going to be the dark days ahead while Israel was under the kingship of a man who was not following God.
Now friends, perhaps you live in a place where the leadership of your nation or your city are not interested in God or leading the people in God-honoring ways. Just because leaders turn away from God does not mean God turns away from the people. In this message to Samuel God was assuring Samuel that even though the people had asked for a human king and that king had turned away from God, God was NOT abandoning His people but was already working to develop the next king, a king whom God would bless greatly. As far as we know Samuel knew nothing of Jesse or his family. It’s likely Samuel did not know the story of Ruth and Naomi or Boaz or that special child Obed, remember them? But tomorrow when we rejoin Samuel, he’s about to step into that story in a powerful way!
For today, let’s thank God that He is always working for HIS glory even in places where leaders have turned away from Him, and here’s a song to help us celebrate that truth. As you worship, look around. Can you see God at work in your city?
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:26-16:1.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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