I love the stories in 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings. They tell the tale of David. These stories read like a novel. They invoke such emotion and they have much to teach the reader.
I have always despised King Saul. He has always appeared selfish and irrational to me. He was a mad man; a mad king. Or was he mad? Was he simply human? Simply a man filled with selfish ambition, a man who worshipped God, yet always found a way of twisting God’s will into his own. So, inevitably as he would start out doing what God commanded, Saul would ultimately end up doing or getting what he wanted. Then he would justify his actions by stating that he had done or taken what God commanded him to do.
I was reading through I Samuel Chapter 15. In short, Saul was given very clear instructions from God before going into battle; among other commands, he and his army were instructed to kill every man, woman, and child. None were to be spared. Also, the entire livestock population were to be destroyed on site during and following the battle.
Instead, Saul kept the finest of the livestock and offered them up as a sacrifice to God. He also took the enemies king hostage rather than killing him as instructed. For his disobedience, Samuel angrily told Saul that he would no longer be king, that God had instead, chosen another man to rule his people as king.
Now, my initial thought was, “Give the guy a break! He just fought a victorious battle. With exception of their king, he slaughtered every single person in the population of his enemy. And even though he kept the finest of the livestock, it clearly states that he sacrificed those animals to God in a burnt sacrifice offering”.
Then it occurred to me, how many times have I “in the name of God”, or “in the name of ministry” done what God has directed me to do so that I might accomplish my selfish wants and desires?
You see, it’s a heart issue, isn’t it? It’s a dying to self, issue. It is about me understanding and believing that what God desires is for my best. Do I trust God with my life? Or am I going to manipulate my way through life to get what I think I want all in the name of God’s work? I do not want my life to model King Saul. Rather, I want to model my life after King David. David was an imperfect sinner who loved and served the Lord. God called David, “…. A man after my own heart…” That’s the kind of man that I want to be.
