Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2183117951984132/?source_id=181918175166472
April 19
Our Bible reading today is in 1 Samuel chapters 28,29,30,31...and Ps 18.
Once again Saul is confronted by Achish and the Philistine army...this time at the Mt of Gilboa, south of the Sea of Galilee. The Philistine presence was intimidating. Samuel was gone and Saul was alone and afraid.
So he prayed to God. We would say,” Good call, Saul...” God was silent. Or as others might say,...“God was slow to answer.”...SO...Cant God be silent sometimes? Sure He can!
I recall Zephaniah 3:17...”The Lord your God is in your midst...at times He will exult over you with joy and at other times He will be quiet in His love.” Rejoicing was good...but so was silence.
Can't God be slow to answer sometimes? Sure He can! Isaiah preached to Judah...”They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...they shall mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” Isaiah exhorted God’s chosen ones to “wait”, especially when it seemed that God was slow to answer prayer.
What Saul needed was strength to believe God again...he needed God’s wings to soar above his fears...he needed the Lord’s endurance to hit the wall and push in through to the finish line...Saul needed the courage to walk with the Lord and not quit.
Everything Saul needed would be found in his waiting for God. But instead, Saul sought out a medium...a fortune teller...a necromancer...one who would help him communicate with the dead so that he could know the future of the upcoming battle with the Philistines.
Perhaps Saul forgot what Samuel taught him from the law of God. “Those who seek guidance from the dead...I will set my face against them...and most surely they will be cut off from their people...they will die.”
Perhaps Saul forgot the stories told by his parents and grandparents about how God led and directed His treasured ones...“when the cloud moves, we move...and not before.”
Yes, maybe Saul just forgot God’s Word to His people about His guidance about how HE would lead them. About how HE would tell His people of His plans and secrets when He was ready.
Yes, maybe Saul just forgot...about the discipline of waiting...waiting on the Lord...not waiting until the “time” seemed right...but waiting until “God” moved.
Maybe Saul just forgot...or maybe he was just that conceited...thinking so highly of himself, it became easier and easier to disregard the promptings of God and choose his own plans...even to the death of his three sons. That’s cold.
Question: at the end of today’s reading, Saul dies. Where did he go when he fell on his sword and died? Answer: Samuel appeared to Saul in the medium’s call to the dead. Samuel told Saul that by the end of the battle that he and his sons would die and be with him where he was.
And where was that exactly? Seeing that they lived and died before the death and the resurrection of Christ...Sheol... place of the dead...a place of torment to the soul of the wicked...and a place of no torment and some measure of comfort and rest to the souls of the righteous.
So how much difference did the first Easter weekend make to Samuel and Saul?
That’s the rest of the story
Have a great day
