Impatience
1 Samuel
13 begins a trilogy of sins in Saul’s life.
We’ll get to the other two sins in the coming days, but for now we will
settle in and examine the sin of impatience.
Saul sees the gathering Philistines and he gets a little nervous. He loses sight of the fact that God is in
control and he takes control himself. He
forgets that God can provide even in the face of imminent defeat and impossible
odds. He takes matters into his own hand
and in spite of the fact that he is not a priest – nor even trained in the ways
of a priest – he offers a sacrifice to God!
{I’d like to pause here and state that there is a good thing about
living in a time when we are all priests of the kingdom of God! We need not worry. So long as we are spiritual people, we are
all priests!}
After God’s Own Heart
Now,
perhaps you might be wondering about the difference between a man after God’s
own heart and someone who is not after God’s own heart. Well, we get a great picture of it here. Just take a look at 1 Samuel 13:12.
We know
that Samuel catches Saul in the act. We
know that Saul has no excuse for doing what he has done. What does Saul do? He begins to make excuses. “I saw the Philistines gathering.” “I forced myself to do it.” “I was just seeking out the Lord’s
favor!” Bah. What Saul should be saying is “I wanted to do
it my own way because I grew impatient waiting for God!”
Understanding Saul’s Reaction to Being Caught
Saul
sounds like a teenager in this passage.
I can’t tell you how many times as a Sunday School teacher of teenagers
that I have caught one of them doing something.
Inevitably the response I get is, “It wasn’t me!” Or maybe I hear, “It wasn’t just me!” Excuses.
Human beings have an innate sinful nature for denying
accountability. Fortunately, most of the
youth are quick to learn to not argue.
They learn that I respect the one who is humble when they are caught far
more than the one who denies their involvement.
That is
Saul’s mistake. He is impatient. He worries for his ability to be
successful. And he has pretty good
reason to be worried – well, outside of the fact that God is on his side. The Philistines are gathering. Every day he waits is a day where more
enemies show up. From a worldly
perspective he has every right to be worried.
Oh that Saul had simply said, “Yes, Samuel, I have sinned in the eyes of
the Lord. I was worried, and I see now
that I should have trusted in God rather than wrenching the reigns out of His
hands.” Had Saul had this perspective,
he might not have received the condemnation that he receives from Samuel.
I have
once more been reminded of Psalm 51:15-17.
God does not require sacrifice; He requires a broken and contrite
heart. Oh how poignant that passage is
to this story from 1 Samuel! God wants a
broken spirit. God wants
humbleness. What does God get from
Saul? He gets a sacrifice that is made
out of pride and shallow faith. God gets
what God does not require. How often do
we do that to God?
Judgment
So Samuel
delivers judgment. Samuel tells Saul
that his line will not last. Now you
might be thinking that this is a hard judgment for a single act of
disobedience. And perhaps it is at first
glance. However, the word that Samuel
uses in judgment of Saul is often translated as “foolish.” (See 1 Samuel 13:13) We often think of a foolish action as one
that is a simple miscalculation or a silly mistake. The Hebrew word (and the real meaning of
foolish) is “resulting from a lack of good judgment.” Samuel’s pronouncement upon Saul is not a
judgment made upon a simple silly mistake.
This is a pronouncement upon Saul as a person whose character lacks good
judgment at all.
I wonder: how
often am I guilty of this? I am foolish
– meaning that occasionally I suffer from a lack of good judgment. How often can God look to me and shake His
head at my inability to display good judgment?
I’d like to think I’m getting better; but all I need to do is to
remember my past to know all too well how often I have displayed poor
judgment. Thanks be to God that He has
not yet given up on me! Humble us, Lord!
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