Lessons Learned From The Life of Saul

In the book of 1 Samuel the people of God began to beg God
and His prophet, Samuel, to give them a king. Even though God had
been faithful to them, and they had no true need for a human king,
God satisfied their wishes. God sent Samuel to identify and anoint
Saul as the 1st king of Israel. The bible says of Darrell (… I mean
Saul, lol) that he was the most handsome man in the whole country.
He was tall, had broad shoulders, and physically he possessed the
stature of a natural born leader and warrior. When Samuel told Saul
he would be king . . . Saul replied, "Am I not a Benjamite, of the
smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the
families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me in
this way? (1 Sam. 9:21)" In other words Saul could not believe he
could ever qualify to be the king. That was a decent start but his
true heart would be revealed later.

In chapter 14 God gave Saul strict directions to kill everyone and
destroy everything of the Amalekites. But Saul decided not to kill
their king and to keep all of the choice animals. So, God was
offended with his sin and sent Samuel to Saul and … Samuel
said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of
the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over
Israel? … 28 So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom
of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours,
who is better than you. (1 Sam. 15:17, 28)" Whoa that sucks! It may
seem like God was being harsh but let's examine what really happened:

1. God gave Saul explicit instructions of what exactly he was
suppose to do. However, Saul reasoned within himself to half do his
job then lie, blame the people, and pretend like he fulfilled the
will of God. (This sounds a lot like Adam in the Garden doesn't it?)
Saul probably didn't understand why even the good things should be
destroyed; but it was not about his understanding – it was about
God's commandment. The point is: Don't reason to do what you really
want to do when God has given you explicit instructions in His Word
of not doing those things. When we, as did Saul, do our thing
anyway, we are telling God our way is better than His.

2. Saul got the big head (this is a figure of speech. There is
nothing wrong with people who have big heads. Big heads = big brains
… at least that's what my mama used to tell me, lol) . Perhaps all
the wars he'd won and his physical stature caused his heart to get
conceited. The surest way to be humiliated is to get arrogant before
God. Samuel told Saul God was giving the kingdom to someone better
than him. That person is David. David didn't look better than Saul
but he was better. Saul was lofty and haughty in his heart but David
was a man after God's own heart.

RevDH

P.S. Common sense says: "Learn from your mistakes." Wisdom
says: "Learn from somebody else's mistakes." … Don't be like Saul.