We Want to Be Like Everyone Else
Tom Shrader walks through 1 Samuel 8–12, covering Israel's rejection of God as king, the anointing of Saul, and Samuel's farewell charge to the nation. He draws out the pattern of Israel's spiritual drift — assessing problems mechanically rather than spiritually, and prescribing solutions to God rather than trusting Him — and applies that pattern directly to contemporary Christian life. The teaching closes with Samuel's exhortation in 1 Samuel 12:24 to fear the Lord and remember His great works, calling listeners to inventory both God's faithfulness in their lives and the fruit of the Spirit that should be visible to those around them.
“Our proposals and solutions can be completely reasonable, completely logical, obviously plausible, and utterly godless.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Samuel
Recorded: 2009 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 50 min
Themes: trust, fear of the lord, spiritual drift, faithfulness, obedience, fruit of the spirit, leadership, repentance, struggling with trust, feeling spiritually dry, new believer, questioning god's plan, parent, young adult, navigating doubt, midlife reflection
Scripture: 1 Samuel 2:12, 1 Samuel 4:17, 1 Samuel 7:3, 1 Samuel 7:9, 1 Samuel 7:11, 1 Samuel 8:1-22, 1 Samuel 9:2, 1 Samuel 9:15, 1 Samuel 9:18, 1 Samuel 9:21, 1 Samuel 9:24, 1 Samuel 10:1, 1 Samuel 10:6, 1 Samuel 10:9, 1 Samuel 10:14, 1 Samuel 11:2, 1 Samuel 11:6, 1 Samuel 12:1, 1 Samuel 12:19, 1 Samuel 12:24, Leviticus 19:2, Romans 1, Acts 4:13, Galatians 5:22-23
Theological Themes: theocracy, sovereignty of God, sanctification, covenant faithfulness, idolatry, divine kingship, spiritual discernment, becoming holy
Full Transcript
Introduction to First Samuel
We have a big job in front of us today. Turn to First Samuel in your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and the guys will give you a copy — Old and New Testament, page one or page two of two, will get you to First Samuel. Today we are going to cover First Samuel chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, so we'll move fairly quickly. What we're seeing here is a narrative, and it is really the account of the installation of Saul as king.
The book began by introducing us to a woman named Hannah, who had no children. She was barren, and she prayed to God and made a vow with Him, saying, "If you let me have a child, I will give him to You." He did that, and Samuel has been the focus of the last few weeks. In First Samuel chapter two, we see Eli, who is the judge at the time. He has two sons, and they are no good — chapter two, verse twelve says they were worthless men who did not know the Lord.
God pronounces judgment on the nation of Israel, declaring that these two sons are going to die on the same day as a sign that judgment has taken place. That happens in chapter four, verse seventeen. The Philistines have defeated Israel, and a report comes to Eli saying four things: Israel has fled before the Philistines, there has been a great slaughter, your two sons are dead, and the ark of God has been taken. When Eli hears this, he falls over dead.
God's Sovereignty in the Midst of Israel's Decline
What happens in chapters five, six, and seven is the emergence of Samuel, even as the nation is in demise. God is working and orchestrating — it is all about His sovereignty and His plan. We are not talking about luck or coincidence here. It is God's sovereign plan. As the nation is being turned over, as they are living with the consequence of their sin, God is still working His plan, and part of that plan is Samuel.
Samuel emerges, and we saw it last time in chapter seven. He says, "If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and direct your hearts toward the Lord and serve Him, He will deliver you from the hands of the Philistines." That is exactly what happens. They repent before the Lord. Verse nine of chapter seven shows God answering their prayers — they route the Philistines, pursue them in verse eleven, strike them down, and subdue them all the days of Samuel.
When we get to chapter eight, we are given this: it came about when Samuel was old. Some time has passed, and the nation of Israel is right back into the same situation it was in before this book began. That is the pattern we see in this nation — they walk close with God, begin to drift away, become immersed in their sin, face consequences, are disciplined, repent, and come back to the Lord. And you would think, finally, they have learned their lesson. Then they go through it all again.
I was in a Bible study one time with a man who was studying the life of David, and he used to get so frustrated. He would say, "How many times does David need to see this? God works in his life, then he walks away, then he falls, then he comes back." And we would just laugh and say, "How many times do we need to see it?" As we study the book of First and Second Samuel, we are challenging you to remember that it is a story about God — about how He deals with the nation of Israel. We are going to try to stop two, three, or four times today and encourage you to insert yourself in the story. This is you: different time, different place, perhaps different circumstances, but the same principles. This is how God deals with His people.
Samuel's Sons and the Demand for a King
In chapter eight, verse one, we see a transition. Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His sons, however — verse three tells us — did not walk in Samuel's ways or God's ways. They turned aside, pursued dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. That would immediately bring to mind Eli's sons, who were described as worthless men who did not know the Lord — and clearly the same is true here.
One difference worth noting is that when we study Eli's life, we get the sense — in some fairly explicit ways — that he fell short as a father. We do not necessarily get that with Samuel, and Samuel actually finishes fairly strong. There may be a bit of encouragement there for those of you who are godly men and women whose children have not yet responded to the call of God on their hearts. You have done those things. This is not a guilt trip. God is sovereign — we always come back to that.
The elders of Israel came to Samuel, and in verse five they said, "We need a king" — for two reasons. First, you are old. Second, your sons do not walk in your ways. So give us a king to judge us, just like all the other nations. I could not resist this comment from one of the commentaries I was reading the other day — it is about forty or fifty years old, but the last sentence caught my attention. The commentator writes: "The effect of this was to bring the elders of Israel to Samuel's doorstep with a request for the appointment of a king. It is evident that they, the elders of Israel, spoke for the whole nation."
We Want to Be Like Everyone Else
The sentence that caught my attention was this: they expressed a national desire for change. That didn't work out so well for them. There is something about us, something in human nature, that both craves and hates change at the same time. They came to God and said, "Here's the issue — we want change." But it was not His change they wanted. It was their change.
These things were displeasing in the sight of Samuel. In verse six, they said, "Give us a king." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them." It is certainly striking — they are chafing at the sovereign God and at His right to exercise power over them. They say, "Give us a king," and God, in essence, is saying, "You already have one. You already have a king. The problem is not that you want a king. The problem is you don't want the king you have. I am your king."
Samuel's Discouragement and God's Response
I see a little hope for Samuel in this moment, honestly. You can see how Samuel might have thought, "I must have screwed this up. I must have done something wrong. This must be about me." And God said, "It's not you. You are not the problem. The problem is these people — they have rebelled. They have rejected Me from being king over them, like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even to this day, in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they are doing so to you." Then comes a warning. God says, "Listen to their voice. However, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them the procedure of the king who will reign over them."
Four Insights from the Text
One commentary offers four helpful insights drawn from this passage, and I found them worth working through as we consider how God deals with situations like the one Israel faced here.
**The first is this: we have a tendency to assess our problems mechanically rather than spiritually.** Israel's assessment was, "We need to reinvent ourselves, restructure, get a new order." And God said, "No. You need repentance. You don't need a new organizational chart. The problem is your heart."
**The second insight: instead of looking to God for help, we are more interested in prescribing what form that help should take.** "God, we're in a jam — and here's what You need to do." God had already been very clear with them: if you do this, I will do this; if you go this direction, here is what will happen. And now they are saying, "We're in a jam. Samuel is old, his sons aren't trustworthy, so here is how You need to fix this."
Is that how you deal with God? Is that how you pray to Him — inserting yourself into the solution? "God, I'm in this situation, and here's what You need to do. Option A. If You don't want A, maybe B. But there is no plan C." I pray prayers like that, because there are situations where I think I know what God ought to do. I know what I would do if I were God. And so in essence I am praying, "If I were You, this is how it ought to shake out." But I have learned over the years that those prayers always end a certain way — something like this: "But God, here is what I know. I am finite and You are infinite. You are eternal. You are all-knowing and You are all-powerful. My ways may not be Your ways. So though this looks to me like what You ought to do, I want what You want to have happen. Not my plan. Because if we have to choose between Your plan and my plan, I know Your plan is better." That is how I pray. That is not what Israel did. They said, "We want a king — this kind of king, this way." And they picked a king exactly as you would pick one: tall, dark, handsome, eloquent. He looks like a king. That is the king they wanted.
**The third insight: God will sometimes give us our request to our own peril.** Sometimes God's greatest kindness is not answering our prayers exactly as we desire. There is something powerful in recognizing that some of the greatest things God does in our lives is not answer our prayers. I remember Ruth Graham once saying she was so glad God did not answer all her prayers, or she would have married a different man. Some of the greatest gifts God gives us are the things He withholds. But sometimes He will say, "Fine — that is what you want." There is something of Romans 1 in that dynamic, where God gives them over to their own passions, their own lusts. "This is what you want. This is how you think it ought to be. Go ahead."
**The fourth insight: in light of their current situation and danger, Israel's request for a king was absolutely rational — yet God viewed it as a rejection of His kingship.** Our proposals and solutions can be completely reasonable, completely logical, obviously plausible, and utterly godless. They looked around and said, "This is a perfect plan. This makes total sense. It seems prudent. It seems like a good use of our resources." We were talking about something similar in a staff meeting the other day — the ten lepers who came to Jesus. He heals them and only one comes back to say thank you. We were reflecting on the fact that He knew that would happen and did it anyway. What would happen if we knew that if ten people came to us, and we knew nine would never return —
The Warning About Kings
Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who asked for a king. The warning begins in verse 11, and I want to read it from The Message because it brings it to life. "This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates. He'll take your sons and make them soldiers, charioteers, cavalry, infantry — regiments and battalions and squadrons. He'll put them to forced labor on farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to make weapons of war or chariots in which they can ride in luxury." They're going to be put in the draft, or they're going to create these things so that this king can be comfortable.
"He'll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He'll conscript your best fields, your vineyards and orchards, and hand them over to his special friends." Then he'll tax the harvest from those fields and vineyards to support his extensive bureaucracy. "Your prize workers and animals he'll take for his own use. He'll lay a tax on your flocks, and you'll end up no better than slaves."
And the warning ends with this: "The day will come when you cry out in desperation because of this king you wanted so much for yourselves, but don't expect God to answer."
Principles of Government and Organization
I want to engage with that passage because there are some real principles there — not as a political platform, because I resist turning this into that, but as principles that apply to government and, more broadly, to any organization. I say this frequently and sometimes people get upset, so I hope I'm right: I don't think the American people are any great shakes. I don't think there's anything in the genetics and DNA of the American people that sets them apart from any other group of people on this planet. I believe this is the greatest country that has ever existed, but not because of the people — because of the system.
We have gotten carried away with the people. The truth is, you can take a refugee who comes to this country with everything they own in a bag, and in five years they own three restaurants and fourteen apartment buildings. It was the same person. What changed was the system. The reason the system is so strong is that it encourages individual innovation and entrepreneurialism and places fewer and fewer restrictions on people.
To the extent that you give that away — and we are in the process of giving it away — to the extent that regulation increases and policy manuals grow thick, nothing operates efficiently or effectively in an entrepreneurial, innovative way under those conditions. The same is true of an organization. The more we centralize something as simple as East Valley Bible Church, the more we risk killing your spirit for ministry. We want to give you a track to run on, and that's it. We want to give you some parameters, and that's it. You don't need us to figure out your spiritual life.
This is what I believe is God's siren — what a time to read these passages as you look at the nation around you. This is a very serious moment nationally, and it has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. It is a larger picture of people and how they operate best. You operate best in freedom. You will be more innovative, more entrepreneurial, a better citizen, and you will care more deeply when you are free.
Rejecting God for a King
Verse 19 brings this all to a head. Samuel has told them everything, warned them of the consequences, and still: "Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, 'No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'"
There are two things at play in that statement — one obvious, one less so. Let's take the less obvious one first. Notice what they are asking this king to do. They are asking the king to do what God was supposed to do. It was God who would go out before them in battle. It was God who would preserve them and build them up through the presence of the ark. So what they are really saying is: we are not only rejecting God — and that is a strong word, rejection; it is not that they are merely angry with Him, they are telling Him to go away — we want this king to do what God was supposed to do.
And then at the core of it all is this idea: we will be like every other nation. We will be like all of them. There will be no difference. We will be just like them. That stands in direct contrast to Leviticus 19:2, which says that you shall be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy. That has always been the call on God's people — we are to be different.
You Shall Be Different
You shall be different because I, your God, am different. You will operate in a different way in this world. You cannot be like everybody else. There is enormous pressure on these people. God is even saying: remember what He has done, remember all those things in Israel. That is your God. He has not gone away. He is there now. Why are you rejecting Him? Because we want to be like them.
Peer Pressure Never Goes Away
Years ago, I was invited to Grace Community Christian School to do a devotional for the junior high students. I was so out of my element. The night before, I got a call from one of the parents who said I could talk to the kids about whatever I wanted. They suggested peer pressure, and I said, "Perfect." So I went and said to the kids, "A parent called me last night and asked me to talk about peer pressure. So I'd like to talk to you about the peer pressure your parents are under." My point was that this never goes away.
If you are a junior high or high school student, you know that it matters how you dress, how you wear your hair, and who you hang around. All those things matter enormously. But they do not go away when you get to college, and they do not go away when you leave college. I deal with people all the time who are in jobs they hate because they took them due to family pressure. We were all doctors, so I am a doctor. We were all lawyers, so I am a lawyer. I went to Brown — never wanted to, absolutely miserable. There is no reason to be miserable like that, but the family pressure and peer pressure were so intense.
People cannot stand a calling card that says they manage a shirt shop. It has to say owner of something. The same thing can happen corporately. We want to be just like them.
The Power of Being Distinctive
I was at a Chris Tomlin concert recently, and one of the songs performed was about the power of one — the power of an individual, the power of being distinctive. That is not to say there is no place for community. But there is something profound about standing apart.
Raising Children to Be Leaders
I remember taking my girls every Saturday morning from the time they were very small. We would go to one or two places — Los Arcos Mall, which has since been torn down, was one of them. We would come in one end where there was a pet store, mess around in there, and walk all the way through. Our girls were so cute that everyone would stop and talk to them. They learned a great deal of social skills that way — how to look at people, how to look them in the eyes. We spent a lot of time coaching them through that.
We would go to Miller's Outpost, where a train ran all the way around the store. We would go down to Dillard's and all the way back around, and on the way out we would stop at a cookie store, get cookies, and sit together. If we were not doing that, we would go to the hospital on a Saturday. We would go look at the babies in the nursery — you cannot do that anymore, they are on lockdown now, but we would go look at the babies and then eat there. I had it in my mind that as a follower of Christ, one of the great places to minister was a hospital, and I wanted the girls to be comfortable there. It is interesting that one of them ended up in radiology and the other ended up as a nurse. I do not know that there is any direct correlation, but there it is.
I used the mall throughout their lives as a place to teach them. I taught the girls a great deal about boys at the mall. We would sit there and I would say, "Watch those boys over there — that is how boys work. Look how nice they are to those girls. Now watch them when the girls walk away." I can think of three or four times that the greatest life lessons I ever taught them happened right there at the mall, where I would stop and say, "Right here, right now, you need to listen to this. Sit down on this bench."
I remember taking them to the park one morning and pushing Haley in a stroller — she was about a year, year and a half old, which would have made Sarah about three. I was talking to them about leadership, about what it means to be a leader. They had no comprehension of it at the time, but they learned the vocabulary. They learned the language. And then later, God filled it in.
The Lesson That Took Root
Sarah was about twelve or thirteen when she went to a birthday party. The plan was to go to the house, go to a movie, and come back. I got a call from her and said, "Are you okay?" She said she was fine. I asked what was going on, and she said, "I do not think you want me to see this movie." So she had told the group she was going to wait out in the lobby until they were done.
The Pull of the World
It is different to live differently than the rest of the world — not in your face, not offensive, not obnoxious. Some of you are different, but being odd or being obnoxious are equally bad. This is not a call to be odd, and it is not a call to be obnoxious. It is a call to something else entirely, because as Paul says, don't be conformed to this world. Some paraphrases put it this way: don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, don't copy the behavior of the world.
Why does that warning matter? Because there is a pull, isn't there? And the nation of Israel was not strong enough to reject it. One author writes this — and what a great sentence it is: "One of the first lessons which we have to learn is a wholesome disregard for other people's ways." Not odd, not obnoxious. Different. Insert yourself in the picture and ask: is the pull of the crowd around you so strong that they pull you right along with them? Because bad company corrupts good morals. It matters who you hang around with.
Salt and Light Requires Contact
Now, here is where some tension comes. Our response to the danger of worldly influence is so often an all-or-nothing response. The easiest way, we think, for me not to get contaminated by the world is to have no contact with it. But God did not leave you here to pull yourself out of the world. Jesus prayed, "Father, send them into the world just as you sent me into the world."
There should be a steady flow of people in your life with whom you do not share faith. There should be a steady flow of engagement with the culture you live in. It is amazing how many people resist that thought. Consider this: if we were sending you to Morocco as a missionary, you would spend a great deal of time understanding that culture — learning how to communicate the faith, how not to offend. But somehow we think that here, at home, we don't need to understand the culture of the world around us.
At the beginning of the year I recommended reading three or four books that you would kind of disagree with, books that aren't the typical ones you would choose. And people emailed me criticizing that recommendation. I understand. You may not have enough time to read all of that. But the point stands: you had better understand the world you live in, because you are there to infect that world. There is no way for you to be salt and light if you have no contact with the people in it.
Do You Really Want a King?
We started this series with the question: do you really want a king? We said there are all sorts of implications in that question, and it is clearly illustrated in the life of the nation of Israel. But the question is also personal — in your own life, do you want a king? There are a whole lot of people who want Jesus as Savior. What I am asking is whether you want Him as Lord. There are a whole lot of people who want to know that heaven is taken care of. But do you want Him in your life, directing that life, with the Spirit filling your life?
Do you have the strength and the desire to be the man, the woman, the student that God has called you to be, right where He has placed you? Israel did not. They wanted a king, and so they were going to get one. Samuel heard all their words and repeated them in the Lord's hearing, and the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice, and anoint them a king." And Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Go, every man, to his city."
Saul: A Man Who Looks the Part
Here is something of a biography for the king they received, and it is notable that everything recorded about him at the outset is physical. Chapter 9, verse 2: "Saul was a choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person among all the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people." He is head and shoulders above everybody. He is a stunning man. He looks like a king.
There was a discussion on the radio just last night about potential Republican nominees for 2012. I thought it was a little early, but people were calling in with different candidates. One man called and said he thought it ought to be a particular person. The host asked why. He said, "Because he looks presidential." And my point is this: we can always help that out. Put the presidential seal in front of anyone and they look presidential. I don't need another good-looking candidate. I need somebody who is going to come in with some resolve. I want substance. And that is exactly the same problem with Saul — he looks good.
Samuel's Encounter with Saul
Samuel is visited by God and told in chapter 9, verse 15, that Saul is coming. Samuel is prepared for this moment. In verse 18, Saul approaches Samuel in the gate and says, "Please tell me where the seer's house is." Samuel said to Saul, "I am the seer." He tells him what is about to take place — that he will eat with him, that he will let him go, and that he will tell him what is on his mind. As for the donkeys that were lost — do not worry about them; they have been found. In all of this, Saul is beginning to understand that something significant is about to happen to him.
In verse 21, you get a very real sense of humility from Saul. He says, essentially, I am from Benjamin, the smallest tribe of Israel, and my family is the least of all the families of the tribe. Why are you speaking to me? You genuinely get the sense that he cannot imagine himself as king.
The Anointing of Saul
Samuel took Saul and his servants and brought them into the hall, where they had a great feast. Verse 24 tells us that the cook took up the leg with what was on it and set it before Saul — and the leg was reserved for the priest. Here is the message: Samuel intended to combine civic and spiritual leadership in this one man, a great concentration of power.
They came down from the high place, and Samuel spoke to Saul on the roof. Chapter 10, verse 1: "Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, 'Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over His heritage?'" You are the king, and verse 6 declares that the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you will begin to prophesy. You are the king, and you will have all you need to carry out your duties — and indeed that comes to pass.
When Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed his heart. Verse 9 records it plainly: "It happened when he turned back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart, and all those signs came about that day." When he came to the hill, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily so that he prophesied among them. Everyone who had known him previously saw this and said to one another, "What has happened to this man?"
Have You Been with Jesus?
Stop and insert yourself in the story. Does that happen in your life? There is that magnificent moment very early in the book of Acts where Peter and John are preaching, things are moving and shaking, the lame are walking, and they are arrested and brought in for interrogation. Chapter 4, verse 13 gives us the assessment: "They observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, and they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."
Here is the question: is that what the people in your office see about you? Can people look at you and see that you have been with Jesus? Our faith is obviously something we believe, but it is also something that is visible. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works." There is supposed to be something visibly distinctive about how you live.
So when they look at you tomorrow at the office, or tomorrow at school, or this afternoon as you walk through the neighborhood — whether you are at Costco, at the Suns game, playing golf, or working out — when they have some contact with you, would they walk away amazed and say, "They have been with Jesus"? That is the call. When the Spirit of God came upon Saul, people recognized it immediately.
The Fruit of the Spirit
You have the Spirit of God in you. The Holy Spirit lives inside you, and He is producing in you things that people should be able to see. The moment we start talking about the fruit of the Spirit, however, we immediately shift the activity — because we are hopelessly determined to measure who we really are by the things we do. Those things are indeed important: Bible study, the spiritual disciplines, and all that goes with them.
But when God gives us the fruit of the Spirit, when He gives us the evidence of the Spirit operating in our life, He does not give us activities. He gives us attitudes. He does not say the fruit of the Spirit is a quiet time. He does not say the fruit of the Spirit is further education. Those are important things, but they are not what He describes as the fruit of the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control" — the very things that will help you stand out in this world.
So when people look at you, is that what they see? If you polled the people around you, would they say, "Yes, he is a person of love. Yes, she demonstrates joy. I see peace there"? This is the evidence — to ourselves first, and then to the world around us — that we are children of the King.
Run down the list and do an inventory. How are you doing? Give yourself a score. One to ten: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. That is what they are supposed to be seeing in you, and when they see it, they know you have been with Jesus.
You cannot fake those qualities. You can fake Bible study — that is precisely what Jesus was addressing with the Pharisees. When He said, "When you pray, when you fast, when you give, do not do it like those men do," He was not saying to stop praying, fasting, or giving. He was saying that when you do those things, it is a heart issue, not an external issue. The qualities listed as the fruit of the Spirit are matters of character. They reveal what is in the heart, and that is what people see.
A Strange Silence
A couple of strange things appear in the text, and we have about ten minutes to look at them. Verse 14: Saul's uncle said to him and his servant, "Where did you go?" They had been out searching for the donkeys and had gotten sidetracked, so the uncle presses them — where did you go? Saul explained that when they could not find the donkeys, they went to Samuel. His uncle then asked, "What did Samuel tell you?" And Saul said he told them where the donkeys were. But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom, which Samuel had mentioned.
Saul Is Revealed as King
We have this whole encounter, and he walks away knowing where the donkeys were, having forgotten to tell them, "Oh yes, and I'm the king." Then there is a moment where they are looking for the king. Samuel gets all the people together and says, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt. I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your God who delivered you from calamities and distress."
This was right in their face. Nonetheless, God says, "I am going to give you what you want. I am going to give you Saul." The second part of verse twenty-one tells us that Saul, the son of Kish, was taken, and they looked for him and could not find him. They inquired further: has the man come here yet? So the Lord said, "Behold, he is hiding himself in the baggage." One of the paraphrases puts it this way: he is in with his stuff.
So they ran and took him. Look at verse twenty-three — and what do they see? He was taller than everybody else. Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people." And the people cried, "Long live the king!" This was the guy they wanted. Samuel then told the people the ordinances of the kingdom and wrote them down. Verse twenty-seven notes that certain worthless men were present and would spread contention.
Saul's First Test: The Ammonite Threat
In chapter eleven, there is an attack from the Ammonites. They defeat the Israelites, and the men of Israel say, "Let us make a covenant — we will serve you." Back comes Nahash, and he says, "I have a deal for you." His terms: "I will not kill you, but here is what I will do — I will gouge out the right eye of every man among you. Deal or no deal?"
There are a couple of implications there. In that day, when men fought, most were right-handed. The shield they carried was placed over the left eye for protection, and the right eye was used for sighting in battle. To lose the right eye was to be left defenseless on top of everything else. The Israelites asked for seven days to consider the matter.
In the midst of this, Saul hears the news. Verse six tells us the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry. He took charge, and the result was that the Israelites defeated their enemies yet again.
Samuel's Farewell and the People's Confession
Chapter twelve, verse one: "And Samuel said to all the Israelites, Behold, I have listened to your voice and all that you have said and I have appointed you a king. Now here is the king walking before you. I am old and gray and behold, my sons are with you and I have walked before you from my youth even to this day." He was saying: I am old, I have done my part, and I am finished.
As the king was speaking and the people were responding to both Samuel and Saul, the people turned to Samuel with a striking request. Verse nineteen of chapter twelve: "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so we may not have to die. We have added to our sins this day, evil by asking for ourselves a king." They were acknowledging that what they had done was wrong.
Samuel's response was immediate: "Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile." And then the assurance: the Lord will not abandon you. That is the call.
Failure Is Never Fatal
Let me say this plainly. We talked about it the week before — failure is never fatal. You may be sitting here looking at these people and thinking, "God was pretty gracious with them. I don't know if He would ever be that way with me." You cannot out-sin God's grace. If you are here today saying, "I have blown it, I have blown it, I have blown it" — He is a God who is ready to forgive. He is a God who says, come to Me on My terms.
Their problem was stated right up front: they rejected God. I find it interesting in chapter twelve, verse nineteen, that the people said to Samuel, "Pray to the Lord your God" — your God, not our God. If you are in that place right now, wondering where God is, He is still the God of a second chance. Failure is not fatal.
Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results
But I also need to add this: past performance does not guarantee future results either. These people came right back on track. Remember chapter seven — they repented, they defeated the enemy, the Philistines were gone, they were restored and subdued. You would think that would be the moment. You would think, "All right, we finally have it."
And yet a chapter later, the same thing again. We have walked through this pattern half a dozen times in this study. How about you? Maybe you are here thinking, "I do not know if God can ever forgive me."
One of the saddest moments I ever had in teaching came after a message, when a man came up and told me what he had done. He had done some terrible things. He had been using acid, and some of it had gotten into the shag carpet, and his two-year-old child had gotten into it. That was a terrible thing, among other things he shared. He sat there and cried and said, "I heard —"
When You Think God Can't Forgive You
Even after hearing a message about grace, understanding the gospel, you might be sitting there right now saying, "I don't think God can ever forgive me." Maybe as a follower of Christ you've blown it in such a huge way that you're thinking the same thing. God forgives.
Consider What Great Things He Has Done
I gave the first hour a homework assignment, and I checked my email on the way back over — more out of habit than anything. One person had already emailed and shared this verse: "Only fear the Lord. Serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you." The assignment I gave was this: make a list of the great things that God has done for you. I asked everyone to take a week, because I think the longer you think about it, the more it stays on your mind, and the longer that list is going to get.
It's going to start out with some fairly obvious and somewhat superficial things. But the deeper you get into this, you're going to see how God has worked in your life in so many ways, at so many times — even doing some things you would never have wanted Him to do.
David Rebecki: A Painful Answer to Prayer
I had dinner about two weeks ago with some friends and a man who has become a bit of a friend. His name is David Rebecki. He was a baseball player — a left-handed pitcher. One day he hurt his arm pretty badly, rehabbed, and came back throwing well. On his second time back, he threw a pitch, let it fly, and as he did, it was as though a shotgun had exploded in the infield. They brought him in and discovered that his shoulder was full of cancer. They had to come in and address far more than just the arm — it was an extensive procedure.
We were talking about all of this the other night, and I wanted to confirm something I had taught about what that experience meant to him, without having taken the time to really check with him directly. What we landed on was this: the amputation of that arm was an answer to prayer — which seems so odd. His prayer wasn't, "Take my arm away." His prayer was, "God, use me in a way bigger than I can ever imagine. Give me a platform to speak. Make Yourself real to me. I want to be real." And God said, in effect, "No problem — I'm just going to need that arm."
Two years later, he was on a national Barbara Walters special in Washington, sharing the gospel for half an hour. He now travels all around the country and around the world with cancer patients and others, spreading the hope of Jesus Christ. If you sit down and simply think, "I lost my arm," that blessing may not be obvious. But when you sit and think it through, you begin to see how God was working the entire time.
Seeing God Work in Difficult Times
That is why even these difficult economic times can be great times for us as God begins to work on our lives — not because they aren't hard, not because they don't carry real challenges, but because in the midst of them you are going to see God work. Let me read the verse again: "Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, and consider what great things God has done for you."
It would be truly helpful — for you individually, for your family, for your friends — to sit down and make that list. After seven days of thinking it through, I'll bet you'll be surprised what is on it. It won't always be a new car, a new house, or a new job, but you will see His faithfulness over and over and over again.
Closing Prayer
Father, I pray that this week we would remember the great things that You have done for us. God, I pray that we would learn from this nation of Israel and would not take for granted the blessings You have given us. Some of us have cried out from the depths of our heart in the midst of heartache and pain and said, "God, just get me through this, and I'm Yours forever." And now You have moved us forward, and we have wandered. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control — God, I pray that these things would be exhibited in our hearts. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.