Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me."
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.
When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
1 Samuel 31
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As 1st Samuel ends, we see the chapter on Saul’s life come to a close.
You’ll recall that Samuel’s spirit, summoned by the medium at Endor, had told Saul that he and his sons would soon die at the hand of the Philistines because Saul had disobeyed the Lord and failed to “carry out His fierce wrath against the Amalekites”. (1 Samuel 28:16-19) And because of this Saul had made the Lord his enemy.
And so, Saul took his Israelite army into battle even though he had been told they would fall in defeat and, in his case, death. Perhaps, Saul still believed he could triumph despite Samuel’s prophecy. After all, we have studied Saul throughout this chapter and he always had arrogantly believed in himself…even worshipped himself above God as evidenced when he erected a monument in his own honor at Carmel (1 Samuel 15:12). Time and time again, we saw Saul decide to do what Saul wanted to do…and abuse his power by using it to get what he wanted or even kill anyone who would get in the way of that as he did when he tried so many times to eliminate David as well as attempt to kill his own son, Jonathan. And so, Saul once again did what Saul wanted to do and not only he but his sons and army paid the price.
For “the Philistines fought against Israel” with some Israelites able to flee the onslaught while others “fell slain on Mount Gilboa”. Scripture tells us that the “Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons”, first killing the three sons, “Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua” before critically wounding Saul after “the archers overtook him”.
Sensing his end was near, Saul orders his armor bearer to kill him before the Philistines do. Again, Saul would do what needed to be done to buck the prophetic words of Samuel and the will of the Lord. And after the armor bearer refused to do it because he was terrified, Saul “took his own sword and fell on it”, killing himself. We read where the armor bearer did the same.
And so when all was said and done, the Lord’s word as spoken by Samuel’s spirit came to be. “Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day” on the battlefield against the Philistines…and Saul’s saga was over…a saga the made me stop and wonder what might have been if Saul would have just embrace the opportunity in front of him.
I also was left to wonder how many times people today miss their opportunity as well. For like Saul, the Lord is ready to lift us up to do great things in His name if we’re simply willing to surrender our lives to Him and submit everything to His will. And he’s shown he will do this through anyone.
You’ll remember Saul when he first was chosen by God. He was from the smallest tribe and his clan was the least of all the clans in his tribe. His clan would have been the last clan anyone would have expected Israel’s first king to come from. But it was the Lord’s will to select Saul to lead His people…a people who insisted they have a king like the other nations.
And so Saul went from the obscurity of the least clan in the smallest tribe of Benjamin to king of Israel and did so because he was chosen by God. What an awesome privilege and chance to serve the Father at the highest possible level.
But Saul missed his opportunity. He allowed his power and position to get the best of him and turned from the One who had granted it to him. And subsequently, he saw all he had been given taken away from him, losing favor with God and discovering that he had discovered that arrogant, self-fulfilling service only leads to self destruction in the end.
Friends, will we make the same mistake as Saul?
Will we squander the opportunities that the Lord has in store for us, choosing to be a lord of our own lives and walking down the road of self destruction?
Or will we instead acknowledge and respect His sovereignty, turn everything over to Him and seek to glorify Him in everything we do while serving others…and in doing so experiencing God’s full favor?
The choices are before us but there’s only one right one…the one Saul didn’t make. Learn from his mistake and choose God…always. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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