GETTING OVER THINGS...AND MOVING FORWARD

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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites." 

Agag came to him confidently, thinking, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." 

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."

But Samuel said, "How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me." 

The Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate."

Samuel did what the Lord said.

1 Samuel 15:32-35, 16:1-4a

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Once Samuel escorted Saul back to Gilgal to worship the Lord, there was one last bit of unfinished business to make things right with God. For He (God) had ordered that all the Amalekites be destroyed when Saul and his men attacked them but you’ll remember that Saul decided to spare the Amalekite king, Agag, who was feeling as if the “bitterness of death” was past him but he was wrong.

For as we see in our scripture passage, Samuel, God’s faithful servant, did what Saul was not willing to do, ordering Agag to be brought forth before saying this:

“As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." 

And with that, Samuel put Agag to death “before the Lord at Gilgal” because it was His will that it be done. 

Afterwards, we read where “Samuel left for Ramah” while “Saul went up to his home in Gibeah”. Of interest, they would remain separated “until the day Samuel died” because “he did not go to see Saul again”. We shouldn’t read into this believing Samuel had lost his love for Saul. Quite the opposite actually for the scriptures tell us that he still “mourned for him”. 

Samuel wasn’t the only one who felt bad about Saul. For as we saw earlier in this book, God also “grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel”.

This is how chapter 15 ends…with Samuel in mourning and the Lord grieving. It reminds us of how life can bring us sorrow at times. 

Indeed, whether it’s mourning over the loss of a loved one or maybe regretting a bad choice we may have made…whether it’s disappointment over falling short of an accomplishment or the pain from being hurt by someone…anything that impacts us negatively is hard for us in our humanity. And if we’re honest, we really struggle with getting over things and moving on. Too often, we want to just sit around and feel sorry for ourselves…choosing misery or depression over joy…inactivity over purpose…disruption over peace…and despair over hope.

You know, I believe that if we would truly turn our hearts to the Lord in these times of difficulty and sadness, He would bring us the peace, comfort, love, and joy we need to move forward…to get over our circumstances and get going…for there is no questioning that He has much for us to do.

As we move to chapter 16, we find the Lord supporting these thoughts. For as Samuel is morning over Saul, we find God coming to him saying:

“How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."

Here, we find the Lord wondering how long Samuel intended on just sitting around and feeling bad about the way things turned out with Saul and his kingship. The question is centered on God’s desire for Samuel to get over things and get focused on what’s next, leaving the past in the past and pointing himself towards the future. 

And so we see that he doesn’t desire for Samuel to be idle. Rather, He called him to get over everything and get to work which included filling “(his) horn with oil” before being “on (his) way”. 

Where was he to go? 

God commanded him to go to “Jesse of Bethlehem” because He had “chosen one of his sons to be king"…and as we will soon see, that son will be a shepherd boy named David.

And so Saul rose up immediately and got to work carrying out the Lord’s wishes, right? 

Not exactly. 

For as we see, he had some concerns over the plan God proposed. Specifically, he knew the journey to see Jesse would take him through Saul’s territory, fearing that this could lead to death if Saul was aware of what he was doing. 

It’s interesting that we see a character flaw emerge from Samuel here. For as devout and obedient a believer he was, we find his trust wane in the moment, not considering the foolishness of his thoughts. For would God order him to carry out something as important as anointing Israel’s next king only to kill him on the way there? 

That wouldn’t make any sense…and yet, Samuel still worried. Actually, I think this was nothing short of Satan trying to keep Samuel from fulfilling God’s purpose…just like he does to us today. And as we see, the enemy was succeeding in the moment…at least until God reassured Samuel and got him back on track. 

For we read where the Lord gives Samuel the following instructions:

“Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate."

Here, we see that Samuel didn’t need to worry about what to do when he got to Jesse for the Lord was going to show him what to do. And that’s exactly what Samuel did…carrying out “what the Lord said.”

Friends, in this passage, our God isn’t saying that we shouldn’t mourn or feel badly when life’s circumstances come against us. Remorse and sorrow are natural human emotions and as we saw, even the Lord grieved. The point is that there’s a point where we need to move on and God will dictate that, just as He does everything in life. He will let us know when to get over things and get going because He always has a plan and purpose for us beyond our mourning…just as He did for Samuel.

I don’t know what place you might be in as you read this today but if you are feeling sadness over some life circumstance, I encourage you to draw near to God so to receive His comfort…His love…and His peace, committed to allow Him to bring you along and through whatever it is that you’re going through. Eventually, that will mean getting over things and moving on…moving on to the future and the purposes He has for you…purposes that will bring Him…and you…joy, something that you should be ready to welcome back into your life. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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