I’ve been reading about Saul and David. You know, the ones from the Bible.

I was reminded that while Saul was king of Israel, God’s presence had left him and David was anointed as the next king. In an effort to calm Saul, David was asked to play the harp for him. Then there’s the story of Goliath. Funny how Saul doesn’t even seem to know much about David although he had already been playing the harp for him. I digress… David becomes a mighty warrior, marries one of Saul’s daughters, and runs away from Saul when Saul, on multiple occasions, tries to kill David. Fun story, huh? Not so much! Let’s look at some ways Saul’s decisions were the death of him.

1.  He played the role of priest. Saul and his men were getting ready to battle with the Philistines and he waited a whole 7 days for Samuel to get there to present the sacrifice to God before they went to battle. In Saul’s humble opinion, he felt he should perform the sacrificial sacrifice so his men would not leave and they would fight. He put himself above the commandments of God and Samuel rebuked him saying that Saul’s kingdom would end.
2. He chose himself over God. He thought of every way to make sure he was exalted, comfortable, and honored by others. As Saul attacked the Amalekites, he was supposed to kill all the men, women, children, and valuables including livestock. Instead, he kept the valuables, didn’t kill the king, and kept the best of the livestock. He did what he thought was right in his sight and failed to be obedient to God. When reprimanded by Samuel regarding this disobedience, Saul tried to justify his actions by declaring the animals were to be used as sacrifices to God. This is where we read the verse, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?” (1 Samuel 15:22).
3. Saul was a coward. The setting is the valley of Elah and Goliath, the giant, shouting to the Israelites, “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!”(1 Samuel 17:8b-11 NLT) Remember, Goliath is a giant. Saul, though, was a head taller than the other Israelites which means Saul was the most likely candidate to fight Goliath. Instead, he chose to sit in fear until a shepherd boy came along to defeat the giant.
4. He tried to kill David. When Saul realized the people were proclaiming, “Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands”, he began his journey towards wanting to kill David. He was jealous of David’s accomplishments and of the fact that God’s favor was on David. On nights when David would play the harp for Saul, Saul would randomly throw his spear at David, later he would chase David throughout the wilderness and David would have to run for his life.

Saul ultimately went crazy with jealousy and chose self over God. He was no longer interested in the desires of God. He turned from God and chose to look out for himself. This caused him to do many things the wrong way. Saul’s viewpoints were earthly and physical; like in the height and the size of Goliath.

His desire to kill David is not unlike what people do today to kill or smear someone’s reputation. Just like Saul, we can be on a journey of wrong choices one at a time…little by little.

Are there places in your life where you are slipping away little by little? Are your decisions, no matter how small, slowly killing you? Release them now to God. What’s holding you back?

© 2016 Susan M. Sims

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