Saul v David
I think here of the vast chasm that lay between the first two kings of ancient Israel, Saul and David. They had many things in common. The prophet Samuel anointed both men to serve as king. They both started out well. They both gained, at least for a time, the popular support of the people. They both led their armies to victories in battle. Both faced difficult, even terrifying situations. Both made choices that framed their respective reigns. But while one's choices doomed him, the other's choices elevated him.
It all came down to this: while David feared God, Saul feared everything else.
In Saul's story, from beginning to end, we see what happens when fear drives a person. After Samuel told Saul privately that God would make him king, you might have expected the young man to step up to the plate. But when the time came for him to be crowned, Saul hid himself "among the baggage", fearful of his calling (1 Samuel 10:22).
Fear also played a prominent role in the two incidents that together cost Saul his throne. In the second year of his reign, Saul and his newly formed army prepared to go into battle against the massive, well-trained army of the Philistines. Many of Saul's men ran away even before the fighting began. Samuel sent a message to Saul, telling him not to fear. Within seven days the prophet would arrive and offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then they would triumph.
Such simple instruction. It wasn't rocket science! "Don't do anything, Saul. Stand firm with the men you still have, and wait for me." But Saul, instead of throwing himself on the mercy of God, was doing calculations in his head. The longer he waited, the more men he would lose to desertion. In his worry and impatience, he thought he knew best. So although he was no priest, and Samuel had forbidden him to do so, he offered the sacrifices himself.
When Samuel finally arrived and saw what Saul had done, he declared that the king's rebellion and disobedience would cost him his kingdom. Saul made his apologies and had his excuses. But when you look beneath the verbiage, it becomes clear that he let his fear lead him into disobedience.
A little later God told Saul to destroy the Amalekites as punishment for their sins against Israel. But the disobedient king spared Agag, the ruler of the Amalekites, as well as the best of the sheep and oxen and fattened calves and lambs - along with anything else he thought looked good. He destroyed only what he considered "despised and worthless" (1 Samuel 15:9 ESV).
When Samuel against confronted Saul with his wickedness, the sullen king finally admitted what had driven him all along: "I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them" (1 Samuel 15:24). Saul's attempt to cover his fear-driven sin with religious observance did not impress Samuel, who replied, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22).
All his life, Saul feared everything but the Lord.
Eventually that fear cost him his kingdom and his life.
What about you? What do you fear? Bankruptcy? Cancer? Paralysis? Loss of a spouse or a relationship? The uncovering of some secret sin? Humiliation? Scorn? What fears could drive you to make the same fatal choices that destroyed Saul?
Hardship, difficulty and fear do not have to doom you to destruction. David also faced many hardships and difficulties, and yet the one fear that drove him, the fear of the Lord - made him into Israel's most beloved king.
Psalm 111:10 declares, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
To fear God, of course, doesn't mean to live in Him. I know of some people who feel deathly afraid of God, frightened of what He might do to them, ask of them, require of them. They don't approach Him willingly, for fear that He might scorch them where they quiver. This is not what the Bible means by "the fear of the Lord."
And yet, at the same time, to fear God means more than merely to reverence Him, to hold Him in awe. Do you remember what happened shortly after the founding of the church? Two church members, the husband-and-wife team of Ananias and Sapphira, decided to lie to the Holy Spirit in the matter of giving an offering. God struck both of them dead for their deceit. The story ends with this postscript: "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events" (Acts 5:11).
To fear the Lord means you never forget who created the universe (with a word) and who describes Himself as "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). But it also means that you believe His promise that He will never leave or forsake those who put their trust in Him (see Deuteronomy 31:6, 8). And so even in your suffering, you hear and take heart in the words of the prophet:
Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him walk in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
(Isaiah 50:10)
David had that kind of fear of the Lord. His fear of God and trust in God empowered him to slay the giant Goliath (even as a boy), to take Jerusalem as his new capital (as a young king), and to lay the groundwork for the construction of the temple (as an old man). Even when he sinned terribly, as in his adultery with Bathsheba, the fear of the Lord finally won over his lust and arrogance. As he would write after he had admitted and repented of his grave sin, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17 ESV).
In sharp contrast to Saul, David owned and embraced his brokenness. And so he could write,
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me - now let me rejoice. (Psalm 51:7-8 NLT).
The Bible calls David a man after God's own heart, not because he didn't sin - and sin in shocking, heartbreaking ways - but because he understood as deep as the marrow in his bones that he was a broken sinner and his only hope lay in God's forgiveness and restoration. Although he was far, far from perfect, all his life he remained passionate about loving the God who loved him.
Somehow David understood that brokenness presents no barrier between us and God, unless we make it one by stubbornly refusing to own it and accept it. If instead we can embrace our brokenness, we will find it becomes a path, rather than barrier, that leads us to a deeper, richer, fuller relationship with God.
When deep suffering blasts into our lives and we choose to respond to it - even after a long struggle - with trust in God, we begin to see, clearer than we ever have, what truly matters in life. And then we can gladly join Asaph in one of the clearest expressions of true faith in the entire Bible.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26).
(Source: God loves Broken People by Sheila Walsh, pp 113-117.)
It all came down to this: while David feared God, Saul feared everything else.
In Saul's story, from beginning to end, we see what happens when fear drives a person. After Samuel told Saul privately that God would make him king, you might have expected the young man to step up to the plate. But when the time came for him to be crowned, Saul hid himself "among the baggage", fearful of his calling (1 Samuel 10:22).
Fear also played a prominent role in the two incidents that together cost Saul his throne. In the second year of his reign, Saul and his newly formed army prepared to go into battle against the massive, well-trained army of the Philistines. Many of Saul's men ran away even before the fighting began. Samuel sent a message to Saul, telling him not to fear. Within seven days the prophet would arrive and offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then they would triumph.
Such simple instruction. It wasn't rocket science! "Don't do anything, Saul. Stand firm with the men you still have, and wait for me." But Saul, instead of throwing himself on the mercy of God, was doing calculations in his head. The longer he waited, the more men he would lose to desertion. In his worry and impatience, he thought he knew best. So although he was no priest, and Samuel had forbidden him to do so, he offered the sacrifices himself.
When Samuel finally arrived and saw what Saul had done, he declared that the king's rebellion and disobedience would cost him his kingdom. Saul made his apologies and had his excuses. But when you look beneath the verbiage, it becomes clear that he let his fear lead him into disobedience.
A little later God told Saul to destroy the Amalekites as punishment for their sins against Israel. But the disobedient king spared Agag, the ruler of the Amalekites, as well as the best of the sheep and oxen and fattened calves and lambs - along with anything else he thought looked good. He destroyed only what he considered "despised and worthless" (1 Samuel 15:9 ESV).
When Samuel against confronted Saul with his wickedness, the sullen king finally admitted what had driven him all along: "I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them" (1 Samuel 15:24). Saul's attempt to cover his fear-driven sin with religious observance did not impress Samuel, who replied, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22).
All his life, Saul feared everything but the Lord.
Eventually that fear cost him his kingdom and his life.
What about you? What do you fear? Bankruptcy? Cancer? Paralysis? Loss of a spouse or a relationship? The uncovering of some secret sin? Humiliation? Scorn? What fears could drive you to make the same fatal choices that destroyed Saul?
Hardship, difficulty and fear do not have to doom you to destruction. David also faced many hardships and difficulties, and yet the one fear that drove him, the fear of the Lord - made him into Israel's most beloved king.
Psalm 111:10 declares, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
To fear God, of course, doesn't mean to live in Him. I know of some people who feel deathly afraid of God, frightened of what He might do to them, ask of them, require of them. They don't approach Him willingly, for fear that He might scorch them where they quiver. This is not what the Bible means by "the fear of the Lord."
And yet, at the same time, to fear God means more than merely to reverence Him, to hold Him in awe. Do you remember what happened shortly after the founding of the church? Two church members, the husband-and-wife team of Ananias and Sapphira, decided to lie to the Holy Spirit in the matter of giving an offering. God struck both of them dead for their deceit. The story ends with this postscript: "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events" (Acts 5:11).
To fear the Lord means you never forget who created the universe (with a word) and who describes Himself as "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). But it also means that you believe His promise that He will never leave or forsake those who put their trust in Him (see Deuteronomy 31:6, 8). And so even in your suffering, you hear and take heart in the words of the prophet:
Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him walk in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
(Isaiah 50:10)
David had that kind of fear of the Lord. His fear of God and trust in God empowered him to slay the giant Goliath (even as a boy), to take Jerusalem as his new capital (as a young king), and to lay the groundwork for the construction of the temple (as an old man). Even when he sinned terribly, as in his adultery with Bathsheba, the fear of the Lord finally won over his lust and arrogance. As he would write after he had admitted and repented of his grave sin, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17 ESV).
In sharp contrast to Saul, David owned and embraced his brokenness. And so he could write,
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me - now let me rejoice. (Psalm 51:7-8 NLT).
The Bible calls David a man after God's own heart, not because he didn't sin - and sin in shocking, heartbreaking ways - but because he understood as deep as the marrow in his bones that he was a broken sinner and his only hope lay in God's forgiveness and restoration. Although he was far, far from perfect, all his life he remained passionate about loving the God who loved him.
Somehow David understood that brokenness presents no barrier between us and God, unless we make it one by stubbornly refusing to own it and accept it. If instead we can embrace our brokenness, we will find it becomes a path, rather than barrier, that leads us to a deeper, richer, fuller relationship with God.
When deep suffering blasts into our lives and we choose to respond to it - even after a long struggle - with trust in God, we begin to see, clearer than we ever have, what truly matters in life. And then we can gladly join Asaph in one of the clearest expressions of true faith in the entire Bible.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26).
(Source: God loves Broken People by Sheila Walsh, pp 113-117.)
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