Rest or React?
October 13, 2024
1 Samuel 13:1-14, 1 Samuel 15:16-29, Psalm 40:1-17
The very moment Saul finished offering up the entirely burned offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and welcome him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?”
“I saw that my troops were deserting,” Saul replied. “You hadn’t arrived by the appointed time, and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash. I thought, The Philistines are about to march against me at Gilgal and I haven’t yet sought the Lord’s favor. So I took control of myself[ and offered the entirely burned offering.”
“How stupid of you to have broken the commands the Lord your God gave you!” Samuel told Saul. “The Lord would have established your rule over Israel forever, but now your rule won’t last.
1 Samuel 13:10-14a
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Saul’s army was deserting. The enemy was at hand and the battle would surely be lost. He knew the people needed assurance that God would be with them, but Samuel, the prophet, had not yet arrived to make the appropriate sacrifice and dedicate their battle to the Lord. So Saul did what any rational leader might do, he stepped up and did what needed to be done. He offered the sacrifice to rally his people and call upon God’s help. So what’s the problem?
Samuel shows up a few minutes later and is furious. From our perspective, this might just look like Samuel is whining because he didn’t get his moment in the spotlight.
If I was running late to a church meal after church because I was talking with someone, I as the pastor would be grateful if someone else blessed the food and got started. But Samuel looks like the pastor who comes in late and pitches a fit that they didn’t wait on him or her to say the prayer, as if the pastor was the only one who could offer the blessing.
On the surface, this makes perfect sense, but God was doing something very different in Israel. God is trying to clearly establish a hierarchy of power different than any other nation had known. Rather than the human king having the final authority as was customary, God is establishing a nation where the King is under Divine authority. In other nations, a prophet could be executed for challenging the king, but in Israel, it was the prophet who would have the final word because it was the prophet who spoke on behalf of God.
Samuel wasn’t simply throwing a tantrum for not getting to do his part in offering the sacrifice. His anger reflected God’s disappointment that King Saul chose to elevate himself to a position of final authority, no longer accountable to the prophet, and by extension, to God.
Saul suffered from a disease we all struggle with. It’s been called “just-do-something-itus.” In other words, we are quick to become impatient and want to act immediately. We speak when we should be silent. We make careless decisions instead of taking the time to study, to listen, and to discern a wiser course of action. We react to the perceived danger in the moment instead of resting in the God who promises to stand with us in the fire. We let our emotions take the driver’s seat and act out of our desire to be in control instead of a place of humility and surrender.
We always have a choice.
Will we react in our own strength or rest in God?