September 3, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 1 Samuel? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Samuel 13 (NIV)
Samuel Rebukes Saul
1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty two years.
2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.
3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!”.........Continue Reading
Well Samuel got there a bit late and found mistakes made! Saul did not wait to have Samuel do the sacrifice. He was impatient and wanted to make the men feel better. His heart was for the people and that way he appeared as a leader and that is why Samuel explains that God needs a leader who had God’s heart…obedient and faithful. Things don’t always come in our timing but God’s timing is perfect and we must trust and be patient…Saul was not.
Saul seemed to start out great (we know what happens to him in the end) and I wondered what happened along the way that contributed to his downfall and this is what I saw – a leader who is not careful about obeying God. The rules are quite different now that we are saved by grace but some truth about this principle still applies today. God can always forgive us but if we don’t take him seriously, he will use someone else, bless someone else. The loss is ours.
1Samuel 13&14
With all that Saul did before that showed good leadership, in this chapter he displays poor leadership. First it is important for a leader to know their place and position. The role of the priest to perform the sacrifice had been long established in Israel and it was not for the king to do. Even though Samuel was late, Saul shows his heart is not truly for God in breaking something so important to Him. Second he is ill prepared for battle. He knew (or at least should have) the situation of no blacksmiths in Israel, so he should have done something about this before entering a battle situation with the Philistines. Leaders need to pan better than that!
I felt bad for Saul and then felt really wrong for doing so! I see myself wanting to be in control of situations that are someone else’s responsibility or that I SHOULD NOT be in control of or cannot be! I can’t stand a leadership vacuum and it has taken me a while to adjust and trust the Lord when faced with those situations.
I like what Jill and Pastor said: Jill about a leader being careful about obeying God, and Pastor that a leader must know his place and position.