Whoops, He Did It Again

Study passage: 1 Samuel 13:1-14

You gotta feel sorry for Saul after a while. The guy goes out looking for donkeys for his dad and comes back an anointed king. I figure it wasn't exactly on his 'to-do' list, you know?

Worse, it seems to me that while he'd been anointed a king, nobody knew about it, so it probably had a 'did that really just happen to me?' sort of vibe to it. It would be easy to think you dreamed it and whew, aren't you glad that didn't really just happen?

But then the Israelites began clamoring for a king. And it all seemed much too real. So much so that Saul, despite being the tallest and best looking guy in the country, went and hid. With the baggage. Nothing to see here, moving right along. But as he found out: you can't hide from God.

So now he's king. Only now everyone knows about it. But he seems to have not let it go to his head, because next time we see him, he's out working in the fields. You think of the majestic splendor of Solomon's kingship just two generations away, and here is Saul with his hands dirty, sweating in the hot sun, following the unattractive end of a ox. I'm thinking it hadn't quite sunk in yet.

Now the Israelites get the king they were asking for. Neighboring king Nahash is out to expand his eye-gouging empire when the news comes to Saul as he's working in the field. Saul becomes a holy terror, tearing apart two oxen and sending the pieces out as a visual cue for what to expect if you messed with him. Nabesh is sent packing.

The next accounted battle, Saul's son knocks over a hornets nest when he takes on a garrison of Philistines and wins. Suddenly there are as many Philistines "as the grains of sand on the seashore", all itching for Israelite blood. And the loyalty of Saul's army is proven: they scatter to hide under any rock they can find.

Saul is supposed to wait for Samuel to come and seek God's blessing on the approaching battle. He waits a week. I can just see him drumming his fingers on his armor. He turns to his assistant and grumbles, "Dude, where is Samuel? We can't start this party without him!" Meanwhile, Saul's fighters are melting away like the Wicked Witch of the West in a hot tub.

I wonder what Saul did to kill time while he waited. Maybe he made a list of other career options.

Finally, Saul has had enough. He figures that Samuel isn't coming so Saul makes the sacrifices and burnt offerings for the battle. And just as soon as he is done, Samuel shows up.

You have to love God's timing. It makes for killer reading material. But you know, it sucks to live through personally, especially if you're the impatient type.

So many stories just like this one. God promises Abraham descendants beyond number, years pass, then decades, until sheer physical limitations push Sarah (biological clock says tick-tock, tick-tock) to take matters into her own hands.

This week, we're supposed to looking at worry and how we're supposed to lay it all on God. I see it as more about patience and trust. So often we worry about things that will never happen. But how do we handle waiting for God to fulfill his promises? Make out a list of other career options? There are only two things on that list, spiritually speaking: follow God, or follow the other guy. Suddenly, waiting seems to go down a little (sometimes a very little) bit easier.