In 1876, the hymn author Edgar Stites composed a poem that caught the attention of none aside from Dwight L. Moody, who requested his buddy Ira Sankey to place it to music. Thus we bear in mind it at this time:
Merely trusting each day,
Trusting by a stormy means;
Even when my religion is small,
Trusting Jesus, that’s all.
This hymn is an excellent reminder of the truth that God is reliable. But there’s a problem represented in that first phrase: “merely.” “Merely,” after all, doesn’t imply simply. Really, to belief merely will not be solely troublesome; it’s typically excruciating. In all of the vicissitudes of life, when the fitting plan of action appears to be working towards our good, how can we content material ourselves to say (to paraphrase Psalm 27:10), “The Lord will take care of me”?
That is the problem that King Saul confronted in 1 Samuel 13. As conflict with the Philistines loomed, immediate motion appeared pressing, but the divine command was to attend. Saul’s folly within the face of those circumstances reminds us that trusting God’s phrase is essential, even when doing so appears self-defeating.
The Alternative Earlier than Saul
On the time of the occasions recorded in 1 Samuel 13, Saul was nonetheless a brand new king, contemporary off of victory towards the Ammonites east of the Jordan (1 Sam. 11). However now the Philistines had been on their means with “thirty thousand chariots and 6 thousand horsemen and troops just like the sand on the seashore in multitude” (1 Sam. 13:5). Saul’s military was three thousand at its best energy, and “there was neither sword nor spear discovered within the hand of any of the folks with Saul and Jonathan” (v. 22).
Within the face of overwhelming pressure and firepower, the lads who adopted Saul had been “trembling” (v. 7) and “scattering from him” (v. 8). Along with his small pressure getting smaller by the day, Saul felt the necessity to take pressing motion.
When Samuel had anointed Saul as king, he’d given him clear directions about this second: “Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and present you what you shall do” (1 Sam. 10:8). This instruction had come together with prophecies and indicators that had proven clearly that Samuel was talking with the authority of God, as a prophet (vv. 9–13). Saul’s job, then, was merely to await the arrival of the prophet and the instruction of the Lord.
Certainly, Saul didn’t disregard the command, as if to say, “Properly, I don’t want to try this.” He believed he did must do it. He wished to do it. He trusted and waited whereas the Philistines approached. He waited the seven days—however Samuel didn’t come.
So, with the time seemingly up, Saul leaned on his personal understanding and took issues into his personal arms: “Saul stated, ‘Convey the burnt providing right here to me, and the peace choices.’ And he provided the burnt providing” (1 Sam. 13:9)—with out Samuel and so towards the instruction that the Lord had given.
Easy Belief Deserted
When Samuel did arrive, within the very second that the deed was achieved, Saul provided his excuse:
After I noticed that the folks had been scattering from me, and that you just didn’t come inside the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I stated, “Now the Philistines will come down towards me at Gilgal, and I’ve not sought the favor of the LORD.” So I pressured myself, and provided the burnt providing. (vv. 11–12)
We’d think about Saul shifting uncomfortably and primarily saying, “Properly, given the circumstances…” After all, that’s what an excuse is: a set of circumstances that appear to clarify an in any other case offensive motion. To make sure, there may be at all times an excuse after we search to disobey God’s phrase. There’s at all times a set of circumstances that mitigate towards easy belief. On this case, Saul had given in to them.
And so the judgment fell:
Samuel stated to Saul, “You might have achieved foolishly. You haven’t stored the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. … Now your kingdom shall not proceed. The LORD has sought out a person after his personal coronary heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his folks, as a result of you haven’t stored what the LORD commanded you.” (vv. 13–14)
Saul’s coronary heart was not set on God. Quite, it was moved by worry and misplaced confidence in his personal capacity. God sought a coronary heart of religion in His king—and in Saul He didn’t discover it.
The Coronary heart of the Matter
Somebody may reply, “Wait a minute! We shouldn’t be too exhausting on Saul. In spite of everything, I wouldn’t name his actions silly. It appears to me that it was the one smart strategy to take: dwindling numbers, attacking pressure, no-show Samuel. What else may he have achieved?”
And but the e-book of Proverbs challenges us with these phrases:
Belief within the LORD with all of your coronary heart,
and don’t lean by yourself understanding.
In all of your methods acknowledge him,
and he’ll make straight your paths. (Prov. 3:5–6)
Within the Bible, the “coronary heart” isn’t simply an organ. It’s a metaphor for the epicenter of who and what we’re. It includes our minds, our feelings, and our wills. To belief God with “all of your coronary heart” is to show a deep, settled confidence in God’s care—a confidence resting on the very core of your being, the place wishes, anxieties, doubts, and disappointments stay.
Psalm 14 tells us, “The idiot says in his coronary heart, ‘There isn’t a God’” (v. 1). The essence of folly will not be dimwittedness. The essence of folly is disobedience: “You might have achieved foolishly.” The idiot is somebody who lives as if God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t matter. And what occurred to Saul on this circumstance was that he lastly stated, “It issues extra that I take this motion than that I obey and belief the God who made me king and introduced me secure up to now.”
Saul should have remembered the phrase the Lord had given him, merely trusting that if God stated it, it was true. Gideon—after some encouragement with the fleece—trusted God and despatched his males away (Judges 7:2–8). However Saul was no Gideon. He was not able to belief as the lads dwindled, to belief within the face of huge opposition, to belief when belief was excruciating.
What Shall We Do?
It’s a mistake to suppose that obeying God is at all times and even typically straightforward. Trusting God actually may be excruciating. As we contemplate the challenges that face us, maybe the very last thing we wish to hear from the Bible is one thing like “Properly, why don’t you ‘merely belief’?”
But if we won’t belief God’s phrase, we have now nothing to face on. If we won’t belief—within the face of opposition, persecution, hardship—that God will restore to us what the world takes away, why go on in any respect? As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If in Christ we have now hope on this life solely, we’re of all folks most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). We’ll run forward and search our personal good, battle for our personal salvation, and discover the trouble empty.
However God says, “Put your belief in Me.” With out a hope in us that Christ will carry us on and reward us in the long run (1 Peter 3:15; Heb. 11:6), the struggling that attends obedience to God’s phrase will far outweigh any profit we are able to think about. But by “merely trusting each day”—even when that belief is excruciating—we are able to enter into all the guarantees and advantages of the Lord Jesus.
This text was tailored from the sermon “Saul’s Folly” by Alistair Begg.
