Get Real: A Study of the Life of David | Episode 6

(upbeat music) Welcome to the Mary Shannon Bible Study with speaker, leader, and acclaimed Bible teacher, Mary Shannon. Every week she'll dive deep into scripture using her unique blend of laugh out loud humor and hitting you between the eyes truth that we all need. So put on your big girl pants because here we go. So if you remember, last week, Saul was anointed king, right? He went out looking for donkeys and he literally came back with the crown. We talked about that. You remember how crazy that story was? And we thought, how did this young man, right? This good looking, coddled, loved, adored young man that was head and shoulders taller than anyone else. Had everything going for him. Whose dad loved him, sent him with a servant to watch over him, to guide him. He went out looking for donkeys that I questioned if he's the one who lost him in the first place. And he literally meets the most important man in the country, Samuel. And in a moment, his life has changed because he is anointed king of Israel. On his way back home, he experiences three signs confirming this anointing because Lord knows he would have been doubting it on the way home. Like, did this really happen to me? And then we ended pretty much with the story of, he comes home, who greets him? His uncle runs out to greet him, basically says, "Where the heck have you been?" And he says, "Well, been out looking for donkeys, but I found Samuel." And do you remember the response? Tell me everything Samuel says. And he goes, "Oh, he just said that the donkeys have been found." What, right, no detail of this life-changing event because I believe he wasn't ready for it. And then after that, all of a sudden, you have this announcement throughout the nation of Israel that everyone is to assemble at, was it Misspa or Gilgal, I can't remember. They're to assemble there. And so you can think about all the hub that's going on, all the electricity in the air because they know that Samuel is in charge of picking this king. And now he is called all the nation together. And I'm sure they are wondering and questioning, who is this man that's going to be picked? And then do you remember I talked to you about the Eurom and the Thumbam? Did I not tell you about that? Okay, well then tell me, see, y'all are like, "Oh yeah, you told me the what, the what, the Eurom and the Thumbam." You're like, "What is that?" You will read about that a little bit in the Old Testament. So when it says that Moses inquired of God or the priest inquired of God, most the time they are using what's called the Eurom and the Thumbam. And the way you can picture it, it's like dice. And there was a pocket for that in the epit of the high priest that he kept those in there. So when they needed to inquire of God, they would basically roll these dice, okay? And receive a yes or no answer or an either or answer. So if God was trying to point out something. So for example, when they assembled all together, they would have been organized by tribe. They were used to doing that. That's how they were organized in the wilderness. Everything they did is according to tribe. So if you ever look at the blueprint of how they lived around the Tabernacle in the wilderness, you're gonna see that they were given a certain place by tribe all the way around. When they came into the land of Israel under Joshua, each tribe had a certain piece of property as an inheritance. So when they assembled together, they would have been grouped by tribe. They would have been able to then by elimination, use the yearmen the thumb and to inquire of God who the man was. Now, did Samuel know who the man was? Yes, why did they go through all this rigour roll? Yes, he wanted them to see that this is God's pick, not his. And so he would basically say something like, okay, God or Ruben, roll it. And some way they would know which one it was. And so they dwindled it down that it was a man from the tribe of Benjamin. And then they dwindled it down to what family? And then they dwindled it down to the person. And can you imagine what is going on? How long that took, what they're feeling? Can you imagine that, yeah, you know, you got eliminated. I don't know. I think it would be quite the sight, but the funniest part of all is when Saul's name is called, first off, I would love to know what the servant thought. I'm sure he went on the trip. I would love to know what the uncle thought at this point. Oh, really? All Samuel said to you is that the donkey sir found really? Okay, whatever. Or what the father said, I don't know, but the craziest thing is when they turned to see Saul, where was he? He was not there because he was hiding in the baggage. Okay, wouldn't you? I mean, honestly, this young man's life has changed in a moment. He was raised in a rural community where they were well known and respected and he was loved and he was escorted where he went. And yes, he had an amazing stature and potential and everybody thought he was awesome, but in one moment, now the entire nation's eyes are going to be on him. And I can imagine he got a little nervous. He got some cold feet like, really is this happening to me? So they all look and he's gone. Samuel, inquires of God, finds out he's hiding in the baggage, which is so funny to me, it's ironic because when he stands up, he's head and shoulders taller than anyone in the whole nation. And so here is the king. So now they have found this king and at that moment, Samuel steps up and he says, okay, here are all the rules of the king. He went through every one of them and then he wrote it down and then he presented it to God. I have no idea how long that took or what was going on in the background, but the king was to have that with him at all times along with the law so that he could be reminded of his responsibility as a king. Then it says that everybody went home, including Saul. He just goes back home. So he is now chosen in front of the whole nation as king. And after that, he literally just turns around and goes back home with his father except for one thing. It says that he has surrounded, he has followed by some men of truth, men of great character, brave men. From that moment on, do you understand? He is in the limelight. He will never be alone. So sometimes when we think about Hollywood or fame, it seems so awesome until that person just wants to buy themselves just one time go to stink and target. Right? But at this moment, his life is no longer his own. He is the king of Israel and he will be accompanied and be like the president of the United States or anyone related to him. The secret service will be there and they will be following and they will be protecting. And so in some ways that's good and other ways it changed his life forever. But look what else is there. If you read it, it also says that there were some naysayers there. The message says this. I love how the message puts it. It says, "But the riffraff went away muttering. Deliver, don't make me laugh. They held him in contempt and they refused to congratulate him, but Saul paid no mind." Let me tell you something. Anytime you step up to do something awesome, anytime you become a leader, anytime you step into the arena as Bernet Brown says, there are always going to be naysayers, always. And you know, there are always going to be people that criticize. They said, "Deliver this kid, this punk. What in the world does he know about being king? Now did they have a point? Yeah, they kind of did. And isn't it interesting that Saul just paid them no mind? Why do you think that is? I don't think he knew what to say. And I think he didn't differ with him a whole lot. Like he's probably thinking, well, I get you. I understand how you feel, but I have the crown. It's time to move on. I am the leader. He didn't go there. And that's awesome. He wasn't prepared. That would have completely sidetracked him. That wasn't the point. But I want you to understand there are always those that are going to criticize. If you even look in some of the miracles that Jesus did, it brings to mind when he healed gyros' daughter. He comes back from the other side. He's been in the decapillus. Gyros is the synagogue leader and he's waiting on him. And gyros' 12-year-old daughter is dying. And he goes with gyros. Jesus goes with gyros to heal her. And he is faced with the himeraging woman. So he's interrupted. He ends up healing the himeraging woman. And in the process, some folks come and say, "Gyros, leave the teacher alone. She's dead." And Jesus says, "No, if you believe she is not." And so, and there were all kinds of naysayers. They laughed about it. They criticized. There's always people who are going to throw cold water on anything that is happening. And I love what Bernet Brown says when she says, "If you're not in the arena, I don't want to hear your criticism." Right? If you haven't engaged, if you haven't stepped out there and gone out there, and stepped out and been brave and have courage and become a leader and you've gotten out in front of people, then what? You can keep your comments to yourself. But if you are out there, I want to hear what you have to say because you understand what it's like. And you are encouraging me to be better and iron sharpens iron, but if you're just gonna sit on the bench and do nothing but criticize, nobody needs that. And so here you have these naysayers. So then we enter into basically chapter 11, which is one of the greatest moments of Saul's kingship. It's one of his greatest victories. So he has gone back home. He's literally backdoing his job as a son. It says he's coming in out of the field and he finds out that the whole town is sobbing. Do you remember why they're sobbing? Because Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, has come into the territory. So if you remember, I told you that the enemies have started to press in. That's why Israel asked for a king in the first place because they can fill the presence of this enemy coming back and their leader Samuel had gotten old and they know their tendencies. And so they have asked for a king. So the Ammonites, when they first came, remember I told you they had conquered two tribes already on the east side of the Jordan River. And it was Gad and Rubin. And they conquered them. And this Nahash, this king is so ruthless, them being his slaves wasn't enough. He wanted to cripple them for life so that they could never fight back. So he gouges out their right eye. You cannot fight most of the people, most of the men were right handed. And so they would hold a shield and they would fight with their right hand with a sword. So what eye is on the outside of that shield? Your right eye. So basically he is crippling the entire army so that once they are slaves, they can never fight back. And so what happens is he attacks on the east side of the Jordan, but 7,000 men escape. And they cross over the Jordan and they're at J. Besh-Gil-Yat. So now what has happened is Nahash has also crossed over the Jordan. He is chasing them. And now he has surrounded the area of J. Besh-Gil-Yat. And they have said, "Listen, we will surrender to you. We will serve you. We will be subject to you." But he says, "Oh, no, you're going to be subject to me. No doubt. I've got you surrounded. But I will goug out your right eye." Now the thing is, what is so crazy to me is they send out a message to him and said, "Well, can you hold off on that for about a week?" Did you read that? Can you just wait about seven days and just give us a shot? Like, we don't know if anybody's going to respond to us, but can we just send out a message to our nation that we're in a pickle and we need a little help? He must have been so arrogant that he thought it wouldn't matter or it wasn't possible. I do not know. But he allows the message to go out. It is this message that has come to Ghibbia where Saul is from and the whole town is weeping over the situation with J. Beshgiliyat. This is when we see Saul's shrine because it says, literally, he was empowered by the spirit of the Lord. And literally, it is talking about a zeal that came out of him. It is a righteous anger that riced up in him. It is an emotion that wants motion. Because basically, I think when I taught this last year, the whole gist of the message was, "Art here's enough." Is it enough when we see an atrocity and all we do is cry? No. What do we need to do? We need to put that emotion into motion. And that is exactly what Saul does. And he then rises up as a leader. And he calls his army. He calls them to assemble. But he doesn't just do it with a horn. Do you remember what he did? He takes the oxen or the cattle. And he literally cuts them into pieces. And he sends it to all of the tribes of Israel. And basically says, this is what is going to happen to your oxen and cattle if you do not show up to protect your brother in J. Beshgiliyat. You want to talk about the Godfather? I mean, they woke up with cattle ahead-- the horse head and their bad dude, you better show up. I'm making you an offer you can't refuse, right? Here's the question. Where did he get that idea? Well, this is what makes the Bible so fun. Because if you go back to Judges chapter 19, 20 and 21, there is a story-- I love it when people pre-study-- because then when they're right, I just saw your eyes light up. Like, I did it. I discovered it, right? Yes. So in Judges chapter 19, 20 and 21, there's a story about a Levite who is traveling. And well, he's in it. He's got a problem. He's having some domestic problems. His woman has left him. We don't know what he has done, but she went back home to her dad. And so he kind of waited for her to cool off her while it says. And then he went after her. And he didn't just bring her roses. He brought a goat. I mean, he was like all in. And so he goes, and he tries to win her back. And the father not only loves having her back, but he loves having him there, too. And if you read the story, it's like they would hang out and kind of drink and eat. And then he'd say, oh, why don't you just spend the night? And so he would spend the night. And then the next day, they'd hang out. And he'd say, come on, let's drink a little wine. Let's have a little dinner. And then they'd hang out the next night. Because the father really did not want to see them go. But eventually, this Levi says, no, really. It's been wonderful. But I need to take my girl. And we need to go. They start to travel back home. And they get to the land where they can go one direction to basically foreign territory to spend the night. Or they could travel a little bit further into the land of Benjamin, where their brethren are, and spend the night somewhere. That's what they decide to do. He goes, oh, no, we're going to stay amongst our own people. So he goes there. They're in the town square. And this old man shows up and says, listen, you can't sleep here tonight. It's not safe. Does that remind you of another story? How about Sodom and Gomorrah? So when you see these things, you're like, ooh, something bad's coming. So he and his concubine, his wife, because some of your versions will say, why? They go spend the night with this older gentleman. All the men of the city show up at the door. And they end up taking his wife, his concubine. And they take her that night. And they brutally rape and murder her. And when he goes to leave the next morning, he opens the door. And she is raped and beaten on the threshold of the door. Now, imagine that. He has gone to get her to win her back. The father really didn't want to let his sweet young girl go. He wanted them to stay, but he said, no, I've got her. I'll protect her. We need to go back home. He leaves, chooses to stay with his own people and not strangers. And in the middle of that night, this woman that he loves is brutally raped and murdered and left on the threshold by his own people. When he comes out and sees it, he puts her up on his horse and he goes home. He cuts her body into pieces. And literally sends body pieces to the elders of all the tribes of Israel throughout the entire land of Israel. And literally says, look at the atrocity that is going on in our nation. Are you going to stand for it? Or are you going to do something about it? Guess what? They assembled. And they did something about it. And the nation of Israel went against their own people in the land, the tribe of Benjamin, went against them. They gave them the opportunity to send the bad guys out and they wouldn't do it. And they nearly wiped the tribe of Benjamin off the planet. That is why Saul is from such a small tribe. And there's even more detail to that story. But here's the thing. Why did Saul do this? Because that was one of the most famous stories in his area. How do you motivate people? Well, one way to motivate him is cut some parts and send it throughout the nation of Israel. And they're going to show up. And that's exactly what he did. Look for those threads when you're studying the scripture. Think whatever possessed him to cut up the oxen and send it through the nation. So now the nation assembles. There are 300,000 men that assemble to battle. And they go and they basically kick nehashes behind. And they push the ammonites completely out of their territory. And at this point, the nation rises up to celebrate because their king is victorious. And so they decide, listen, we're all going to go to Gilgal. And we're going to celebrate because Saul is our king. At this point, there are no naysayers. He has proven himself to be the leader that they all wanted. And they come together and he is crowned king. And there is great celebration. And it's so interesting because at that point, I'm telling you what, people are crazy. even at a wonderful time of celebration. Somebody always brings up something to divide. So out of the blue, some people come out and you say, hey, where are those people that did not vote for Saul? Where are they? Where are they? Bring them forward because we're gonna kill them. Look what he did. Look how awesome our king is. So if you didn't vote for him, we're just gonna be done with you, really? So Saul had enough leadership to say, wait, wait, wait. We are finally united together as one nation. And you guys want to do something and make a decision, have enough people not died in this war. Now you wanna turn and kill each other, right? Boy, I think there's a whole message in that for Christians. I think we're the only ones that shoot our own wounded, sometimes that's just a little 4-1-1 for you. But here, all of a sudden, he says, no, we're not gonna divide, we're not gonna shoot each other. We're gonna unite as a nation. And that's what they did. And it says that all the people and Saul literally celebrated magnificently, it says. But the question I have is did Samuel, did Samuel, he's not mentioned in the celebration. I just find that interesting because then we go to chapter 12. What is the title of chapter 12 in your Bible? - Samuel's. - Samuel's farewell address. And so you have to remember and we can even speculate a little bit how Samuel is feeling. So Samuel felt how when they asked for a king. He felt rejected, right? He had given his whole life to these people. He had made himself known. He had literally freed the land of the Philistines. He had been a great leader. And now they've asked him basically to step aside and they said, yes, your sons are not like you. And so we have chosen now that we want a true kingship. He felt rejected. And so he is now, he is in the background a little bit. I think he's been pretty much active with Saul to this point, but now he's officially stepping back. So this is what he does. He stands up on stage during this celebration. And he says, listen, I know y'all are all happy. And I know that you think that what you asked for is working because think about it. They asked for a king. They thought, this is great. What we have asked for is totally working. We are all united now. We have a king. He just beat our enemy. We knew what we were doing. This was a great request. This is awesome. And Samuel steps up and says, listen, you guys better listen to me. You think this is all celebrating that you did all this right, but I need to warn you. I need to remind you of something. I need to take you back in your history and remind you what your forefathers were like. You see, they too always needed to see something. Because God has always been their king. He was always faithful. When they were in trouble, when they needed him, he always raised up a leader. And he didn't even have to have a leader at times. He could cause a lightning strike, and the enemy would start to kill themselves. But he never let them down. Nothing took him by surprise. He watched over his people. He was in charge. But they always needed to see. Instead of living by faith and trust in their God, they always needed to see. They always needed to control. And it got them in trouble. And because of that, they always leaned to the gods of the other people, and they would be oppressed. And he's saying, listen, here's your past. Here's the patterns of your family. Here's how your family did things. And I want you to understand I see it in you, too. You're doing the same thing. Because matter of fact, the entire reason you asked me for a king is because you were scared of Nahash. And you wanted to see a leader. And so you came to me, and you said, we need a king because the enemy is approaching. You did not trust God. You wanted to see something. And so your family has patterns. And I need you to recognize them because you're doing the exact same thing. And I'm telling you that at this moment, here he is. God has given you this king. This is a wonderful day. This is a day of celebration. You've gotten what you wanted. But I am telling you right now, if you do not fear the Lord and follow the Lord, if he does not stay on the throne, it won't matter if you have a king or not, because with a king or without a king, it is not going to go well for you. Have you ever tried to give advice to someone when everything's just going great? And you know they're not listening. But don't do that. I know you think this is so wonderful. But I'm telling you, I see some things that are going to bite you in your butt if you do not pay attention to them. I know you're all mesmerized by this wonderful thing out in front of you. I know you are. Life's so great. You have been swept up in the wedding preparation and the ceremony. And all this is so fun. But I'm telling you right now, you better look at the patterns of your world. And you better see if you have them. And you better know yourself well. Because if you don't, I'm going to tell you in or out or with print charming or not print charming, it is not going to go well. Does that make sense? And so he is sitting there. And he is warning them and warning them. And he is saying, you better not chase after the gods of the other people. Then comes chapter 13, which makes me insane. This is one of the most difficult chapters, I think, and the Old Testament to teach. But I think it is the turning point in the personality of Saul. So far, what do you think about Saul? So far. He's what? He's trying hard. He's what? He's pretty humble. Do you think he's a pretty good leader? I mean, he's kicking butt and taking notes. I mean, he's getting it done. He's passionate for his people. The spirit of the Lord is powerful with him. He has zeal. He has great ideas. He follows the root. I mean, so far, so good. He seems to be following God. He seems to be in the scripture. So we come to chapter 13. What you have to remember is that in chapter 12, Saul is young. He's pretty young in chapter 12. He's a new king. It seems to be his first great victory. By chapter 13, what do you notice? He has a grown son that is fighting in battle. So has there been a pretty good gap in time? And we're not given any of the detail of what's gone on over all of those years. And here's why. So we are going to do a lot of speculating because we don't have a lot of information. But the reason is, is the writer of this, the writer of first Samuel, is writing this in the future of this story during the divided kingdom. And so they have already experienced the greatest king in the world to them. Who is he? David. So first and second Samuel are very pro-dividac. So they're going to use the words. They're going to use the space to write about who? David. So they're only going to highlight certain parts in Saul who ends up not being a successful king. So we don't get all the detail. So you need to know between chapter 12 and 13, there's been a lot of time. In chapter 13, he has started to train an official army. He's getting organized. Why? Who's back in the land? The Philistines are back in the land. They have garrisons. They have strongholds and very important places throughout all the land of Israel. So they are pushing back. So Saul is organizing this army. In chapter 13, we find out that Jonathan kills one of the governors at one of the garrisons in Ghibia. So basically, he draws the first blow. So the Philistines hear that the Israelites are revolting. Saul blows the trumpet. We're going to war. Everybody hears that the Israelites have drawn the first blood. The Philistines are livid. And they are saying that the Israelites, the Hebrews, are astringent in their nostrils. I mean, it is on, y'all. It is tense. It is about to be wartime. And so all of the troops assemble together at Gilgel. In the meantime, the Philistines have also blown the war cry. And all the Philistines come out of everywhere with their iron chariots and their weaponry. And they go to McMash. Now, what you need to understand is that these are all high places in the plain of Benjamin. And so it is one high place to another so you can literally see the army's assembling over these big crevasses. So you can see it. So the Israelite army is assembling. But so is the Philistine army. And when they see how big and strong the Philistine army is what starts happen. Do you remember? They start to desert. I mean, the Israeli army is scared out of their brain. And so when they see that, they start running away. So every day, he is literally losing his army by the droves. Scripture says this, Saul held his ground at Gilgel with the remaining soldiers, although they were trembling in fear. That's not a bad description of Saul. We're like, oh, he's such a scaredy-cat. Really? That's what you got out of that? He is standing there watching his army desert. He is looking across at the Philistines who are so strong and they are well equipped with iron weaponry. And it says that he's standing his ground. I think that's a good thing. And then it says he waited seven days for Samuel, the appointed time. So this is where it gets a little crazy. Sometimes you'll read commentaries, a lot of commentaries actually, or you will hear pastors teach this and say that the reason that Samuel came in was such a strong pronouncement of a rejection of Saul is because he did not wait for Samuel to get there. But I want to make this real to you. It says that they had agreed upon how long? Seven days. Some people try to tie it in with a verse in chapter 10. I don't think it has anything to do with that verse in chapter 10. That was years and years ago. So what we know is that they had an agreement that in this situation that Saul would wait for Samuel for seven days. I don't know why seven days. Maybe that's how long it would take Samuel to get there. But this is wartime like it's important. And it literally says he waited the entire seven days. Some commentators want to say that he didn't he waited six days and 23 hours. And then on the last hour he went ahead. I do not see that in scripture. If you study the Hebrew, it literally means seven 24 hour periods of time. He waited. What do you think that weight was like? If that were you, you're sitting there. You are holding your ground because that's what you agreed on. You are waiting for Samuel to get there. Every day your soldiers are running away. What do you think your commanders are doing? Dude, we got to do something. Like we're losing our soldiers. We can't wait on him. No, we're waiting on him. We agreed and I'm going to wait for seven days. And then all of a sudden the way it is written, it says that he waited seven days. He didn't show up. So he had not inquired of God. So he went out and offered the sacrifices. And then bam! There is Samuel. Do you find that a little odd the way that's written? It almost sounds like entrapment. We are never given any reason as to why Samuel did not get there in time. We are not told where he was. All we're told is that the moment that Saul performed the offering that Samuel jumped out of the bushes and behold there he was. It's interesting how it was written. So here's the question that people debate over. Is the problem that he actually didn't wait the seven days? Or is the problem that he himself made the offering and he was not appreased? I will say this. If he himself made the offering, that's the problem. He is not appreased. But there's speculation that he also had a hijay, another priest, because he's with him a little bit later, who is wearing the epitome. So who's to say that he actually performed it? Or he got a hijay to perform it when Samuel wasn't there? I do not know. I think the message is really interesting though, because it assumes. It says this. Well, it says that Samuel shows up like, "Aha!" And he asks him, "What have you done? What would you answer?" Was his answer bad? In chapter 13? Yeah, his answer is not bad. He's telling the facts. He's like, "Well, what do you mean? We agreed on seven days. You didn't show up in seven days. My armies were in a way. The Philistines are there. Like, I had to do so. I hadn't even inquired of God. I can't go to battle without asking God. So it seems like he really is concerned. He's trying to do the right thing." And he's saying you didn't show up. And then this is the your version probably says, basically, "Your kingdom, if you had not done this, you've done foolishly. If you had not done this, your kingdom would have been eternal." Well, the minute you hear that, you should have a question in your mind. "How can or how would it have been possible for Saul's kingdom to be eternal?" What tribe is he from? Benjamin. What tribe is the eternal king going to be from? Judah. So that's interesting. Listen to what the message says. It says, "If you had kept the appointment, if you would have kept the appointment that your God commanded, by now, God would have said a firm and lasting foundation under your kingly rule, but it's already begun to follow pieces to pieces." I'm going to tell you right now if he just said that to me, some sass would have come out my mouth. "If he would have shown up because obviously the message is assuming it was the waiting problem." Why didn't you keep your appointment? If you had kept your appointment, what would you say? "Keep me, me keep my appointment." The appointment was seven days. I'm not the one that didn't keep the appointment. You are the one that didn't keep the appointment, right? And so you wonder and it says instead of eternal, it says that your, where is it? It says, "By now God would have set a firm and lasting foundation under your rule." So maybe what he was saying is if you had obeyed, if you would have been obedient, then Jonathan would have gotten the kingship. But because you haven't, right? It is not you are not, it's not going to stay in your family. It is not going to be continue down. And then he says, "And God is already looking for someone to replace you." And literally in the Hebrew, it means that he has been looking. Does that not bother you? You're like, "I haven't even paid attention to 1 Samuel 13, Shannon." Of course it doesn't bother me. It bothers me. Because in this scenario, we don't know what's happened between the two chapters. Maybe he has a habit of overstepping. Maybe he has a habit of not trusting God. We don't know. But when we just read this instance right here, and it says that God has already been looking, doesn't it seem unfair? Because think about this. Do you remember Eli, Hophney, and Phineas, if any of y'all were here? How long did God put up with Hophney and Phineas and their shenanigans with corrupting the offerings of God? A long time. Right? Slow to anger, bounding and love. Rich and mercy. Are there other instances in the Bible where when you're in a serious pickle and your life is at stake that God kind to make a little allowance? How about David? When Saul's trying to kill David, does David not eat the bread off the table of showbred? That is meant only for the priests? He does. So why? Don't you just wonder why so harsh? And part of me wonders if after Samuel took a step back and Saul became the leader, could that have been really, really hard for Samuel? Why didn't you wait on me? Why didn't you wait for me to come and tell you what to do? That's what he said. We don't know, but I'm going to tell you this. At that point, Saul's not ever the same in Scripture. At this point, Samuel leaves Saul and Saul is left with 600 soldiers and no weapons. And he goes in and he faces the Philistines. When that happens, when we see in the next chapter him go to war with the Philistines, we see Jonathan make the first move. Jonathan climbs down the crevasse and up the other side and attacks the Philistines with just he and his armor bear. Jonathan is a stud. I'm gonna tell you. And Saul was hanging with his soldiers under a tree doing nothing. So at this point, this is what we start to see in Saul. Now he's apprehensive. Before Saul seemed to make the decision that needed to be made. He seemed to be pretty confident and what he did. He led. He had zeal. He says, you better show up. This is what we're going to do. I had to go ahead and step forward. I had to take the leadership role. And now all of a sudden, it's all almost like he's scared to make a step. Do you see that? When you get home tonight, read these chapters. It'll start making sense to you. All right? Then he kind of can't make a decision. He's indecisive, he's confused. All of a sudden, he looks over at McMash and he sees that someone's fighting. Well, he's not over there. He's like, what the heck's going on? Who's fighting over there? So he looks at all the soldiers that he says, somebody do a roll call, please. Who are we missing? Who are the Philistines fighting right now? And he finds out it's his son. And so he calls the priest, Ahayjay, isn't that interesting. He has a priest with him. He calls Ahayjay and he says, you need to ask God if we need to go to battle. By the way, how do you think he asked him? Which means he's operating as the high priest. He takes the yearmen the thumb him and he goes and before he can read him, so all goes, you know what, grab those things out and you care what it says, we're going to war. Right? So one minute, he's sitting back, he can't decide what to do. He's apprehensive. The next minute, he's indecisive and he goes, no, no, let's just go. And then they go to war and then in the middle of the war, he gets so caught up in a motion that he makes a rash vow and he says, we're gonna beat them down so bad and so fast that nobody in my entire army better eat until we have kicked their butts thoroughly. So he makes a rash vow that in this battle, I tell you what, let's fight for days and not eat. That sounds like a great plan to me. Jonathan doesn't know he did it and he reaches out and eats some honey. At the end of the day, this stupid vow makes his soldiers sin because they're starving to death and they just take all the loot and they start eating the meat right there without draining the blood. And Jonathan nearly loses his life, Saul nearly kills his own son because Jonathan broke the vow. Do you see him coming apart? Wow, he seemed so strong. He seemed to be doing great. Everything was going fine and then all of a sudden, these words of Samuel are ringing in his ear. If only you hadn't, God's gonna find someone to replace you. And it's like all of those words and you need to understand at the end of this, it says this, in chapter 14, 48 through 52, it says that Saul was victorious in everything he did in his kingship. So whether or not he's coming apart at the seams, when it comes to kicking the Philistines butt, he is successful. Every time. And I want you to think about this. His entire life, he has been fighting. From the moment he took the kingship honestly, he has been fighting the Philistines. And I don't know if you've ever seen movies of hand-to-hand brutal combat back in that time of our history, but it was brutal, it was bloody, it was ugly. And he literally, his entire adulthood fought. Can I just ask you, what do you think that took from him? Because when we first met him, he seemed like an all-American boy from rural area who was loved by his father, who cared about his father, who wanted to please his father, who had everything going for him, met Samuel and before he knew it, he was crown king. He had been drafted, he was in the spotlight. Now the entire weight of the nation was on him. He was doing the best he could. He thought he was doing everything right. And in the meantime, what happened? Samuel came in and all of a sudden he said, you're not doing it right. You're going to lose your kingship and the fear of failure and what everybody else thought. And all of this insecurity got into him and I'm telling you what, he spun out. He spun out. We want to talk about PTSD. Do you think that's a new thing? You don't think all of this took his soul. The sad thing is, he did not in this situation, in all of his agony and insecurity and caring what everybody else thought and his need to succeed in his fear of failure. He never, ever brought all that to God. And because of that, we're going to get to a point which the climax is in chapter 15 when he just flat disobeyed God. And at that moment, his kingdom will be no more and he knows it. And all of this is raging inside and it won't be long before some young little boy comes walking into his life that will literally put a finger in every wound he has and you're going to watch him spin out. That's why I like to study these characters and apply them because most the time when you hear sermons about Saul, what's he like? They just make it simple. He's bad. He didn't follow God, he didn't trust God. There's a whole lot more to that, right? And when you look at David, well, yeah, he slept with Bashiva and he did all this but he was so quick to repent. And that is true, David knew his position before God. But this was over time. So when I see someone like Saul, it's not such a quick fix of trying to say, oh, he was just a bad king. He's a human being. And when we see the fact that it says that God removed his spirit and he sent a tormenting spirit, I want to teach that. I cannot wait to teach that because I think it's been taught really bad. And so I want to encourage you. I don't even know if any of this made sense to you, this review, or you've even been interested. I hope what I can do for you is teach it in a way where you're like all of that was in that chapter. Man, I need to spend a little bit more time in the Bible because don't you find it interesting? Don't you find the characters of the Bible interesting? They're us. So don't read through it and look for like Christianese teachings. Sit in it, know the culture, know what's happening in their lives. Close your eyes and think, what would that be like if I were there? What's going on around them? And how is that the same today? Are you being pressured? Do you have things pushing in that you need to make a decision right now? Yeah, Saul felt that too. But maybe you don't make the decision, maybe you wait. You may think all your soldiers are deserting and you have to make the decision now, no. You don't. Maybe God's asking you to wait. There's all kinds of application in this story. So what I encourage you to do is go home this week, read through these stories, journal about them, see which one really penetrates into your heart and applies to you. Okay, and then as you show up next week, read ahead and I'm gonna go through the anointing of David. As King, we're gonna start to look at David and Goliath. We're gonna talk about from now on, we're David, David, David. We are gonna look at the fact that David played the heart for crazy Saul when he was losing his mind, right? Do you know that one of the best things, Baroque music is actually been found to calm anxiety because of the number of beats per minute, your heartbeat sinks up to it and calms you down. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff. You're gonna love it, okay? So read ahead and get in the Bible in advance and it will be so much more applicable to you. All right, let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for tonight. Lord, I thank you for the stories of your scripture. Lord, there's so many applications. I can't even go through them all in this review, but God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would continue to teach as these women leave. Maybe there would just even be great conversation in the cars on the way home. Questions asked, well, what would you do in that situation? Well, what do you think? Do you think you didn't wait? Do you think you overstepped his bounds? What even the discussion Lord is meditation on the scripture. And so God, I pray that these women would fall in love with your Bible like never before, that they would put themselves in the position because we know Lord that the true hero is you, you love Saul from beginning to end. You love all of us from beginning to end. And Lord, I pray that for those that feel like they're in the darkness and there is no light. God, I pray that you would bring people around them just to sit and dwell with them, that they would understand that it's okay not to be okay and that we just sit and pray and come alongside. The Lord, I pray that we don't forget that it's okay not to be okay, but it's not okay to stay there. And so let's encourage one another. to press on. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.