1 Samuel 13:1-15

Hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 Samuel chapter 13. We're going to be at the first 15 verses or so, and Saul's a new king, and he's a little bit too big for his britches maybe. Let's find out what happens.
1 Samuel chapter 15, about the first half of the chapter or so. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Father, we thank you so much for giving us your word and we pray that your Holy Spirit would please be teaching us and leading us, softening our hearts and opening our ears and our minds to understand your word and that you would help us to know you and walk in your ways. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, 1 Samuel chapter 13, the first 15 verses. Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. the rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent.
And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear! Now all Israel heard it and said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines.
And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash to the east of Beth-Avon.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger, for the people were distressed, then the people hid in caves, and thickets, and rocks, and holes, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him.
So Saul said, bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me. And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
And Samuel said, what have you done? Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattered far from me, and that you did not come within the day as appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication of Jehovah. Therefore I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering.
Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have kept the commandment, you have not kept the commandment of Jehovah your God, which he commanded you. For now Jehovah would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. Jehovah has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and Jehovah has commanded him to be the commander over his people, because you have not kept what Jehovah commanded you.
Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin, and Saul numbered the people present with him, about 600 men.
Well, we'll go ahead and stop the reading there. We need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So our A, B, Cs.
A, what's this about? Well, this is the Philistines are going to go to battle against the Israelites. Saul has fought against them and he's blown the trumpet, calling together all the troops because he's captured a garrison and boy are the Philistines mad. It's like he's hit a beehive. Now they're swarming around. You've got 30,000 of these chariots and as many enemies as a sand on the seashore. I mean, people are scared. They're running for the hills, literally jumping over the Jordan River and going up to Gilgal and Gad. They're getting as far away from Israel as they can, go to the furthest corners, right? It would be like if somebody was attacking the U.S. down in Florida. They're going all the way to Washington and Montana, right?
And so, this is what's going on here and while Samuel had told Saul, all right, gather the people together and in seven days I'm going to come and People start getting nervous because Samuel's not there right at the appointed time, and they're getting scared. And so, what does Saul do? Saul takes things into his own hands. He ignores God's commands. He ignores God's prohibitions. He ignores what he's supposed to be doing, and instead tries to take God and use Him. Right? Like when he says, that he had not shown up at the appointed time. He said, the Philistines have come down on me and Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. His point is, if I just do the right things, then God's going to answer me.
God's not mechanical like that. Hold on. He's holy. He's righteous. He takes his worship seriously. You don't get to just, as a non-Levi, just do these things. I've still yet to wrestle and quite understand. Samuel isn't the high priest, he's a judge. How's this work out with his lineage? I wondered about this before. I don't have a precise way to nail this down, but it's clear that he says to Saul he's done a foolish thing. So I think there's probably a provision here somewhere that I'm not missing and my brain's just too dull. Maybe you can let me know down in the comments if you've read a commentary or something that has explained this clearly to you. I would love to have this more clearly lined out for me.
The point is that Saul takes things into his own hands. One of the parallels to this would be something like Abraham and Sarah with the whole Hagar incident. They want God's promises. They want the blessings of the covenant so bad, they'll do whatever they need in their humanly power to make that happen. This doesn't work out well. That's not how faith works. That's not how God is served. We need not be fearful of doing things, but we must all be aware that especially when we're doing religious things or especially when we're doing something of this nature, we're not treating God lightly here.
Samuel is telling Saul, you done messed up, man. You're so motivated by fear that you couldn't wait, so anxious and concerned about winning the battle and having your kingdom that God would have established your throne if you had just waited, if you had shown patience and trust, but instead you showed that you were resting on your own abilities. And this is going to come and show itself in Saul's life in really ugly ways as he's desperate to hold on to the kingdom. This guy who seemed like he was reluctant to take it ends up becoming one of the most jealous for his power and for his position. So, that's what this is about. He's offering sacrifices that he wasn't supposed to, taking things into his own hands. What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my mind, I would underline verse 13 and 14. Those, I think, are the best verses to summarize this.
So, last C, calling. What are we called to do? Well, there are things that we ought to do, things which God has given us freedom to make choices in our lives, right? We don't need to be paralyzed. Do I need to make an offering before I choose what shirt to wear? Or do I need to wait to know exactly what is God's will whether I shave today or not, right? No, hold on. But when there are things in life and God has commanded different ways, wait. Be patient on Him. Don't be driven by fear, but by faith. trusting in Him, waiting in His timing.
A whole bunch of people have made shipwrecks of their faith, shipwrecks of their lives. I've seen it happen where even a guy who desperately wanted to become a pastor, And he pushed through, and pushed through, and pushed through, and did everything. He goes to seminary, studies all the books, does all the things, but he's not willing to wait on Presbytery. And when Presbytery shows him issues with his life and things going on, he just pressed, and pressed, and pressed, and eventually pressed himself into becoming a pastor in a different denomination, because the denomination he was in wasn't going to ordain him, because he had these other things. And then he gets mad, and leaves, and goes and starts another church, and it doesn't go well.
Because the point being is that the Lord doesn't operate on our timetable. The Lord often doesn't do things in the sequence that we would want them. Man, in my life is that the case as I've thought about a whole bunch of stuff. But the Lord has a perfect plan. So we trust Him and we walk by faith and not by sight. We're not driven by fear. So we walk in his ways, knowing that because he has shown us his love in Christ Jesus, we can follow Jesus.
And then I do want to point out what a beautiful thing it is that Jesus, who is not of the tribe of Aaron, or of Levi, not of the family of Aaron, never makes the sacrifice in the temple. Even though he's the one by whom and through whom all things are created, even though he is of the order of Melchizedek, he makes a sacrifice once for all, finished, done. It's only at the very end of his life he offers up himself as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. He isn't filled by pride, but he does the Father's will perfectly. What a great king we have. What a great high priest.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would please help us. We thank you that you have established the kingdom of Jesus Christ forever. He is our perfect anointed king. He is the commander of the heavenly armies. He is also our God and our Lord. Father, we pray that you would please help us to trust in you, to follow after you. In our lives, God, we pray that we would please be motivated by a love for you, an attentiveness to your word. And please help us to avoid foolish mistakes where we go forcing our own will upon things instead of resting in you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, may God bless you. May you walk in the peace of Jesus Christ. May you serve the King of Kings forever, for his kingdom is established. Sure. I'll see you next time. Bye.