THE STORY OF KING SAUL

Once there lived a king named Saul in the ancient kingdom of Israel. He was the tallest and most handsome man in the land. A man of regal bearing, most fitting to be a king the people wanted.

 You see, the Israelites were the people most closest to God, and he went with them wherever. God was always with them, leading them by the hand and speaking his holy oracles through his servants the prophets, till one day when every changed.

The Israelites told God they wanted to be like other nations who had a visible king who rode before them and led them out in battles. In a way, they rejected the lordship of God, but he chose a king for them anyways and sent his Prophet Samuel to anoint Saul, son of Kish.

Saul became king by God's power, yet Samuel remained God's mouthpiece in the land. But this is not the focus of our story. 

And Saul was instructed to war against the Amalekites, to defeat the land and destroy everything in sight, both good and bad, worthy and worthless.

Saul went to war, but didn't destroy the best materials. He kept them to offer sacrifice to God in order to please his men. You see, Saul was guilty of a lot of crimes, but none of them particularly fatal so to speak. But in a way, everything he did undermined the authority of God in the land. He even conducted a sacrifice reserved for prophets alone because Samuel was late. 

In his words, Saul confessed:

 "I've sinned. I've trampled roughshod over GOD's Word and your instructions. I cared more about pleasing the people. I let them tell me what to do. I cared more about pleasing the people, I let them tell me what to do..."

This is a lesson for us as well, too. Obedience to authority, especially God's authority, and being able to stand our ground on what we know is right, instead we keep fighting a losing battle. That we may not think so highly of ourselves, but there are moments we need to take authority, not because we can, but because it is right. May God help us to apply the right principles in the right places. Amen.

Saul lost his throne over acts of "simple disobedience" and not knowing his proper place in the grand scheme of things. David did a lot worse as king, one could say, yet the Bible records him as one after God's heart, because regardless of whatever he did, David's submission to God was without question as long as he lived. We, too, can do the same.

Tokede Opeyemi, 

January 27th, 2022.