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Reflect on the words “I saw,” “I thought,” and “I felt compelled.”  What was driving Saul?

• Saul was driven by his feelings of fear and anxiety.  He felt this very real feeling of fear and anxiety b/c he saw that the men were scattering (he felt alone, top leader, and his men scattering), he saw that Samuel was not coming (felt abandoned, left to his own resources, felt like it wasn’t his fault that he was in this situation, felt out of control), he saw that the Philistines were assembling (felt fear, fear that he as the king, might fail, might be defeated, humiliated in battle), and so he was driven by these very real feelings of fear to take matters into his own hands.  This was his downfall.  What was REALLY going on though that Saul failed to see? Samuel was coming, GOD was there and completely in control of the battle (Exo 14:14 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” and 1 Sam 17:45 …”You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”).  What was really going on was that God was looking for man after his own heart, someone who would keep his commands in the midst of stressful and high-pressure situations, someone who would be faithful and able to stand firm in the face of the very real feelings of fear and anxiety.

Are there times when I assess threats and experience anxiety that compels me to do something … all without regard to God?

• Oh yeah, there are so many times I do this. I need to make a decision b/c there are people waiting on me, my leaders aren’t around for me to consult, people’s eyes are upon me, I don’t want to look stupid in front of what seems like an army of people, so I feel compelled to act.  And God and the fact that He’s right there with me, the fact that I live before Him, gets pushed out of the picture as I am overwhelmed with my feelings of fear and anxiety, and am driven and compelled to act rashly, to tell a white lie, to compromise my values to accommodate someone else, to not tell the whole painful truth.

Reflect on the picture of Saul “[counting] the men who were with him” after “Samuel left Gilgal.”

• Saul just doesn’t get it.  After Samuel tells him that he acted foolishly, Saul still goes and counts his fighting men, he wants to know what his resources are.  This is how I am, when I’m driven by fear and anxiety, I may have failed in that situation, but at least I still have _____, at least I obeyed in that other situation, at least I’m trying…  I want to make sure I have enough, or that I’m doing enough, whatever “enough” means, that I won’t run dry.  The thing is, life is such that I will always feel a sense of lack.  I look at myself and I have little resources.  What is God’s response to this?  Vv. 13-14 – he doesn’t care about Saul’s men and the might of his army.  He desires faithfulness in keeping his commands; He wants someone after His own heart.

What do I need to cultivate in order to not find myself in the same place as Saul?

• I need to cultivate a heart of humility and dependence on God, a heart that doesn’t measure myself based upon my perceived lack or upon what I perceive others have that’s more than what I have.  God’s standard of measurement is not the same as mine.  I need to cultivate a faith that is not dependent on circumstances and feelings, but on the solid bedrock of the truth of God’s omni-presence in my life.

Lord, have mercy on me, please help me to stay the course of obedience and faithfulness to you regardless of the fearful and stressful situations before me, help me not to push you out of the picture but to be confident that You are my ultimate eternal resource that will never fail and never run dry.  Thank you for this reminder today.

Saul pointed to “the men…scattering”, Samuel “not” coming “at the set time…” and “the Philistines…assembling at Micmash” in order to justify the his disobedience in disregarding the clear ban against offering sacrifices by anyone other than priests. In that fearful and anxious moment, he knew that he needed the Lord’s favor. “I have not sought the Lord’s favor.” (v.12) He knew that it was the Lord that needed to deliver him. And he goes about it in a way that is opposite the way of the Lord’s favor. What a monumental tragedy and miscalculation…yet very, very identifiable. He thought that gaining the Lord’s favor and protecting himself and his people was in the act of burnt offering, regardless of whether it was carried out in accordance to His Word. He thought that the result justified the means, and, in doing so, missed the heart of the command altogether, and, in fact, opened his heart to a trajectory of disobedience and of disregard for God’s Word, for not keeping “the command the Lord your God gave you.”

I find this at work a lot among Christians, especially those of us who have committed to serve the Lord. I find myself at this crossroad of anxiety and fear quite regularly, sometimes brought on by my own rash judgment or other mistakes, or at other times by unforeseen circumstances not related to me. As a leader, I face this juncture, needing to make a judgment call, assess situations, decide on what to do next for my ministry, for the people I am to care for. And I understand painfully the desire to take shortcuts, to remedy the situation to get immediate result, and not undergo the process of carrying out God’s command step by step. Sometimes my desire is to prevent the problem from escalating further; sometimes, it is out of guilt and regret for the mistake I’ve made and wanting to remedy it. But whatever the reason may be, I cannot think of myself as some exception and bypass His command.

Saul convinced himself – though I feel like he really knew deep inside as I know I usually would even when I go through these thoughts – that he was doing right with God by offering up the burnt offerings on his own without waiting for Samuel. He “sought the Lord’s favor” in his own way, in his own time. Tragically, there is no record of him responding in repentance to Samuel’s rebuke. And, because of his refusal to humble himself at this crucial failure in his life, his heart already was growing distant from God’s heart, and therefore, “the Lord…sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people…”

What was the heart of God? What was the way to seek His favor? It was to keep His command – not to think that he was exempt or he can bend the rules because of his position as a king. It was to keep His command as a humble servant of the Lord. As I think of my position, the influence and the responsibility He has entrusted to me over His people and His church, I can never take this warning lightly. Only then, can I find favor with Him, and only then would my heart be aligned with his.

Submitted by Pastor William Kang, Gracepoint Berkeley

What is significant about the fact that Demas who deserted Apostle Paul for the world (2 Timothy 4:10) was once among the list of people that Apostle Paul counted on?

• As a follower of Jesus, what is significant is that I should never be comfortable or confident about where I stand.  In other words, my faithfulness is only as good as what I am thinking and what I am desiring today.  I cannot take pride in my faithfulness in the past and I cannot look to the past to project my faithfulness in the future. If I think this way then I will coast spiritually today, and if I do then I am setting myself up for doom. I need to be faithful today.  I need to do the tough work of applying the gospel to my heart today, and repenting of sins and false values.  As a leader of followers of Jesus, I need to help others deepen their faith, knowledge and understanding of the gospel even to those who are encouraging disciples of Jesus.   The point is that anyone call fall in the future, and so I must approach others not just with confidence but also with concern and care.

Reflect on Apostle Paul’s personal exhortation to Archippus in v.17, in light of what happened to Demas at the end.  What is the work that I have received from the LORD and what may hinder me from completing that work?

• The work that I received from the Lord is the work of sanctification of my spiritual life and raising leaders. What may hinder me from completing the work is being satisfied with my definition of successful completion.  Being a sinner, my definition of successful completion is different from God’s.  I don’t need to work as hard, and I don’t need to persevere, in order to achieve my definition of successful completion.  In other words, what will hinder me from completing the work that I received from the Lord is the idea that I think that I’ve done enough.  I get satisfied too easily, and what this tells me is that I have my standards in mind and not the Lord’s.

Reflect on the words “remember my chains.” What effect would remembering Paul’s imprisonment have had on the Colossians?  Who are the people, and what are the chains I need to remember in living my Christian life?

• Remembering Paul’s imprisonment would have inspired the Colossians to live out the gospel in the manner similar to Apostle Paul.  It would have inspired them to evangelize harder, it would have made any fears of imprisonment smaller, it would have made them more zealous.