Monday 19 November 2007
- Bible Book:
- 1 Samuel
"So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said, 'Consult a spirit for me, and bring up the one whom I name to you'. The woman said to him, 'Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?'" (v.8-9)
Background
1 Samuel is the story of how kingship was established in Israel.As the book shows it was not a smooth or easy task. Saul wasenthroned as the first king but struggled both in ruling Israel andbeing obedient to God.
'D'esperate is an apposite term to explain thefinal days of King Saul's life. In today's reading,a desperate KingSaul dons adisguiseto deceive a diviner inorder to discover what the Lord wants him todo. This deedof deception and other actsofdisobedience leads to both hisimmediate downfall as king andeventual death.
Aside from the alliteration of the letter 'd', this passage ofscripture highlights the importance of obeying God andacknowledging that he knows best in all circumstances.
Today's reading looks at a king who was once so 'anointed' that hewas considered a prophet, but is forced to turn to a fortune-tellerbecause his defiance had resulted in the Lord abandoning him.
It is easy to condemn King Saul's unbelief and disobedience, but wedo know that 'desperate people do desperate things'. When troublecomes knocking, our first response is often to rely on our ownresources rather than on God. It is often the case that only whenthe situation becomes really desperate that we turn to theLord.
An antonym of desperation is hope, and having God on our sidealways means there is hope - no wonder the great hymn writerCharles Wesley described him as 'my Strength, my Hope, On Thee Icast my care' (Hymns & Psalms 680).
To Ponder
What is our first response to a crisis?
A desperate person is often forced into doingdesperate things - how can we avoid getting into Saul-likesituations?