A Decision Driven By The Fear Of Men...

This week, we are looking at the life of the first king of Jewish people, who is a man named King Saul Yesterday, we looked on as King Saul summoned to Jewish people to gather at Gilgal to prepare for war against the Philistines. However, Saul summoned the people to Gilgal seven days earlier than the appointed time for Samuel’s arrival.

And as the Jewish people waited for Samuel to arrive, the Philistines were not waiting for the Jewish people. Instead, the Philistines dispatched a military force that dwarfed the Jewish army so as to put a quick end to their revolt and rebellion. As the Jewish people found themselves incredibly outnumbered, they responded with a recognition that they were in a hard pressed and in a desperate situation.

And in their desperation, some of the Jewish army responded by hiding in caves for safety, while others fled across the Jordan River in fear. And those who were not hiding or running in fear were left trembling in fear before their king. Today, it is in this context that we see Saul respond to the situation in verse 8:

Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.

As the appointed time for Samuel's arrival grew closer, the Jewish people with King Saul grew more and more fearful. After all, they saw the Philistine army preparing their forces for attack, while they were simply standing around waiting. And day after day, more and more people began to bail on King Saul in fear of the Philistines. So on the seventh day, when Samuel did not appear early in the day, many more people began to bail on King Saul.

And as the people scattered from him, Saul made a decision. Saul made the decision to no longer wait for Samuel’s arrival to offer up the scheduled sacrifices of worship to God. Instead, Saul rebelled against God and offered up the sacrifices to God. Instead of waiting the full seven days for Samuel to show up at the time that he was to show up, Saul disobediently offered up a sacrificial offering that was to only be done by Samuel and the priests that accompanied him. You see, as the people began to question his leadership and scatter, Saul focused on doing something out of a fear of man instead of out of a fear of God. Instead of waiting faithfully and obediently for God’s timing, Saul decided that doing something that was disobedient was better than doing nothing.

Now here is a question to consider: How often can we find ourselves acting just like King Saul? How often can we find ourselves in a place where we are waiting on God? How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are faced with the decision as to whether we are going to listen to the opinions of the people around us or the word of God?

How often can we find ourselves in a place where, in our waiting on God, we are tempted to do something out of a fear of failing to please those around us instead of doing something out of a fear of failing to please God? How often can we come to the decision that doing something that is disobedient to God is better than doing nothing? We see what happens next in verse 10:

 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering."

Upon arriving, we see Samuel confront King Saul for his disobedient rebellion against God’s command. You see, Samuel was not late, Saul was impatient. Samuel was focused on pleasing God through obeying His command, while Saul was focused on the fear of failing to pleasing the people around him.

But did you notice how Saul responded when confronted by Samuel? Instead of taking responsibility for his selfishness and rebellious fear of failing to please people, Saul attempts to play the blame game. Saul basically says “Well because you did not show up when I thought you were supposed to be here I forced myself to ask the favor of the Lord. This is not my fault; this is your fault”. We see Samuel’s response to Saul’s attempts to play the blame game in verse 13:

Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."

Here we see Samuel reveal for us the timeless reality that we act foolishly when we place our fear of failing to please others over the fear of failing to please the Lord. And by being focused on his fear of failing to please people in a way that resulted in him failing to keep the commandment of the Lord, Saul lost the possibility of establishing his family as the ruling family of the Jewish people.

While Saul would retain his position as King, neither Jonathon nor future generations from his family tree would have the opportunity to be king. Instead, the Lord had now sought out a man after His own heart, which was a heart that was focused on pleasing God by faithfully trusting and following God. In other words, the Lord had already picked out the man who would lead the Jewish people after Saul was finished as King. The Lord had already made His decision and was already beginning to act on that decision.

Now, at this point, you would think that King Saul would have learned his lesson on the dangers of being a people pleaser. And at this point you would be wrong, as we see in an event from King Saul’s life that Samuel records for us a little later on in 1 Samuel 15:1. An event we will look at tomorrow...