Page 17 - The Divine Quest

Page 14

The story of King Saul’s failure to wait upon God is familiar to most saints. I have
heard it frequently taught on. I think most saints are much too hard on Saul. I know
few who would not cave in to the same pressure. Saul’s son Jonathan had just gone
and raided a Philistine garrison and had achieved a stunning victory. This angered
the Philistines. They called their whole army together. Their numbers were
tremendous. “Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots
and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in
abundance... (I Samuel 13:5).

How many people did Saul have. We are told that there were 2,000 men with Saul
and 1,000 with Jonathan. King Saul was vastly outnumbered. The people with him
saw this and it is said that those following him “trembled.” They were scared to
death. Things then began to deteriorate. Saul’s army began to slip off and disappear.

I Samuel 13:6-7
When the men of Israel saw that their situation was critical and that their army was
hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and
cisterns. Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul
remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.

Now, it is bad enough to be outnumbered and to have the numbers get worse and
worse (it got to the point that Saul only had 600 men left, 4 out of 5 of his soldiers
deserted), but to have the ones who remained “quaking with fear” made it even
worse. Who was there to encourage and embolden Saul? Who was there to tell him
to stand fast and trust in the Lord? Few of God’s saints today have ever been put in
such dire straits.

Saul rightly knew that only God could deliver Israel in such a situation. It was
customary to entreat Yahweh’s favor before entering a battle. The king, however, was
not to offer the burnt offering. It had been pre-arranged that the prophet Samuel
would show up and make the offering and entreat Yahweh’s favor. Saul waited seven
days, the days agreed upon for Samuel to arrive. When Samuel didn’t show up on
time, Saul could endure the wait no longer.

It must be said that it was a tremendous test for Saul to wait even seven days. Each
day he received reports of more Philistines gathering and more of his army fleeing.
Saul was surrounded by terrified men. A seven day wait had to have been agonizing,
but Saul waited these seven days. But, Saul had a point past which he could wait no
longer. His endurance had limits to it.

I Samuel 13:11-12