“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..” ( Proverbs 3:5)
A tragedy has been described as an event that results in great distress. King Saul’s life is seen as a tragedy because it began on a high only to end up in a tragic low, with him taking his life, along with three of his sons (I Samuel 31:6). How did this tragedy happen?
Saul almost came out of nowhere to be appointed King of the Israelites. When Samuel first revealed to Saul the anointing over him, he was skeptical, “ Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?" (I Samuel 9:21). On the day of his crowning he was nowhere to be seen. “And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people” ( II Samuel 10:22-24). Its quite clear Saul came from far.
But once he settled on the throne Saul overtime lost sense of how far he had come from. He started not listening to God but followed his own ambitions. “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions” (I Samuel 15:10).
What we pick from all this is that any of us could start out so well, only to lose focus and start looking to other powers. Instead of going back to the Lord who has made us; we rely on our strength or something else other than the mighty God. Saul lost humility, puffed up his wings, only to lose the crown to someone whose heart was truly after God- King David.
Prayer today: Lord father in heaven, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that my heart is truly centered on you, and I may not lose sense of how far you have brought me, this I pray in Jesus’ name.
