Good morning, I feel a weekend approaching! I hope you are all doing well today.
Today we finish reading 1 Samuel, covering chapters 28-31. Tomorrow, we will continue this story as we begin 2 Samuel; the separation occurs as Saul and his sons’ lives end. We will get to that more in a moment.
An Unexpected Alliance
We begin in an unusual place. David is supporting Achish and being called on to fight for the Philistines.
They remember how he killed their champion and multitudes of their soldiers. He is a legendary foe of theirs. So they are not feeling good about him bringing up the rear. It feels like he is in a position to ambush them. So they send him away.
Today’s opening verses seem to present everything as reversed. David wants to support the Philistines. Saul has driven the mediums out of Israel. It’s all upside down.
Saul’s Desperate Plea
After the Philistines dismissed David, Saul viewed their army and felt terror. He was doing what was right, but his heart was still not with God. So, he calls on the witch of Endor (v28:6-7).
I see this in the church. People will know they need God. Their lives are not making sense, so they accept an invitation to attend a service. God has put eternity on our hearts (Ecc 3:11). Therefore, an unsaved person senses a void.
The preacher shares a message of hope and love. It all tickles their ears. The coffee was free; the donuts were fresh. So they come back the following week.
They’re never confronted with the genuine issue. They have a sin problem, and Jesus is the only solution.
Then trouble shows up on the horizon, and like Saul, they turn to their idols.
Their lips say they trusted Jesus, but their actions say they are still trusting only in themselves.
They miss a few weeks while putting in overtime. Thinking more money will fix their problems.
Soon, they are out of the habit of attending.
When someone asks why they stopped coming, their answer is deceptive. They weren’t being fed, they will say.
This is true. They were being fed donuts, not the gospel. The gospel requires you to confront your sin.
The Downfall of Saul
The Medium conjures up the spirit of Samuel. This tells me that those ghost stories we like to think of as myth could contain truth.
Samuel asks why Saul is disturbing him. He is in heaven with the Lord (v28:15). His thoughts are no longer focused on the things of this world.
Saul is looking for cheap grace. Changing nothing within himself, he wants Samuel to tell him God will fight for him.
Instead, Samuel tells him he and his three sons will all die the next day (v28:19). And they do.
David’s Victory at Ziklag
Meanwhile, the rulers of the Philistine’s turn David away.
People like to believe that others can’t change. This is not accurate. I was always a liberal Democrat until I examined the issues.
My salvation led to God convicting my heart, and I could no longer support a party that supported so much sin.
I had to have that old nature stripped away.
Much like David’s troops found when they reached Ziklag, everything they valued was gone. So they wept.
Then they find an Egyptian who the Amalekites had kept as a slave. He had gotten ill, so they left him behind to die.
Feeling abandoned and discarded, we change our allegiances. This slave will help David find the enemy’s camp.
David can overcome them with only 400 men. A subgroup had fallen behind because of exhaustion.
Because those troops were not with them for the fighting, David’s soldiers didn’t want to share their spoils. David made it an ordinance that all would share in the plunder.
A Call for Unity
There are some today who continue to fight against our current administration. When our economy recovers and everything is prosperous again. It would be natural to want to prevent them from sharing in the recovery.
This would only hold the country as a whole back and continue to breed division.
We must take the coming improvements as an opportunity to share the gospel and mend fences. We can pave a path to a brighter future by embracing the hurts and offering an olive branch.
Even today, we can start by opening lines of communication. Resisting the urge to fight back, but learning to share in our hope for the future.
