Letting other's lead can be hard for a leader

1 Samuel Chapter 12

Samuel has served the Lord faithfully but the people have decided that they would rather be led by a king. King Saul has proved himself in battle and so Samuel makes the public transference of power away from himself and over to Saul. Samuel will, of course, still be a mouthpiece for God and still be a spiritual leader but Israel now has a king and much of Samuel’s responsibilities will be diminished. 

Even though Samuel has been obedient to God’s command throughout this transference, he really sticks it to the Israelites in his farewell speech. They have been sinful and ungrateful and wanting a king and he makes sure that they know it. He also makes them publically testify that he has been faithful and just in his dealings with them. 

If a tongue lashing wasn’t enough, he also has God rain down thunder and lightning and destroys crops that were just about ready to be harvested. The people freak and beg Samuel to ask God for mercy. He does of course and leaves them with one final charge. If they will be faithful to God and if their king will do the same, then things will be just fine. If not, well, you know how that goes. 

Lessons: Samuel wasn’t perfect but he finishes strong (and still has some miles left to go). He is faithful to the end even if he is a bit ornery in the process. Obedience through thick and thin counts and we need to be able to trust God even when it’s not easy. How often to people willingly give up power because it’s the right thing to do? Rarely are any of us humble enough to do this at the right time. May we be obedient to let God work, even if that means that we have to step aside and let someone else take authority and credit. May we serve God how He sees fit, not how we see fit.

Start Strong Good, Finish Strong Best

1 Samuel Chapter 11

As you might imagine, now that Saul is king, one of the surrounding nations is going to take a shot. Saul’s war leadership will have its first test. The Ammonites want some more subjects and land and so they decide that they want to take Jabesh-gilead. The people in the city really would rather not die so they attempt to negotiate with the large Ammonite army. The condition of gouging out all of their right eyes and becoming slaves doesn’t sound very appealing though so they send out the alarm and appeal for help to Saul.

                Where is Saul, king of Israel to come and help? He is plowing his own field. Not living in a palace, not being waited on hand and foot, but doing hard labor in the field. Some might see this as symbolic of a humble servant leader, others might see it as a man shirking the heavy responsibilities that have been thrust upon them. At any rate, when he hears the news he reacts decisively and sends out a threat to all of the tribes if they do not respond to his call for arms. The people respond and the battle is successful.

                Remember those guys who wouldn’t honor Saul when he was appointed king? Now that the army has been successful in battle they are brave enough to want to take on these guys and punish then for dishonoring the king. Saul wisely shows mercy and seeks peace.

Lessons: Saul’s kingship starts off strong. If we didn’t know the rest of the story we might be filled with hope that he just might be the one to deliver the people and lead them toward God. Staring strong is good but finishing strong is essential. So many of us can muster the effort to get off on the right foot, or to follow God for a period of time, but will we do so even when the going gets tough? Will we do so when life gets too easy? Will we stay diligent until the end? We need to start strong AND finish strong.