1 Samuel 11:5-6 - Divine empowerment

Why did the messengers come to Gibeah and not look for Saul? Hadn’t he been anointed as king by Samuel already? Apparently, despite being made the king, the people didn’t even turn to him for a solution. It was likely that the messenger had no idea, or if they knew about it, didn’t quite believe that he had the disposition to do the job. In life, it is one thing to be given a position and quite another to command the respect of the people you lead. It speaks volumes if you are a leader and your members are not aware of your presence or position. Did you wonder as you recall 1 Samuel 10:26 about those whose hearts were touched by Saul and left to follow him? Why aren’t they around? It tells us that there can also be people who profess to honor you as their leader but when crunch times come, they are nowhere to be found. Whether a leader or a follower, the lessons we see here need to be rightly appropriated.

However, the weeping of the people caught the attention of Saul who came in from the field behind his oxen.  He must be quite an enigmatic personality. We saw him searching for his father’s donkeys earlier. Then even when he had been anointed as king, he had to return to the field, presumably to plough the land. Why wasn’t he on his throne? However, from verse 6, we can tell that the situation was about to change. It is all because the Spirit of God took hold of him. The verse said, “Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry.”

Imagine the situation for a while. Just visualize how his countenance must have looked. He was enraged with what he heard from the messengers. We can imagine him asking, why should we, the people whom the greatest being in the universe is our God, have to go through such humiliation? Why must we subject ourselves to the scorn of a people, whose total power available to them from their gods combined together, could not even measure up to a small fraction of the power of the God whom Israel served?  So, Saul had a fit of Spirit-engendered anger. What we can also learn here is this: if we truly serve a great God, nothing should petrify us. We do not have to subject ourselves to the humiliation of people or circumstances that will come threatening our peaceful existence. If God is for us, who can stand against us? This is the assertion of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament.  

Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the result we can achieve will best be meager and fleshly. Our limited capacity will only allow us to carry out the work to a certain level. But when we allow the Spirit of God to empower us, we will know how different the result will be. What we must come to terms with is this: without God’s empowerment, nothing significant can be accomplished. But with HIs empowerment, we are looking at the limitless possibility in the task. Here’s borrowing Paul’s words In Ephesians 3:20-21 again, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,  to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Don’t ever venture into any assignment without God’s empowerment!