I Samuel 14:36-39 – Walking with God sensibly

Saul was too self-absorbed to notice that he was a hindrance more than a help. The people’s breaking the law and eating the animal with blood was a result of his needless demand that the people could not eat till the end of the day and until he had avenged his enemy. Can you see that foolish demand? He had virtually made the people needlessly famished for lack of food. No wonder they rushed at it the first opportunity that they could eat. Trying to rectify the situation, he had an altar built to the Lord. He was putting the horse after the cart. He thought that in so doing he would have dealt with the problem he created.

So in verse 36, he said to his people, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.” Notice how reticent the people’s response was, “Do whatever seems good to you.” It’s like saying to him “you do what you like.” Unlike his son who factored the Lord in, Saul had not thought of God’s role in the victory he pursued. At least the priest had more sense in suggesting that he sought the Lord’s guidance. Saul then consented and sought the Lord, as an after-thought. As if oblivious of the situation, he asked of the Lord, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” This was a tag too late.  So verse 37 would be an obvious response from God. He did not answer him.  

Saul’s blunders seemed to keep increasing. He was becoming so accustomed to committing bungles and missteps. There was so much self in Saul that he failed to see that he was, in fact, the cause of the problem. Instead of stepping back, pause and reflect, he assumed that God’s non-answer was someone else’s fault.  He even had the gall to say, “For as the Lord lives, who delivers Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” It’s sad to see how insensible he had become. This situation was sad and pathetic, to say the least. He not only lost the support of God but now had also lost the support of his people.   

Saul’s life shows us how needful it is for us to walk sensibly with the Lord. We must put God and not self at the centre of our life. It becomes easy to not factor God in the circumstances of our lives when God is not at the centre. It pays to take time to pause and reflect, then adjust and realign our steps. Without God, we cannot. Our best experiences with God are ahead of us and they cannot take place without Him. We must take time to walk with God, hear His voice and do His bidding. Only when we do so, then we will not be erratic.