Seamless Week 4 Day 1

I decided to blog about our walk through Seamless to help inspire us all to spend time in the Word everyday.  If all you do is get the blog read you'll at least know the gist of the story. 😊

Today's lesson is about Saul

Remember how the Israelites didn't obey when God told them to go into the land and take over.  They let the other groups stay and in turn were sucked into their ways of life and their beliefs.  It probably wasn't a quick turn of events, but rather a slow fade as the song from Casting Crowns is titled.

The Israelites had been walking through the desert for more than forty years, in the course of this time their sandals did not wear out, they had water and manna from heaven.  God had proven Himself over and over again.  And yet, here they are demanding a king.  How heartbreaking it must have been to a God who had been faithful over the years, knowing He knows better than any human king.  And yet, He gives in to their demands.

Saul starts out as a pretty great guy.  He's not sure about being a king.  He hides for starters.   But then he embraces the role and does a good job.   Until he got a big head...he thinks he can do the prophet's role and the king's.  But they were distinctly separate for a very good reason.  This is when Saul finds out that the kingdom will be torn from him.

God chose a different person to be king...someone after His own heart.  We don't see Saul admit wrongdoing very often and when he does it seems nothing changes.  He goes right back to doing those things he shouldn't, i.e. chasing David and being jealous.  We will see things happening differently with David though.

Outward appearance is meaningless to God; the heart is what matters.  Performance means nothing; faithfulness means everything.  Samuel learned this lesson when he met Jesse's sons. 

Saul doesn't seem to know much about trusting God.  We don't read about any experiences he may have had, but David does.  He talks of how God killed the bear and the lion and surely could take care of the giant.  He's not looking at his circumstances, but he's looking at his God.

Saul hears the women singing David's praises and turns jealous.  Now, instead of rejoicing that the giant is dead, he wants David dead.  One thing that I think is very cool about David is that he is given several opportunities to kill Saul and he doesn't take them.  He doesn't believe it's his right to take the life of the "Lord's annointed".

Day 1 is done!
Keep pressing on!
Steph