20th May 2026

20th May 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (1 Samuel 28:4-6)


Message (Alan Burke)


Like a train wreck in slow motion. I’m sure you’ve heard that idiom. What it refers to is a situation where a disaster is unfolding gradually and is obvious to everyone involved, yet they feel powerless to stop it. Well, Saul’s reign was that, a train wreck in slow motion. He had started well; he had the appearance of a man who was going to do what the LORD required of him; he’d expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land; he’d fought the battles, but as time went on, the LORD rejected him because he consistently disobeyed God's commands and failed to listen to God's word delivered by the prophet Samuel. He’s continued to reign, but his card was marked; he was the rejected king, and while to everyone else on the face of it, he might have been doing a bang-up job, Saul was a pretender; he did not love the LORD God, his ways, his word. 


Here we learn of a national crisis that has come. The Philistines have come together and assembled their forces against Israel. With the Philistines assembled at Shunem, Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. What we are told is that Saul enquired of the LORD. We might think, here, how could he be rejected by the LORD; he’s a man of faith turning to the LORD in this situation, but he’s treating the LORD like his good luck charm, his insurance policy, his get-out-of-free card. Like many people in a time of crisis, they start praying, going to church, trying to sort out their life in the hope that the LORD will work; it’s just the same. Saul inquired of the LORD because of the fear of the Philistines; he’s in crisis mode, no other reason. And when he inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, not by dreams of Urim or prophets. Notice there is nothing mentioned of the priests here; that’s because he’d killed them all, and the only one left alive, Abiathar son of Ahimelek, who had gone to David (1 Sam 22:20).


1 Chronicles tells us something about Saul’s enquiring of the LORD. In 1 Chronicles 10, we are told: 13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, 14 and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David, son of Jesse. (1 Ch 10:13–14). Now this that at first glance seems to contradict what we are told here, but it doesn’t because Saul had shown time and time again that the LORD was merely an insurance policy; instead of looking to the LORD and his word as his rule and guide, Saul did things his own way. Back in chapter 15, Samuel had said to Saul: “…You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” (1 Sam 15:26). 


When do you find yourself seeking the LORD and his will for your life? Is it in times of crisis, times when you’ve been a rock and a hard place, treating the LORD like your lucky charm, some kind of genie in a bottle when everything else fails? Because if so, then there is something wrong. It is not a relationship that you have with the LORD; instead, you are treating him as nothing more than an insurance policy. We are to come in faith and seek him earnestly. That is what Hebrews 11:6 reminds us: “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Heb 11:6).


Sadly, Saul was not a man of faith; he was only seeking the LORD in desperation, as an insurance policy. Long before this, the LORD had departed from him and become his enemy (1 Sam 28:3, 6, 16). Because of Saul’s own rejection of the LORD and his word, and so the LORD had given him over, he gave Saul exactly what he wanted. We are to trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Pr 3:5–6). Saul hadn’t done this; have you, have you trusted in the LORD’s salvation in his Son Jesus Christ, and are you living for him?


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q72 What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
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