“Then Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?”
So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”
And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.”
So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom*, he did not tell him what Samuel had said.”
1 Samuel 10: 14 – 16
* refers to the prior account of Samuel prophesying to Saul that he will become king.
Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him*, whose hearts God had touched. But some rebels said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
1 Samuel 10: 25 – 27
* After Samuel’s proclamation that Saul would become king.
I think it is unfortunate that Saul has been typecast as the bad king of Israel. I don’t disagree that he went awry as his reign over Israel went on. But here’s the question – for something to go awry, surely it must have been good, or at least decent, prior to the fall.
In Saul’s case it certainly is the case. I’m not going to talk about his good looks, height, and all that. Today while I was reading 1 Samuel again I realize Saul had some qualities that we should strive to have (followed by qualities that we should strive to shave).
In the above two short excerpts which demonstrate three key character strengths of Saul (for full context read 1 Samuel 9 – 12).
1. He could shut up – When Samuel told Saul all that God wanted to do in His life, Saul went along his way and did his thing. And when he was asked, he mentioned the bare minimum, nicely excluding the matters of the kingdom. Cowardice? I don’t think so. A similiar story revolving around Joseph the book of Genesis comes to mind. God speaks to Joseph in a dream that he would become leader of nations and all his brothers would bow down to him… Joseph couldn’t shut up about it – and pretty much suffered for it. Saul, in that sense, was put in the same position, and kept it to himself until the time was right.
2. He could shut up – Yes. Same lesson twice. After Samuel told everyone that Saul would be king, there were those who mocked him. They despised him, wondering how this mild mannered farm boy could deliver Israel (while at the same time chanting “Long live the king” – makes me wonder. If they really hated Saul, they should’ve told God ‘Ok, we don’t want a king now. But I suppose they weren’t very bright.) Anyway, what did Saul do? He held his peace. Why? Chicken? Maybe. Wise? Probably.
3. Saul only spoke up after the Spirit had come upon him. If you read further down the text, when Israel was threatened by the Amorites, Saul finally spoke up in his kingly mantle. And he could do it only because God spoke through him. What happened? Saul delivered Israel, and gave all glory back to God. And that’s the story for the today – knowing when God wants you to speak. Quite often, it’s not all the time.
Of course, we could slip in a fourth lesson. Shortly after Saul began his reign, he gave up this character trait of shutting up and letting God speak to running his mouth at every circumstance. Look what happened? Samuel critisizes Saul, and instead of shutting up and repenting, he went away to do something else. Lost it. Totally lost it.
Lesson learnt. Learn to shut up. Too many people are jumping on the “speak-out-whenever-your-mouth-itches” bandwagon. Not enough are figuring out when not to.
Pray that: God gives us discernment to know when to speak, when not to, when to act, and when not to. And pray that God gives us the strength to not succumb to every impulsive desire to say something about everything.
lutroō 