Saul: Privileged Position/Poor Attitude

38th in a series on how men and women in the Bible 

deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment

Saul: Privileged Position/Poor Attitude

Reflections on 1 Samuel 13:1-15

I submitted my resume with a carefully crafted cover letter on Monday and I waited.  Did they receive it?  I got no response.  When should I follow up?  Is a phone call appropriate?  What about an email?  Do I know anyone within the company that could casually go by the HR office and inquire for me?  This is what the job seeker goes through every time they apply for a job.   At Career Prospectors, a Richmond-based job-seeking organization, we give all kinds of helpful advice in answer to the above questions.  Answers that come from HR professionals and others who have done hiring for a living.

When the position doesn’t materialize we may blame ourselves for following up too quickly or not soon enough.  Maybe my resume was too long or the wrong format.  We might blame others for age discrimination or having a point of view that is too short-sighted.  We often hear excuses and sometimes even humility, but it takes awhile to get there since our natural human inclination is most often self-defense and pride.

King Saul was king for possibly less than a year before he succumbed to a pride that was nonexistent when he was just a son working for his father.  As king, he had thousands at his disposal and in 1 Samuel 13 he decides to attack the Philistines, a neighboring kingdom who seemed an annoyance to him.  This act caused his enemy to react with such vigor that the Israelites all ran and hid.  “When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.”

Seeing that their situation was desperate, Saul turned to his plan B.  Wait for the prophet Samuel and see what he has to say.  Samuel had told him to wait seven days and apparently do nothing, but it seemed that Saul was itching to be king-like, thus  the attack on the Philistines.  On day 7, Samuel had still not arrived, so Saul presumed to take matters into his own hands.  He’d seen it done hundreds of times.  Get the animal, cut its throat, drain the blood, burn its carcass and lift your arms up in the air to God.  How hard could it be?  

But it was not a matter of difficulty but of permission.  Only an ordained prophet or priest was allowed to make the sacrifice.  This decreed by God Himself.  Samuel shows up within hours…on day 7, as he promised and gives Saul a tongue lashing: “What have you done?”

And what follows is a repeat from the garden of Eden.  Excuses, blame and justification.  It’s a pattern that we all fall into.  We do it to preserve our ego and our image but it always backfires.  “You did not come at the set time,” he said to Samuel.  An excuse and blame all in one…and wrong.  “The people were afraid and scattering.”  Saul felt he had to act ‘kingly’ so as to keep order.  And to top it off he tries to impress Samuel with his pious attitude, “I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”  In other words…and I hear this so often…I felt God calling me to do this.  As if this makes it all better and who can argue with God?

Samuel will have none of it.  “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure…”  Some might think this judgment was too harsh.  As one commentator said, “ No, The Lord is righteous in all his ways and does no man any wrong, will be justified when he speaks and clear when he judges. By this, He shows that there is no little sin.  James, the half brother of Jesus says in James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  

What if Saul had repented?  Could this story have had a different ending?  But he didn’t.  We often write our own epitaph don’t we?  The beauty of knowing God and His Word, is that there is no mystery as to what He expects of us.  The pattern is that as we acquire knowledge we put it into practice.

What we teach at Career Prospectors is not the Word of God, but  time-honored practices that, if followed, will help one have success.  Following every Job Expo that we put on, the employers regularly comment that those who are members of our group reflect professionalism and poise.  We can help you get a job and following the few rules that we give you, go a long way.

As if often the case, the study of Saul teaches us more about what not to do.  But flip every prohibition and you will find the truth that will set you free:  Accept responsible for your actions, admit when you’re wrong and be willing to learn from your mistakes.

Points to Ponder:

1. What is your attitude toward rejection either from others or if you are job seeker, the company to which you applied?
2. What difference does it make whether you accept responsibility for your errors or blame others for their short comings?
3. When have you stepped out of line and done something you weren’t supposed to?  Did you accept responsibility or make excuses?  What was the result?
4. Has someone ever rebuked you like Samuel did to Saul?  How did you respond?
5. What have you learned from watching others make mistakes?