Avoiding Saul’s Fearful Fate

In our last post, we saw that Eve’s fear of God keeping something good from her caused her to disobey God. Let’s strip out the storytelling and say it this way: Fear leads you into disobedience.

Need another witness? Fear caused Saul to disobey God’s established priestly authority. King Saul’s fall occurred just before what looked to be a fierce battle between the Israelites and their archenemy, the Philistines. The Philistines gathered themselves to fight with Israel, with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude (1 Samuel 13: 5). The Bible says the Israelites were distressed and even trembling with fear.

Saul had his orders. The Prophet Samuel had instructed him to wait there for seven days. Samuel was going to fulfill the priestly duty of sacrificing to God before the battle. Seven days came and went and Samuel didn’t show up at Gilgal. Saul’s army began to give into the fear and scatter. That’s when fear led Saul into disobedience. Instead of waiting for Samuel to show up, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered the burnt offering himself.

Wouldn’t you know it? Just as soon as he’d finished his act of fearful disobedience, Samuel showed up asking for an explanation. As the story goes, Saul admitted he was fearful. Samuel called him foolish and told him his kingdom would not continue. Ouch!

Adam and Eve lost their kingship because Eve bowed to the “fear of.” Likewise, Saul lost his kingship because he gave in to the “fear of.” What about you? How is fear robbing you from the fullness of your kingship? Thank God we are in a time of grace. God is not going to strip us of our kingship for falling into the disobedience based on fear if we repent.

In the next installment, we’ll look at how irresponsibility robs our kingship.