Saul Summarized

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service.”—1 Samuel 14:52 (NIV)

Saul is a most interesting character! And he’s also someone whose life we’re meant to learn from. This is clear from the fact that God has chosen to give us so much detail about him in His Word.

When it comes to the narrative structure of the Book of 1 Samuel, Saul factors as the central figure that connects the lives of Samuel and David. He picks up where Samuel leaves off and he’ll leave off where David picks up. We’re first introduced to him as a young man without any real direction and purpose, and we’ve traced his unprecedented arc of becoming Israel’s first king.

However, Saul’s meteoric rise won’t last forever, as we’ll eventually see. A moment is coming when his “glory story” will take a tragic turn and become one of the most powerful “cautionary tales” in all of Scripture. But before we arrive at that bend, we’re given a hint as to something deep within Saul’s nature that will ultimately contribute to his downfall. Notice these words in this passage, “All the days of Saul there was a bitter war . . .”

These words don’t just summarize Saul’s career as Israel’s king, they also serve to summarize his inner nature. Saul was someone who was defined by conflict—and he wasn’t just in constant conflict with the Philistines, he was, even more importantly, a man in conflict with himself!

Throughout his lifetime, we see Saul torn between an understanding of God’s call on his life and an internal drive to fulfill his own emotional impulses. He’s always being pulled into these two separate directions. And despite all of the details we have about him, we never really see the man at peace. All the days of Saul are a constant war between God’s will and his own will.

And here’s where our interest in Saul should peak because, if we’re really honest, we can say that we’re all a lot like him! All too well, we know that battle between what we want and what our God wants for us. In our limited understanding, we can come to question if our heavenly Father really does know best. He allows something that doesn’t make sense, He moves too slow, or He moves too fast. We think we have the perfect solution to what we long for . . . if only He would move the way we want Him to!

But that line of thinking and way of living will never lead us to a place of peace. Like Saul, we’ll be at war within ourselves and never find a resolution or rest for our souls. And this is where Saul provides us with an important lesson. If we want our lives to be defined by peace instead of conflict, then we must lay down the weapons of our will when it’s in conflict with the Lord’s. It’s only when we follow the example of another King and desire the Father’s will above our own that we’ll experience peace. It may not initially lead to what we want, but it will always result in something far better because the Father’s will is always better for us than our own!

Pause: How can both Saul’s outer and inner life be summarized?

Practice: Think about Saul’s life, and then determine the invaluable lesson his life gives us.

Pray: Father, we confess we’re often misled by our own wills and that we’re prone to fall into a pattern of questioning Your goodness towards us, especially when we want something You don’t want for us. By the power of Your Holy Spirit, please fill us with the strength to submit to Your will in favor of our own. May we learn all that there is to be learned from Saul’s life as we seek to honor You with ours. In Jesus' name. Amen.