THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF SELF-RELIANCE

Extended reading: 1 Chronicles 10:1-10

Devotional reading: v. 4

“Saul groaned to his armor bearer, “take your sword and run me through before these pagan Philistines come and humiliate me.” But his armor bearer was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.”

Here is a horrifying account of personal defeat. Saul had started out well. He had so much going for him. He was born into a wealthy family (1 Samuel 9:1). He was tall and handsome (9:2). He was chosen by God to be Israels’ king (9:16), and he had a heart that was changed by God (10:9)! At first, he was humble; he was willing to follow the leadership of the prophet Samuel. But then he began to take matters into his own hands. And that is when the name of Saul was turned into a synonym for “bad king.” 

Once he started on the downward spiral, he added rebellion to rebellion. But what led to his fall from glory? “His fall from glory can be traced to a single problem that many men face even today: fear of what others think.” First, Saul let his fear of a dangerous enemy lead him to disobey a clear instruction from God (1 Samuel 13:8-10). Second, he let his fear of his own people’s disapproval nudge him to disobey yet another clear command from God. He spared the life of a man God commanded him to kill (1 Samuel 15:9).

Fear of others led directly to Saul’s ruin and to this sad Old Testament judgement: “Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul” (16:14). The final outcome was the defeat described in these verses. We need to be careful! The fear of men can be a powerful driving influence in our lives. We are capable of starting down this same pathway toward complete disaster. We must seek God daily. And no matter how we may go astray, He can redirect our courseback to His ways and redeem us.

Adapted from Every man’s Bible NLT