3 Kings: Saul Part II The Mess of Impatience and Pride
3 Kings: Saul Part II The Mess of Impatience and Pride
1 Samuel 13-15
June 29th, 2025
“The devil fears a soul in union with God as he fears God Himself” Saint John of the Cross
Three good questions to ask in regard to the God of the Bible.
“Why does God choose messy people?
“Why does God show us so much of that mess?”
“Why doesn’t people’s mess undermine God’s reputation and derail His purposes?”
Three good answers in regard to the God of the Bible.
God doesn’t choose messy people, He chooses ordinary people. It just turns out that ordinary people are messy.
God doesn’t hide people’s mess because the Bible it isn’t a story about people, it’s a story about Him.
God chooses to write His story in conjunction with ordinary people to highlight His power and grace. Our mess doesn’t derail God’s purposes because He isn’t dependent on us, we are dependent on Him.
Why does an “Immeasurably More God” consistently leave His people overmatched and under resourced?
1. God is the Hero of the story, not us. We can’t save anybody, He can save everybody.
2. Success is dependent on God dependence not self-reliance.
God neither abandons us to walk alone nor does He empower us to walk alone. He redeems us to be aligned and walk with Him!
The Core of Saul’s Mess
Impatience
Pride
Two Mess Lessons
1. To move without God reveals a misaligned self-dependence.
2. Impatience with God reveals a lack of trust in God.
In our wait, God isn’t still.
1 Samuel 13:10-12 (NIV) 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So, I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”
1 Samuel 13:13 (NIV) 13 “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. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” 15 Then Samuel left Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.
Impatience is a Trust issue.
Trust is a Heart issue.
Actions reveal our Heart.
1 Samuel 15:1-3 (NIV) Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so, listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
1 Samuel 15:10-14 (NIV) 10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” 13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Saul’s pride was displayed in his disobedience.
His disobedience was a rejection of God’s authority.
Replacing God as authority redirects worship only intended for God.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NIV) “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
Worship it is primarily a “heart” issue not a “hand” issue. Worship is the ultimate surrender move.
A lack of trust + abundance of self-reliance = a separation from God.
Do you know where your heart is this morning? Check your feet. Your feet reflect your heart.
Back to Saint John of the Cross
“The devil fears a soul in union with God as he fears God Himself”
Trust over impatience and obedience over pride unites us with God. When we are united with God we walk in His grace and power to fulfill His purposes. This unity not only impact us, it impacts everyone we touch.