If the announcement was publicly made over the 6 O�clock news that God had just been fired, would you be camping out over night to be 1st in line to fill HIS position? Would you find yourself staring at your feet, wiggling your toes, saying to yourself �Yup, I�ve got what it takes to fill GOD�S SHOES. SURE DO!�. Would you know how to get the job done (if so, please refer to the book of Job).
Well, believe it or not, this is the real life scenario that a young man from Israel found himself in. And not just any man. You see, this young man had held no high positions. He had had no special training, nor had he won any great military conquests that we are told of. He described himself as coming from the least of all the clans of his tribe. And from a tribe that was least among the tribes of his people. Though a head taller than others around him, he thought himself as small in his own eyes. A concern for the ways of this world and the outward appearance of man had been cultivated within him leaving him insecure and unsure of himself or who he was even though his potential was great. He was a young man, hand raised by a nation and people who had in fact let go of God. Who had many times rejected God and His position over them, and who would willingly accept this young man, a product of their own unbelief to fill the vacancy they had created by �firing� the Lord God of Israel. A position, which should have terrified them to fill. And a position, which should have been terrifying to accept.
This is the tragic story of a young Benjamite named Saul. But it is also a personal story for each of us as well. For though it is hard to imagine, each one of us has this same choice before us every day. To allow Jehovah God to reign sovereign in each of our lives or to reject Him, and remove Him from His rightful position over us as the Israelites did. You see, Christ says that the Kingdom of God is inward. And we should be terrified at the idea of ruling that kingdom (our lives, which are not our own) apart from God. Even Jesus Himself submitted to God�s rule in His life. Can any of us say that we are greater than Him?
In actuality, there is no way that Saul could have accomplished the task he�d been given. He was never intended to. It is only God Himself ruling through Saul or any of us that is able to accomplish His will. Apart from that, we will only accomplish our own will. God chose Saul not because of who he was, but because of who he wasn�t. Because of his �undeveloped� potential (he considered himself small in his own eyes). But that undeveloped potential was not Saul�s height, nor his own strength. It was Jehovah God, His HEIGHT and His STRENGTH. In the end, being a head taller than everyone else in Israel left Saul with two ways to go. Pursuing his own potential (I call it Goliath potential � the strength of our flesh apart from God) or the Lords. Sadly like many of us, Saul decided to pursue his own.
To have succeeded as king over Israel, Saul should have clung to Samuel�s robe from the very beginning (sought the Lord) with all his might instead of attempting to grasp it when it was already too late. Something he would have done if he�d recognized the position he was actually stepping into. He should have used the position God placed him in to do what Israel failed to do. He should have known that only the Lord through him (Saul) could have established his kingdom.
Notes:
Like Israel, and ourselves, Saul�s true potential lied in the Lord. Not in himself.
It�s not that David as king was any better than Saul. It is that David understood that he was nothing apart from God, and he allowed God to reign within him (the inward Kingdom of God) and through him (into the outer Kingdom of God).
Without God ruling in the kingdom, which is most immediate (ourselves), He will not rule through us in what is less immediate (our families, jobs, churches, *providing a spouse and so forth). The Kingdom of God spoken of in the Lord�s Prayer must come 1st inwardly. Only after His Kingdom has come inwardly (in the form of truth within us by feeding upon His word) will His will be done in our lives as it is in heaven.
The truth is is that we have all rejected God and "fired" Him many times from His rightful position in our lives. And all of us have "jumped" at the opportunity to replace Him. Like Israel, we have also suffered the consequences.
Adam and Eve were the 1st to do this long before they ever ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we continue to do this today.
Also,
I would like to encourage everyone here to ask as many questions as they'd like whenever I write something and post it, and to share their own thoughts. My thoughts are seldom complete or entirely correct and I have a whole lot to learn. I would enjoy the opportunity to grow with others in this way (iron sharpens iron).
