22nd.: Don’t do it Saul
God gave Saul several jobs to do.
He had to
1. Go to the town called Gilgal
2. Wait seven days for Samuel to come and offer burnt offerings.
(1st Sam 10:8)
Note: It actually took a couple of years for some of those to be done.
After Saul had been in power for a couple of years, Saul’s son, Jonathan, attacked a Philistine garrison.
The Hebrews gathered in Gilgal.
The Philistine army mobilized in the town of Michmash.
When the Hebrews became scared, and started deserting (1st Sam. 13:1-6).
With the Israelites deserting, and Samuel running late, Saul took it upon himself to offer the burnt offering.
Saul may have viewed the offering as some form of an incantation that anyone could do.
Saul later justified his action as ‘asking the Lord for help’ (1st Sam. 13:12).
Rather, Saul should have verbally pleaded with the Lord for help,
and leave the burnt offering rituals to the priests.
Sometimes, the only thing that we can do is pray, and wait upon the Lord.
To do anything more will only cause problems.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isa. 59:2)