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Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword and fell on it. And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died.
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Saul was the king, the first of the kings, of Israel. When the people of that nation had rejected God as being king over them they went to the prophet Samuel to state their demands. They wanted to have a king so they ‘might be just like the other nations’, {1Sam.8:5} in other words, to be like the world!

Although the prophet Samuel recognized what a great mistake that was, the Lord told him that He would give them what they were asking for, their desire, although it was surely not His! He also made them aware of the horrible consequences His people would suffer for that. {1Sam.8:11-18} But they refused being driven by their wants and desires rather than by His will.

Scripture makes it clear that if we ask anything in the Lord’s will He will hear us, and if He hears us we will have what we have requested. {1Jn.5:14-15} David who followed Saul as king in Israel was truly a man after God’s own heart and he said, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” {Ps.37:4} P.S.: Of course when you delight yourself in the Lord He becomes the desire of your heart! Well, obviously Israel was not delighting in the Lord when they went to Samuel rejecting God’s Word and His plan! Be careful what you ask for!

The great danger is that the Lord may even give us what we want even though it is not what He would want! God always wants the best for us, even when it is not what we might find most pleasant at the moment. It might be like taking your child whom you love to get an injection preventing a disease, knowing that the little one will squawk and cry. Hopefully, we don’t want to be like Saul or like a church such as Laodicea that the Lord had nothing good to say about. {Rev.3:14-19} The church and all mankind has been warned of the result of sinning and yet it continues on!

Saul’s reign as king was a checkered story, and certainly not one that glorified the Lord or ended well. It was literally suicide! Following that, God chose David, who had been a faithful shepherd of his father Jesse’s flock, to be the shepherd of The Father’s flock. He would be the king who would be noted through history as being the forerunner of the promised Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus—King of Kings, the Good Shepherd. {Mat.1:1}

The Lord said that He had rejected Saul as being king because he had committed divination by rejecting the word of the Lord. {1 Sam.15:23-26} His fate was sealed from that point and he became so hopeless that he resorted to the woman who was a medium, the witch in Endor. There was no solace there! Not then, and not now. If you really want answers, the right ones, go to the Lord and ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find. {Mat.7:7}

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has said recently that one of the leading causes of death in this country is suicide! Add heart disease to that and it is a true pandemic. It is without doubt true that hopelessness is at the root of those suicide statistics, as well as a major factor in so many of the heart problems. Today’s Bible verse (1Chr.10:4-5} documents when Saul descended into utter hopelessness and ended his own life by falling on his sword!

Solomon in his wisdom said. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” {Pro.13:12} Hope in the Lord is the only true answer, the solution to the problem for anybody who will receive Him and believe His Word. Thankfully the Lord has made a way for us to have that life-giving hope in even the most difficult of times, in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of life: Obey the Lord and praise the Lord…

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Isaiah 42:10-13)

JESUS BRINGS ABUNDANT LIFE