1 Samuel 11:12-13
The Kingdom Is Renewed
Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.”
Sometime between these verses and the end of 1 Samuel 15, we have the downfall of Saul. He was selected by God to be the first king of Israel. In the above passage and a few others in these first chapters of his life, we see him having spiritual sensitivity and a heart for God. However, something happens to Saul over the next few chapters. That something turns Saul from following God to following his own heart and mind. He will, in just a few chapters make rash vows, threaten to kill his son, and completely disobey God and several occasions, believing his decision about how to do something trumps God's direct command of what to do. Saul becomes a foolish man. In the end of his life he will pursue God's anointed leader (David) and will eventually die as one of the most famous of failed leaders. So, what happened? What can make a man go from being God chosen and Spirit led to self-centered and earthly-minded? It was his pride. Saul started to read his own news-clippings. When the people began to make up songs about Saul's great leadership and conquests and the enemy began to sing them, Saul began to think he was bigger than he was. Saul drank his own kool-aide. Saul failed to give glory to God for his victories and his success, but rather thought the great things that were happening to him and the nation where because of his great leadership. The truth is, pride will always bring us down. Note the following:
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
God wants us to humble ourselves before Him. We are not to seek our own selves, but His will and plan.
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