Abandoned by God because of Greed (1 Samuel 15)

Saul could not believe his ears when he heard Samuel say “God has chosen a new king instead of you” (13:14).  Somehow in his own arrogance, Saul hoped Samuel’s words to be wrong.  Then, for the first time as an act of desperation, Saul builds an altar unto God and calls for guidance (14:35).  Sadly, 14:37 records a terrifying response to his prayers; “God did not answer him that day”.  Bewildered, confused, and lost, Saul abandons the battlefield and goes home.

In chapter 15, we still see God’s heart for this man who had begun so graciously.  He was an unassuming personality, fully aware of his frailties and weaknesses.  His dependence in and reverence for God was evident when he hesitated to see the seer without any gift in hand (1 Sam. 9:7) and his willingness to be led by the Spirit and join the band of prophets, making the phrase a byword “Is Saul among the prophets” (1 Sam. 10:11) was simply commendable.  In chapter 15, it is as if God gives Saul one last chance to see what was in his heart.

When Samuel presented him the task of obliterating Amalekites, Saul instantly took to the task as if to prove to Samuel that he was still God’s anointed king of Israel, and that Samuel was wrong to assume in God choosing a new king.  However, as the battle progressed and victory ensured; Saul and his army saw the possibility of enriching themselves with the abundance of plunder they could have from the Amalekites.  Instead of obliterating the city and everything in it, Saul began to collect the best items for him and for his soldiers.  He knew the command so very well but the power of greed and the residue of arrogance he had accumulated over the years blinded him completely and broke God’s commands. 

Finally, when Samuel was sent by God to confront him, Saul had the best possible explanation for not obeying the given instructions; “he was saving them to offer sacrifice to God”.  He was doing it for God!  It is at this time that Samuel breaks down and screams at Saul and says “are you crazy, don’t you know that obedience is better than sacrifice!”(15:22-23). Saul’s greed and arrogance deeply grieves God’s heart and old Samuel too departs from Saul with a broken heart never to see him again.  Abandoned by God and his mentor, Saul entered his loneliest period of his earthly existence that drove him into insanity.

How often have we justified our disobedience to God’s word by saying “I am doing this for God or I am doing this for something good”?  Particularly when it comes to material and financial dealings, the temptation to sin while doing something for God’s kingdom is very real.  Without any sense of remorse or regret, a well-known Pastor friend of mine in Nepal once shared with me about his exploits of profiting from a healing crusade held in Kathmandu.  An American healing Evangelist organized this healing crusade and his church was selected to do the advertising for the upcoming crusade.  Substantial amount of money was allocated for that.  But my friend spent only the 25% of the money given to him and the rest he kept for himself.  Of course in the bills, 100% was spent for advertising!  When I said, “how could you do this?” he simply said, “Maha katnele hat chatchha = when you extract honey from bee-hives, you lick your hand”.  I don’t want to say much about this friend, but Saul also thought the same. 

Many ministers, missionaries, native mission leaders, and contract workers in God’s kingdom think like Saul thought.  They assume that because they are in the ministry or mission fields, they sacrifice so much; they suffer in many ways, and therefore deserve some break.  God would not hold them accountable even if they mismanage ministry/mission money and profit a little.  But how sad; soon these people find themselves without the presence of God.  Ministers disappear from societies, missionaries become bitter and return home with broken hearts, native mission leaders find themselves in all kinds of trouble in their families and with their governments, and contract workers for God’s kingdom find it hard to exist once the wrath of God begin to show up.   

God never condoned disobedience then, and he would not do now.  God never stayed with the person of pride, greed, and sexual impurity then and he would not do now.  God never associated with an unfaithful people then, and he would not do now.  Humility, obedience, and purity are essential qualities that would never see the absence of God because they are the fruits of obedience to God’s word whereas greed, pride, and sexual impurity will drive a person so far from God where living becomes a form of punishment as Saul found out.

The Name of Jesus in the Face of Corruption (1Sam. 12-14)

Israel’s choice to have a king over them was the clear rejection of God's reign over their lives saying “we don’t need you”.  With a broken heart, Samuel anoints and appoints Saul as the first king of Israel.  But he left no doubt in their minds as how God would destroy the king and his subjects if they continue to live in their rebellious ways.  Eventually the warning was heeded by Israel but it was too little too late when they realized how displeasing their choice of a king was in God’s heart.  As a last resort, they call upon Samuel to pray for them. 

Samuel’s reply to their realization is amazing; even in their rebellious ways, they were still God’s people and that for his own name’s sake, even now, God would not reject them if they listened to him.  As a prophet, priest and judge, Samuel promises to pray for them so that God’s mercy would continue to rain down upon them.  But if only they and their king would obey the Lord and follow his instructions (12:18-24).

So it happened, when Saul was to demonstrate his trust in God, he failed.  He took things in his own hands and invited the wrath of God.  In the face of such a rebellion, Samuel declared to Saul that God has chosen a new man after his own heart to be the new king of Israel.  Saul, in one instance of misjudgment, had lost God’s favor; a man, who had begun spectacularly with divine help, was now relegated to the history of God’s abandoned. 

Yet, for years, Saul persisted in clinging to power through all means but unsuccessfully.  1 Samuel 13:22 records one such sad condition of Saul’s struggle to cling on to power even when all else is falling apart.  In this occasion, he was about to engage in a battle against the Philistines.  But the verse says, “So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them” because the Philistines over the years had stripped Israel of blacksmiths.  Even to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes and sickles, Israelites had to spend fortune and bow before the Philistine blacksmiths.  Thus, on the day of the battle, Saul had an army of about 600 men but without a single weapon in their hands.  What a sad day.  Things would go from bad to worse for Saul.   

When God’s favor begins to move away from the life of a person who once enjoyed it, nothing seems to work out well.  Wisdom disappears, strength vanishes and common sense goes out of the window.  It becomes like as if the man is stuck in a quicksand, the more he tries to get out of it the deeper he sinks in. 

The amazing thing in this passage is that God has not abandoned his people even though he has abandoned their king.  Jonathan is still around and Samuel is still praying for them.  Saul would eventually go to his own end, but God would use Jonathan to bring up a new king. 

Those of us who desire to see the name of the Lord Jesus honored in our lives, ministries, and nations, should take heart from this passage.  When we are faithful in proclaiming the gospel and honoring the name of the Lord Jesus, God will continue to work out his plan through our endeavors, no matter how small they might be. 

Yes, when we look at how some of the prominent church leaders in the developing nations like Nepal/India are playing with the gospel business and enriching themselves by taking away the donations given for the orphans, widows and gospel workers, it is easy to become discouraged and be fearful (even skeptical) of God’s judgment.  Some of these leaders have become so hardened in their conscience that they don’t even see where they are corrupt because the material wealth they have amassed in the name of missions has given them the sense of power and impunity from God’s judgment. 

To make matters easy for these corrupt church leaders, the western church is declining.  It needs some kind of extra boost from the missions.  Thus, if they can produce to their congregations some reports of spectacular mission work or some social revolution like “ending sex trafficking”, their congregants start attending church and putting money in the coffer.  All the western church leaders got to do is to get in touch with some of these talented gospel businessmen from the developing nations who are good at producing eye catching and heartwarming reports and videos for them.  It does not matter how they do it, all they got to do is to do it and then once or twice a year pay a visit to their donors, and shed a tear or two while presenting their heart breaking mission stories.  The declining western church is fooled like a sitting lame duck while these leaders continue to bring dishonor to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mission fields.

But we should not lose heart my dear friends.  If we are faithful to honor the name of the Lord Jesus, then, he will honor his own name among us.  When God honors his name, he will save his people while these leaders who bring disgrace to his name will find themselves relegated to where Saul found himself.  Injustice, corruption, and rebellion in God’s kingdom last only for a short time.  But because we are time-bound creatures, it looks as if God only favors the wicked and corrupted among us.  That’s what Habakkuk thought for a while and asked “how long and why O Lord?” (1:13). Look at how David suffered in the hands of a king that had lost God’s favor.  But in God’s time, everything worked out well. God restored the glory that belonged to his name and saved his people by providing a King that would represent the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

So, let us not lose heart but like Jonathan keep trusting God even though some of our closest friends take the short cuts for material gains and bring reproach to the name of the Lord Jesus.  Let us not be fooled by our church leaders and their material success; and at the same time let us not lose heart in God’s ability to restore the glory that belongs to his name.

There is a story behind: Context matters

Some songs are timeless; they can touch human emotions at any given time even when one has no knowledge of their origin.  Knowledge of their origin is important but not essential for the impact.  But Sam Cooke’s classic (1964), “A Change is gonna come” moves human emotions to pieces but becomes simply a piece of music without the knowledge of black America or the Negro-experience.  This song stands on the shoulders of painful experience of racism in America, civil rights movement and Sam Cooke’s personal experience.  Once we imagine the life of a black person in the America of the 19^th century or prior, the song immediately becomes a personal one for anyone longing for change in the struggles of life.  The context provides the necessary force for Sam Cooke to be able to speak to us even today or any time for that matter.

In the same way, when we read the Bible, much of it is written in a given context.  Yes, God’s word is timeless and has the power to speak to us anytime, anywhere, and to anyone.  But the same word would be more powerful if we had the knowledge of its context and the capacity to imagine the world of its characters.  I am of the opinion that the Middle Eastern and South Asian mind is more suited and capable of identifying with the biblical world.  But the modern western missionary movement coupled with political colonization has crippled the Asian mind to such an extent that it dare not attempt to imagine a world other than the western interpretation.  Such a state of mental colonization is sustained by grinding poverty of the region in which church leaders, theologians and thinkers have to shape their thinking according to the condition of their livelihood.  Impressing the donors becomes much more important than reading the Bible and hearing what it really wants to say. 

The western mind on the other hand, riding the wave of scientific and technological advancement, has removed itself so far from the biblical world that it can’t even have a glimpse of it.  In fact, the western mind, in believing its superiority over the biblical world (rest of the world for that case), has debased itself to such a lowest level of humanity in which there is no place for a person like Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus has become so offensive in the west that his name should not even be mentioned in their prayers while humans can be murdered and body parts bought and sold with impunity.  The west has moved so far from the biblical world that it might be impossible for it to come back while the east still has a shot or two left to get back from where we came.

Thus, for a disciple of Christ, whether in the west or east, it is so important to get hold of our spiritual heritage and read the Bible with feet in both the worlds.  An active and informed imagination will be helpful in entering the biblical world in order to bring its message with emotional relevance for contemporary audience.   

Standing up to your Nemesis: Lessons from Hannah

(Read 1 Samuel 1:1-18)

Have you found yourself being vilified and ridiculed either by people or problems?  Do you find yourself stuck in a situation from which you wish to escape?  Take a look at how Hannah faced her nemesis.

Accepted by prevalent culture and practice of the time, Hannah was married to a wonderful man by the name of Elkanah who loved her dearly; twice more than he did his second wife Peninnah who had given him the offspring he was looking for. When it comes to polygamy, societies and cultures might make it acceptable, but having multiple wives was neither God’s design nor human need.  Such marriage arrangements always tax the human spirit to such an extent where one or the other party loses hope of a happy life.  Loss of one party’s happiness in such a marriage eventually costs everyone’s happiness in the family.  Especially, if one of the wives is unable to bear children, her lot in life would be to endure lifelong servitude and mistreatment at the hand of her rival who bore the children for her husband. 

Hannah was one such unfortunate wife.  Even though Elkanah loved her dearly, he was helpless to protect her from the deadly attack of love starved Peninnah.  The more he loved Hannah, the more Peninnah became bitter and made Hannah’s life miserable.  Hannah’s misery continued undiminished year after year; it got to a point where worshiping God at Shiloh became unbearable.  Her husband would try to sooth her agony but the assurance of a loving husband became meaningless, food tasted terrible, and God seemed to have abandoned her.  She would simply sit there and weep in bitter sorrow.  Worse of all, it was God who had closed her womb; she could do nothing about it.  Every time the family came to Shiloh for worship and sacrifice, her rival would take aim at Hannah’s barrenness and remind her how she is cursed and abandoned by God.  She would rub salt in Hannah’s gashed wound and then clap her hands in excitement, multiplying Hannah’s pains to the point of despair.  Year after year she would do this and by now, it appears as if Hannah had lost all hopes of a normal life on this earth.

Do you have something or someone that always rubs salt in your wound?  Are you so frustrated with something or someone?  Do you feel that if that thing or person was not there, your life would be better?  Do you want to get rid of your hopeless situation?  Do you want to destroy your adversaries wishing your demise?  Do you want to silence your critics with a response they hate?  Then, take lessons from Hannah’s book.  Look what she did.

First, the Bible says, “Hannah stood up” (1 Sam. 1:9).  Her rival was trying to make her cry once again but this time, instead of sitting in her misery, Hannah stood up.  She decided to have none of the junk Peninnah was trying to heap on her.  Hannah was sick of being sick; tired of being tired and fed up of being controlled by one unhappy, miserable woman.  She had had enough of this pity party year after year; she stood up.  There are times you have to stand up on your feet, shake the dust and look squarely in the eyes of the thing or the person who is trying to make your life miserable and face it.  Stand up from your miserable situation and make up your mind to not allow someone or something to dictate your destiny.  You better try to take control of your own life.

Second, Hannah went to God and poured out her heart to him.  There is a difference between going to God and going to Shiloh.  Up until now, Hannah was coming to Shiloh and living and worshiping God in the shadow of her loving husband.  But now she decided to face God who she believed was the person that closed her womb.  She refused to respond/react to her rival and be angry at her; her rival was not the person to face or reckon with because she was not the cause of her barrenness.  She realized that the real person to face was God himself.  That is what she did.  It was unheard that a woman would approach God in the tabernacle without her husband or a priest.  But Hannah was sick of being mistreated by her rival and her barren condition that she decided to take the matter to God on her own and contend with him.  When Eli the priest saw her praying at the entrance of tabernacle, the only thing he could conclude was that she must be a drunken woman to behave the way she was behaving; she was wrestling with God like a drunken woman but the priest had no clue.  Hannah poured out her heart to God with utter desperation and helplessness.

Do you want to change your circumstances? Do you want to silence your critics?  Then, get up from where you are.  Get up and go to God and wrestle with him.  Don’t wrestle with your situation or people who try to make you miserable; wrestle with God in prayer. 

Third, Hannah trusted God.  Although it was God who had closed her womb, she was never mad at God.  She trusted God’s wisdom in allowing her to go through the kind of experience she was going through.  By the time she finished praying, she had met God.  God had given her such a calming assurance that the Bible says “her face was no longer downcast” (1 Sam. 1:18).  Whole her life she lived a downcast life but today, after facing God, meeting God, and pouring out her heart to him, she received a bright face never to be downcast again.  For the first time, she no longer defined herself as cursed by God but chosen by God for a purpose higher than what she could think or imagine; she completely trusted God’s wisdom and will for her life.  And the story ends in such an amazing way that she became the mother of six children and her first child became of the greatest prophets and Judges of all time in Israel!

Stand up and face your misery and know that God has not allowed your misery for nothing; he allowed it for a purpose you might not know right now.  He wants you to come to him and receive the incredible gift he has for you.  But don’t allow your circumstances or people to control your destiny.  If you find yourself trapped in something like Hannah found in, do what she did.  Stand up and go to God.  Dare to approach God and face him in prayer.  Once you meet God in prayer, your life will never be the same again.  You will look for the people who once tried to make your life miserable but they won’t be there.  Even if they are there, God will make them your friends who will have to hide their shame behind your kindness.  Proverbs 16:7 says “when a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him”!  But don’t let your nemesis to stop you from standing up and going to the gates of God’s presence.  

Word of Life for Fellowship and Joy - 1 John 1:1-4