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1 Samuel 13:13: Waiting

We are coming to the end of Advent. Advent is all about waiting: remembering the wait for Jesus birth and waiting even now for his return. 1 Samuel 13:7-14a is also about waiting. In times past, just like now, when faced with a crisis the most important thing to do is to seek the Lord's council, leading, favour, and blessing. King Saul of Israel was faced with an apparently critical situation. He was at the head of his army. The enemy was assembled. His soldiers were afraid - it says they were quaking with fear. They had started to sneak away. It says his men began to scatter.

Samuel, the previous leader of Israel who was still hanging around, and still served in a leadership capacity himself, had told Saul to wait until he arrived before anyone sought the Lord's favour through a ceremony of burnt and fellowship offerings. Samuel said he would be there in seven days. If Saul had a watch, I imagine he'd have been looking at it every two minutes or so. Samuel was late or nearly late. All his soldiers were afraid. His army was deserting. The enemy was approaching. He needed to seek God's council. Where was Samuel? What if something happened to him? What if he isn't coming? What if by the time he shows up the entire army has fled? What if...? The appointed time arrives. Samuel isn't there. Saul, the king, decides that he must act now or risk losing everything; so he seeks the favour of the Lord through the offerings.

As soon as he finishes, who arrives? The prophet Samuel: he is not happy. God is not happy and Saul is told that this is the kind of thing that will cause the end of his reign so he is unhappy. What is it that King Saul did? He didn't wait for God. There was a crisis. Lives were at stake. Everything was apparently at stake. He felt he needed to act but God wanted him to wait.

I think we Christians today struggle with this a lot. I don't know how many times people have told me they knew the right thing to do, they knew what God was telling them or what He would want but they did something else instead because they felt they had to: they told a white lie, they skipped out of a responsibility, they didn't relay a message . . . or something way bigger.

I think there are many times when life feels overwhelming that we can be tempted to try to solve the problems on our own instead of listening to and waiting for God. And if we get into a habit of not listening to and waiting for God and instead moving on our own, we may find that we are not following Him any more.

Today, as another season of Advent come to a close, my encouragement is this: let us seek the face of God and let us wait for His answers. He really will take care of us. If we have gotten out of the habit of listening to and waiting for God, it is never too late to get back into the habit. He will arrive. He will answer and He will never us astray.

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Presented originally to River Street Cafe, 14 July 2017 by M Ramsay



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