Stories like the one we read yesterday have a tendency to leave a bad taste in my mouth. I think it’s really just due to the smallness of my own faith, honestly, but when I get done with a passage like that one, I find myself wishing that God would come down more clearly on one side or the other – that the text would indicate in some “obvious” fashion whether what David was doing was okay or not. It’s tempting for me to fault God for being either wishy-washy or too vague: sure, there’s the Law, but in reading the historical stuff, where the rubber really meets the road, even his best servants miss the mark, and the Bible doesn’t always say so explicitly. When I have trouble seeing the forest for the trees—which, unfortunately, isn’t so infrequently—I wonder if God really cares if his followers actually live up to the kind of heart the standards in his Law lay out, or if the Law is simply there for show. 

 

Today’s reading does a lot to counteract the accusation implied in that sort of thinking. The book of 1 Samuel is spiraling to its climax, now, and the cuts between the scenes of David and Saul are starting to come quickly and furiously. In this chapter, we find Saul at his most desperate: the Philistines are militarily knocking at Israel’s door, ready to cut the land in half, and the king is terrified. He tries all of the “conventional” methods of contacting God, but he gets no response; so, at his wits’ end, he turns to the very kind of sorcery he himself campaigned to eliminate from the land. Samuel is indeed summoned by the witch, but the answer Saul gets from him is not at all what he’s looking for. Instead, Samuel reiterates how God has rejected Saul as king because of his disobedience, and informs him that his defeat and death are both imminent. 

 

Here, at last, is a reflection of what God thinks that I can’t dismiss as wishy-washy: Saul’s disobedience nets him God’s rejection. But, as I think about what’s going on here, I have to think back to all of the other moments we’ve seen Saul at work. He’s David’s opposite, in a way: David has a relationship with God characterized by obedience and faith; Saul’s, on the other hand, is marked by disobedience and doubt. So, over and above Saul’s disobedience here, what God is rejecting is Saul’s own pattern of rejection of God’s way of doing things, which began shortly after he became king and continues through to this trip to a sorceress (forbidden in the Law). We saw yesterday that David’s healthy relationship with God yielded grace. I suppose you could say that today’s text illustrates the inverse: Saul’s broken one ultimately resulted in condemnation. 

 

So, I can answer my own question: yes, God does care if his followers live up to the standards he sets out for us. But it doesn’t come down to simply doing or not doing, even for Old Testament followers; both David and Saul made mistakes, missing the bar set for them, but only David had a relationship to his God that was strong enough to overcome the damage done by his slip-ups. As I think on what all of that means, I can’t help but be grateful to God that he’s realistic, and has put together a lifestyle for his followers that builds in grace for when I can’t get it right. On the other hand, I’m also struck by the incredible seriousness of the life of faith. I think I take my relationship with my God far too flippantly, most of the time; I only work on it when it’s convenient, in between the day-to-day stuff in my life. I have a long way to go, but if I want to build a lifelong relationship with God, like David did (and Saul didn’t), I need to switch up my priorities now. I’ll be spending some time in the upcoming days reflecting on how my life needs to look different so that it reflects a healthy relationship with God even in the little things. How about you? 

 

Your fellow traveler,