1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 1 – 2

 We are introduced to another prominent character in this book and

that is Saul’s son Jonathan. Certainly not perfect but an excellent man,

a general, and soon to be companion to David.

 This is also the first official army of Israel. Until this point they had

been somewhat of a militia nation. Men gathering to battle a common

enemy. But now it is King Saul who chooses for himself, interesting

words there, an army from the men of Israel.

 Two thousand are with Saul in Michmash which today is a village

called Mukhmas located in the West Bank, about 6-7 miles northeast

of Jerusalem. One thousand are with Jonathan 3 or 4 miles away to the

south in Gibeah of Benjamin.

1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 3 – 4

 Up until this point in Saul’s reign, it appears that the Israelites were

living under a sort of peace with the Philistines, however in a place of

weakness. Its peace initiated and sustained through subjugation.

All we have about Saul’s first two years as king is one sentence. “He

reigned two years.” No speak of advancement, joy, jubilee, worship,

thriving, flourishing… Just, hey, it’s been two years and we probably

want to assemble an army…

 Just a small connective point here, there’s been no advancement on

the enemy. The Philistines are in their land. And as long as the people

of God did nothing about it, don’t make a stir, live subjugated, it’s all

good. But no worship. No thriving. No freedom. Some of the Israelites

were probably ok with that… Just as long as there was no war…, no

battles…

 It’s the same in us, in our walks, in our marriages, ministries and

professions, we settle for enemies in the land…, just so there will be

peace. But it’s a peace lived in subjugation… To capture what God

has promised, we must advance on the enemy. I’m not sure exactly

what that looks like you each person’s life but I know this, it looks like

personal challenge. Personal growth. Personal discontent with a lack

of advancement…

 Too many settle for subjugated peace instead of what God not has

planned for you but HAS PROMISED! Why worship? I’m just

making it. Just getting by! Thrive? Man, I’m just trying to not feel

depressed and down all the time! Freedom? The only things that are

certain in life are death and taxes! WRONG! Jesus said if you seek

Me, with all your heart, you’ll find ME!

 Folks forsake advancement for three reasons. First, some are ok with a

lesser walk, a lesser marriage, a lesser ministry, a lesser career…, they

just simply settle for less. Second, some are afraid of the enemy force.

Rejection, failure, seasons of life that they don’t feel ok…, no grit to

stay faithful through a tough time knowing that God will be faithful

and knowing that what I truly want for myself and what God wants

for me is on the other side of me doing the right and best thing even

though its not convenient and I don’t feel like it…

 And third, some people just don’t know that God has something

wonderful, amazing, thrilling, divinely inspired for them, or they

don’t believe it, so they start form and stay in a position of defeat…

No way to win when you’ve already defeated yourself. Any and all of

those things lead to a life subjugated to the fall when Jesus defeated it

already for me and for you when He rose from the grave!

SOOOOOOO advance! It all starts with not being ok with NOT

advancing!

1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 5 – 7

 Notice where the enemy advances…, on the place of the forces that

are not advancing. Jonathan was 5 miles away, fighting and

winning…, so the enemy attacks where Saul is/was…, not advancing!

(at this point we know he had actually moved to Gilgal, but the

principle is still present).

 So many spiritual attacks…, So many. Each of us endure so many.

And we will all continue to…, however I know that there will be far

less attacks on fortified cities than unfortified! It is the SAME in the

Spirit! What is a fortified city in the Spirit? One that is progressing in

the Lord!!!

1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 8 – 13

 What Saul does here is entirely understandable. He knows he needs

help; that’s a good thing. He knows he needs Samuel, his partner in the

Lord, that’s a good thing. He knows he needs to seek the Lord for the

sake of the challenge against him, that’s a good thing. He knows he

needs to minister to his men and bring them back together, that’s a

good thing. He does what Samuel had taught him to do in waiting for

him seven days, that’s a good thing.

 And then he does what makes sense to him rather than following what

the Lord has said to do…, and in that moment, every good intention,

every good thing, everything that even hints at being successful, is

defeated…

 Notice what Samuel says, “What have you done?” Not, “Why have

you done this.” It really doesn’t matter why. There is no

justification for sin. None. James 1:15 says, “Sin brings forth death,”

except when you really have to go there… Nope. No matter the cause

or the catalyst, we need to know that there is no time where doing

what God would not have you to do is going to eventuate in a

destination you want to be…

 What have you done? Saul’s response, “I made a burnt offering, acted

like a priest, which I am not…, and broke the Word of God.” Nope.

Far too of a mature answer than Saul has the ability to give… His

answer, “When I saw the people scattered, and YOU weren’t here, I

knew we were in trouble, I FELT compelled and offered a burnt

offering.” He didn’t answer what he did, he answered why he did it…

And his answers were blaming towards Samuel and they were driven

by fear, emotion and feeling… Saul is a boy king…

 Grown folks aren’t compelled to do the wrong thing because they are

feeling a certain way. Grown folks don’t blame others for their own

sin. Grown folks don’t give the why when they are asked the what….

Micah 6:8 says of the grown folks of this planet, “He has shown you,

O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do

justly (live in reality and take accountability), to love mercy (to be easy

on those around you), and to walk humbly with your God (worship

God in Spirit and in truth).” This isn’t a charge of what we should

do…, this is what grown folks do…

1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 13 – 15

 This is most important. Samuel does not pronounce this upon Saul

for his sin. Samuel pronounces this upon Saul for how he handles

his sin. God is looking for a man after His own heart. Samuel says to

Saul, “The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…”

 David sinned and broke the commandments of God just like Saul, but

when David sinned and he was confronted by the prophet of God

about it, he broke immediately and he broke easily. Saul gives

excuse, defense, justifies his sin…, David says in Psalm 51, “Have

mercy upon me, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from

my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my

transgressions and it is against You and You only I have sinned!”

 This is a man, a woman, after God’s own heart. If you won’t break

then you cannot be seeking the Lord. Psalm 51:17 says, “The

sacrifices (worship, praise and reverence) of God are a broken spirit, a

broken and a contrite heart, these O God, you will not despise.” Acts

13:22 says of David, “God raised up David as king, to whom also He

gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man

after My own heart, who will do all My will.”

 Doing the will of God has nothing to do with not sinning. That is like

telling a fish not to get wet. It’s going to happen. Unfortunately, sin is

inevitable. I am a sinner… The difference is what happens with you

when you sin. What do you do about it? Does it break your heart like

it breaks God’s? Sin reminds God of the suffering of His Son…

Heart breaker. But for us…, well, I’m justified in my sin!?

 Now, here’s the absolute kicker. No one on this planet, not a person in

all of time, past, present or future can set their heart to be broken

over their own sin. To be humble. Honest. Grown. A man or woman

after God’s own heart. It is a heart condition not a behavior problem.

Find someone that is not easily broken in the sight of the Lord and

you’ve found someone whose heart is not in communion with God

Most High… It’s just that simple.

 Set out to seek the Lord. To be near to Him. To know Him and to be

known by Him. Humility and love and joy will come forth like fruit on

a vine and you will break faster than a dry twig in the desert when

faced with your own sin… You will be a man or a woman after God’s

own heart. This is why Saul was not fit to be king… It wasn’t his

outward sin. That was just a symptom. It was his heart…

1 Samuel Chapter 13 Verses 16 – 23

 This condition of the nation is WILD! Not only did they not have

weapons but they also did not have effective tools of agriculture

without the service of their enemies! Isn’t that nuts!? But this shows

that the nation of Israel was in fact under the subjugation and control

of the Philistines…

 Maybe the Philistines had the good stuff, the best ability to make the

sharpest tools at the best price. The best techniques, the shiniest

metals and the finest materials. Maybe it made complete sense to do

this…, but ultimately the people are setting themselves up to not be

self sufficient under their own king, let alone their God… (and where

were the Philistines? Where did they get the metal materials to do

their craft? From the land of Canaan!)

 This is a danger we all face. If you want to be weak, yoke yourself

with that which is perishing. If you want to be subdued, be a

dependent people pleaser. Everyone should be a people pleaser…,

how can you fulfill the greatest of commandments if you do not serve

the people around you? But a dependent people pleaser derives their

self-worth from the response of their service….

 We please the people around us because God would have us to serve

them, not that we need them to reciprocate and serve us back. If you

want to be strong, yoke yourself with He who has overcome. If you

want to be formidable and a person of godly eternal solid character,

be a Jesus pleaser. Do what is right in His eyes even when

inconvenient in the flesh…, and when the time of battle comes, when

the time of personal testing arrives, you will have in your own camp

the means to make the elements of war needed to be successful.

 We give the flesh, the world and the enemy the superior military

technology to subdue us when we seek to please ourselves and others

over the Lord. Feels good in the moment, I get it…, Jesus isn’t right

here to affirm us in the flesh…, but the approval of the Lord upon

your life, your heart of hearts, that is where the finite meets the

divine.

 2 Peter 1:4 says, “God has given to us exceedingly great and precious

promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine

nature (oxymoron)! Divine nature is a combination of

impossibility. Nature by nature is not divine…, it is finite, it is

worldly, it is natural, it is creation…, but God does this…, He

energizes and transforms what is natural to that which is supernatural,

returns us to the image of the original version, the man or the woman

made in the very image of God Most High, when we open our hearts

to choose Him as He has chosen us…

 And 2 Peter 1:4 concludes with this, “Having escaped the corruption

that is in the world through lust.” Don’t give the enemy the power to

subdue you by hiding your heart from God and withholding your

heart from Him. How do you know you’re doing this? When the sin

happens, you are full of excuse and justification. When the battle

comes, you are ill equipped. All fruits of the flesh… Just like Saul…