Recently, I wrote about the theological lessons we may learn from waiting for God. On the reverse side, there are great dangers when we don’t wait on God. Failure to wait on God indicates a lack of faith in God and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). We find two examples of not waiting on God in the book of 1 Samuel.
In 1 Samuel 8, the people of Israel demanded that the prophet Samuel appoint them a king. Within the immediate context of the passage, we find that their reasoning was that they wanted to be like the nations around them. Further, God saw this as a rejection of Himself as their King. Both of those were wicked reasons.
However, in the Law of Moses, we find several references to the responsibilities of a king, indicating that during the time of the exodus, God had a plan to someday give Israel a king. The demand that came for a king was not in God’s timing. The result was King Saul, who had the outward stature of a king but not the inward heart for God that the Lord required. Had they waited on God’s timing the results would have been much better.
King Saul would lose his kingdom because of his failure to wait on God as his flaws as a king became evident. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul faces off against the Philistines. The Israelites lacked both the numbers and weaponry to face the threat. Many of the Israelites fled the impending situation, figuring that defeat was imminent.
Saul waited with his troops at Gilgal. Particularly, he waited for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice to God before the battle could commence. He waited seven days, and Samuel didn’t come. His troops were “gripped in fear” and many began to desert the camp. So, instead of continuing to wait, Saul offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished, Samuel arrived. Samuel simply asked, “What have you done?”
Saul made two excuses that blamed others and took no personal responsibility. His men were deserting him. So, it was their fault. Further, he didn’t want to go into battle without the Lord’s favor. So, he forced himself to make the offering. In this excuse was an unspoken charge against Samuel. “You were late, Samuel. What else could I do?”
Samuel called his actions foolish. Saul had disobeyed God by assuming a priestly role that was not his as king. Instead of establishing Saul’s kingdom, God would take it away and give it to a man after the Lord’s own heart, the man God would have made king if the people had waited.
Saul had shown three characteristics that reveal he lacked the faith to wait on God. First, he feared circumstances and people more than he feared God. The pressure of impending battle and the lost favor of his troops were factors leading to his disobedience. Second, he lacked patience to wait on God. He wanted deliverance, and he wanted it now. He did not trust God’s power to deliver to save even with a reduced number of troops. Without trust in God, he didn’t have the patience to wait on him. Finally, he showed a willingness to complete God’s will (deliverance of Israel from the Philistines) by taking shortcuts instead of doing it God’s way. Every servant of God, particularly ministers of God’s Word such as evangelists, pastors, and missionaries.
Saul’s failure to wait on God revealed his lack of faith in God. As a result, he was unworthy of remaining the King. In the life of his successor, David, the connection between faith and waiting on God would be evident in a positive way.