In this final chapter of 1 Samuel, Saul and his sons die, just as Samuel had prophesied.
“Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.” (v1-3,4c,6-7)
This was an extremely great loss for Israel – the royal family, many troops, and many cities were lost that day. Why did God allow such a tragedy to befall Israel, His chosen people? This wasn’t an accident, it was an forewarned consequence of Saul’s sin and rebellion against God’s commands. The entire nation of Israel suffered because of Saul’s insolence and foolishness.
One of the problems with sin (disobedience to God) is it seldom only affects the person who sinned – most often the harm or consequences of one person’s sin, bleed over into other people’s lives as well. Saul’s sin had a major impact because of his role and responsibility as a leader / king. Most of us have much smaller circles of influence, however, our sin can still have an equally devastating impact on those people.
We often don’t realize just how wide-spread the ripple affect of our sin is. As an analogy, if I was to steal a loaf of bread from a pop-up stand, I’d probably justify it as a “small sin” (having a minimal impact) – on the surface it would affect very few people, and have minor consequences. However, when making the decision to steal, I probably would not have considered the merchant has a family to feed, and they rely on a meager income from this humble business. Maybe the $4 I just (hypothetically) stole from them, means someone in their family does not get supper that night. Even a “small sin” can have a large impact and ripple effect.
Sin is very serious, and has very serious consequences, which we probably don’t fully realize until it is already too late. Adam and Eve had no idea the impact their sin would have on this world, and frankly, neither do we when we sin.
My encouragement today is that we have been given a new day, full of fresh opportunities to obey God. We can repent of yesterday’s sins, and start over with a new set of choices today. It’s encouraging to know that as long as we’re still breathing, it’s never too late to obey God. Let’s hit the reset button and do the best that we can in His strength to conquer temptation and overcome a sin mindset. We can be more than conquerors through He who loves us (Rom 8:37) and paid the penalty for our sin.
Father God, our Glorious Lord and King, great and mighty is Your name. Jesus You have conquered sin and death on the cross, and we thank You for this lavish gift. We praise You Father for the gift of forgiveness, and for consistently giving us more chances than we could ever earn or deserve. We ask for Your Spirit’s guidance today as we face some new opportunities to obey You, and thank You in advance for Your support. All honor, glory, praise and thanksgiving be unto You, forever and ever, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training