For my daily Bible reading, I just finished the book of 1 Samuel. It ends with the death of Israel’s first king, Saul. When I’ve read this book in the past, I was always cheering for David and against Saul. However, in this year’s reading, I started to feel pity and compassion for Saul. First off, I cannot see how Saul is any worse than David. A comparison of their mistakes would be too lengthy for his article. More pertinent for this article is the comparison between the repentance of Saul and David. The former is rejected yet the latter is forgiven (compare 1 Sam 15 to 2 Sam 11–12). David’s sin against Uriah and Bathsheba was debatably worse than Saul sparing Agag’s life. Both were sorry for their actions, yet Saul was rejected, and David forgiven.

Saul’s rejection leads him to do some desperate things. The Lord leaves him to his own devices, which is never good. This leads Saul to become insecure when everyone begins to love David more than himself as people continuously taunt, “Saul has slayed his thousands and David his ten-thousands.” Saul’s own family loves David more (Michal and Jonathan, at least). It is no wonder why Saul found David a threat and wanted to kill him, especially given the fact that the Lord was not on his side. His insecurity and lack of guidance also leads him to go against his own morals and consult a medium that he himself has banned from the land (1 Sam 28).

Saul teaches us some very important lessons about leadership in God’s kingdom. We are completely powerless without God’s blessing. Once God rejected Saul, Saul was completely cut off from God’s power and guidance. Although Saul was a great warrior, charismatic, and powerful, he could not compete with the boy whom God had anointed as the new king. Saul’s best move probably would have been to concede power to David and save the kingdom from bloodshed and division. In our own ministry, we need to know that we are completely dependent on the Lord’s grace and favor. No matter how powerful we may appear, we are no match for the living God. We must continuously look to God and not our own abilities when we lead our families and our churches. Without God, we are like Saul, tying to grasp for power when the only true power is God.