I Samuel 11

Needed: A warrior leader

So, Saul was chosen by God as the first king of Israel, he was mightily anointed by the Spirit of God and ordained publicly by Samuel. As God often does, He chose someone who was ill prepared to be what he was called by God to be; to be the warrior king that Israel. He was a Benjamite farmer minding his own business who lacked confidence. (When Samuel called for him to stand before the people during the ordination, Samuel was overwhelmed and hid himself, 10:22).  After the ordination Samuel sent everyone home including Saul, who went back to farming. Meanwhile, a foreign army of the Ammonites invaded and besieged one of the regions of Israel. The survivors were trapped but nevertheless, sent for help. Messengers reached Saul as he was returning from the fields. Something interesting happened. “Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words and he became very angry,” v6. We associate the filling of the Spirit with several different visceral responses; joy, power, boldness, forgiveness, knowledge, etc. But here the direct response of the filling of the Spirit was ‘anger’. God needed a warrior leader.

What came over him?

So, Saul called together the men of Israel, he took charge, plotted out the strategy, commanded the army and led the attack. The Ammonites were wiped out. A Decisive victory for Saul. The armies of Israel rallied around their new king and sang his praises. This resulted in the coronation of the king as all the people of Israel came to together and acknowledged and lauded Saul as king. We never know when God is going to infuse us with an extra portion of the Spirit to do a mighty work on His behalf. And a ‘mighty work’ doesn’t always mean big in scope or highly publicized. The Spirit may call us to a mighty work of an extremely private and menial task that might be as small as serving one person. Or it might be large in scope. When the Lord stirs your heart to act, then act. Lord, I need to be much more connected to You throughout the day, listening and following Your guidance to obey and serve. If you chose to use me, may I follow you! Amen