Presented to River Street Cafe, 28 October 2016
1 Samuel 28:3-25:
Now Samuel was
dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of
Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
The Philistines
assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel
and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid;
terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer
him by dreams or Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a
woman who is a witch, a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”
“There is one in
Endor,” they said.
So Saul
disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went
to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one
I name.”
But the woman
said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums
and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring
about my death?”
Saul swore to
her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for
this.”
Then the woman
asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
“Bring up
Samuel,” he said.
When the woman
saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have
you deceived me? You are Saul!”
The king said to
her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
The woman said,
“I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.”
“What does he
look like?” he asked.
“An old man
wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.
Then Saul knew
it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the
ground.
Samuel said to
Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I am in great
distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has
departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So
I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
Samuel said,
“Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your
enemy? The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the
kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David.
Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the
Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will deliver both
Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your
sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands
of the Philistines.”
Immediately Saul
fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His
strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.
---
What has happened in this story? Saul who
was the King of Israel, his job then just like our Queen’s job today was to be
Defender of the Faith. He was supposed to be a King who worked for God. But he
abandoned God and went to a witch, a medium, to consult the dead for help
instead. Saul left God and so in his darkest hour ahead, God was not with him.
And it ended badly. He and his sons the very next day joined the ranks of the
dead.
But it didn’t need to be that way. As the
Bible tells us in John 3:16, ‘for God so loved the whole world that whosoever
believeth in shall not perish but have everlasting life.’ If, instead of like
King Saul here, like others we turn to God in our times of trouble He promises
He will never leave us nor forsake us. As we persevere in our faith, God
promises that He will see us through. And He will. We can trust Him who is
faithful and He will give us the strength to keep keeping on.
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