There are certain defining moments, either for good or bad, in the life of a person. For Saul, one of those moments took place in 1 Samuel 13:8-14, when Samuel asked Saul to wait for him to offer a burnt offering before a battle. Saul was the king, but he was not a priest and so he was not authorised to offer burnt offerings. As such, Saul was to wait for Samuel, who was the priest at the time, to come and offer a burnt offering. Samuel had told him to wait seven days.

“He (Saul) waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. ¹¹ Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, ¹² I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favour of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” ¹⁵ And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.” – 1 Samuel 13:8-15 (ESV).

This was pretty much the moment when Saul lost the throne, even though it took a while before it actually came to pass.

What is interesting is that it appears that Saul did indeed wait for seven days, but probably just not till the end of the seventh day. He probably needed to wait for just a couple more hours. Just that little bit longer. Sadly, he did not. I can sympathise with Saul to be honest. When you are waiting for something, or waiting for someone to act, ‘a couple of hours’ can seem like a whole lot longer. Especially when circumstances around are anything but favourable, and there is a lot of pressure on you to do something. In Saul’s case, the people he had gathered to fight the battle were already dispersing, and he felt he had to act fast. Sadly that act of disobedience, fuelled somewhat by lack of trust and impatience, cost him the kingdom.

You might be wondering, why was it such a big issue? It almost seems unfair in a way, that Saul was punished so severely for carrying out this sacrifice. Also, why didn’t Samuel come a bit earlier, did he not grasp the urgency of the situation?

For starters, disobedience to God is always a big issue. In this matter of kings and priests, they had to be separate under the Levitical priesthood, until they would be united in Christ much later on. Offering the burnt offering was strictly for the Levites, as this was a role they had been consecrated to do (Numbers 8:14-19; 16:40, Deuteronomy 10:8-9, 2 Chronicles 23:6). No one else was permitted to do that in Israel, not even if that person was a king. Saul would not be the only king disciplined for overstepping his remit (See the case of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21).

This also shows how seriously God takes consecration. This was also why Jesus, who was a King and a Priest, was not from the order of the Levites, but from the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). In addition, it shows just how privileged we now are, following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Revelations 1:5-6 (KJV) says, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” What an incredible privilege and blessing we have as followers of Jesus, to be Kings and Priests unto God!

Going back to Saul though, sadly his disregard for the sacredness of priesthood did not just end there. He became bolder and brasher in his sin, as is often the case unfortunately. By 1 Samuel 22:17-18, he had gotten to the point where he ordered the killing of priests, an action which even his own guards refused to obey:

“And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.” (1 Samuel 22:17-19).

What a sad, sickening turn of events. A whole city of priests, slaughtered by Saul. Isn’t it telling that Saul’s guards had more reverence for God than he did, when it should have been the other way round, as a king should be leading by example?

Saul’s actions also revealed something else about him, the state of his heart. He seemed to be someone who was more interested in pleasing people than in pleasing God. His impatience also showed that he exhibited fear over faith. This was were David shone in contrast to Saul, and why God called David ‘a man after His heart’, and chose David over Saul to take over the kingdom (1 Samuel 13:14). David certainly wasn’t perfect, but his response to situations was quite different. When David faced a similar situation and his men were not merely disbanding, but talking of actually stoning him, his instinctive response was to find strength in God, and to ask God what he should do (1 Samuel 30:3-8). And when Saul sinned and was confronted, instead of repenting, he was more focused on Samuel honouring him before the elders and before Israel (1 Samuel 15:30). David’s response stands in stark contrast to Saul’s, and can be found in Psalm 51.

In all this though, a lingering question is, was Samuel late? And more importantly, can God ever be late? This is something I have grappled with because, honestly, I sometimes feel like God is certainly taking His time to answer some of my prayers. And I have to admit that there have been times when my response was more like Saul’s (taking matters into my hands because I was fed up of waiting), than continuing to wait and ask God what to do.

Regarding the first question, Samuel seems to have pulled off a last minute appearance, so maybe he was not technically late, although he wasn’t exactly early either.

But what about God? As I reflected on this question, the first verse that came to mind was John 15:4 (CEV), “Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.”

The second verse that came to mind was Matthew 11:29-30 (MSG), “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

If you are joined to someone, yoked to them, walking and working with them, you cannot arrive earlier than them, can you? It follows therefore that they cannot be late for anything which you are walking in sync and in step with them for. If, on the other hand, you are walking on your own, separate from them, you could possibly get ahead of them, or they could be ahead of you. That is when the timing mismatch comes in to play.

I mentioned earlier that Saul’s impatience showed that he exhibited fear over faith. When Saul was worried about the number of people leaving him, he forgot something that even his own son, Jonathan, knew and articulated so well: “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6b). God was able to use just two people, Jonathan and his armour-bearer to kickstart and subsequently achieve a great victory (1 Samuel 14:6-17). He did not need to use all the impatient men that were leaving Saul! Don’t forget that God had previously whittled down the size of Gideon’s army (one of the judges in Israel before the time of kings) from over thirty thousand men to just three hundred, and He achieved a great victory with those! (Judges 7:1-7, 22-25).

Sometimes, the reason why we are impatient is because we are trying to ‘box’ God, but can God really be boxed? We know how we want Him to answer our prayers, but have we taken the time to find out how He wants to answer them? We want Him to fit our mould, but shouldn’t we be fitting His?

Are you worried that ‘time is running out’ and God does not seem to have acted yet? Remember that God “changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:21, ESV). He is the God who has our times in His hands (Psalm 31:5), and He is the God who “declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:10). I’ve heard someone say that God’s timing is “tight but right”.

When we walk with and work with God, time can never run out. That’s almost like living by the ocean and running out of water. Admittedly, despite knowing this, it can indeed be hard to wait, oh so hard, especially when it involves waiting for what seems like a really long time. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But, if we are walking with God, we have a beautiful promise that we can hold on to in Isaiah 25:9 (BSB), “And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

In the meantime, when we feel downcast, demoralised and weak in our waiting, we can draw joy and strength from His nearness, for “in His presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11); “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31, BSB). Hallelujah!

I pray that as we reflect on this, and spend time with God, He will open our eyes to where we are out of sync with Him, and lovingly draw us back to Himself. I pray for an abundance of God’s grace to wait well, to keep trusting Him, and to continuously exhibit faith over fear, in our thoughts, words and deeds. And may our God, whom we trust, walk with, and wait on, show up for us at just the right time. Amen and Amen.

Image Source here.