The Mirror of King Saul’s Sacrifice

The Helm

What are your guiding principles?

Take a rare pause in this rapid age we live in to consider the question.

Do you have a code, a standard, that determines how you will make decisions and live your life?

If so, what is the backbone of that standard? If you’re anything like me, sometimes I’ve thrown that standard out of the window on the basis of what I want or because I’ve handed the helm over to my passions and emotions.

Taking a look in the mirror is a hard thing to do. We don’t want to get caught up in comparison, right? Comparison is a joy thief, after all.

It’s also tempting to be our own standard but more often than not our standards become malleable with only the mold of our will to keep them in place.

Three facets of our will is where the clash takes us this week.

Clash of Tides

How long do you linger in front of the mirror in the morning?

Sometimes a mirror reflects what we want to see. Other times it’s accurate, if not backwards. We may not like what we see and the mirror serves as an aid in our quest to put our disheveled selves together. When it comes to our outward appearance, at least. In reflections of our hearts and motives, how quick are we to make excuses for ourselves? The human condition makes us susceptible to self-flattery and prone to blind spots.

Don’t think for a second that spiritual powers won’t leverage our pride and vanity to steer us away from what’s true and good and beautiful.

Instead of some fairy tale mirror mirror on the wall, it can be beneficial to hold up the lens of another and see how we reflect. I’m not talking about comparison where we justify, “At least I’m not as bad as so-and-so over there!” I’m referring to our reflection in them. Do we see ourselves in their behavior?

Then the hard question is, do we like what we see?

In a way, this is indirect feedback. As I’ve found in the leadership world, you can’t always trust direct feedback. No one wants to upset the leader, even when he’s looking for it. That could be out of his past reactions and untrustworthiness or it could be out of deference to the position itself. People are complicated and such lines are rarely drawn straight.

Looking at the fruit of your work can be good feedback but not only do you have to ask if the fruit is ripe or rotten, but at what cost is the fruit coming? What can we say if our destination is good but the route to get there is not?

There’s always a sin element to spiritual warfare, temptation to some behavior. In the Bible, sin is lawlessness, failing to give God glory, an act we do (commission) or an act we don’t do (omission), acting without faith, or other forms of wrongdoing. While I’ve heard sin defined as missing the mark, I think that’s too simplistic. I’ve summarized these aspects into a practical triangulated definition to talk about sin in my home. Modeled after King Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice in 1 Samuel 13, the three part assessment defining sin is our will in our way in our timing. King Saul is the mirror I’m holding up to see what is gazing back.

You see, King Saul knew Israel was in trouble with the Philistine army. He knew he needed Yahweh to win the battle for them, but he was impatient. Saul wasn’t authorized to offer a sacrifice in offering to the Lord, but instead of waiting for Samuel the priest to give the lawful sacrifice Saul took the reigns of his own destiny and stood in as the priest himself. As soon as he had sinned, Samuel comes over the hill. Then comes the damning question. “What have you done?”

Let’s break my definition of sin down.

Our will: This is my will versus God’s will. If we take a blatant commandment of God and do our thing instead of His thing, it’s going against His will and for ours. King Saul didn’t seek the Lord. He listened to his own heart, and it steered him right into the rocks. It’s like Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil with a direct command not to. To pull a few from the ten commandments, if we’re going to have other gods before us, not honor our parents, commit murder and adultery, or covet, this is not God’s will. It’s ours.

Our way: This is where the ends justify the means. We see God’s will and we come up with our own way of making it happen. This is where we quit depending on Him and trusting in ourselves. For example, is it a good thing to worship the Lord? Absolutely. He is the sole fountain of living water and trusting in Christ for our salvation is the only way to eternal life. Should we take on roles God hasn’t given us to fulfill, like when King Saul took on the role of the priest? Negative. Should we make anyone follow the way at the end of a sword? No. Is a pastor disqualified for ministry after a moral failure, but keeps on going because of how important the ministry is? It’s time to pass the helm, guy. We not only have to put our goals under the authority of God but the methods we work towards them.

Our timing: This one’s a little more tricky, but King Saul serves as the prime example. It’s good to trust in the Lord and even obedient to offer the sacrifice, but Saul was so willing to compromise the timing that he ended up compromising on the way. This could be when we obey, or how we justify when we’ll start obeying. Blame shifting falls into this. “If they had done this, I wouldn’t have had to do that.” Should husbands love their wives and wives respect their husbands? Absolutely, but if we become transactional where we stop loving or respecting if the our spouse doesn’t keep up their end of the bargain, we’ve fallen into our timing of when we’ll be faithful. It can also be when you want a good or neutral thing, but out of place. Sex is good, but not before a marriage. Owning things is OK but not if I’m acquiring them before I have the means for them. I don’t want to have anyone echoing Samuel the prophet and ask me, “What have you done?”

Whatever it is we’re working on, we would do well to submit it to the Lord in prayer and in accordance with the Scriptures.

It gives God no glory nor does us any good to become the derelict ship that drifts about in open waters, floating on whatever current the whims of our heart takes it. There are some efforts we may need to lower the sails on in order to fully submit ourselves to God’s revealed will. Our passions and pride will lead us astray.

Let’s have the courage to look into the mirror of King Saul together. What in our lives are we holding onto, whether that be our will, our way, or our timing, that is out of step with the revealed will of God in Scripture?

The Armory

A friend of mine gave me a book called Prayers of the Reformers a year or so ago.

One section contains prayers from William Tyndale, who lived 500 years ago and worked towards translating the Bible into English, that were inspired by the Lord’s Prayer.

For this week’s Armory, I’m sharing one of those prayers for you to add to your own armor against the subtle ways we can be tempted to become masters of our own destiny.

Dropping Anchor

Our will. Our way. Our timing.

This is a dense topic. It’s one we have to wrestle with, which is only complicated by the fog of whatever’s floating around us externally.

I ask a lot of questions in this newsletter. The reason for that is, while the topic may come out of my own thoughts and inspirations, I don’t know how it intersects with you and your daily life.

Maybe it’s the automotive technician in me, always asking questions as a diagnostic.

Well, if that’s the case, I’ve heard it’s good to know a mechanic.

Until we sail again.

Stay Anchored and keep fighting the good fight,

~ J.P. Simons ⚓️

Below Deck: A Deep Dive

In true flavor of spiritual warfare and the battles we (I) rage with, our deep dive this week is the song Laying the Demon to Rest by the band Theocracy.

The lyrics capture the struggle, the battle, the ebb and flow of the tide, as we try to bring our will, our way, our timing under the submission of the wisdom of God. His glory is also our good.