The Air He Breathed

April 3, 2019

The Air He Breathed

“What’s more, the Lord will hand you and the army of Israel over to the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me. The Lord will bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat.”

1 Samuel 28:19

King Saul had lost the favor of God. A new King, David, had already been anointed. In the last days of Saul’s reign, the Philistine army had amassed against Israel. Saul, desperate to find favor with God had issued a decree that any worship of idols, or seeking of fortune tellers would be punishable by death. Yet when all his desperate attempts to receive a word from the Lord failed, Saul went to a fortune teller and had her conjure up the spirit of the prophet Samuel who had first anointed Saul as king. Samuel’s message to Saul is devastating: tomorrow you and your sons will be dead like me.

Much has been written about Saul and what he did, or didn’t do, that cost him God’s favor. I think George Eliot, in one of her novels perfectly captured Saul’s nature. In describing a character in one of her novels, she wrote: “The opinion of others formed the very air he breathed.” Saul never satisfied his appetite for approval. Over and over again he deferred to what he thought the people wanted as he sought their love and adoration. Over and over again he chose the applause of the people over his obedience to God’s will.

The Bible tells about another man named Saul, also of the tribe of Benjamin. He too was anointed by God as a chosen vessel to lead God’s people. When this Saul, who is better known as the Apostle Paul, arrived in Corinth he proclaimed, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2 NIV). Paul stayed true to his word and never sought the applause of people over the applause of heaven.

My Takeaway: Seeking God’s approval over the approval of people is a core value of the life in Christ. I am helped in this regard as I seek to pattern my life after the essential nature of Paul’s life. When Paul was in Athens he described his life in Christ as, “For in (Christ) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 NIV).

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.