1 Samuel 12:22 Grace At Work

1 Samuel 12:22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

If you haven’t noticed lately, leaders let us down! They are just not as consistent as we think they should be. They talk out of both sides of their mouths, and each message is different. Unfortunately, they are just like us! We had hoped leaders would be from a different cut of fabric. But we are made of the same warp and woof.

Ancient Israel was made of people just like us. Even their leaders were prone to disappointing choices. They might have the appearance of being better human beings, but that just wasn’t the case.

Take Saul for instance. He looked like a born leader. He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else. He looked like what they thought a leader should. He photographed well.

But even in the most important, most decisive moments, he let them down. Saul’s impatience, his own fear, his own lack of fortitude showed itself all too often in his life. He lacked “stick-to-it-tiveness” at almost every important turn.

Lots of people have the ability to talk a good talk at moments in their lives. Some make it their careers spitting out good talk. But far fewer people walk the good walk. Talk is cheap, as the old saying goes. Doing it is what matters.

Saul allowed the worst parts of him to rule at the most important moments. He had been successful once in battle. Now he faced an even greater enemy and fear took over.

This is the story. Samuel had told Saul that he was the king. But His cowardice meant that they were locked in a losing stalemate with their enemy the Philistines. But not everyone was locked. Saul’s son Jonathan was living in freedom.

Saul was preparing for battle and he wanted to make sure that he was in line with the LORD’s will. So he had been in contact with Samuel. Samuel had told him to wait, wait until he arrived and offered a sacrifice before he went into battle. Saul couldn’t wait.

Waiting involves trust. I have learned to wait with greater grace than I have in the past. I used to let the wait get into my spirit much more than it does now. But I learned to wait by waiting. Ugh! I wish the lesson would arrive sooner rather than later!

Although Saul gets rejected for his sin, he remains a king for a few more years before David takes over. His son Jonathan doesn’t succeed to the throne. That is part of his legacy.

But the LORD doesn’t reject His people, even when sin overtakes them. They end up going into exile, under the hand of a foreign power, and they are still His people. They are His people even after they choose to crucify Jesus, their true King. Being His people is more than being the object of His blessing.

We see this in our text. It was “for the sake of His great name” that the LORD still protected Israel, not because they lived up to their identity. They were destined to be the object of blessing, both for themselves and the world, and they wouldn’t step up and fulfill their purpose.

Sometimes I look around at the Church here in the United States at the present moment and I wonder if we are stepping up and fulfilling our purpose. In the past, the United States has been the seedbed for so many thousands of missionaries and missionary endeavors around the world. Hospitals and universities founded and supported all for the purpose of declaring the goodness of our God.

Are we fulfilling our purpose?