Beginnings are not Endings

Beginnings are not endings. We know King Saul’s end. It was not good. His middle was not good either. He pursued David as an enemy, even though David was his most loyal subject. But Saul was not always bent on doing wickedness. He began well. He showed wisdom, humility, restraint and mercy. Israel had acted wickedly in desiring a king like the kings of the nations and yet God had given them one who had promise to lead Israel in the way of righteousness.

         God turned Saul into another man and Saul initially responds well to the Spirit’s filling and leading. Even his anger is righteously directed at God’s enemies and in defense of God’s people.

         As we think about Saul, let us not simply remember him as a man that did not do God’s will. He was one who started off doing God’s will but got sidetracked through disobedience and found himself in the end the sort of king, like the kings of the nations, who is suspicious, vindictive, vengeful and arrogant. He ends up being nearly crazy with envy.

         But his beginning was not so. Let us guard ourselves against wandering off God’s path bit by bit through disobedience and envy until we end up being God’s enemy.