“Filled with Fear”

Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and night. –I Samuel 28:20

( This author apologizes profusely for the delay in a new devotional. My own technical bumbling is to blame. All apologies to you the reader.)

Saul’s time had come. At Endor God removed the last vestiges of his presence, telling the king through the ghost of Samuel, that he had turned his back on him and that he had no hope in the coming battle with the Philistines. The “words of Samuel” were God’s words of judgment. Saul was going to lose the battle, the kingdom, and his life; but the first blow, the blow that knocks him to the ground, is the word that God will give him no help.

Our strength is contained entirely in God. Without him we have nothing. We take this for granted throughout much of our lives, but if told by him that we would be without him, we would falter just as we see Saul do. God is our only source of hope in this life. He is our only source of joy and strength. Those things we are frightened by in the world scare us because they give the impression that God is not present or that he has turned his back on us. Therefore, we have at times in our lives reacted as did Saul – we have allowed circumstances to paralyze us with fear.

We should not forget that the only instance that should genuinely produce this reaction is the pronouncement by God himself that he will not help us. For those who lean on his Son, Jesus Christ, this pronouncement will never come. Indeed, from the lips of Jesus himself we have heard, “and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the age.” The hell-bent are the only ones God has turned his back on. Therefore, as saints, we ought never to react to our circumstances as those who have not the hope of the promise of redemption – the hope of Jesus Christ. By his blood we have been made citizens of heaven; all for us is gain. Cowering and despair are reserved for the citizens of hell alone – may we mind never to imitate them.