Psalm 5, 6; 1 Samuel 15:24-35; Acts 9:32-43; Luke 23:56b-24:11
Saul recognizes the two-fold nature of his sin, he feared the people and obeyed their voice. Whom should he have feared and whose voice should he have obeyed? Look at Genesis 3.17 and see if there isn’t a parallel. There is a refrain that runs through some very familiar passages that have to do with obeying a voice and rarely does it turn out well when we obey a voice other than the Lord’s. Saul seems to have feared the people more than he feared the Lord and this caused him to sin. Does that ever happen to you? Samuel will not go back with Saul until he has prophesied against him concerning the Lord’s rejection of him as king. After hearing this, why does Saul then not set down the kingdom? It is interesting that Samuel says that the Lord is not a man that He should have regrets yet the last verse tells us that the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king. I believe that God knew all along what would happen with Saul and that at the same time God grieves over our sin even though He knows it in advance.
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead didn’t fit anyone’s plausibility structures. He had told them in advance that he would suffer and die and be raised from the dead but no one believed He could have survived or been resurrected based on what they had seen. The women did what you did for the dead. There hadn’t been time prior to the Passover to properly bury Jesus and the next day was Sabbath so they couldn’t prepare Him that day either so they went as early as Sabbath restrictions allowed to take care of the job. They didn’t conclude that He was risen, the two men in dazzling white (remember the Transfiguration) tell them or remind them that He had told them these things and they remembered but did they believe. The disciples hear the story, surely remember Jesus said it and then dismiss the story as an idle tale. We can know the truth but still grieve the reality. The disciples surely believed in theory that Jesus would suffer, die and then come back but when it became reality they wouldn’t believe without seeing.
Greater things than these will you do. Yet another thing Jesus told the disciples before His death and resurrection. After Pentecost, however, their willingness and ability to believe Him seems to have increased dramatically. Peter does some things here that Jesus Himself would have done. Several years ago I was in Haiti and we were touring a hospital when we met a man who asked us to come see his daughter who was dying with AIDS. One of our group said we would pray for her and the man took that to mean we would pray right then. The girl was a pathetic sight, wasted away to nearly nothing, unable to speak at all and was clearly not long for this world. The man dropped his head for us to pray and there was silence. My friend whispered to me that she had no idea how to pray and indicated that I should pray. I looked at my wrist where there was hanging a little WWJD bracelet and knew what He would do, He would heal her, and my faith faltered. I prayed for her healing and we went out, left the next day and I never heard about her again. I haven’t truly been the same since, knowing that Jesus could and would likely have healed that girl. Do we believe He can heal through us, even in such impossible circumstances?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
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