Where is he? He’s supposed to be here right now. We’re about to make the big announcement. Everybody is waiting.
Being crowned king is a big deal. One would think that when you are about to be crowned king you would be pretty engaged in the moment. However, when the time came to begin the ceremony the “soon to be king” was nowhere to be found.
So, what do you do when the man you’re about to crown as king doesn’t show up for the ceremony? You go looking for him of course. And that’s what they did. But when they couldn’t find him what could they do?
Well, they could ask the Lord where he was. So they did. And, of course, the Lord knew where he was. He was hiding. He was hiding amongst the baggage all piled up from everyone who had traveled for the big ceremony.
They dragged him out and installed him as king.
This is, of course, the story of Saul, the first king of Israel.
We normally think of Saul as a bad king – which he was. He paled in comparison to David. We know that he was jealous of David, he wasn’t willing to really trust God, he was paranoid and he spent most of his time trying to kill David.
He got off to a rough start knowing that Israel had rejected God as their King and demanded God give them a king like the other nations. God said it was a very bad idea, but gave Israel a king anyways – Saul.
I recently read the account of Saul’s first days as King in 1 Samuel 10 and 11. He began cowering and he ended up conquering. He went from hiding in the baggage to defeating the Ammonites. He went through a major transition from cowardice to becoming courageous.
How did that happen? What went on to create the kind of transition that we would all like to see in our lives? How did he shift from cowering and cowardice to becoming courageous and conquering?
From what I can see there are 5 steps to transition us from cowardice to being courageous:
Our first battle is to choose to believe that God is big enough for whatever our limitations may be and for whatever the circumstance is that we may be facing. We have to stop looking at what is and start looking to God for what can be. Choose faith over fear. Fear is focussing on you and your limitations; faith is focussing on God and His limitlessness.
We have to then choose to stop believing the lies of the enemy and start believing the Truth of God. Stop listening to the whisper campaign of our spiritual foe and start listening to the Logos and Rema word of God. You cannot be courageous and believe lies – the lies of the enemy are sent to alienate and isolate, demean and diminish you.
We must surround ourselves with valiant allies who are fellow travellers on the journey from cowering to conquering, from cowardice to courageous. Life is a team game – it can’t be done well alone. And, following Jesus is definitely a team game. We are one body and we need each other to be who we are called to be.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit – regularly. I don’t know about you, but I can feel filled and empowered by the Spirit of God one day, and the next I can feel very empty. I have determined that I leak somehow. So, I ask the Lord to regularly fill me with His spirit. This is what made all the difference for Saul.
Lastly, it was in fighting for the freedom of others that Saul really found his strength. We are meant to be spent for the benefit of others. It is in the service of others that we get over ourselves and find a new level of courage, resolve and mission.
From cowardice to courageous – 5 key steps.
1 Samuel 10:22b
“And the Lord said, ‘Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage.’”
1 Samuel 10:26
“Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men who hearts God had touched.”
1 Samuel 11:6
“When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.”
1 Samuel 11:8, 9, 11
“When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand. They told the messengers who had come, ‘Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By this time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.’… The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day…”