The Saul's In My Life

A few years ago I had promised myself that I would read the Bible in its entirety.  If I was hoping to be in leadership in a church some day, I felt as though I had to at least get through the entire bible at least once. 

I found a Bible that divided up the task into easy-to-manage readings every day:  a bit from the Old Testament, a bit from the New Testament, a Psalm and a Proverb. How hard can this be, really?  I faithfully read my way from January 1 through May 30 and then as quickly as I started, I stopped. I just couldn’t handle the Old Testament any more. 

Picture of Saul from nccg.org

I didn’t want to read about conqueror’s taking the lives of 10,000 people and pillaging their villages any more. Or about rulers who thought no more about ordering a person’s death than they did about ordering dinner.

After a break and a breath of fresh air I decided to try again. Only this time I wasn’t going to just read the Bible, I was going to study it. I promised myself I would get something out of the Old Testament. So with multiple versions of the Bible surrounding me and a really good Study Bible as a reference, I started to make my way through the Old Testament once again.

What I found layered between the battles and the rules and the lists of lineage, were little gems of lessons and wisdoms that I could use in my life today. Here’s one of my favorites: we must deal with the Saul’s in our life before we can have success.

Saul was the first God-appointed king of Israel. David served under Saul, and with every success that David had Saul became more and more resentful of David. At every turn, Saul tried to make David's life miserable and even tried to kill him. In the end Saul's jealousy of David was his undoing.  

Now I'm not saying that the Saul's in my life are jealous of me, but they do make my life more unpleasant and difficult.

I have several Saul’s in my life.  These people can be anyone:  someone you work with, someone at home, or yes, even someone at church. These people bring out the worst in me and make me feel miserable. One of them rarely smiles at me and as I’m faced with his scowl day after day, I always feel like I’m doing something wrong. The other one will bark out orders that would make a drill sergeant proud. I’m sure this person doesn’t mean to come across so harshly but these words, usually said in haste, really stop me in my tracks and always take me by surprise. 

Honestly, I just don’t like being around these people. I know they are good people, but would it put them out so much to ask me how my day is going or to think about what they are saying before they say it?  These things gnaw at my heart and my mood and have ruined many days at work and many worship services.

Through my bible study I realized that anyone who is anointed for leadership has to be around a person like Saul sometime in their life.  Joyce Meyer says, "God uses the 'Saul's' in our lives to get the 'Saul' out of us."  Or in other words, "God will place someone who is like sandpaper close to us to smooth off our rough edges."

Joyce also said that it’s also important that we grasp this truth: “Just because we are anointed for leadership does not mean that we get to move immediately into a position of leadership.  There is a work that has to be done in us, a testing that has to take place before we get promoted. If we want to lead, we must first serve in circumstances that may not be ideal and learn to behave wisely. This prepares us to be greatly used by God."

When dealing with my Saul's, I have taken up a couple of mantras. The first one says, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” and the second, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” The person who refuses to smile is met every day with a smile of my own. I don’t know what he is going through in his personal life to be so grumpy all the time but I want to give him a little bit of God’s light from mine. 

I have also learned not to let hastily spoken words ruin my worship experience. Instead of feeling hurt by what has been said by one person, I will smile at that person every week, forgive them and say a prayer for them during service. 

As Christians, we are to be Christ’s light bearers, letting His light shine through us. 1 Peter 3:4 says, “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” In this way I examine my own heart and make sure that I have the right motives and heart attitudes. By doing what is right I will be pleasing God, whose opinion matters most.  

I am thankful for the Saul's in my life. I am thankful that they are helping me to be prepared for and live a life that can be used by God.