Gospel Reflections #1017: What could have been done was REPENT!

1 Samuel 28:11 ‘The woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel for me,” he replied.’

This is the decisive scene in which Saul, the first king of Israel, secretly visited a ‘woman who conjures up the dead’—an act forbidden by the Law—and demanded that she summon the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel.

The armies of the Philistines, Israel’s arch-enemies, were advancing upon Israel, and King Saul was in a state of extreme fear and anxiety.

Saul sought an oracle from God, but God gave him no answer—neither through dreams, nor through the Urim, nor through the prophets.

In the past, Saul had banished mediums and fortune-tellers from the land, but having been cast aside by God, he despaired and resorted to the reckless act of turning to the ‘woman who conjures up spirits at Endor’, whom he himself had forbidden. 

Saul’s rejection by God was the result of his repeated disobedience up to that point.

Faced with God’s silence, what Saul should have done was ‘repent’.

However, instead of repenting, he resorted to the occult, using any means necessary to obtain ‘the answer he desired’.

This illustrates Saul’s self-centredness, prioritising his own desires over God.

We, too, have a weakness: when we do not fully understand God, or when we lack the certainty of being connected to Him, we tend to lean towards other religions, self-help, spiritualism, or fortune-telling in our quest to find answers ourselves, rather than seeking God.

Although these things do not provide the answers, we experience a discovery that makes us feel as though we have been given an answer, and we are left with the illusion that we have become stronger.

Yet, that path leads to destruction.

Our protection is granted through our faith in God’s Word.

It is a painstaking and laborious task, like digging up a vast field in search of treasure, yet through this process, God allows us to discover treasures beyond our wildest imagination.

Once we have experienced this, the choice not to return to God becomes impossible.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.