MISPLACED CONCERN

PROCLAMATION

“Saul said to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.’  But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.”  1 Samuel 31:4 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

While David was attacking the Amalekites for looting and burning his town of Ziklag, (1 Samuel 30:1-19) the Philistines were attacking the Israelites. (1 Samuel 31:1-3)  King Saul was critically wounded during the battle and he told his armor-bearer to kill him so that the Philistines would not have the pleasure of killing him.  Saul was also concerned that the Philistines would torture him, and he did not want that to happen.

APPLICATION

At the end of his life, Saul was more concerned about being humiliated and physically abused than he was about his soul.  He was concerned about his worldly image and physical pain and dying with some sense of honor.  There was no concern expressed for his soul which would spend the rest of eternity suffering because he died outside of the will of God due to his sinful refusal to accept and obey The Word of God. (1 Samuel 15:17-24)  He denied and defied The Lord God before men and now The Lord God was denying him. (Matthew 10:33)  Let us get our priorities straight and in the proper order.  Let us not get so caught up in and concerned about our worldly human existence until we forget about the salvation of our soul.