August 21

1 Samuel 13 The race was coming to an end. My lungs felt like fire; my bowels felt like they were going to explode, and my legs felt like lead weights. It was a six mile jog that was offered by my biology teacher as extra credit to all who run it and complete it. Many of us took him up on the offer. Few of us trained for it. As I neared the finish line, I saw an accomplished athlete from our class. He had left me in his dust at the beginning of the race. Now he was walking. I kept on chugging along. He looked back when he heard my breathing. Immediately he said, “Chaffin, I can’t let YOU beat me! Stop running!” He took off running. I couldn’t answer. My lungs burned too much. I tried to give it a kick. We ran neck and neck for quite a way. He kept telling me to stop. He said he didn’t have much left, but he couldn’t let ME beat him. I am not a great athlete, but I am not a quitter. I kept putting one foot in front of the other. He kept telling me to quit. He crossed the finish line one step in front of me. “Why wouldn’t you quit?” I did not have the breath to answer him, but the answer is, “Because I just don’t have it in me to quit.” Saul had taken at least a year since his coronation, maybe two years, to develop a standing army of 3,000. With his son Jonathan in charge of 1,000 at Gibeah, he had 2,000 at Michmash, just 4 miles as the crow flies to the northeast of Gibeah. The Philistines had a garrison in Geba 3 miles to the northeast of Gibeah. Whether Saul commanded Jonathan to attack, or whether the 15-18 year-old Jonathan did it in youthful impetuosity, is unclear, but it caught the Philistines by surprise and Jonathan was successful at Geba. It brought the full force of the wrath of the Philistines to Michmash – 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen against Israel’s farmers armed with sharpened farming implements. Saul retreated to Gilgal and called Israel together. Saul was getting nervous. He was instructed by the Samuel, as a commandment of the Lord, to wait at Gilgal, seven days, until Samuel came to sacrifice. Gilgal had been a very important location in the life of Israel to this point. It was the base camp of the people after crossing the Jordan River ending their wilderness wanderings. Near here they set up a pile of stones to commemorate their crossing. Here they renewed the covenant with Yahweh by circumcising all the males. This sign of the covenant had not been practiced since they left Egypt. Then the Lord said, “I have rolled away your reproach.” (Gilgal means ‘wheel’ or ‘rolling.’) After healing from the circumcision, they celebrated the first Passover in Canaan. It served as their base camp for the military conquest of Canaan. Here Saul received his coronation as king of Israel. It is the furthest point east in the center of Israel without crossing the Jordan. It is a significant location historically, religiously and militarily. The command was simple, “Wait seven days.” Perhaps Jonathan won at Geba because he had surprise on his side. Perhaps it was because the garrison at Geba was small. Perhaps it is because God was with him, but when the massive Philistine army showed up at Michmash, it was overwhelming. People ran and hid. Saul’s little force of 3,000 began to dwindle to 600 and Saul was worried. Waiting for battle caused his force to dwindle rather than grow. Instead of people rallying to his side, they ran and hid. Saul waited until the last minute, but Samuel hadn’t shown. If he waited any longer, he might have no army. He would not wait any longer. He was a man of action, and he acted. His heart was set on the circumstances not upon the Lord. The Lord engineers races for us to wait upon Him. It is a wait race. In so doing He reveals our hearts to us. Saul’s heart was revealed. It was not set upon the Lord; it was set upon the circumstances. He lost the wait race. The Lord wants people whose hearts are set upon Him not circumstances. How long will I wait upon Him before I bolt and run? I guess it depends on how set my heart is upon His glory. That is why I need to see His glory every day. Otherwise the guy running in front of me can dissuade me, and I will quit running. But when I see His glory, oh I cannot help but keep running! I cannot help but put another weary foot in front of the other. I cannot help but breathe another fire-filled breath. I am running into His glory and that makes all the difference. With His glory before me, I just don’t have it in me to quit. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john