Saul: Jumping the Gun

At the time of his inauguration as Israel's king, Saul panics and goes ahead of God's instructions. It is not what he did that is the problem, because other kings have offered sacrifices to God. It is that King Saul did not wait for the Prophet Samuel to arrive, as he had been instructed. King Saul was surrounded and outnumbered by the Philistines, and his own troops were beginning to desert, so he "jumped the gun." As a result, he lost his dynasty.

When we look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, we discover that immediately after his inauguration as Israel's king, he is driven into the wilderness where he is tempted by the devil. The Lord Jesus is sorely tempted to "jump the gun," too. But he waits on the Father's deliverance instead of taking matters into his own hand.

Saint Paul instructs us: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9). But we want things now. We do not want to wait on the Lord. We are so much more like King Saul than we want to admit.