Saul was committed, above all, to being in control of his own life and getting the results he wanted. When it appeared to him that God wouldn’t give him what he wanted, he turned to the devil for it. Demanding self control or results is a dangerous path to walk down for anyone. The alternative to the need to be in control is trust in God. Let this scripture lead you into a deeper level of trust in the Lord.

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1 SAMUEL #29. 1 SAMUEL 28:1-25

Remember all that we have learned about king Saul. One of the most important things we discovered is that he was a religious man, but not a man of faith. Time after time, when he felt he could somehow use or exploit God, he did so. But when he was confident in himself, or when he felt that God had nothing to offer him, he ignored God. He had the trappings of religion and he used them to try to control others and manipulate God. But he did not live in a day to day walk of faith, trusting God in all things, relating to him, loving him. The depths of Saul’s spiritual poverty are revealed in 1 Samuel chapter 28.

Saul, having no real trust in God, was terrified when he saw the Philistine army that came against him. Now consider something. Every time Saul was involved in a battle with the Philistines up to this point, God saved the Israelites. The Lord used Jonathan in chapter 13, and David in chapter 17, and several other times. But none of that seemed to make any difference to Saul. He was just as scared and faithless as he had always been.

I want to pause and say something about that here. Sometimes we think that if God just did a miracle for us, then we would really trust him. If we saw the Lord do something really great, then we wouldn’t doubt, then we wouldn’t disobey or draw back in fear. But that wasn’t the case with Saul. God’s previous miracles didn’t matter. The same was true with the first Israelites who came out of Egypt. They saw many miracles. Their food and water were daily miracles. And yet it did not help them to have faith and surrender to the Lord.

Jesus addressed this issue in his own ministry. Though he did many miracles, often people came and demanded more miracles on the spot – basically asking him to prove himself to them—again. Jesus addressed this in Luke 11:27-29:

27 As He was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “The womb that bore You and the one who nursed You are blessed! ” 28 He said, “Even more, those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed! ” 29 As the crowds were increasing, He began saying: “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. (Luke 11:27-29, HCSB)

John records that many miracles (‘signs’) still did not convince people who did not want to be convinced:

37 Even though He had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in Him. (John 12:37, HCSB)

On one occasion, when Jesus told people to trust in him, the people demanded that he prove himself with another miracle—and this was only the next day after the feeding of the five thousand! (John 6:22-31). In another place, Jesus told a story about a poor man named Lazarus, and a rich man. At the end of the story, the rich man found himself in hell. He begged that someone be sent from heaven to tell his family the truth about the afterlife. Jesus concludes the story like this:

31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:31, HCSB)

When people in the New Testament say “Moses and the Prophets” they mean “the Bible,” since that was all of the Bible that they had at that time. What Jesus is saying is this: if you don’t trust God’s Word and the promises in scripture, no amount of miracles will cause you to trust.” The problem can’t be fixed by a miracle. That is both hard and good for us to remember. Seeing is not believing. With God, believing is seeing.

So Saul, in spite of all that he has seen God do, was a religious pretender, not a man of real faith. All of the amazing ways God had worked throughout his life did not give him real faith. Therefore, now, facing the Philistines, he was quaking in fear. It says that he “inquired of the Lord.” As before, Saul didn’t go to the Lord unless he thought God could do something for him. So now, he inquired of the Lord only out of fear and a desire to manipulate God. It doesn’t tell us what Saul was asking God. I think it is most likely that he made an animal sacrifice to the Lord, and was hoping for some prophecy that God was pleased with the sacrifice, and would give Saul the victory. But he didn’t hear anything by way of the “sacred dice” (the Urim and Thummim) or through the prophets, or from  dreams. Basically, Saul was demanding another sign here (that is, a miracle) before he would really trust God. He had God’s help all his life, but he still wouldn’t trust the Lord without some kind of additional sign.

God was working on Saul all of his life. Remember how he called him to be king? There were several miracles in connection with just that. Remember how he gave Saul the victory at Jabesh Gilead? Remember how even after Saul proved to be useless to God, God kept pursuing Saul’s heart, trying to get him to turn to the Holy Spirit for relief? Saul has had decades to surrender his heart to the Lord. The Lord never quit trying to win him over. I think this lack of a sign was one more chance for Saul to surrender his heart. The Lord put him in a crisis where he had the same two choices he had always had: 1. Trust God, or  2. Manipulate God and other people to control his own destiny, and get the outcome he wants. Before this, Saul had always chosen #2. He didn’t know it, but this was now his last chance to surrender his heart to the Lord.

Tragically, Saul once again chose to try to control his own life and outcomes, rather than trusting God. When he didn’t hear from the Lord, trust was not even an option. Saul felt that he simply must find some way to manipulate God into saying what he wanted to hear, or doing what he wanted God to do. So he sought out a medium, or witch, or spiritist, or whatever you want to call it.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 says this:

10There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer11or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,12for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.13You shall be blameless before the LORD your God,14for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. 

These practices were part of the reason for Holy War, which Saul failed to carry out as king. Not only were the people of God not supposed to do these things, they were supposed to wipe out those who did. Such things separate people from God and put them under the influence of hell. Saul did make some attempt to stamp out the practice of the occult, but obviously he wasn’t entirely successful. And now he was willing to deliberately abandon faith in God, abandon his own previous laws against these things, and seek help from a medium through “communication with the dead.”

Here is the final proof of Saul’s internal condition. Religion was just something to be used and manipulated. Clearly, for Saul all that mattered is that he got some kind of good result, and if he couldn’t get what he wanted from God, he was willing to seek it from the instruments of the devil.

 So Saul and a few of his men disguised themselves and went to the witch. The disguise was actually pretty pathetic. The woman lived not far from the battlefield. Her visitor was the tallest man she’d ever seen, and he wanted to talk to the ghost of the prophet Samuel. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was Saul. So at first the woman thought it was a trap. Then when she was convinced, she pretended that the ghost of Samuel told her who Saul was. All that is reading between the lines, but I feel pretty confident about it. You can’t disguise your height, and the Bible tells us that Saul was the tallest man in the whole nation of Israel by far. The witch would have had to be pretty stupid to not think it was Saul.

Now it is natural to wonder, what really happened here? Was the woman a charlatan who made it all up? Was there really a spiritual presence there? And if so, was it really Samuel?

To answer that, we need to consider what the Bible says about life after death. Certainly, the entire New Testament teaches that at the end of time, there will be a judgment day. Those who reject Jesus will be thrown into a lake of fire with the devil and his demons. Those who receive him will be physically resurrected to an eternal, joyful existence.

But there is that period of time in between. Samuel was in that period, as is every person who has died up until today (except for Jesus). Some people believe that in that “between-time,” you are unaware of existence until judgment day, at the end of time. Others believe, as I do, that there is a period of time when dead people are not yet resurrected into new bodies, but their spirits are either with Jesus in joy and freedom, or in hell. The presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus in Matthew 17, suggests this very strongly. Jesus painted this picture of life after death in his story of Lazarus and the rich man.  Revelation 6:9-11 shows people who have died, yet are aware and are waiting for the final judgment day and the resurrection. Actually several passages in Revelation suggest that there is life with Jesus between death and the physical resurrection that will occur at the end of time.

Therefore in order to believe that it really was the spirit of Samuel, we have to believe that some people on earth – mediums, fortune tellers etc. – have the power to pull people out of the presence of God and back to earth so we can talk to them. I don’t buy it for a second.

However, could God have allowed this to happen for some reason? In my opinion, that just brings up another reason to believe that this was not really Samuel. God chose not to answer Saul when Saul wanted some reassurance. He did not answer through the “holy dice,” or through the prophets or in dreams. If God would chose not to speak to Saul through these holy and righteous means, why would he then work through the unrighteous means of a medium – basically rewarding Saul’s wicked behavior, and giving the impression that, actually, God does work through such things?

Even beyond these most significant facts, there are other things in the text which suggest that this was not Samuel. Saul himself could not see the spirit – he had to ask the medium what he looked like. Her reply was very vague: “An old man wearing robes.” That’s pretty much how I picture Samuel myself. Saul accepted this description as true, but there is nothing in it that actually identifies Samuel personally.

Finally, there is the message that Saul got from this apparition. Once again we need to question why God would speak through this illegitimate means after not answering by any legitimate route. But secondly, listen to the tone of the message. It is angry, bitter and hopeless. There is no encouragement. There is not even any opportunity for repentance. Not too long after this, Saul was wounded and committed suicide, rather than fight on with courage. I personally believe that his encounter contributed to that act.

I do believe that there was something spiritual going on here – something creepy and utterly evil. Remember the other Saul, in the New Testament, the one who repented and came to Jesus, and later was known as Paul? He encountered a girl who could tell the future. But it was an evil spirit that gave her the power of limited fortune telling (Acts 16:16-19). I met someone once who used to be involved in fortune telling, and spirit-communication for money. She became a Christian and rejected all that.

We asked her what was involved in it. She said that sometimes she was just tricking people by being observant, and making vague statements combined with educated guesses. But she also told us that sometimes she was aware of a spiritual presence which gave her information – a presence which she now realizes was a demon.

I personally believe that Saul unknowingly sought (and received) an audience with a demon, masquerading as Samuel. Saul was rewarded with the kind of thing you would expect from a demon: condemnation and hopelessness. By turning to witchcraft and séance to try and control his life, he was turning his back utterly on God and seeking help from hell. And he got exactly what you might expect from hell.

So where to do we go with this text?

First, if this isn’t too obvious, don’t play around with séances, spirit-guides, mediums, psychics and so on. The best case scenario is that you are being fooled by a con-artist. The other possibility is that you are dealing with something that comes from the pit of hell, and you are inviting demonic influence into your life if you fool with it. The Bible says that sometimes Satan (and presumably other demons) masquerade as angels of light:

14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, ESV.)

In the context of this verse, “his servants” is about human beings who are trying to lead people astray. But if it is true about humans who have turned from God, it seems likely to be true about demons also. As we can see, the result of fooling around with this for Saul was dramatic and self-destructive. The Bible tells us everything we need to know about God and human nature. It doesn’t tell us everything in the universe there is to know. There are unresolved questions about supernatural things. But the Bible is clear about mediums and seances and so on: they are not for the people of God. It is like playing with explosives.

I also find some reminders here about religion. There are many people like Saul who go to church and talk the religious talk as a way to manipulate God or influence others. It became a way of life for Saul, and ultimately it destroyed him. God never gave up on him, but by his empty religious spirit, Saul took himself out of God’s jurisdiction. I hate religion. I love Jesus, but I hate religion. I think maybe God hates it too. Religion is about appearance and manipulation. Real faith is about surrendering your heart to the One who created you, and cares about you more than anyone else in the universe. Saul had plenty of religion. David had faith.

I also think there is a warning here about being willing to get results, no matter how. I remember, some years ago, hearing a fellow Christian talking about Madonna, the singer. Some of you might be too young to remember, but she started out with a “good girl” image. She didn’t get a lot of success that way. When she switched to being all about sex, she became wildly popular. My Christian friend said: “You gotta admire her for doing what it takes.” I don’t think so at all. We don’t have to admire that, and I think we shouldn’t. Sometimes there are things that are more important than getting the results we want.

Americans tend to be in favor of “whatever works.” Sometimes, that’s a good trait, but sometimes, it isn’t. If drugs and alcohol work to cheer me up, should I abuse them? If I’m unhappy in my marriage, should I have an affair? If I need more money, should I cheat and steal? “Whatever works” is a very dangerous philosophy to have. In the end it destroyed Saul.

There is also a caution here about how we view miracles. The Bible teaches us that they are real. I have personally seen miracles. I love it when God does them. But my faith does not depend on God continually doing more of them for me, and I know I cannot demand them from God whenever I choose. We sometimes think (like Mike and the Mechanics) that all we need is a miracle. Not so. All we need is the Lord, and to get him all we need is faith to believe he is there, and to trust him. Miracles are real, and great, but if we won’t trust God unless he keeps doing more miraculous things for us, I think we are in trouble. Jesus himself warned against that attitude.

I think there are many times when we get ourselves into situations like Saul’s. We come face to face with a problem. We can try to manage and control life ourselves; or we can trust the Lord and surrender to him. I pray that we make the second choice, not the first.

I guess the main message is the same message we hear over and over through scripture: Trust the Lord. Base that trust on his word and his promises, not on anything else. And base your life on the trust you have for Him.