“You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you, if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.”
~ 1 Samuel 13:13
Hi James and Ellen,
How patient are you? How quickly do you get impatient? Patience is a good thing. Impatience is not a good thing. Patience is a balm to a relationship. Impatience is a burr to a relationship. Patience has time on its side. Impatience never has time on its side. Patience will be rewarded with merits. Impatience will be rewarded with demerits. Patience creates harmony. Impatience causes disharmony. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were asked by South American Mission to join their 1976 summer team that was scheduled to go to Colombia, South America. Because your grandpaa was the oldest guy on South America Mission’s Colombia 1976 summer team, the leader of the summer team – Will Penny, asked your grandpaa to share the driving duties with another guy on the summer team. Luke had been in Colombia the year before on South American Mission’s 1975 summer team. A field team missionary who was on Colombia’s South America Mission field team missionary told Will that he could use his small truck to take the 1976 summer team participants to the sites where Will had scheduled ministry activities in Barranquilla, Santa Marta and Maicoa. Shortly after South America Mission’s 1976 summer team arrived in Colombia, Will asked Luke to take in the truck the summer team participants – including your grandmaa and grandpaa, to a site and then back to the hotel where South America Mission’s 1976 Colombia summer team was staying. On the way back to the hotel, Luke began to drive – in your grandpaa’s mind, erratically and dangerously. Your grandpaa became particularly perturbed when Luke decided at the last moment to swerve off a street down into a dip and then back onto the street. Some of the summer team college age guys and gals thought that what Luke was doing was fun and exciting; your grandpaa thought that what Luther was doing was endangering lives. Just as soon as Luke got back at the hotel with his load of summer team participants, your grandpaa headed right for Luke and . . . after your grandpaa expressed his strong opinions to Luke about how he felt about Luke’s careless and risky driving, your grandmaa encouraged your grandpaa to look for Will – but to tell Will that your grandpaa had messed up when your grandpaa badly mishandled his emotions with Luke. After Will, Luke and your grandpaa talked, prayed and everything was okay and after Luke had walked away, Will mentioned to your grandpaa that he had been meaning to talk to Luke about the way that he had been driving. Because your grandpaa was already wishing that he had been patient with Luke, your grandpaa found himself being taught a life lesson – which your grandpaa is still trying to learn, which is that it is not worth it to let impatience or frustration take over his emotions and feelings.
Samuel in his Samuel Book – in 1 Samuel 13, recounts the results of an impatient decision that would change the lives of a people group of guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group of guys and gals, and the life of one guy – Saul – who was the first king who God appointed to rule over the Israelite people groups guys and gals. For some reason when God’s specially chosen guys overran the land of Canaan – the land area that God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . ., God did not have His specially chosen guys wipe out all the Philistine people group guys and gals. The Philistine people group guys became a real nemesis to God’s specially chosen guys and gals. When Saul took on the king job, Saul decided to take on the Philistine people group guys in a battle. Samuel promised Saul God’s help if he would wait seven days for him to show up at where he was waiting and that he – being a priest, would make a burnt offering to God – which would then have God helping him eradicate the Philistine people group guys and gals. Saul began his fight against the Philistine people group guys with 3000 guys. When Saul’s kid Jonathan overran the Philistine outpost that was located in Geba, battle lines were drawn. Saul sent a message throughout Israel’s land area – telling his fellow Israelite people group guys that he had begun a battle against their archenemy Philistine people group guys and that he needed their help. The Philistine people group guys in the meantime mobilized their armed forces – which were composed of 3000 chariots, 6000 charioteers and so many foot soldiers that they could not be counted. When God’s specially chosen guys saw what they were facing, the guys turned into cowards. The guys hid in caves, thickets, pits, cisterns and among rocks. When Saul saw what his fellow people group guys were doing – running scared from the Philistine people group’s army of guys, and when Samuel did not show up in Gilgal when he said that he would, Saul’s patience ran out and he decided that he would offer up the burnt offering to God. Just as Saul finished playing priest by offering up the burnt offering to God, Samuel showed up on the scene. After letting Saul make the excuses that he felt that he did not have any choice but to make the burnt offering to God because of the massive Philistine people group army of guys having set up their base camp close by at Micmash and because of the mass desertions of his guys making the situation for him really critical and untenable, Samuel tells Saul in verse 13, ““You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you, if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.”
Saul ultimately won this battle against the Philistine people group guys but . . . Saul’s impatient action resulted in Saul sullying his legacy and acerbated his disintegrating relationship with God. Even though your grandpaa and Luke became friends, their friendship will always have a scar. A scar is a reminder of a time when real pain was felt.
1 Samuel 13 (644)