Footnotes:
Saul was tall, handsome, strong, rich, and powerful, but all of this was not enough to make him someone we should emulate.
He was tall physically, but he was small in Gods eye's.
He was handsome, but his sin made him ugly.
He was strong, but his lack of faith made made him weak.
He was rich, but he was spiritually bankrupt.
He could give orders to many, but he couldn't command their respect or allegiance.
Saul looked good on the outside, but he was decaying on the inside.
A right relationship with God and a strong character are much more valuable than a good-looking exterior.
Saul faced death the same way he faced life. He took matters into his own hands without thinking of God or asking for his guidance. If our lives aren't the way we would like them to be now, we can't assume that change will come more easily later. When nearing death, we will respond to God the same way we have been responding all along. Coming face to face with death only shows us what we are really like. How do you want to face death? Start facing life that way right now.
Saul's death was also the death of an ideal -- Israel could no longer believe that having a king like the other nations would solve all their troubles. The real problem was not the form of government, but the sinful king. Saul tried to please God by spurts of religiosity, but real spirituality takes a lifetime of consistent obedience.
Heroic spiritual lives are built by stacking days of obedience one on top of the other. Like a brick, each obedient act is small in itself, but in time the acts will pile up, and a huge wall of strong character will be built -- a great defense against temptation. We should strive for consistent obedience each day.
10 books!
There are 66 books in the Bible and we have now read 10 of them!!
Keep reading -- 272 days left!
All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV
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