OUR LORD WHOSE PROTOCOLS MUST BE FOLLOWED

1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 4 says this;

So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

The setting described here is where the Philistine army and the Israelite army were squaring off and taking positions when Jonathan, Saul's son, led an attack on a Philistine outpost which ratcheted up the tensions between the two armies.

Saul, king of the Israelites, relayed messages back to the people of Israel alerting them to the fact that the war with the Philistines had escalated and that they were now going to be targets of the Philistine military.

Saul summoned the people of Israel to come to Gilgal which further escalated  tensions and the Philistines bolstered their numbers of men and chariots to counter Israel. 

Now, Israel were waiting for their prophet Samuel to arrive to bring the blessing of God to the army of Israel before the battle began but Samuel did not arrive on the allotted day and Saul's discouraged army began to scatter.

Saul had accelerated the pace of the military buildup by having a Philistine outpost attacked and then sending out inflammatory news back to Israel to raise his profile and also to cause panic.

This deliberate acceration of war by Saul  may have caused Samuel to be delayed in arriving at Gilgal but the result was that Saul himself, flustered, carried out the sacrifice that Samuel should have performed. As a result of this blunder, Saul lost his anointing of the kingship over Israel which was handed to David son of Jesse.

Saul's plan of forcing the hand of Israel by triggering a skirmish and then sending back exagerated news of the Philistine's pending reaction was a tactical error that we should take heed of. 

We should always undertake and correctly conclude spiritual requirements prior to triggering events that will cascade unpredictably forcing decisions that will have eternal ramifications.

Amen.