Lenten Perspective: Great Enough

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Great Enough

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death -

even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5-8 (NRSV)

But I need You to love me, and I

I won't keep my heart from You this time

And I'll stop this pretending that I can

Somehow deserve what I already have

From "I Need You to Love Me" by BarlowGirl

One day, Samuel, a prophet of God, approached Saul, the King of Israel, with orders.  Saul's mission was to lead the Israelite army in an invasion of Amelek, the land the Israelites' longtime enemies, and to ensure that nobody was left standing.  All of the Amalekites and their animals were to be annihilated.  Saul led his soldiers in the invasion, but he did not follow his orders completely.  The army slaughtered all of the Amalekites with the exception of their king, whom they took as a prisoner.  Saul also allowed his soldiers to take the best of the Amalekite's livestock as plunder so that they can offer them as sacrifices to God.¹

When Samuel learned that Saul has not followed orders, he went out to reprimand him, and he learned that Saul had set up a monument to himself.  When Samuel confronted Saul with his failure to do what he was told, Saul tried to argue that he did nothing wrong, but Samuel would hear none of it.  Samuel told Saul that his failure to follow orders had cost him his dynasty and that a new king would soon be chosen.²

"The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you." ~ 1 Samuel 15:28 (NRSV)

Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that this story is brutally violent and that the idea a supposedly loving and gracious God would command people to slaughter their enemies simply does not compute.  I will not try to reconcile this brutal story with the image of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ, but I will point out that both humanity's view of violence and humanity's understanding of God have changed over time.  These changes, I believe, are reflected in the arc of Scripture.  All of that said, I think that this story can serve as a case study from which we can glean some important lessons.

Basically, Saul had a job to do, and he failed to carry it out as he had been instructed.  Some would say that Saul's fatal flaw was disobedience, rebellion, or arrogance.  I think that maybe these character flaws were actually symptomatic of a much deeper problem.

I think that Saul was a very insecure man, and, as a result, he felt the need to puff himself up in the sight of others.

Consider the evidence.  Saul set up a monument to commemorate his victory.  He took the enemy king captive so that he could triumphantly parade him home as a trophy.  When his soldiers wanted to take the best of the sheep and cattle as spoils, he gave in to win their approval.  He planned to sacrifice the livestock as burnt offerings, perhaps to gain bonus points with God.

Saul didn't think very highly of himself, so he took a number of actions in an attempt to make himself look great, in the eyes of the people he led and even in the eyes of God.  Samuel said to Saul,
Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?  The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  And the Lord sent you on a mission...  Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?³
All of Saul's attempts to prove his own greatness were totally unnecessary, for God had already entrusted to him the great responsibility of leading God's people.

A person who compensates for his or her insecurity with arrogance has no business being a leader.  A leader is ultimately a servant who bears a responsibility to the people he or she leads, and such a role warrants humility.

Humility has nothing to do with regarding oneself as inferior to others.  C.S. Lewis defines humility as "self-forgetfulness."  Humble people don't think poorly of themselves: on those rare occasions when they do think of themselves, they think realistically.⁴  Truly humble people, I suspect, are immune to inferiority complexes.  They are so secure in who they are that they do not need to focus on who they are, and thus they are able to focus outward.

During the forty-day season of self-denial and repentance known as Lent, we remember that Jesus Himself retreated to the wilderness for forty days.  He knew that He had been put on this earth for a special purpose, to save His people, and during His time in the wilderness, the enemy tempted Him with various ways to become great in the eyes of His people.⁵  Immediately before journeying into the wilderness, Jesus went to the river to be baptized.  After He emerged from the water, He heard a Voice from Heaven say, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."⁶

I think that maybe this affirmation from God sustained Jesus during His time in the wilderness.  He was so secure in who He was and whose He was that he had no need for the things the enemy offered Him.

I believe that each of us has a purpose in life, and, if God would give us a purpose in life, then God must believe that we can fulfill our purpose.  How much greater do we need to be?  There is no reason for us to try to make a name for ourselves.  There is no reason to try to impress people.  There is no reason to try to win God's approval.  All we need to do is to humbly and boldly do whatever God has called us to do.  Perhaps, during this journey through the metaphorical wilderness we call Lent, we need to take time to remember who we are and whose we are, believing in the God who believes in us.


Notes:

1. 1 Samuel 15:1-9
2. 1 Samuel 15:10-31
3. 1 Samuel 15:17-19 (NRSV)
4. C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  ch. 14
5. Luke 4:1-13
6. Luke 3:21-22 (NRSV)

The image of Samuel's confrontation with Saul was painted by John Singleton Copley in 1798.