Heart Over Hype: Unresolved Outcomes

Use this curriculum to help you further engage with the sermon, the scriptures, and each other. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring things up to encourage and guide you so that you are always growing in your faith. If the Spirit leads you away from these questions and into conversation and prayer that encourages and points you to Jesus, go for it.

scripture

Read the following scriptures together: 1 Samuel 13.

overview

For most of Chapter 13, Saul is doing whatever is right in his own eyes; making hasty decisions, provoking the neighboring military power, and endangering the lives of others. Never once does he seek wisdom from God before acting. And when he finally decides he wants God’s help to get out of a desperate situation, he impatiently takes things into his own hands again in another attempt for favorable circumstances.

question 1

Saul’s mindset seems perfectly in line with the popular expression: “If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.” Can you think of a time when you refused the help and wisdom of others because you preferred to do a task yourself?

discussion

When Samuel confronts Saul, he begins with a simple question: “What have you done?” Like a good parent, Samuel gives Saul the space needed for self-examination with the goal of repentance and restoration, following God’s example in the garden of Eden when God asked Adam and Eve: “Where are you?”. If Saul responded to Samuel with humility and said, “I have acted foolishly!” things may have played out differently for his life and legacy. But instead, he takes the opportunity to justify why his actions were right and decides to shift the blame onto others, much like the story in the garden in Genesis 3.

question 2

It’s a tale as old as time. Why do you think we as humans have such a hard time admitting to our failures?

The biggest tragedy of Chapter 13 is not Saul’s inability to wait for Samuel to arrive, or his hasty offering of a sacrifice to God, or the many other foolish decisions that affected the lives of others. The real tragedy of this story is Saul’s misconception of who God is. Saul is still treating God like the pagan deities of the surrounding nations, where a king can act however he wishes and then offer a sacrifice to appease the gods and win their favor in times of need. Samuel says it plainly, this is not the kind of relationship God is interested in with his people. He tells Saul instead, “The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.”

question 3

What does it mean to be a person who is “after God’s own heart?” How might that perspective change the way we pray?

weekly application

The tragedy of Saul’s rejection of God’s heart is also a story about the human need for control. Ironically for Saul and for us, “taking control” never actually leads to having control. This week, practice praying with open hands in a posture of releasing control back to God, as you commit to becoming a person who is “after God’s own heart.”