Comfort or Challenge

1 Samuel 28:4–7 (ESV) The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”

Saul's life closes out in sad fashion. We see him a victim of his own devices. He wants God's help as his enemies surround him. The fact is, he has been running from God for quite some times. He has killed a whole city of priests and chased away his greatest ally, David. 

Now he's desperate and he's willing to break his own law to get help from anywhere he can find it. Here he will elicit the help of a medium - a profession he banned from the land in the first place. 

The Chronicler will record Saul's error here.
1 Chronicles 10:13–14 (ESV) So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. 14 He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

Now this passage seems to repudiate in some way what we see here in 1 Samuel 28. After all, verse 6 says, "when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him." But 1 Chronicles suggests "he did not seek guidance from the Lord." Ah, but there's a HUGE difference between seeking the help of the Lord and seeking the guidance of the Lord.

This is what I have discovered after 20 years of ministry leadership. People more often seek God's comfort than God's direction. You might think there's no difference. But there is. The comfort of the Lord is what we need when life is a mess and we feel broken and hurt and beaten down by events or others around us. Mind you, the Lord God is, as Paul says, "the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1). I will never fault anyone for seeking God's help. He is "a very present help in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

What we fail to realize though is that going to God ONLY for comfort is not actually trusting God with our lives. It is not faith. It is hope. It is desire. But it is temporary. When comfort comes, many people fall away shortly thereafter. They got the job, the income increase, the spouse, the child, the prayer answered - and off they go into the life they really wanted. Not life with God where they listen and obey His voice. No, the life they were aiming at before discomfort came.

This is the problem of ONLY seeking God's comfort. Saul ignored the Lord's command again and again. He became more and more evil. He turned on his son, on Samuel, on David. He listened to no one all this time and he finds himself the victim of his own errors. So when the Lord withdraws he goes to the most questionable place to find guidance - a medium.

Interestingly the medium works. She conjures up Samuel. There are spiritual powers that operate apart from the good and pure work of the Lord and we must be careful to "test the spirits." When Samuel is awoken he reminded Saul of the harsh realities of his past:
1 Samuel 28:18 (ESV) Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

Remember Saul spared the best of the sheep and livestock from that event. He also spared the Amalek king Agag. What was he looking for in that act of disobedience? Personal comfort.

This was Saul's life-long aim. He was a comfort junkie. He used the Lord to get what he wanted instead of seeking to know what the Lord wanted for him and from Him. This is trading conversion for a comfort-centered life. It is not Christianity. It does not last. 

What must we do? Seek God's Word. Even when it's uncomfortable. Do what He says even when it costs you. The Lord rewards every man for his faithfulness and righteousness.