Tomorrow you wake up and go to battle. You’ve had some narrow escapes in past, but your gut knows this is not the one you’re going to walk away from. Your sons are beside you. They will share your fate, as will your nation. Everyone will be affected.

     Your name is King Saul.

     You should:

          A. Consult a priest?

          B. Consult a prophet?

          C. Ask David and his men to join you? Or…

          D. __________________?

     Possible results of:

• A. Your God speaks to you and advises you what to do to save lives through the priest, though sometimes you have to hear about course corrections you need to make to get your life back on track. It’s a small price to pay to save your life.
• • (Sadly, you’ve had one of your guys execute all the priests and everything in their village that breathed. So no option A…)
• B. The prophet consults with God, gives you strategy and a very concise plan that allows God to come and win the battle for you. The only price is that you can’t BS the prophet of God, he probably knows your motives better than you do. Be honest and everything will be OK.
• • (Sadly, Samuel the Prophet is dead. When he was alive, he wasn’t speaking to you anyways because of your incredibly stupid decision making and defiance of the very God who gave you the kingship to begin with.)
• C. David? Well, David could say “Get lost!” or “Ok. When and where? We’re in!”
• • (Sadly, you’ve been hunting David for years and trying to kill him. That sort of thing tends to add stress to relationships, but you’ll never know because you never asked him anyways.)

Wait, I missed option D. Silly me. King Saul apparently had one more option. He should:

          D. Ask his guys if they know any witches? Conceal his identity? Consult a witch who is skeptical of a trap because Saul and his men “has swept the country clean of mediums.”? Put her at ease by swearing solemnly on the name of God that nothing will happen to her? Have her perform a seance? Talk to the dead prophet Samuel and hope he will have something encouraging to say?

     Possible Outcome

• D. Saul finds out his guys knew where the witches were all along. Says “we were looking all over and you KNEW where they were? What the heck?” Saul uses God to make a promise that God couldn’t keep and Saul shouldn’t keep so the witch “feels more comfortable”. Saul partakes in witchcraft, literally “sells his soul to the devil”. Samuel appears and delivers the news Saul already fears. Game over.

You should read your bible more if you didn’t see this one coming. 1 Samuel 28 is the address. And you thought your life was weird…

     Why? How could such a capable man be that stupid?

     Maybe a better question is “When was the last time you reviewed your decision making?” Does stupid appear in your portfolio? Do you have a knack for making terrible mistakes at the worst possible times?

     How could this be?

     This is how. Rebellion is stupid. And stupid doesn’t listen.

     Rebellion is defined as the casting off of all authority and control.      All?      All!     It will rid you of something you need very very badly in your life:

The Specialist.

          No King David. No Priest. No Prophet. This eventually killed Saul. (Try this excellent book Leading With a Limp by Dan B. Allender)

     Kings: Create infrastructure, standards, procedures. These are the people in your life who call you to task when your own schedule and lack of concentration are killing you. They hate to see you continually prioritizing lesser stuff over greater. It doesn’t make sense and they will tell you so. “Are you winning?”

     Priests: Create mission, vision, values. These folks want to know why you’re behaving this way? Maybe you’re too busy to think about important questions like what is your purpose in this life? “Great opportunity! But what does that have to do with the vision for your life you told me you had? Sounds like a rabbit trail to me…”…. and other annoying conversations you don’t want to have.

     Prophets: Disrupt equilibrium through encounters with truth. Enough said? You feel off balance around these people. Status Quo is the enemy to greatness! Never settle! Don’t you dare try to sell these types of friends your excuses, they’ll laugh and throw them back at you. “Everyone else is doing what? I don’t care! YOU can do better. YOU can change!”

     Rebellion makes you stupid and stupid doesn’t listen to the specialists you’re supposed to surround yourself with. You will become your own specialist.

     First, you’ll get offended by one of the people God gave you to keep you grounded. You’ll isolate yourself a little. Then you will correct yourself about something fairly tough, and it’ll actually work the first time. You’ll think “Maybe I don’t need them after all! That will make you happier than it should. Next time, the issue won’t be as crucial, but you’ll still change your behaviour, cementing your suspicion that you could actually do it all by yourself. In a year’s time, if you’re honest (which you will have redefined by then and won’t be) you’d have to say that you don’t ever really do anything you don’t want to do anymore. Support it with some scripture and you’re set!

     Become your own king, priest and prophet! A man is the priest of his own home! (No he’s not by the way. You won’t find that in the bible, but my entire generation was told that! “kings and priests to our God” was what the Good Book said.) Isolate yourself and hope for the best! I’ve watched it over and over and over.

     Stupid becomes it’s own Specialist. But you’ll never fire yourself for a bad diagnosis.

     Stupid always thinks they’ll be the exception to the rule.

     But you won’t be. You can’t resist and defy ANY authority and control without biting the hand that feeds you.

     Rebellion just can’t help itself, it’s that stupid.