Kendall Carter
BIBL 105- C01
Essay 2
For Crying Out Loud Hard times reveal the attributes of two types of men, men who try to take things into their own hands, or men who sit back and rely on God’s Hands. Within this paper, the lives of Samuel, Saul, David and Solomon reveal the types of men they were in the middle of hard times. Samuel was a leader chosen by God at a very young age. Samuel was not a king; he was a judge, and he saw God as the only king. The Israelites begged for another king, which made Samuel upset. He was afraid it was his fault that the people wanted a King because maybe he had failed or because his sons were Godless. Rather than taking it into his own hands, Samuel immediately went to the Lord with his fears. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.’ “ So Samuel listened to God’s word, but his warning against kings for the people to hear did not work as Samuel hoped. They still begged for a king so they would have someone to fight their battles for them. They wanted to be like other nations who had kings. Saul was elected because the Israelites looked on the outside appearances of man. The Bible says there was no one as handsome as he and he was a foot taller than the people. But Saul was not as well rounded in his faith as Samuel was. After winning a battle, rather than waiting on Samuel to come to make offerings to the Lord for the victory, Saul took things into his own hands and did it himself. Saul’s men had started leaving, as they were impatient waiting for the offering, so they began to go home. Saul forgot the battles belong to God and began worrying that he could not win the next battle without all his men, so chose to not wait for the Samuel to come at his pace. When Samuel arrived, he told Saul in 1 Samuel 13:13, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.” Saul displeased the Lord, which made Saul fearful. Fear consumed Saul as he kept relying on himself instead of relying on the Lord. Saul’s fear came from his pride. He took the glory from God and wanted it himself. When Saul went into battle after this, he did not have the power of the Lord, which ultimately led to his rejection. David, a man who did have the power of the Lord, became competition to Saul. David was a shepherd boy, but he knew all he had to do was rely on God’s power in battle. All the men, including Saul, were at battle with Goliath, a giant at about nine feet tall. They were afraid, as they knew they themselves could not conquer such a man. David did not once hesitate about losing against Goliath since he knew it was God’s battle and not his. David put all of his faith in God. In 1 Samuel 17: 37 David said to Saul, “ The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul granted him permission to fight Goliath. David was not as muscular as the other men, so when Goliath saw him, he was insulted that a shepherd boy was sent to fight him. When Goliath was not looking, David took his slingshot and shot a rock right at his temple. With this one shot from David, Goliath took his last breath. Saul was infuriated when he saw all the fame and honor bestowed upon David for this victory. Saul was fearful that David would take his