The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 118: King Saul Despairs (2023)

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Fr. Mike reflects on King Saul's despair in the face of trial, and how he seeks other means of comfort when he feels like God has abandoned him. God never abandons us, especially in the midst of danger. Fr. Mike invites us to place our trust in God's promise, instead of resorting to sinful acts. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 27-28 and Psalm 34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds, and how we fit into that story today. It is day 118. We have two days left, including today for 1 Samuel before we jump into 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. We're reading two chapters from 1 Samuel today. It is 1 Samuel

chapter 27 and 28. We're also praying Psalm 34. That's treinta y cuatro for those Spanish speakers who know how to speak Spanish numbers, but we'll be reading this in English. Speaking of the translation of which you'll be reading is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. Speaking of Spanish Bibles, actually, this is not, no one told me to say this. I am literally looking on my bookshelf and I can see the Spanish version of the Great Adventure Bible. So if you are someone who are more accustomed to reading scripture in Spanish, they do have a Spanish Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You also can subscribe in your podcast app to receive daily

episodes. And this, if you had done this, would be your 118th freely delivered to your place where you listen to podcasts day in a row. Does that make sense? Day 118, we're reading 1 Samuel 27 and 28, and we're praying Psalm 34. 1 Samuel chapter 27. David goes to King Akshish in Gath. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.

There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand. So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Akshish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Akshish in Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he sought for him no more. Then David said to Akshish, If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me

in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So that day Akshish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. Now David and his men went up and made raids upon the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as sure to the land of Egypt. And David struck the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and came back to Akshish. When Akshish asked, Against whom have you made a raid today?

David would say, Against the Negev of Judah, or against the Negev of the Jeremelites, or against the Negev of the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, thinking, lest they should tell about us and say, so David has done. Such was his custom all the while he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. And Akshish trusted David, thinking, he has made himself utterly abhorred by his people Israel. Therefore he shall be my servant always. Chapter 28. In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. And Akshish said to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. David said to Akshish, to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.

David said to Akshish, Very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And Akshish said to David, Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Saul consults a medium at Endor. Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the wizards out of the land. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 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 Endor. So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. The woman said to him, Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death? But Saul swore to her by the Lord, As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul. The king said to her, Have no fear. What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth. He said to her, Have no fear, what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth. He said to her, What is his appearance? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the

ground and did obeisance. Then Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David. 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. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell at once full length upon the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, Behold, your handmaid has listened to you. I have taken my life in my hand, and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore you also listen

to your handmaid. Let me set a morsel of bread before you, and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way. He refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it, and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. Psalm 34. Praise for deliverance from trouble. A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out and he went away. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him and be radiant, so that your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O sons, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and covets many days that he may enjoy good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we honor you today. And we thank you.

Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for making us a body and soul. Thank you for giving us life and breath in this, in this world that you have created this world. You have made good at this world. That is good, but unsafe. This world that's good, but, but has been broken in this heart, these hearts of ours that are good, but broken Lord God, we ask you to come into the brokenness because all those things that you make are good, even though they have been broken, you still love us. Even though we are broken, you still love us. And even though this world is broken,

you still love it and you still can redeem it. You have redeemed it by the sacrifice, the life, the death, and the resurrection of your son. You've sent your Holy Spirit upon this world, this broken but good world, so that it may be holy, that we may be holy. Help us live a life consecrated to you this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Wow, so here we are. Gosh, the last of chapters here are in 1 Samuel 27 and 28. Not only do we hear the story of King David and well, sorry, not yet King David, but David, who's on the run. He's leaving. He's so much on the run that what does he do? He goes and lives among King Akshish of Gath. And remember that these are people who are the enemies of Israel. And so here is David who's willing to live among them, the citizens of Gath, to the land of the Philistines. And one of the things we're going to see in the last couple of chapters of 1 Samuel, which is tomorrow, the last two chapters of 1 Samuel, is that the Philistines don't trust him, but King Akshish does trust David. And he trusts him because even though

David goes on these raids and he goes to raid the people of the Amalekites. He raids the Geshurites. He raids the Gerzites. He tells King Akshish that he is raiding the people of Israel. He's telling them. And so here is King Akshish who's like, oh my gosh, yeah, absolutely. David is now on our side irrevocably because of the fact that he has burned his bridges. This one who was anointed king of Israel, he's now fighting against Israel. They will never, ever take him back. And so King Akshish completely trusts him. Meanwhile, back in the camp, meanwhile,

back in Israel, the Philistines are mounting a massive army against King Saul and Saul, who has been abandoned by God here when it comes to leading his people. He has given, he's been given no certainties when it comes to leading his people, he does what so many of us do. When God is silent, he turns to something other than God to have certainty. He turns to something other than God to have some kind of sense of what should I do next. And what he does is he consults a medium, right? He consults what some translations will say a seer or basically a witch, the witch of Endor or the medium of Endor. Now Saul had in the past prohibited this wizards and prohibited mediums

throughout the land. And yet here he is so desperate. And this can be us too, right? You know, there can be a time when we recognize, okay, this is the wrong thing to do, but then we get so desperate that we're willing to even do the thing we know has been completely prohibited. We know this is not where I should be, but out of fear. And this is this reality, right? So that's one of the reasons why we can hear these stories. We can read the story of King Saul and we can realize that I'm not seeing in Saul someone I cannot commiserate with. I'm not seeing in Saul someone I can't relate to. What I'm seeing in Saul is someone just like myself that, yeah, oh my gosh, I know right and wrong. And yet when I'm in a place of fear, a place of insecurity, a place of just desperation, yeah, doing the wrong thing can be very, very appealing.

And that's what he does. He does the wrong thing. He consults the medium to call it, bring up the prophet Samuel. And the thing that's sometimes shocking for people is that the medium actually is able to connect with Samuel. Now, why is this shocking to us is because sometimes we have grown accustomed to thinking, well, that's not real. We've grown accustomed to thinking like, well, no, I mean, mediums are a bunch of charlatans. They're, they're just, you know, it's hoax. It's, uh, it's all just fake. And there might be mediums that are fake. There might be those that are know, it's hoax. It's all just fake. And there might be mediums that are fake. There might be those that are just, it's complete a hoax, it's complete hoax.

And yet we recognize that the spiritual world is incredibly real. It is just as real, if not more real than the material world. And so the recognition is, nope, Samuel was separated from his body, right? His soul was separated from his body because his body was buried at Ramah, as it says. But Samuel was still very his body, right? His soul was separated from his body because his body was buried at Ramah, as it says. But Samuel was still very much in existence. His soul is very much in existence, separated from his body, which means ghost, right? That's what a ghost is, is a soul that's been separated from the body of the person. And so we have, we can have this temptation to have recourse to this thing called necromancy.

Necromancy is communicating with the dead, and that is completely forbidden both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, in the age of the church. That communication with the dead is completely forbidden when it comes to seeking out divination. So here's what the catechism says about this whole thing. It says, beginning in catechism 2115, it's under the commandment about not having any other gods before the Lord God. 2115 says that God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. God can do that. Yeah, absolutely. Still, it says, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of providence for whatever concerns

the future. So basically, just still the Christian attitude, yep, yep, God can reveal the future, prophets or other saints, but the Christian attitude means that I put myself confidently into the hands of God himself for whatever concerns the future, giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. That's so good, giving up all unhealthy curiosity about the future.

Now, on the other hand, improvidence can constitute a lack of responsibility, like taking no care of the future can constitute a lack of responsibility. Like no taking no care of the future can constitute a lack of responsibility. So here's what we do. We have this freedom where we can put ourselves trustingly into the Lord's hands, knowing that yep, he is the God of all time. He's the God of all everything. At the same time, we have to also be concerned and aware of the fact that this moment, while this moment is the most important moment, sometimes the job of this moment is to prepare for the next

moment. Sometimes the task of this day is to prepare for tomorrow. And so we only do the task of today, but sometimes again, as I said, the task of today is to prepare for tomorrow. And so there's this, this dual, like such a balance of, yep, I trust in the Lord right now. I don't, I don't have an, I don't want to have an unhealthy curiosity about the future. And at the same time, I am aware of the fact that the task of right now might be, might be to prepare for then goes on to say a 21, 16, all forms of divination are to be rejected. So this is what Saul did. He was appealing to this medium to try to get an answer that God was not giving.

It goes on to say, Recourse to Satan or demons conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to unveil the future, consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums, all, all are wrong, and they all conceal the desire for power over time, history, and mediums, all, all are wrong. And they all conceal the desire for power over time, history, and in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. And they contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. Now, this is so remarkable is that I remember talking with someone and they were saying that, oh, my mom made me get rid of all my books on tarot cards. And she doesn't understand. It's just silly. It's just fun. And I remember speaking

with her and thinking, oh, your mom, I'm glad your mom made you get rid of your books on your tarot card books because the church doesn't condemn those things because they are a waste of your time or because they're just silly. It's because they're actually dangerous. There's actually power there. When the church condemns here, horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, clairvoyance, recourse to mediums, all these things, we recognize that there, yes, there's a spiritual world and the spirits are not all good, right? There are spirits who live in God's presence, angels, absolutely.

But there are also spirits who have rejected God's presence? Angels? Absolutely. But there are also spirits who have rejected God's presence. They've rejected God's lordship. And those spirits are not to be messed with. That's what we're messing with when we consult horoscopes or astrology or palm reading or interpretation of omens and lots, that we're dealing with something, but we were having a recourse to something or someone other than God himself. And someone could say, yeah, but I got healing here or I got an answer here. And I would have to say, absolutely. You might have done that, but you got it from the wrong source.

This is something that this chapter for Samuel reveals to us. The medium doesn't pretend that she can conjure Samuel up. He actually gets conjured up and it is to Saul's detriment. The same thing is true for anyone who would call upon a medium or a horoscope or a Ouija board or any of those kinds of things. If that's been part of your life, my invitation, my, my, my beg you, please get rid of those things, burn them, throw them away and get to confession. Be restored to the Lord because it is a serious, serious violation of the first commandment. And, and even more, well, not even

more, but just as much it's placing your own eternal soul in great, great jeopardy in great, great risk. And so I know that's really heavy, but it's right from the Bible here. First Samuel chapter 28, where this happens. And what's the consequence for Saul is that you'll die tomorrow, Prophet Samuel says to Saul. And this kind of thing spiritually kills us. And so again, you don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be afraid because Jesus Christ conquers everything. But we do have to make a point of definitely turning away from all sources of evil like this and turning back to the Lord, repenting, going to confession if we have the chance and getting rid of all traces of those things in our lives. Again, heavy topic today on day 118. At the same time, what a gift to be able to be called higher. What a gift to be able to realize that there is a spiritual world out there that we're part of. At the same time,

we need to trust in the Lord more than anything else, even when he's silent and not to take the control over the future in our own hands. I know it's hard and this world is difficult and this life is difficult. And that's why we keep praying for each other. And please pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.