Responding to Bad Situations

I Samuel 11:6 “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.”

Different people react differently to a given situation. Take snow, for instance. Here in Tennessee, snow is not unheard of, but it is not commonplace. Take someone from the North and put them in snow, and they will feel comfortable and “right at home.” Take a life-long South Floridian and put them in snow, and you have an entirely different feeling! The truth is, people respond differently to the same situation.

Saul had just been anointed king; but as his life illustrates, a good beginning does not dictate a good ending. How many affirming sermons about the life of Saul have you ever heard? I suspect you have not heard many, if any at all. But we can learn how to respond to bad situations by Saul’s example in I Samuel 11.

The children of Israel had taken the initiative to surrender to Nahash the Ammonite (verse 1). In response to a bad situation, they ran up the “white flag” of surrender: they were wimps. At the very prospect of trouble, they were ready to throw their hands up in defeat.

In verse 4, some messengers came with bad news, and we see the second response to bad situations: they were weapers. You do not have to respond to bad news by thinking that the sky is falling. You may not naturally be optimistic, but you do not have to live in despair, either.

Saul illustrated the third response to bad situations: he was a warrior. The “Spirit of God came upon him,” and he sent out a direct and forceful message to the children of Israel in verse 7. There is a time for anger-righteous anger-but notice that it was God’s anger that came after God’s Spirit. God inspired the anger, and Saul inspired the fear of God in the people.

What transpired was a great battle (verse 11) and a great victory for the children of Israel. Saul was not great-he was God-empowered. After the victory, however, we can also see a pitfall to avoid. The people wanted to execute the naysayers, but Saul said, “There shall not a man be put to death this day: for to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.” In other words, one response does not fit all situations. There is a right and proper time to respond as a warrior; and there is a wrong and unfitting time to respond in like kind.

Different people respond differently to a given situation. When faced with a bad situation, how will you respond? Will you surrender at the outset like a wimp? Will you be a weaper and live in despair any time there is adversity? Or will you respond as a warrior with God’s power and the fear of God? A wimp, a weaper, or a warrior-which one are you?