Fall on His Righteousness

"There is no one righteous, not even one..” Romans 3:10. Did I just hear you say “ouch?” I know I said it…and say it every time I read this. Ouch indeed. I thought the subject of righteousness would be pertinent in talking about the life of Saul. I’ve been spending a good deal of time in the book of 1 Samuel. In reading about the life of Saul, I can say without a doubt that you and I have a lot more in common with Saul than we’d care to admit. Did I hear you say “ouch” again? Well, I said it again too. Now I am not saying we are identical to Saul, but if we don’t watch our step we very well could find ourselves walking down a dark road of self-righteousness.

Saul was hand picked by God to fill the role of king for the Israelites. The entire story of how Saul happened upon Samuel to be anointed as king could only have been authored by the only perfect Author. A lost donkey of his father’s led Saul to Samuel and rather than finding the donkey, Saul found his role as king. Early on in Saul’s reign as king he did great things. He led the Israelites to defeats and appeared, at least on the surface, to be a strong man of God. Soon, though, Saul’s true colors shined through.
1 Samuel 13:8-13
He (Saul) waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

“What have you done?” asked Samuel.
Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.” So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.

Saul began to rely on his on intuition, on his own righteousness. Rather than wait the full appointed time God had given him through Samuel, Saul decided to jump on it…and possibly just a few moments too soon. Had he trusted the Lord to come through, had he trusted in God’s righteousness, he would have waited just a few more moments to see Samuel approach. This happens so often in our lives. I know it happens in mine. We get to a place where we see God moving and yet we don’t like the speed at which He is moving, so rather than relying on His righteousness, we lean on our own. Inevitably we fall because as was said in Romans, none of us is righteous. Later on in 1 Samuel, Saul doesn’t fully keep the Lord’s command when defeating Amalekites. As Samuel rebukes him he begs and pleads for forgiveness, but at this moment it is too late. Once again Saul leaned on his own righteousness and didn’t trust in the Lord’s.

I wish I could say it got better for Saul, but it didn’t. His living in self righteousness continued for the rest of his life. He grew angry, bitter, untrusting, and unredeemable because by embracing his own righteousness, he rejected the Lord’s. Isaiah 64:6 says this about self-righteousness:
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

We must fall on the Lord’s righteousness if we are to fully live the life God has intended for us. Jesus said it best when he said “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33. We must seek first the Lord and His righteousness if we are to live a life fully alive. God’s desire is for us to be fully alive. In the end Saul fell on his own righteousness, which ultimately was the end of his own sword. Saul took his own life and so ended the reign of Saul. What had begun with such potential ended in somewhat of a mess. God’s desire for us is to pursue Him with reckless abandon. When we pursue him like this we are made fully alive and the Lord is glorified. St. Irenaeus said it this way: "The glory of God is man fully alive." I too believe this to be true, but the only way to fully be alive is to embrace the fact that we are not righteous, our righteousness is found in the Lord, and that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead for us. Death’s sting has been removed and we can now be made fully alive. Lean on God’s righteousness and live the life He’s created for you.