Most Christians know the story of how David was anointed king as a young shepherd boy. In contrast, I don’t believe that everyone really knows how the man that preceded David as king, Saul, came to be king. I know that up until recently I didn’t really know the full back story   I honestly had never paid much attention to that part of the story. However, the other day, it occurred to me that both Saul and David had been anointed king. I wanted to know more about what caused Saul to lose his anointing.

It really is sad how most Christians, myself included, have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to King Saul. We know the part of the story of how he lost his anointing and was trying to kill the “man after God’s own heart”, David. But we tend to forget that in order for someone to lose an anointing, they must have been anointed to begin with. The moment that occured to me, it made me desperate to not repeat that pattern in my own life.

We all know that David came from a family who owned sheep. Did you know that Saul also came from a ranching family? His father had donkeys. One day those donkeys wandered off and Saul’s father, Kish, sent Saul and his servant to go find them. On that journey, Saul ended up meeting the Prophet Samuel and was anointed as the first King of Israel. (See 1 Samuel 9 and 10). It is really an incredible story of how God aligned several circumstances and key meetings to place this young donkey rancher into the position as king.  Saul really was hand picked by God. My favorite part of the story is that when it came time for Saul to be officially named as king, he went and hid. He wasn’t always prideful like what he became when he lost his anointing.

Saul reigned for forty years with apparently no issues. God was with him and he was successful. However, around the 40th year of his reign, he started to go his own way. God would speak through the prophet Samuel to Saul, and he started making slight turns down his own path. The first issue came when Samuel told Saul to wait to offer the sacrifice to the Lord until he arrived, and Saul wasn’t patient enough to wait. The final straw was when God gave Saul specific instructions about dealing with their enemies, the Amalekites, and he followed only the part of the instructions he wanted to follow. That was the moment he lost his anointing. What I find interesting is that even though he lost his anointing, he remained King for a time. God allowed Saul to stay in a position of power, He just was not with him. If you know the story, Saul rapidly descended into a state of suspicion, jealousy, and hatred.

The striking thing about Saul is that he is not remembered for his humble, God-fearing beginning. Rather, he is remembered for his hatred and jealousy. His legacy is not a positive one. As a leader he started out great. He was humble and hand-picked by God. In the end, God regretted placing him as king (see 1 Samuel 15:35). We must all strive to be like the leader Saul was in the beginning. We must not only start humble, we must all continue to be humble in whatever position we may be placed in. James 4:6 tells us“God opposes the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.”  When we remain humble, trusting and following God, he will show us tremendous favor. However, when we start trusting in ourselves and “fudging” on what we know God is asking us to do, He will not only remove that favor, scripture tells us He will actually oppose us.