Be Salty

 

I had the following conversation with my youngest (3.5 years old) the other day, and I thought I would share it with you because it got me thinking:

Jo: Mommy, I don't want to go to heaven.

Me: (surprised, because we have had a lot of good conversations about heaven since my dad passed) Why?

Jo: Because Salt is there.

Me: Salt?...Do you mean Satan? (We had just been talking about Satan the day before). 

Jo: No, Salt!

Me: ...Do you mean King Saul?

Jo: Yeah. I'm scared of him.

Me: You don't have to be afraid of him.

Jo:...Will our house go to heaven when we die?

Me: No, we will have a new house in heaven.

Jo: Will there be guns in our new house?

Me: Why do you want guns?

Jo: So we can kill Salt.

Me: We won't need to kill him. If he is in heaven that means he is a good guy because he is with Jesus. 

The following day Jo told me that he wasn't scared to go to heaven because of Salt anymore. The fear of salt is called halophobia, and apparently Jo is cured now. This conversation certainly made me chuckle, but it also was a reminder to me that Jesus is always the answer to conquering our fears. 

It also made me think about King Saul's story. He is actually one of my favorite characters of the Old Testament. That may be hard to believe because he really did some wicked things in his lifetime, but when you look closer at his story you see a very complicated person who had some really good qualities as well.

When we first meet Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 9 we find him searching for his father's lost donkeys. Not a halfhearted search, mind you, but a very extensive one. The Bible is specific about the areas he covered and the distance comes to an estimated 35 miles and three days on foot looking for those donkeys. In my imagination, I see Saul as a young man, but he was actually 30 years old when he became king, which means that he had a wife and children that he left behind in order to obey his father's command. He understands that after three days his father will be worried about him, so he decides to turn back. His servant tells him about a man of God who could help them, so he is willing to talk to Samuel.

Resilience. Faithfulness. Obedience. Consideration. Faith. These aren't attributes we connect to the demon-possessed, spear throwing picture of a man that usually pops into our heads when we think of King Saul, are they? But it's all right there in the story. As we read on we find that Saul is anointed by Samuel, given a new heart by God, and prophesies with a company of prophets. 

The Spirit of God was so heavy on Saul that everyone who heard him was amazed. "Who is this guy?" they wondered, "He doesn't come from a special family. Can just anyone be a prophet now?" (1 Sam 10:11-12). 

Even though Saul was wealthy, tall, and handsome, he wasn't known by everyone. Actually, "Is even Saul a prophet?" became a catch phrase during that time. Sounds kind of embarrassing to me.

Have you ever had someone judge you by how you look, who your family is, or where you live? Doesn't feel really great, does it? I imagine part of Saul's insecurities started with people disbelieving that he could be a prophet based on where he came from and who his family was. Saul isn't the only one in the Bible who faced these difficulties. Jesus is the best example of someone who went through the same thing (remember that a common phrase during his time on earth was "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"). Jesus endured it better than Saul, but we still find that he did not do many miracles in Nazareth because of their lack of faith (Matt 12:58). 

Was it the people's unbelief that made Saul think he needed to hide when it came time for his public anointing? Or was it the pressure of what being a king would mean? In 1 Samuel 8:10-20 we can read God's warning of what having a king would entail for the Israelite people. In Deuteronomy 17:14-20 we read the guidelines for a king. Had Saul heard all these things? We don't know why he hid, the Bible doesn't tell us, but I think it was just plain and simple fear. And if we look at Saul's life, we can see where fear caused most of his problems.

- He was afraid that God would not take care of him and his men, which led to disobedience.

- He was terrified and his heart trembled when Goliath and the Philistines came against his people.

- He was afraid of David's popularity and success, so much so that he tried to kill David, his best warrior and son-in-law.

- He was afraid that God's priests were conspiring against him so he had them killed.

- His fear caused him to consult a witch, which was wicked and forbidden. 

- In the end, his fear even brought him to try to end his life by suicide.

From worse, to worse, to worse. It's a very sad story. And I think we get a clue as to why Saul let this fear rule him in the rebuke that Samuel gave him in 1 Samuel 15:17. Samuel says to him, "Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel?" 

Low self esteem, that is what Samuel is addressing here. Saul didn't realize the power that he had, the power that God had given him. He didn't value that God had created him for his purpose and trust that God could work mightily through him. 

There is of course a problem in thinking too highly of yourself (pride), we all know that, but do we realize that thinking too lowly of ourselves can be a problem, too? How can God use us if we don't believe we are capable of doing the great things He has asked us to do? I think it's pretty safe to say that low self-esteem could also be called low God-esteem. You can't exactly esteem God if you think He did a poor job of creating you, can you? How can the Holy Spirit work with that lack of faith?

Back to Saul. I would really love you to read 1 Samuel 11. It's a short but encouraging story of what can happen when you are filled with the Holy Spirit and moving in that power. It is one of my favorite Saul stories. It's a really good story!

Another lesson we can learn from Saul is that it's not enough for God to change your heart one time. We have the positive stories of God working through Saul, but because he didn't stay connected to God's power his story keeps heading downhill and ends in tragedy. It's a reminder that if we want to have a relationship with God, it needs to be a daily thing.

These verses are some of my favorites, and it's because of the reminder to fix your heart on the things above and not on the things of this earth. Fear and insecurity are of this earth, God does not want those for you. Confidence and victory are your portion! If Saul had chosen to do this every day, his stories would have ended like 1 Samuel 11. And even if he had lost some battles, he would have known that his focus was in the right place. 

Every time I reach into my spice cupboard I am reminded of King "Salt". Jesus used salt in a metaphor to encourage His followers to change the world. Salt is essential for life. It preserves, flavors, and stands out from everything else. We are the salt of the earth. Fix your heart on Jesus and go out and be salty!

You are worth your salt.

Much Love,

Lee