“Yehovah resists the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6
Yehovah was grieved when the Israelites asked Him to give them a king to reign over them, like the surrounding nations who all had kings. Until then, they had only judges to help keep order and resolve disputes between them. Besides that, the people did what was right in their own eyes, with priests leading them in spiritual matters. Though Yehovah was reluctant to put another tier of authority between Himself and His people, He conceded to their pleas and gave Samuel the job of locating and anointing the best candidate. Soon after, when Saul was in the fields looking for his father’s donkeys, he was met by Samuel. We see in 1 Samuel 9:21 that Saul’s response was “Am not I a Benjamite, the smallest tribe of Israel and my family the least family in the tribe? So why are you speaking to me about this?” He was shocked that Yehovah had chosen him as Israel’s first king.
Over the following years Saul’s heart changed. We see him making crazy and unwise decisions, like choosing not to destroy the Amalekites’ king, Agag, and keeping the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Yehovah, both decisions contrary to Yehovah’s instruction. Besides his disobedience, sacrificing was the priests’ job, not the king’s. Obviously, Saul now felt he was qualified to ignore Yehovah’s commandments and make his own mind up on things. Samuel’s response was “When you were small in your own eyes, Yehovah anointed you king of Israel” Saul had gone from being the humble ‘finder of the donkeys’ to overriding Yehovah’s commandments to him. As a result, he lost both the anointing and his job as king of Israel. Are you still as small in your own eyes as when you came to Yeshua; weak, helpless and needy, or have you abandoned your humility, preferring to rule over your own kingdom? If so, it is time to repent.