When All You've Got is Potential

Introduction (1 Samuel 8-9)

Famous People vs Known

Have you ever been asked about someone that you didn’t know very well? Maybe it is someone that you met a few times, but frankly you just didn’t talk to much or just didn’t spend time with.

I am going to mention a name, and you will call out the first word or phrase that comes to your mind.

Famous People:

George Washington

Julie Andrews

Abraham Lincoln

Elon Musk

Michael Jordan

Audrey Hepburn

Oprah

Let’s get more personal:

Mom

Dad

Teacher

Pastor

Friend

Thought: When reading the Bible, we often forget we are talking about real people

Now for some of these people, you probably just know them from their accomplishments or speeches. In fact, some on here you probably didn’t know much about at all.

But when we got to people that you knew more personally, you were able to have more thought provoking answers.

When we look at people in the Bible, we often just attach a couple of words to them and that’s it. We leave so much out of their lives.

But to be fair, for some people we read about, we only have a small selection of verses to reference so our judgments can only be limited.

But what we need to do when reading the Bible is read not just with a sense of “I know how this will end”, but with an understanding that you and I are not too far off from these individuals.

The individual I want to look at today, I have a word I would like to use, and that is potential. This man probably had the most potential of anyone else at this time to succeed. But not only did he have the personal potential, the world that he lived in wanted him to succeed. He was given divine blessing from God to succeed. He had the man of God that was a dear friend and mentor helping to guide him. He had all of this, but yet rather than the word “Successful” or “Legendary”, we can only say “Potential”.

Main Thought: Saul failed to grow his potential beyond his own abilities.

Supporting Thought: Those with potential will usually have a pretty good start.

The first mention we have of Saul isn’t bad all things considered.

This was the end of the period of the Judges. This period can be summed up with “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

But now Israel starts to drift away from this concept of being ruled by God, and now they become enamored with the idea of a king. They wanted the glory that comes from being lead by a king. They wanted to have the palace, they wanted the singular point of leadership.

1 Samuel 8:1–5 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Even after a warning from Samuel about what a king would bring, the people persisted in their demand.

1 Samuel 8:19–22 KJV 1900

19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

Side Note

We won’t spend much time with this, but think about poor Samuel, the last judge, who felt terrible about this.

After all, his legacy was going to be that of “the last judge”. This is a hard pill to swallow when you think that there will be no more after you.

Perhaps he too felt like he had not lived up to his potential. As a young man he had heard the word of the Lord when others had not heard it in a very long time.

Maybe, he would have felt like he had failed God, Israel, and all the other judges that had come before him.

This maybe why he attached himself to Saul so quickly, because he saw the same type of potential in Saul that he had in himself.

But back to Saul

This of course is something that God saw coming, and so He had prepared for this inevitable change.

But God directs Samuel to a young man that was probably as kingly as you could expect.

1 Samuel 9:2 KJV 1900

2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

Saul is described as a “choice young man and goodly”

He had the characteristics that any parent would want in their child. This is how you want them to be. Just a good, decent individual.

goodly: pleasant, desirable, friendly

The Bible even goes on to say that there was “not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.”

2 Samuel 10:23

And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.

Basically, the idea is Saul was a generally good guy who others liked to be around, and plus he looked the part of a king.

Thought: This is the thing about having potential. If you have it, or a lot of it, you will stand out.

In today’s world, although the competition in the workplace can be brutal, there are still easy ways that you can stand “head and shoulders” above the crowd.

Take a lesson from Proverbs and see how applicable that is to your life.

Proverbs 12:24 KJV 1900

24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: But the slothful shall be under tribute.

Proverbs 15:19 KJV 1900

19 The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: But the way of the righteous is made plain.

Proverbs 16:3 KJV 1900

3 Commit thy works unto the Lord, And thy thoughts shall be established.

Proverbs 20:13 KJV 1900

13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

But please understand, that although yes, Saul likely was what we would call a “hunk”, a tall dark and handsome sort of fellow, don’t miss that he was not just chosen for his outward appearance.

Saul was thorough in his responsibilities

Even consider how thorough he is in searching for the lost donkeys of his father. Ephraim’s land is about 25 miles across and 12 miles long. This is one of the verses that I believe God puts in the Bible as a bit of a funny aside:

1 Samuel 9:4 KJV 1900

4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.

In my mind, I picture the typical cartoonish moment where they keep popping up all over calling out for these donkeys, but keep say, “Nope, not here.”

Again, this is not a man who takes his responsibilities lightly, at least at first. It will not be long before his life is characterized by partial obedience, faithless actions, and reckless behavior towards his own son.

Saul had been chosen by God and blessed by the Spirit of the Lord.

In 1 Samuel 10:1 we see Samuel anointing Saul the king of Israel. This was a moment that marked the beginning of a process of anointing kings in Israel and their divine selection.

Samuel then gave Saul a list of signs proving this divine appointment.

He will find the donkeys (finally)

He will then find three men carrying three loaves of bread, a bottle of wine, and three kids. They will give Saul two loaves of bread.

Then Saul will come among a company of prophets and he will prophecy with them and “turned into another man.”

This all can be summed up with 1 Samuel 10:9

1 Samuel 10:9 KJV 1900

9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

Thought: All of this was easy to spot examples of potential. One look at chapter 9 and 10 and you can easily see that Saul was something special.

Supporting Thought: Although potential can have a good start, it gets tough when you begin to stumble.

I can be a great starter of a project. Around my home there are projects left and right that I started, but for one reason or another I haven’t finished it. I get excited about a new project, a new hobby, but after a little while, I begin to lose motivation. Maybe its because there is an extra cost that I don’t want to pay for, or maybe I reached a point that my skill level is just not good enough and I don’t have patience to work at it, or maybe I begin to overlook things and begin to “forget” that I had this project started.

Saul is a classic example of a great beginning, but it did not take long for the wheels on the bus to wobble and fall off.

The first major failure we see recorded was Saul’s failure at Gilgal

He became impatient and offered sacrifices to God at Gilgal instead of waiting for Samuel, 1 Samuel 13:1 – 14. (Plus he passed the blame onto the people of Israel)

Knowing when to wait and knowing when to act is a tough thing, especially when you are in a difficult situation. But there is something about this story that is very revealing.

Saul points to the people as his reason for assuming priestly duties. This could point to the fact that he trusted in his leadership in directing the strength of the people rather than trusting in the protection and guidance from God.

And this is a problem with those with potential must face. They begin to trust more in themselves, in their abilities, rather than trusting in God.

The second major failure we see recorded was Saul’s lack of full obedience (and subsequent blame game)

He disobeyed God’s command and failed completely destroy the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:1 – 23)

Then to top it off, he failed to take the responsibility again and tried to blame his devotion to God!

This is again a battle that you may have to face. The fear of being responsible for failure. Those with potential tend to fear failure as people expect more out of them than others. Then, to protect themselves, they start playing the blame game to keep themselves.

From there, we see a life of repeated failures and half-obedience

James 1:8 KJV 1900

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

He was jealous of David for his success as a warrior (1 Sam 18:7 – 8, 19:1 – 22)

He massacred the Gibeonites contrary to an Oath taken during the time of Joshua.

Saul committed the sin of necromancy when he consulted a medium after the death of Samuel. (1 Samuel 28:3 – 25)

This is a cycle that anyone can fall into. When we fail to recognize our failures, and then turn around, we loss sight of the opportunities God has for us.

Supporting Thought: Those who stumble only truly fail when they fail to rise again.

Proverbs 24:16 (KJV 1900)

16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:

But the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Imagine you are watching a bunch of 5-year old kids play a basketball game. On that court, you will see true emotions play out. There will be those who have skills that rival Michael Jordan. (Or so their parents think) They can dribble the ball, get the ball the 5 feet in the air so it wobbles into the hoop, and they don’t tackle the other team.

Then you have the other 99%. These are your typical players who are distracted by their parents in the stands, the lines on the court, or whatever “gold” is up their noses.

If you are watching this game, and you saw one of the 1% Michael Jordan-like players miss a shot, fall down on the court, and just start crying, what would you think? The rest of the players on the court are still running back and forth, but this little kid is just sitting there on the ground crying. Pitiful!

Let’s age that kid about 20 years. Now it goes from “Awww! How sad!” to “Wow! How sad!”

Saul’s true failure began when he failed to repent of his faults and failed to rise again from his stumbling.

We see glimpses of his repentant heart with David, but these are fleeting moments that he soon forgets.

It eventually devolves from a goodly man, to a man hiding himself, chasing after a glimmer of hope from a necromancer, only to end up killing himself in a cave.

Application:

What could have Saul done differently? How do we avoid these failures in our own life?

Recognize that all gifts and talents are from God

James 1:17 KJV 1900

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Recognize that he alone was not enough

2 Corinthians 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Recognize that he needed to be right with God

Romans 12:2 KJV 1900

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Recognize that his trust needed to be in God everyday

Deuteronomy 31:8 KJV 1900

8 And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

I hope that Saul serves as a warning that anyone, no matter how talented or gifted you are, potential will not always be enough.

Saul was a man who often would stumble in spite of the tremendous potential he started out with. The failure he had was when he begun to stop rising above the failure. All that he could have been was left on the table because he failed to recognize that having great potential is not enough.

Ask God daily for the strength that you need

Lean on Him rather than yourself

Give all praise and glory to Him for what is accomplished through you