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1 Samuel 13:17-18. "And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual, another company turned toward Bethhoron, and another company turned toward the border that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness." 

 

Things are looking bad for Saul, as Samuel promised they would. It seems everything is going against him, including these Philistine raiders who have just come out of their camp and split in three directions to harass lands Saul cannot protect.

 

Sometimes it feels this way, that everything that could go wrong is going wrong, and it just keeps getting worse. Those times usually are a sign that something is not right in our relationship with God. It could be something we individually have to work on, but it is not always this; it could be bad leadership, as it was for Israel under Saul; or it could be a general straying from God by both the people and the leaders.

 

It has been feeling like everything is going wrong lately (by which I mean for the last six years or so) in this country, and even in the world in general. We go from illness, to fire, to war, to flood, to extreme violence, to tragedy after tragedy, one coming in quick succession after another. Individually, and especially taken together, we should be understanding these things as warnings that things are not right in humanity's relationship with God.

 

I think we are in the situation in which it is both the people and the leaders who have strayed from God. When Samuel warned Saul that his kingdom would not continue, Samuel said that the fix was already underway - "the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be prince over his people." (1 Samuel 13:14). So things were going to go bad for Saul, but they would improve for the people when David took the throne. For us, though, I don't think things will be as simple, since it is not just our leaders and elites who have strayed, many of the people have followed them and have hardened their hearts against God.

 

David is not waiting in the wings for us, but that does not mean God doesn't have a plan to bring us back, especially those with hardened hearts. Even as we see the proverbial raiders spreading out in all directions, we see goodness doing the same, less under the radar now then it had been. One example is how Charlie Kirk's murder has triggered an unapologetic revival of sorts. His wife's tearful forgiveness of her husband's killer is just the kind of thing that can work to soften hearts, repel the raiders, and get us back on track.

 

So even if everything seems to be going horribly wrong, don't lose hope. God has a plan and is carrying it out. It is the plan He has had from the beginning of time. He is not surprised or overwhelmed by the raiders, He saw them coming, is allowing them to come (for now), and will only let them get as far as is included in His plan of redemption for the whole world.