Hopelessness is a scary and dangerous thing, but it is not always evident. Hopelessness can be seen in a couple different ways in someone’s life.
Someone in a discouraged or depressed state can become unrealistically negative. Perhaps even more often, someone can be hopelessly shortsighted. They have an unrealistically positive state of mind. In either case, hopelessness affects decisions in a deep way.
In 1 Samuel 28, we find Saul living a hopeless life. He rejected God, and in turn, God rejected Him. When Saul then had a need for God, God was not available to Him. You do not get to reject God, and then command His favorable presence. In his hopelessness, Saul turned to things he had once condemned.
This chapter can leave us with questions about the power of things like sorcery, witchcraft, and necromancy. The fact that Samuel, a prophet of God, is summoned by a woman using evil practices is concerning to us. Is there true power in necromancy or occult influences? Why was Saul allowed to use this type of power for his own information?
It is important up front to view this circumstance through the lens of Scripture. Particularly, what the Bible says about the event itself in 1 Chronicles 10:13-14. “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; And enquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.”
What Saul did was warned strongly against in God’s Law (Lev. 18:31, 20:6, 20:27, Deut. 18:10-12). Saul rejected God and died under judgment.

But how did Saul get here?

 

1. A Desperate Person – 28:3-6
a. The past influence faded. Samuel had died. – 28:3 – Saul’s interactions
with God were dependent on the prophet. When the godly influence in
Saul’s life went away, he had no personal relationship with God.
This verse notes that there was a time that Saul felt so strongly against these influences of evil that he drove them out of Israel.
This adds meaning to the warning Samuel gave Saul in 15:23, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” Saul had focused on one sin while ignoring another.
b. The present threat was daunting. The Philistines gathered. – 28:4-5
The Philistines gathered at Shunem which would have cut off Saul’s army from northern Israel.
The word at this point is that they were gathering with David.
c. The Lord was silent. God had continually interacted with Israel around
these battles, but at the moment, Saul was alone. – 28:6
Saul was often superstitious and was drawn to highly spiritual experiences even in the worship and prophecy of God.

Saul clearly loved the experience more than God Himself. He was constantly chasing the next divine interaction or group experience.
However, Saul never had his own relationship with the Lord. He disobeyed God’s commands but panicked when God didn’t talk to him in “dreams”. He killed God’s priests but expected God to speak through them with the Urim.
Saul was consistently frustrated when the people around him could not or would not lead him into the spiritual environment he craved for himself. Though he looked for spiritual experience, he never sought God Himself (according to 1 Chron. 10:13-14).

 

2. A Desperate Action – 28:7-14
a. The alternative sought. – 28:7 –
When Saul could not find answers, it is stunning what he turned to.
We find Saul in a place of moral exhaustion, despairing faith, and a failed life and reign.
b. The secret request. 28:8-11
Saul hides what he is doing because at one time he condemned it.
He even swears by the Lord. He is completely delusional in his deceit.
When we find we are needing to do things in secret or falsely assign God’s name without His Spirit or power, we have strayed.
c. The fearful response. 28:12-14
The Bible does not tell us the specifics of what the woman did or what happened, but it is clear that Samuel truly appears.
– The woman knows Saul after her interaction.
– Saul recognizes and speaks with Samuel about things specific to their
relationship.
Note: This is not a Biblical confirmation of the power or efficacy of witchcraft. Isaiah 8:19 refers to the practice as making noise and muttering. One of the reasons the woman was so shocked could have been that she was used to deceit and lies.
Remember: God’s view was that Saul never even truly sought Him. When we close our ears to God He will find unusual – and perhaps uncomfortable – ways to speak to us. That he did appear to Saul, there can be no question, but he did not come in response to her call. He was sent of God, for the express purpose of rebuking Saul for his unholy traffic with these evil things, and to pronounce his doom.

 

3. A Determined Word – 28:15-25
a. Saul offers excuses, again. – 28:15 – Never acknowledges his sin.
b. Samuel gives a daunting message. – 28:16-19
God is your enemy…. because you will not repent.
David is the king… – because of your sin.
Judgment is coming… – because He is God.
c. Saul’s response to the final message preached to him was despair.
The sinful, stubborn heart that rejects the God finds no mercy.

 

Conclusions:
When we come to desperate moments in our lives, we are vulnerable to turn to things we could never have imagined before.
God takes seriously any participation in anything that yields to wickedness, forces of evil, or submits to Satan. Christians should have no part in what God clearly condemns.
Even as Christians, we can live with a hopeless mindset when we are not rooted in God’s reality. There is no substitute for personal relationship with God.

Gospel Emphasis: Samuel’s final message echoes the Gospel.
– In your sin, you are God’s enemy.
– Jesus Christ is the true king of world and everything else.
– Judgment is coming on those who will not repent and believe.
– Salvation is found in God alone.