“Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.”
-1 Samuel 31:4
What a short sobering verse at the end of 1 Samuel. To think about where Saul started with such humility before God. With being anointed the first king over Israel, and having power. Prophesying in the power of the Spirit of God and being blessed by God. Yet he begins to turn away from God and begins to trust in himself and pride takes over. And so many other things happen as a result of that, and we come to 1 Samuel 31 and the Bible tells us that Saul took his own sword and fell upon it in this tragic, sad ending to Saul’s life.
Faithfully Loving God
God, help us to faithfully love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength all the way to the end.
And there’s so much here when we think about Saul, but specifically based on this verse, I want to lead us to pray today that God would help you and me to finish well, to faithfully walk with him all the way to the end in this world as we look forward to seeing the face of God and being with Him for eternity, that while we are here, that we would walk humbly with him all the way.
I don’t know your age, whether you are younger or older, but the reality is not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow, and so we should all pray, in light of the end, that God would help us to be faithful until the last breath we breathe.
1 Samuel 31:4 Prays for Humble Walks with God
God, we pray for that in our lives right now. I pray for that in my life. I pray this over every single person listening right now. God, we pray that you’d help us to walk humbly with you today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day, and every day you give us all the way to the end. So God, don’t let us fall away. God, don’t let us grow cold in any way. God, help us to faithfully love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength all the way to the end.
So God, help us to faithfully love others as ourselves all the way to the end. Think about Paul’s words in Acts 20. “I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” God, help us to faithfully run this race and complete this task all the way to the end. Help us to faithfully walk with you and help us to faithfully testify to your grace.
1 Samuel 31:4 Encourages Proclaiming the Gospel
So Lord, today, help us to proclaim the gospel. Tomorrow, to proclaim the gospel. The next day, the next day, to people right around us. God, that our lives would be spent spreading the gospel, making disciples of all the nations. We pray today for the Jewish people in different places scattered all around the world. Even as the unreached of the the day today has Jewish men and women and boys and girls in Uruguay. God, in every part of the world, this people who you have called and chosen from Genesis 12. God, that they would be recipients of your blessing and be a conduit of your blessing to all the nations.
So God, we pray for the spread of the gospel, for the spread of the good news of Jesus, of the Messiah, among Jewish men and women all around the world. God, we pray that you would use our lives to make this gospel known wherever you lead us. O God, we pray that you would use our lives to make this gospel known right where we live and wherever you lead us. That our lives would be spent all the way to the last breath, humbly walking with you and boldly proclaiming the good news of your grace among the nations. God, help us to be faithful in these ways, all the way to the end. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
