When Desire Overrides Wisdom

What if the warning you’re tempted to ignore is actually an act of mercy? We walk through 1 Samuel 10 and the moment Israel traded a theocracy for a visible king, only to find Saul hiding among the baggage on coronation day. The picture is vivid and painfully familiar: when comparison drives our choices, we crown the wrong kings and pay for it later. From Baal’s seductive promises to the modern pull of envy and entitlement, we unpack how desire, image, and insecurity collide—and why God’s red lights are gifts, not obstacles.

As we trace the story, we explore the deeper issue beneath the politics: a heart that longs to be like everyone else. Saul’s reluctance and Israel’s momentum expose the cost of ignoring obvious signs, yet the thread of grace remains unbroken. We confront the lie of being “too far gone” with the good news that the blood of Jesus doesn’t just cover sin—it removes it. That shift from mere forgiveness to remission reframes failure, restores dignity, and opens the path back to wisdom. Through honest reflection and a grounded, hopeful prayer, we point to a better King who gives himself for his people and teaches us to stop at the next red light before harm multiplies.

If you’ve barreled through boundaries, felt the sting of comparison, or wondered whether you can truly start over, this conversation meets you where you are. We share personal testimony, practical insight, and a call to weigh the unseen costs of our choices. Listen for a fresh vision of leadership, holiness, and the freedom that comes from fixing your eyes on Jesus rather than the crowd. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting the Scene: Israel Wants a King
• 3:06 Baal Worship and Cultural Drift
• 5:36 Saul’s Insecurity and Hidden Baggage
• 9:06 Ignored Warnings and Red Flags
• 12:36 Consequences, Envy, and Entitlement
• 16:36 Not Too Far Gone: Grace Offered
• 19:36 A Prayer for Forgiveness and Freedom
• 22:06 Closing and Listener Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:37

Alright, folks, we're going to continue on our look into the book of 1 Samuel. And right now we're in chapter 10. And if you recall reading in chapter 10 that Saul was going to be the next king, or the first king, I should say, of Israel. The king that was in Israel at the time was God. It was a theocracy, meaning God was king, and then everyone else was subject to his leadership. And the people of Israel had begun to look around at other nations to see how they were doing things. Because they knew that they were doing things differently. And they started comparing themselves to other people, which was really a dangerous thing to do because when you start comparing yourself to other people, you run the risk of measuring things the wrong way. And it's not wise to compare oneself to another person. If we're going to compare ourselves to anyone, it would be to compare ourselves with Jesus. Because he is our example, he is the center, he is the focus of all things. We behold him to become like him. And so the children of Israel, the nation of Israel, had looked to the other nations and how they were doing things, and they were serving a god, an idol by the name of Baal. And there was a whole system that went along with Baal worship. And part of the worship of Baal was to offer your children as a sacrifice to Baal or to Molech, the whole structure of gods. And then once you would do that, you were secured then from the gods a healthy lineage and healthy crops. And it was just a real degradated way of doing things. As well as there were certain practices that were sexual practices that if a person were to give their seed, their sperm, to a temple prostitute, whether it would be male, female, or animal, you'd be secured, or so the story goes, you'd have a large crop that'd be promised to you from these various gods. And it was a very degradated system, but it was a system that Israel bought into because it appealed to that lower base nature that we all have, the flesh. It appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, that we can do these things. And we don't need to have a king over us that we can't see. We want to have a king ruling over us that we can see, like the other nations. And so Israel demanded that they would get a king. And God said, in essence, if that's what you want, then that's what you're going to get. But this is going to be the cost of you having a king. And he gave them a list of the negative things that would take place as a result of them wanting a king versus God. But they said, the nation said they want things done the way that the other people were doing them. And so they did. And Saul was their first king. And as we pick up the story in verse 14 in 1 Samuel chapter 10, Saul's uncle had asked him and his servant, Where have you been? Because these guys had been out looking for the donkeys. If you remember, God was in even the details of having the donkeys go astray so that the men would come in contact with Samuel. Amazing how even in the small details God is involved. And so the uncle asks Saul and the servant, Where have you been? And Saul says, Well, we're looking for the donkeys. But when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel. Saul's uncle said, Tell me what Samuel said to you. Saul replied, He assured us that the donkeys had been found, but he did not tell his uncle what Samuel said about his kingship. Interesting. He didn't want his uncle to know that Samuel had said he was going to be king because there was something going on in Saul's life that made him insecure about being a leader. Not a good sign. Not the best way you want to start things out. Samuel summoned the people of Israel to Mizbah and said to them, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I brought you up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you. But you now have rejected your God who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. And you have said, No, set a king over us. So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans. And when Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. The tribe of Benjamin chosen, that's Saul's tribe. Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin clan by clan. And Maitre's clan was chosen, finally Saul, son of Kish, was chosen. When they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord. Has the man come here yet? And the Lord said, Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage. Then they ran and brought him out, and he stood among the people. He was head taller, he was a head taller than all the peoples and all the others. Samuel said to the people, Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people. Then the people shouted, Long live the king. Samuel explained to the people the regulation of the kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people each to his own home. Saul went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched, but some troublemakers said, How can this fellow save us? They despised him and brought him no gifts, but Saul kept silent. Rocky beginnings, folks. Saul on the day of his coronation was so insecure about being a leader that he hid amongst the bags. Now, granted, this is a three thousand year old story, so the culture was much different then than it is now. But it would be the equivalent today of someone hiding in a closet amongst the clothes, so that he wouldn't be found. Why would you be doing that on the day of your coronation to be a king? You know, Israel had every opportunity at that point in time to say, you know, this doesn't really m match our idea of how things should be going here. This doesn't this doesn't look well. This doesn't look quite right. This doesn't bode well. Yeah? We should be doing something different here. But they didn't. They barreled right on through that major red flag. And the moral of the story, what we can learn from this is don't run the red lights. Don't go past the red flags. Don't go past the warning bell and the arm that lowers that says, Stop, don't go any further. When God provides that in your life, don't do what Israel did. Learn from this lesson right here. They chose a king because they wanted to be like other people. And sometimes in our life we make choices based upon the fact that it looks like what other people have is better than what we have in our relationship with God. Because sometimes in our relationship with God, it appears as though we don't get to experience the good things that other people are experiencing, or what looks like to us the good things. What we can't see, often what we don't see are the consequences or the price tag for experiencing some of those things. The wages of sin is ultimately death. It's a death way of life and also a death consequence. There's a literal death that ultimately follows behavior that is contrary to the ways of God. And the fact of the matter is, what we give up in comparison to what we receive from God, what we give up is far less than what we receive, but because we're giving something up and other people have it, sometimes we have inside of us a jealousy that rise up that says, Well, I'm entitled to that. That entitlement thing that follows jealousy. I'm entitled to that. Well, just because we can have something doesn't mean that it's good for us. Just because it's available doesn't mean that it's good. Just because fentanyl is available doesn't mean that having copious amounts of it is going to be good for a person. Same goes for heroin. Same goes for really just about anything in life to an excess. And the people around Israel had excessive ways of living in order to appease their gods. And what the people of Israel didn't see was the turmoil that those cultures were in, the internal fighting and bickering, the backstabbing, but always looking over your shoulder to see if someone's after you. They want what you have. And they'll take it by force. And on the surface, it might look as though they're just absolutely in a place where they don't experience any trouble at all for living away that just goes according to everything they desire in their flesh. Sex, music, food, whatever it might be, we find that there is a temptation that we all face, and that is to be like other people that appear as though they have something better than we do. Now, the fact that Israel ran that red light, that warning sign concerning Saul. They could have said, We're gonna stop right here. We made a mistake. We made a mistake, and sometimes that's the best thing that we can do in a situation. We can say, I've made a mistake and I want to do something different. God, please help. I've made a mistake. Sometimes admitting that you've made a mistake, confessing your sin, confessing the fact that you almost took the bait. You almost took the bait, but you didn't. It's better to say that you made a mistake and look as though you are a little bit foolish for taking the bait that far than to take it all the way and wind up looking really foolish in the end. So there are good things that we can learn from bad situations, but if you find yourself in that situation right now where you have made that choice and you already crossed over that line, thank God it's still not too late. There are things that are available right now to you, and those things are the blood of Jesus and the forgiveness of God that followed. The blood of Jesus was shed for the remission, not just the forgiveness, the covering over, but the remission, the removal of all your sins. That is available now, even if you've crossed over that line, and you're deeply involved in a lifestyle that you never thought you were going to be involved in, like Israel, involved in the whole system of Baal worship, where they were actually offering their children as living sacrifices, literally their children burning alive in a sacrificial offering to appease an idol, a false god, a god that wanted to be God but was not God most high. Having illicit sex, experiencing diseases, eating contaminated food, just the list goes on and on and on and on of the negative things that incur as a result of crossing over these lines that God has established for our good. And ultimately, when we walk in them, we experience so much more than what others are experiencing without them. But because we don't have what they have, sometimes we want that. Sometimes we buy into it and you're deep into it. Now it's way too deep, and you don't know what to do. You feel like well now I'm far gone. I'm too far gone. No, you're not. You're not too far gone. Fortunately, if you hear this word, you're not too far gone. You can't unhear what I'm saying. Jesus loves you. He goes after the one. He leaves ninety-nine people beside you know behind to take care of the one lost one. That might be you. He loves you. His blood was shed for you, not just for the first time you sinned, but for the sins that you commit now and the sins that you just might commit down the road. His blood covers all of those trespasses. We've crossed over the line. We don't want to take that for granted, but at the same point in time, we'd be foolish if we did not reach out to receive that. Don't be foolish. Don't continue on doing it because you're now too far gone, because you're not. That's a lie. God can reach in and save your life right now if you just ask. If you just ask and believe that He will. He will. He did to me. I was too far gone in my mind. But it wasn't too far gone in God's mind. He reached in and found me in a cesspool of negative things. And he brought me out. I'm no longer in them. I can say with confidence that I'm clean, I'm pure, I've been made holy by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He has forgiven my sins and removed them from me, and doesn't make mention of them at all. He'll do the same for you. God would have intervened for Israel, but they had to learn the lesson the hard way. And we're gonna learn a little bit more about that coming up. But the lesson now is when we see those red lights, those warning signs, let's pay attention to them. But if we haven't, just because you're in now doesn't mean you gotta stay in the grips of negative, sinful living.

SPEAKER_00: 20:07

God can free you right now. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_01: 20:17

In fact, Father, we we look to you right now. And we invite you by your spirit to apply to our lives the very blood of Jesus, the cleansing power of his blood, the forgiving nature of your heart. Forgive us our sins, God, as we forgive those who've sinned against us. And Lord lead us, don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us. Hallelujah. Deliver us from evil. Thank you. Thank you that you reach into the very depths to rescue us and to bring us to the heights of the highest high. Seated with Christ in heavenly places, hallelujah. Able now to make decisions and declarations that impact the world that we live in with the power of your kingdom. We honor you, God, we thank you. We stand here solely as a result of the work of Jesus Christ, and we honor Him and declare Him to be King. All hail King Jesus. All hail Emmanuel. You're the bright morning star, Lord. We honor you. Hallelujah. And we stand here in your name, Lord, and we declare these things to be true. We say Amen. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Hallelujah. Alright, folks, we love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmail.com or type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.