When Gifting Shines But Character Cracks, Leadership Fails

A nation on the brink of change, a community under siege, and a leader torn between the fear of people and the fear of God—this conversation journeys through 1 Samuel 10–13 to uncover why character, not charisma, determines the future. We explore Israel’s move from judges to monarchy and why the desire to look like other nations exposed deeper heart issues. When Nahash threatened Jabesh Gilead with humiliation, the crisis revealed the danger of life on the fringe and the power of unity in covenant community.

We trace Saul’s early promise—prophetic signs, the Spirit’s empowering, and a new heart—alongside the cracks that later defined his reign: fear, impatience, disobedience, jealousy, and a habit of prioritizing public opinion over God’s commands. These are not ancient relics; they’re modern leadership pressures. We talk candidly about how gifting can lift you into visibility while undealt-with issues quietly erode trust, and why waiting on God’s timing is not weakness but wisdom. Had Israel waited, they would have aligned with God’s choice of David—a leader after God’s heart—rather than accelerating a solution that mirrored their divided desires.

This episode offers practical counsel for leaders and communities: stay connected to the center of fellowship where character is forged, build rhythms of confession and counsel, measure success by faithfulness not noise, and resist the lure to trade holiness for hype. We close in prayer, asking for a generation of leaders whose private lives are stronger than their platforms and whose power serves love. If this resonates, share it with someone who leads, subscribe for the next deep dive on Saul and David, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking forward. Your voice helps this message reach those who need it most.

Chapters

• 0:00 Israel As A Prophetic Sundial
• 3:13 Wanting A King Like Other Nations
• 7:16 Jabesh Gilead Under Siege
• 11:32 Fringe Living And Vulnerability
• 14:35 Saul Chosen And David Waiting
• 18:21 Saul’s Gifts Versus His Character
• 23:00 Leaders Shaped By Pressure Not Popularity
• 26:35 A Call To Deep Character And Prayer
• 28:17 Closing And Listener Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

One of the key things that we've been looking at recently is we've been taking a dive into the book of First Samuel, and we're finding some very interesting things concerning the nation of Israel and correlating their experience with some of our own experiences in life. And with Israel, we have for us what's the equivalent of a sundial, in the fact that God has chosen Israel as his chosen people to be for the rest of the world a real sun dial as to what God is doing on planet Earth prophetically. And we see often the correlation that what Israel goes through we as the body of Christ find ourselves going through because we are grafted in, like a wild olive branch grafted into an olive tree or like a wild vine grafted into a grape vine. We have been grafted into Israel's promise within the covenant that God has made, starting with Abraham and leading up to the covenant that has been cut now through Jesus Christ, the new covenant, in his blood, in his body. And Israel has throughout the ages served as a sundial. And it's important for us to really take note of what is taking place or has taken place in Israel because we can learn a lot about our own lives by looking at Israel. And in this particular portion of scripture that we're in right now, in 1 Samuel chapters 10 through 13, we see a real major transition in the governance of Israel, in how they were being they were going through a transition from being a country that was governed by God as their sovereign king, and judges that were prophets and different figures throughout Israel set up at different times to bring about their decision-making process in how they would be fulfilling their covenant obligations in their relationship with God as a nation. And we find that there are times that Israel really was with their heart sold out to following God, and then other times not so much. In fact, just the opposite side of the coin, they turned their backs on God and began serving other foreign gods, the gods of the nations around them, because they wanted to be like the other nations. They didn't want to be different. And there's a tendency, I think, within all of us, to be able to fit in, to kind of just be part of what's the average, normal crowd, and go along with that particular popular opinion and not stand out too much. Because when we stand out, we are subject to a variety of other opinions being made about us, and sometimes our insecurities and other things show when we're singled out. Well, the truth of the matter is in the life of Israel, that's their story. They have lived out in full view in front of the whole world, their ups and their downs. And oftentimes their downside has been emphasized much more than their upside. And we find the same thing going on during this transition time, that Israel was in a place of not having their whole organization set up yet in full fashion when they were challenged by an outside enemy. And isn't that the case within our own lives often? When we go through a time of transition and things aren't necessarily set up completely the way that they're going to be in the new way of doing things, and we get challenged. Something happens that challenges our state of being. We are challenged by an opposing force, sometimes blatantly, sometimes very subtly, but oftentimes there's a challenge. Well, Israel found themselves in that place in chapter eleven of 1 Samuel when a ruler, an Ammonite ruler by the name of Nahash, and his name literally meant serpent or snake, and he was a crafty individual, a ruthless leader, and he besieged or laid siege on one particular town in eastern Israel. And it was a town by the name of Jibeth Gilead or Jabesh Gilead, excuse me, Jabesh Gilead. And they were a relatively far eastern outpost of Israel that was a bit vulnerable, and they had a reputation of not necessarily always wanting to join in with the rest of the nation of Israel to fight. They kind of wanted to settle on the other side of the Jordan so they could have their inheritance early. But it left them vulnerable to being attacked by outside enemies. And sometimes they were caught off guard because they felt that they were as secure as the rest of the nation was, but they were not. And that is oftentimes the case within our own lives, that we can be on the outskirts of our fellowship and really not all that connected, because we don't necessarily want to get involved in the daily skirmishes and the things that go along with having privilege, and that is having some responsibility also. And human nature is that way, that if we don't necessarily have to be involved, we tend not to be involved. And it's only by us being empowered by the Spirit of God that we can be successfully engaged in any type of real kingdom activity. Now that's good news on one hand. On the other hand, it leaves us vulnerable during transition times because things aren't fully developed yet. And Nahash attacked this outpost of Israel and said that he would make a treaty with them under these conditions, that he would gouge out their right eye, and it would maim all the men, all the men of Jabesh Gilead would have their right eye gouged out, which would cripple them for war, and it would also be a sign of inferiority that would bring insult to the entire nation of Israel, the fact that they weren't capable of fending or defending their own. And so Gilead reached out to the rest of Israel, even though they didn't have the best of relationships with the rest of the nation. And again, a little sidebar, that behooves us to have good relationships in the fellowship that we're a part of. Not to be on the fringe and doing the least amount possible, but becoming involved in the life flow of our fellowship because that's really where the heart of the matter is, considering community, but also that's where we grow the most. Our character development happens most when we are joined together. It just works that way. Funny thing. Well, as we said, the nation of Israel was moving in a transition from having judges being their earthly rulers to having a king being over them like the other nations. Now, Israel was actually jumping the gun on this one. And had they waited another few years, David, the second king of Israel, which was actually the choice of God, it was God's choice, not the people's choice. The people wanted a king, so God said, I'll give you a king right after your own heart, basically. And he gave them Saul. And Saul had a divided heart and mind, just like the nation had a divided heart and mind. And had they waited a few more years, David was just being born. In and around the time that the transition was starting to take place in Israel. And by the time Saul was anointed king, David would just have been a very young man. And a few years later, he was literally qualified to be anointed as the king of Israel, and we'll find out later why. Because Saul, in his choice making, nullified himself, disqualified himself from being a capable leader, a king of Israel, and he was rejected by God, ultimately. And David was God's choice, a man after God's own heart. But Saul wasn't necessarily an all he was he was he wasn't he was he was not an evil man in the sense that he had it in him to do wrong. He had some character flaws in him that were undealt with, and later they would prove to be his downfall. And some of the character flaws that Saul had included fear, impatience, disobedience, jealousy, and a tendency to prioritize public opinions over God's commands. Let me read that again. Saw's character flaws included fear, impatience, disobedience, jealousy, and a tendency to prioritize public opinion over God's commands. These are the things that made him a poor king. But I want to read something concerning the early days of Saul's kingship and how God had it set up so that he was setting Saul up for success. But also he was revealing what happens when there are issues that are undealt with in a person's life, even when God sets us up to have success. There can be some things that undermine that in the end. And in 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 5, Samuel is telling Saul things that are going to be taking place in the near future. And he's prophesying to Saul these things. They haven't taken place yet, but he goes into great details of what is going to be taking place. And here's what he said in verse 5 of 1 Samuel chapter 10. He said, After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high places, with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and make you a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for the Lord God is with you. Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will be sure to come down to sacrifice, burn offerings and fellowship offerings with you, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do next. So Samuel tells him very specifically something that's going to be taking place. And later on we find in verse chapter in chapter eleven, excuse me, chapter ten. Verse seventeen. Samuel summoned the people of Israel to Lord Amispah and said to them, This is what the Lord the God of Israel says. And then he tells them that all the things that God had done to bring them out of Egypt. And then we find that there was something that took place the next day, and that is that literally Saul met the guys that Samuel said he was going to meet, and he began to prophesy because the spirit of the Lord came upon him. And in verse number nine, in chapter ten we read, and as Saul turned toward to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they arrived to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him. The Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying for the prophets, they asked each other, What is this? This has happened to the son of Kish, is Saul among the prophets? They couldn't believe it. Saul, this guy that was relatively bashful, was in this procession of prophets prophesying just exactly as Samuel had said, which goes to show that God had set things up for Saul to be successful. You see, when the Spirit of God comes upon us, now I'm speaking to leaders here, and you well know this, that when the Spirit of God comes upon you, there's a different thing that takes place between you just talking and God ministering both to you and through you. You become like a different man or a different woman. There's something happens, there's an unction, there's a power, and there's a gifting that goes along with the Spirit of God coming upon someone. And Saul felt that. Gifting does not equate to character. Someone can be extremely gifted but have poor character. And even though when they're gifted things happen, they undermine those successes with poor character. And God is actually more interested in having all of us, in winning all of us, than us winning all the world. He'd rather win all of you than you win all the world and have poor character. Because you can win all the world by being gifted. But inside Jesus has never known you. He's never been close to you. Your character is flawed. And that is an important key point to soberly think about. And that is this are you operating out of your gifting or are you functioning as a result of the character that God has put in your life? Because the life of Saul had these internal issues going on, no matter what would take place when the Spirit of God would come upon him, afterwards, he wasn't able to follow through. And it doesn't matter how good you begin. If you end poorly, people aren't going to remember the beginning point. And poor character can lead a person into having a testimony at the end of things that is unfortunate. But when we have the character established within us, when God is able to mold his character within us, and then we are gifted, that combination is a powerful combination. And that's really where we're going in this study. Is there's a contrast between the life of Saul and life of David. Even though they both were men that committed sins, there was something different in their character. We need men and women of character to be leaders, not people who are gifted for the moment, but behind the scenes are doing things that are undermining the successes that take place as a result of the giftings. And we have then problems. We have divisions that take place, we have controversies, we have unnecessary turmoil and strife. We're a mockery in the side of the world because we look like we are just a bunch of fools following around people because we want to be like the world and have leaders that are charismatic, even if their character is the best, because after all, we want to look like those around us, because the stand out is an awkward thing, but sometimes it's a necessary thing. We don't need to bring it on as a result of our behavior that is antiquated and outdated. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having moral character. That you don't participate in certain things that other people do because you have a certain standard, and you go by that character that's within you, regardless of whether or not it's popular opinion. And sometimes in a place of leadership, that's easier said than done because pressure comes with leadership. And it's a pressure to be like everyone else when God wants us to be unique and obedient first and foremost to Him. And so we're going to be looking at this a little bit further in the next episode. Life of Saul and how these insecurities were really the major downfall that led him to being actually at one point in time demonized, so troubled by them that actually demonic spirits were able to come in and harass his mind. Undealt with issues can be open doors for bigger problems than we initially thought about. Especially if you put yourself in a place of leadership or put into a place of leadership and you're not prepared for it. It's better to wait and have your character develop further than to enter in prematurely and fall into the same trap as the devil did, and that is pride. So strong word, a necessary word, a word to leaders. Don't rely on your gifting. What's your character like? And if it's a little bit weak, a weak character, take some time and let God strengthen that. Before you enter into more public work. So there can be people of strong character and strong gifting who are leaders. Because that's what is needed at this point in time, all throughout the nations, in the body of Christ. That's pray. Father, first of all, thank you, God, for who you are, for what you're doing and how you're doing it. But that we won't give ourselves over to just the charismatic mindset of having some celebrity lead us so we can be like the rest of the world. But help us follow the example of Jesus and to only say and do what we hear you saying and doing, Father. So we could walk in a way where our character reflects the gifting. And if the gifting actually enhance the character that you have established within us. As you released your spirit upon us, and do us with power, but establish your character within us. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen, amen. Alright, folks. We love you. And if you have any other thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundheire 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.