Being Judgmental: 1 Samuel 10:11-16
God frequently exceeds the expectations of those who live with a judgmental heart. God doesn’t care what kind of box we try to put Him in; He will work His way in His time. He doesn’t act according to our assessments. When our heart is critical, we often miss what He is attempting to do.
Everyone has haters. People become haters out of jealousy over life, materialism, or success someone else experiences. Others are haters from personality conflicts encouraging one person to not like another. Still others are haters from being genuinely mean, looking for ways to pull others down.
Regardless of the reason, we all experience people hating on us. In both success and failure, someone will be happy to speak ill about a situation you are going through. People commonly wonder why we can’t all just get along. The answer is simple: haters gotta hate.
We see this as the Spirit of God comes upon Saul and he prophesies. When Saul meets the company of prophets and joins them in their activity, others look upon him in derision. They wonder what has come over Saul. They judge him because he behaves apart from his norm. They could be jealous. They could be judgmentally mean. We don’t know why, but they judge him.
As a part of the judgment, they ask if Saul is now among the prophets. This is a question derived from social status. Saul was a commoner. He grew up on a farm caring for crops and livestock. He didn’t have official religious training. As far as we know, he never showed inclination towards religious experience, either. These people wonder who Saul thinks he is; what business does a regular person have intermingling with prophets who have the ear of God?
As further evidence of their judgment against Saul, someone inquires about Saul’s father. This isn’t a genuine question; it is a thought-prompt. In asking about Saul’s father, the person is reminding everyone from whom Saul comes. Saul’s father wasn’t a Levite. The people layer evidence upon evidence accusing Saul of having no business prophesying among the prophets.
Here is the heart of the danger of judgmentalism. God frequently acts outside our definition for normal. God goes outside our expectations. Saul is acting the way he is because the Spirit of God came upon him! What greater qualification does a person need to obey God than to be filled with His Spirit? In their disapproving attitude, they miss God’s hand at work. By being critical, they block their heart from seeing God.
God wants us to be thoughtful. He does want us to make sense of the world. Our thoughtfulness, though, should never become judgmental. When that happens, we put blinders on our eyes and try to stick God in a box. We end up missing His hand at work around us. God frequently exceeds the expectations of those who live with a judgmental heart.
