Many see self-reliance as one of the keys to success. But is self-reliance a good thing or a bad thing. How might self-reliance put you in a crucible.

We are nearing the conclusion of our examination of the Life of Christ and others from the perspective of Living in a Crucible. 

Symbolically, a crucible is the fiery trials we experience as we grow and develop.

Crucibles are painful, they are uncomfortable, and they hurt, but they are beneficial in developing our character.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 3: Sabbath.School

See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School

Inviting the Holy Spirit’s Presence

Holy Father, teach us what it means to rely totally on you.

In Jesus Name Amen. 

Waldo Emerson, a famous poet, author, and philosopher, today considered transcendent, wrote an essay in the 1840’s entitle: Self Reliance.

The focus of the essay was to encourage individuals to follow their own wills, their own thoughts and go with their gut feelings or intuition rather than follow the norm.

The concept of self-reliance is even advocated in our society today.  The idea behind self-reliance is to depend totally on self and not look to thing or anyone else for help.

Self-reliance sound good, but is it really good for you?  Is it possible for self-reliance to lead us into a crucible?

When Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, she doubted what God had said. But there was more to her sin than doubt.

Eve believed that she had enough intelligence, enough knowledge, enough wisdom to decide for herself what was good or bad. Do we?

Eve relied on her own wisdom. She relied on her own judgement. When we rely on our own wisdom and judgement as opposed to trusting in God’s Word, his leading and his direction, we open ourselves to being placed in deep trouble.

It will certainly put us in a crucible!

The story about King Saul shows what happens when we place complete trust in our own abilities.

In the story of Saul, we see the steps to self-reliance and the terrible results that follows.

You remember Samuel, he was the little boy placed under the mentorship of the prophet Eli. God gave him a dream and called him to be a prophet.

Samuel, in 1 Samuel 10:1, puts oil on Saul to show that God choses Saul to be king.

1 Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you a ruler over His inheritance? (1 Samuel 10:1).

We further see in 1 Samuel 10:8 that Samuel gave Saul some specific instructions to follow, but Saul disobeys and relies on his own intuitions.

8 And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.” (1 Samuel 10:8)

The rest of the story is found 1 Samuel 13:1–14. It helps us see how Saul’s self-reliance led to his own downfall, his own demise.

1 Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty two years over Israel.

2 Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while 1,000 were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.

3 Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”

4 All Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal.

5 Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.

7 Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

8 Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him.

9 So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.

10 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him.

11 But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash,

12 therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”

13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. (Split)

14 But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 13:1-14)

There are three steps that led to Saul’s eventual self-reliance shortly after becoming king.

Although none of the three things he did are bad by themselves, each of these three things shows us that Saul acted on his own. Saul acted independently of God. He failed to seek God’s help or obtain his permission. What happened?

First, in 1 Samuel 13:11, Saul evaluates his situation, he says he saw his army troops running away and he also saw that Samuel was not there to help him.

Therefore, Saul feels a lot of pressure to do something. So, he makes a decision, relying on what he saw with his own eyes without waiting and relying on God.

Next, 1 Samuel 13:12, Saul moves from what he saw to what he said. Saul surmises that the Philistines will beat Israel’s army. The point is, what Saul sees with his own eyes causes him to make the wrong conclusion about what was happening.

Finally, Saul says, “ ‘I felt.’ ” Saul decides to go with his own intuition, to go with his gut feelings. He feels that it is within his right to slay an animal and offer a sacrifice to God. What Saul thought shaped his feelings, and his feelings shaped his decision.

This incident is described as follows in the Book Patriarchs and Prophets: Saul had failed to bear the test of faith in the trying situation at Gilgal, and had brought dishonor upon the service of God; but his errors were not yet [irreversible], and the Lord would grant him another opportunity to learn the lesson of unquestioning faith in His word and obedience to His commands. 

When reproved by the prophet at Gilgal, Saul saw no great sin in the course he had pursued. He felt that he had been treated unjustly, and endeavored to vindicate his actions and offered excuses for his error. From that time he had little [interaction] with the prophet. Samuel loved Saul as his own son, while Saul, bold and ardent in temper, had held the prophet in high regard; but he resented Samuel’s rebuke, and thenceforth avoided him so far as possible.—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 627.

It goes on to say that: When called to the throne, Saul had a humble opinion of his own capabilities, and was willing to be instructed. He was deficient in knowledge and experience and had serious defects of character. But the Lord granted him the Holy Spirit as a guide and helper, and placed him in a position where he could develop the qualities necessary for a ruler of Israel.

 Had he remained humble, seeking constantly to be guided by divine wisdom, he would have been enabled to discharge the duties of his high position with success and honor. . . .

But Saul presumed upon his exaltation, and dishonored God by unbelief and disobedience. Though when first called to the throne he was humble and self-distrustful, success made him self-confident. The very first victory of his reign had kindled that pride of heart which was his greatest danger . . . and though at first Saul ascribed the glory to God, he afterward took honor to himself. He lost sight of his dependence upon God, and in heart departed from the Lord. Thus the way was prepared for his sin of presumption and {irreverence} at Gilgal. The same blind self-confidence led him to reject Samuel’s reproof.

Saul acknowledged Samuel to be a prophet sent from God; hence he should have accepted the reproof, though he could not himself see that he had sinned. Had he been willing to see and confess his error, this bitter experience would have proved a safeguard for the future. . . .

When Saul turned away from the reproof sent him by God’s Holy Spirit, and persisted in his stubborn self-justification, he rejected the only means by which God could work to save him from himself. He had willfully separated himself from God. He could not receive divine help or guidance until he should return to God by confession of his sin.—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 632–634.

All of us have done this!  We rely on what our human eyes can see. What we see with our human eyes leads us to rely on our own human thinking. Which leads us to rely on our own human feelings. And then we act on those feelings.

Why do you think it was so easy for Saul to follow his own ideas right after God told him what to do?

I would venture to say it was an issue of humility. Saul was in the mode of self-reliance.

But when we humbly admit that we are weak human beings, we will trust less and less in ourselves and more and more in God.

In other words, the concept of self-reliance is flawed. We must learn to humbly submit to God. We must move from self-reliance to God-reliance.

Self-reliance undermines us submitting to God’s will, it keeps us from being God-reliant. Some have the tendency to substitute other things in the place of God-reliance. What may you be substituting for