Let’s assume You had a rough week on your walk with God. Frustrated or annoyed, you seek advice from a loved one. Afterall, iron sharpens iron so you do what a lot of us do. You call someone to confide in instead of first taking your groanings to God. Soon into the conversation, you realize it’s reached a territory of judgment mixed with a little bit of accusation and you wonder if you called the wrong person to confide in and if you should have had better discernment. When the conversation ends, you scratch your head thinking, that was not edifying.
It’s common in the faith to go through wrongful judgment and accusation. I was recently on the receiving end of it. I wondered if I confided in the wrong individual or maybe the right individual at the wrong time. I tossed and turned about my decision to be vulnerable with them, because I felt so ashamed and judged by the end of our talk. I eventually decided to clear my mind by continuing a study I was doing on King Saul in 1 Samuel 10. Through this teaching, God enlightened me to know how to deal with judgmental Christians.
Saul’s anointing as King of Israel is usually used as a cautionary tale to describe how pride and greed can steal our hearts away from God and others. But, not often do we learn about Saul’s humility when he first received his anointing.
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
1 Samuel 10:1 (ESV)
The prophet Samuel anointed Saul in private (1 Samuel 9:27) and no one except Samuel, Saul, and God was privy to Saul’s anointing. So when Saul returned to his hometown, and started to receive the public signs of his anointing, the people around him were doubtful of his giftings and why he had changed.
When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
1 Samuel 10:10-11 (ESV)
‘Is Saul among the prophets?’ became an expression people used when someone did something that others would not expect of them. Specifically in this context, it was a way of asking themselves why Saul had become so religious to the point of prophesying and singing praises to God. When I read this text, I immediately thought of how King Saul is perceived – prideful, arrogant, and vengeful – and I expected those characteristics to be reflected in his response. I expected Saul to want to validate himself or ask God to validate him. When I studied what he did, I was in awe of his humility.
“When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.”
1 Samuel 10:13 (ESV)
Saul did nothing. He didn’t try to reduce their doubts, to stop their judgment, or to even prove his anointing. He prophesied as God called him to then went to the high place to commune with God. Does this act remind you of anyone?
“But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed in their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”
Luke 5:15-16 (ESV)
Saul took the same posture in 1 Samuel 10 that Jesus took in Luke 5. It didn’t matter whether the judgment was good or bad, Jesus withdrew to draw closer to The Father just as Saul withdrew to God. Their actions taught me a valuable lesson on how to handle judgment (good or bad). Judgment is inevitable and outside of our control, but how we respond is within our control and our reaction requires great humility and discernment.
Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
1 Samuel 10:14-16 (ESV)
Saul had such great humility and discernment that not only did he say nothing to defend himself the first time he was confronted, he said nothing the second time. He kept his response to his uncle simple and only answered what needed to be answered and kept private what needed to be kept private. If I’m honest, if I was in Saul’s shoes, it would have been so easy to go to a loved one and tell them ‘in secret’ what God had done so the judgment and questioning would stop or even call Samuel and see if he could put in a good word. But Saul was a man of humility and discernment then and said nothing to plead his case. The more I studied the scripture, the better it got.
In 1 Samuel 10:17-24, the prophet Samuel publicly proclaimed Saul as King of Israel before the Israelites. I was happy to read this because now the people had tangible proof that Saul was a godly man and those gifts were directly from God. They had an exact reason – from a prophet they admired and respected – to stop doubting Saul’s godliness, his anointing, and his gifts. But as you can imagine, they didn’t stop doubting Saul and they didn’t stop their judgment.
“Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.”
1 Samuel 10:26-27 (ESV)
God saw their judgment and called it worthless! You know what that revealed to me? God is the only true judge and yes, we’re called to judge our fruits and practice righteous judgment according to His word (Matthew 7:16, 1 Corinthians 4), but any judgment outside of that is worthless in God’s eyes. God doesn’t ask us to go through life constantly seeking to defend ourselves. He’s our advocate, the one who pleads our cause, who publicly defends us, and we need to ask ourselves if we’re willing to be silent in moments we don’t want to be. We need to ask ourselves if we’re willing to practice Saul’s humility and discernment in moments we feel we’re justified to speak back. We need to ask ourselves if we’re willing to let God choose how He’ll defend us.
Saul did nothing and Samuel publicly declared him as king. God saw and heard their judgment and shut down any reason for them to doubt Saul, and even then, the people still judged Saul. What did Saul Do? When he heard their judgment again, when he had every reason by now to be upset, what did he do? He said nothing. Saul practiced the same humility and discernment we see throughout this chapter. The text even says Saul was at peace.
Saul was at peace amidst judgment because he validated God’s voice over anyone else’s. God spoke to him privately, anointed him privately, and that was enough for Saul to not feel the need to declare it publicly because he cherished God’s opinion over all. It didn’t matter what anyone said, good or bad, because God had said something to him first. Saul trusted that what God had done in private, God would eventually do in public. Saul trusted that what God had spoken in private, He would eventually speak in public. Saul trusted that God’s words were the truth and anything outside of that was a lie unfit to be entertained. So, Saul stayed silent and kept his peace because he focused on God and the high place.
How do we handle the inevitable judgment that will come in life, good or bad, and keep our peace in the midst of it? We do nothing but keep our eyes focused on the high place. As long as our validation is centered on other people, we will never stay silent like Saul or have peace in the midst of judgment. Unfortunately in King Saul’s story, he gets to a point where he’s so consumed with the need for validation from others and wanting to be seen a certain way that he no longer holds value to God’s truth which ends up destroying his life. His story’s an extreme example of how a lack of humility and discernment in handling judgment can lead us astray, but I believe that all of us can fall trap to this.
If you are a child of God, God has validated you through the righteousness of His Son’s blood. You do not need to spend your time proving to others that you’re good enough, saved enough, cared for enough, gifted enough, loved enough, enough, enough, enough. God has already spoken His truth over you. You are enough and His validation is enough. This is the peace He gives us in the midst of judgment. His Spirit dwells in us and no one needs to validate externally what He’s already placed in us internally.
The conversation I had with my loved one ended up being an offense that God used to reshape my heart on how to handle judgment. If we’re not careful, we find ourselves using our energy to try to defend ourselves when the only true judge is the one who has it under control and He’ll do it in His timing. Can we be silent until it happens? Can we be silent after it happens?
When I seek validation from anything or anyone but the high place, I lack peace. I lack peace in God’s truth, I lack peace in God’s direction over my life, and I lack peace in myself. My lack of peace is now a good test of where my validation is coming from. Ask yourself, are you lacking peace in God, yourself, or your life? Why do you think that is? If you answered yes to the first question, have you gone to God with your frustrations? Have you gone to God with your answers to the second question? Have you been in God’s word? Have you sought godly counsel? If yes, have they brought you closer to God and His truth or discouraged you from it? Have you been honest with Him? Have you been spending your energy to defend things that God has never called you to?
How do I deal with judgmental Christians? I don’t. I try to stay silent to the judgment now. God can deal with the judgment, if He wants to. I will keep the peace He’s given me. It’s been hard, but it’s also been necessary.
Sincerely,
Anne
If you have time this week, I encourage you to contrast this study of Saul’s humility and discernment amidst judgment in 1 Samuel 10 versus that of Job’s in Job 2:11-13; Job 3-6. One has the wisdom and discernment not to speak and protect his peace while the other invites critique.
Scripture to meditate on this week:
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2 (ESV)
“But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
Matthew 5:39 (NIV)
Daughter in Waiting Ministry 
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