When God Steps In and Fixes Our Mistakes with Precision

Shared on March 5, 2025

Introduction

There is a notion that God wants us to suffer, whether we make a poor choice or not.  This is a notion that stems from an idea that God doesn’t care about any of us.  These notions have caused many to choose not to believe in the Lord.  For that very reason alone I must do this study to offer correction to these thoughts.

In our study this week, we are going to see that God does care about us.  You will see that God steps in to offer correction when we have chosen to go astray.  In this week’s study, we are going to focus on 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 17:51-54 to see God’s actions while King Saul was running wild.

Saul’s Greatest Show of Disobedience

Our study this week picks up after Saul’s greatest show of disobedience.  In 1 Samuel 15:1-9, Saul was commanded to attack Amalek and to utterly destroy all they had, not sparing anything or anyone.  Yes, these were instructions given to Saul through Samuel.  These were instructions that Saul was supposed to follow.

The scripture tells us that Saul took a quite large army and came to the city of Amalek.  Saul warned the Kenites to leave the city so as not to be caught up in Israel’s attack – this was obedient to God’s command.  (The Kenites were the people of Moses’ father-in-law – Judg. 4:11).  After warning the Kenites, Saul attacked the Amalekites, which again, was obedient to God’s command.

However, it is everything he did after attacking the Amalekites where Saul veered off course.  Saul and the people took the king of the Amalekites alive, rather than killing him as commanded.  Saul spared the king along with the best of the sheep, oxen, and all that was good as he was unwilling to destroy what he deemed was good.  Saul only laid waste to everything he despised and deemed to be worthless.

Saul was moving according to his own will, rather than God’s will.  Saul was doing what many of us do today by picking and choosing what he would obey.  Listen, when we pick and choose which of God’s instructions we will or won’t obey, that is sin.  Obedience must be total, otherwise, it’s not obedience.  For his actions, God rejected Saul being king over His people (1 Sam. 15:10-11, 16-26).

Saul was rejected by God because Saul’s heart was not with God.  Yes, he and the people enjoyed this victory, but again, Israel was living at war, rather than at peace.  Yes, they were at war with all the people around them, but their king was at war with God.  

God Cares About His People

We must not underestimate how detrimental it is for a people when their leader does not walk with God.  The people look to their leaders to set the tone and example to follow.  As scripture shows us, when Israel’s kings were wicked, like Ahab, the people followed in their wickedness, which led to their destruction.  On the other hand, when Judah’s kings honored the Lord, like Hezekiah, the people of Judah followed suit and were blessed.

After two years into Saul’s reign, God rejected him after repeated rebukes.  Now, though he had been rejected by God, Saul would still sit on the throne for some time.  Saul still sitting on the throne as king would have posed a great danger to the people as the chances are likely they would have followed in his wickedness.  Now, God would not have His people to suffer nor be led into Saul’s wickedness.  

In 1 Samuel 16:1, God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem because He had already provided for Himself a king for His people.  So, God was moving quickly to make things better for His people, right?  Why was He moving so quickly?  Well, God had just told Samuel prior, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king (1 Sam. 15:11).”

Now, let’s think about what it meant that God “greatly regretted” what He had done.  To regret can mean a couple of different things.  Regret is sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one’s control or power to repair.  Now, this definition doesn’t fit for God because there is nothing that is beyond God’s control.

Another definition for regret is that regret is an expression of distressing emotion, such as sorrow.  Sorrow is sadness or unhappiness.  This definition is more fitting to describe how God felt about permitting Saul to be king of Israel.  God had expressed to Samuel that He felt sorry for allowing Saul to lead His people.

Now, one may begin to think that God was saying that He was in the wrong for permitting Saul to be king.  Let’s not be mistaken, God was not admitting to being wrong about permitting Saul to be king.  In fact, it was not God’s choice for Saul to be king.  I want to remind all of you that it was the people that wanted a king to reign over them (1 Sam. 8:4-5). 

God permitted them to have the king they wanted to teach them a lesson.  So, what God was truly sorry for was the fact that the people had to learn the hard way.  God was sorry that the people had to have a king like Saul reign over them to see how terrible their desire was.

To this day, God is sorry when we He has to permit us to learn lessons the hard way.  The one other time that instantly comes to my mind when God said a similar thing was before He flooded the earth.  Genesis 6:6 states, “The Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

At that time, the Lord was sorry because every intent of man’s heart was only evil (Gen. 6:5).  God, we should always remember, made mankind in HIs image and likeness to have dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26).  God desired for all of us to live together, to love each other, and prosper (Gen. 1:28).  God desired to dwell with mankind in that great love for everlasting life. 

If we think about it, the children of Israel were supposed to be an example, at a smaller level, of God’s desire for mankind.  God gave the children of Israel a Promised Land to freely dwell in and prosper together.  They were to live in obedience and become a holy nation of priests that resided with God.  You see, this is an example of the eternal desire that God has for all people.  

So, yes, it hurts God to watch as we continue to choose to live in disobedience when His desire for us is of peace, a future, and hope (Jer. 29:11).  God was moving quickly for the people of Israel because He wanted better for them.  To this day, God moves with such care to correct us, the sincere believers, so that we can remain on track to dwell in His kingdom.

God Moves to Make Correction

As Samuel had said to Saul, God sought a king who would be after His heart rather than a disobedient heart (1 Sam. 13:14).  What God sought for in a king would drastically differ from the king the people wanted.  What God desires for us can drastically differ if we aren’t aligned with Him, and He will move to make corrections.  

God’s correction will always be spiritual  

When I say that God will move to make corrections, I want you to understand that His correction will always be spiritual.  To explain what I mean by this, let’s look at what happened when Samuel was looking over Jesse’s sons.

When Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son, he had to be reminded not to make the same error as the people.  Samuel marveled at Eliab’s stature, and thought to himself that surely he was the future king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:6).  This was the same error the people made when they wanted to have a king like all other nations.  Remember, the people had also marveled at Saul because of his stature.

God told Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).”  You see, Samuel’s judgment was based on the outward appearance whereas God judges by the soul.

Our errors, when we sin, always come from a worldly mindset!  From our worldly mind, we lust and we covet. When our mindset is of sin, it’s easier for us to be tempted and to fall into temptation.  I also want to make it clear that sin can occur both in our thoughts, the words we say, and in our physical actions.

Paul touched on the great struggle we have that is of the sinful mind.  In Romans 7:15, Paul wrote, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”  As we can see throughout his letters, Paul willed to do nothing but minister the gospel!  I would tell you that Paul did a wonderful job of ministering the gospel!  Yet, like all of us, Paul believed he could have done even more and been better.

What did Paul believe held him back from excelling further?  That old sinful nature that was still present inside of him.  Paul wrote, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find (Rom. 7:18).”  

Paul acknowledged that his sinful nature was still present in him, though he walked in the way of Christ.  Paul acknowledged that his sinful nature constantly tempted him to either think, say, or do what was disobedient.  Again, this is the painful struggle that all believers face as our old nature – our old man – is still within us!

How did Paul push forward with his old sinful nature still being present inside of him?  We see that he acknowledged sin was still present in him.  If you and I can’t acknowledge that sin is still present within us, then we’re failing to acknowledge the truth.  

One who can’t acknowledge the truth of their way is one who can’t be helped by the Lord.  The reason they can’t be helped is because they have refused the help that God will offer.  When God rebukes us, yes He rebukes our actions, but He rebukes the origin of where the action was born.

As Proverbs 4:23 states, from your heart springs the issues of life!  What this means is that your every thought, action, and emotion is born in your soul.  So, if one’s soul is healthy, then good will pour out of them.  However, if one’s soul is defiled and corrupted, their thoughts, emotions, and actions will be defiled and corrupt.

This very thought was what was behind Paul saying, “O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24)!”  Every last one of us are wretched in our soul because the nature of sin is still present within us.  Yes, all of us fall short of the glory of God, and therefore, we need help to reach His glory. 

Paul gave thanks to God because He gave us ol’ wretched sinners His only begotten Son.  He then wrote, “With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:25).”  Paul knew victory over sin and temptation was the faith that was in his heart.  He understood that he needed God’s correction in his life and that he needed to heed God’s correction

The battle of sin and its temptation is one that every child of God must acknowledge. I repeat to you, if we can’t acknowledge our sin, there will be no forgiveness.  Even worse, if we can’t acknowledge our sin, temptation and sin will consume us. 

Samuel heeds God’s choice

God is with us and will constantly offer the correction we need to get us back on track.  Believe it or not, God will move swiftly to offer us the correction that we need.  However, it is up to us whether that correction heals us right away or is delayed.

You see, with God’s offer of correction, we are left with a choice:  heed God’s correction or disregard it.  In this series of studies, we’ve seen multiple times where God’s correction was disregarded.  

When God warned the people about having a king like other nations, they shrugged their shoulders.  When God rebuked Saul and gave Him instructions, Saul chose to do his own thing.  These are certainly two examples we ought not to follow.

Samuel had been corrected by God for thinking the outward appearance was of significance.  After this rebuke, he was given the choice of following God’s instructions or not.  When Samuel laid eyes upon David, the Lord said to him, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one (1 Sam. 16:12)!”  

With those instructions, Samuel chose to heed God and immediately anointed David (1 Sam. 16:13). Samuel’s moving to immediately anoint David is the action we should take when God has rebuked and instructed us in the way to go.  Too often we delay our blessing because we were slow in heeding God’s rebuke and moving as He instructed.

God’s correction is precise

Now, something I want to point out within this scripture is the precision of God’s correction.  The precision of God’s correction goes back to God telling Samuel that He had provided for Himself a king among Jesse’s sons.

Who was Jesse and why were his sons, or one of them, so special?  Jesse was of the tribe of Judah, which meant that his sons were of Judah as well.  The importance of being of Judah goes back to what Jacob had told his sons would befall them in Genesis 49.

 In Genesis 49:8-12, you will see that Jacob told Judah that he would be the one whom his brothers would praise.  Jacob said of Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; And to HIm shall be the obedience of the people.”

Judah was one of two of Joseph’s brothers who did not want to kill him when the nine others desired to harm Joseph.  Judah was the brother that suggested Joseph be sold to the Midianite and Ishmaelite traders.  When the time came, Judah was willing to intercede and lay down his own life to go to Egypt with Benjamin if it meant his family could live (Gen. 43:3-10; 44:18-34).  

When Jacob spoke of the scepter not departing from Judah, he spoke of authority.  You see, a scepter is the staff of a king.  You see, God always desired for a king to rule over His people but that king was going to come from Him and would be Him.  The king that would come from the Lord and be over His people was promised to come through Judah.

Jesse’s importance was that he was of the tribe of Judah and he had a son whose heart was after God’s heart.  Samuel skipped over seven  of Jesse’s sons before David was chosen by the Lord (1 Samuel 16:10-11).  You might say that God was being picky but I would tell you that God was being precise.

When God steps in to fix our errors, He is going to be precise with the fix.  God doesn’t use band-aids to put a band-aid on an issue.  Band-aid fixes are temporary until something breaks again.  God’s corrections aren’t temporary!

God presented His correction to the people on the big stage.  The Philistines had brought forward their champion who mocked Israel and the Lord.  For his part, Saul cowered in fear of Goliath.  David, on the other hand, had no fear of the giant.  David stood before Goliath with his stones in hand and faith in his heart.

As we know, David defeated Goliath.  In 1 Samuel 17:51-54, the men who were standing in great fear before David’s arrival were filled with pride and energy.  The men rejoiced and moved to drive out the Philistines.  David wasn’t physically the king yet, but God had already given the people a new hope to look at and follow, opposed to following Saul in his sin.