Terror Filled His Heart

1 Samuel 28:4-6 – The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.

1 Samuel 17:11 – On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Amos 8:11 – “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

Application:

• ·         “Terror filled his heart” because he was estranged from the Lord and was not performing his role as the true theocratic king.
• ·         The fear of Saul and the Israelite army betrays a loss of faith in the covenant promises of the Lord. Their fear also demonstrates that the Israelites search for security in a human king had failed. On the basis of God’s covenant promises, Israel was never to fear her enemies but to trust in the Lord.
• ·         In times of great distress Israel turned to the Lord for a prophetic word of hope or guidance, but in the coming judgment the Lord will answer all such appeals with silence—the awful silence of God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV