When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.” – 1 Samuel 9:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 18, 2016): 1 Samuel 9

The last year of Barak Obama has begun. I can hear the cheers – and the tears - even from where I sit somewhat north of the Continental United States. For the next few years we will go through the post-mortem procedure examining the Obama presidency, but the truth is that the legacy of Bara Obama won’t probably be known for a couple of decades. It seems to go that way. We just aren’t in a position to make all of the informed judgments right now. We don’t have all the information. But over time we will get the information and then we will make a decision of where his presidency ranks among his class of what will soon be 44 Presidents (Grover Cleveland served non-consecutive terms making him the 22^nd and 24^th Presidents of the United States.)

But for now the answers we have will be to a set of very personal questions. Was Barak Obama the President that we expected him to be (for the better or worse)? Every President has his own unique set of obstacles, but how did Obama work to overcome his? And what might be the biggest question, did the people do their job and support the President in his endeavors – because running a successful country is really the job of all the citizens. What we did not know seven years ago, we know now. Did Barak Obama disappoint us? Is it possible that our hopes were too high?

I struggle with this passage of the Books of Samuel. I struggle with the whole idea of Saul as the  king of Israel, especially if we insist that God knows everything about the future. Because in the eyes of history, Saul was a disaster. David was a great king, but the truth is that following the reign of Saul may have made David seem even better. And yet it is clear in the narrative that Saul was “God’s man.” It was God who uncovered Samuel’s ear and indicated that it was this man that should govern over Israel.

But there are a couple of ways to look at reign of Saul. The first is that he was essentially a place holder. The idea is that God knew that Saul would ultimately fail, but he also knew that Saul could take care of the problem that was at hand – namely, the Philistines. According to this theory, Saul becomes a leader similar to Samson. Samson failed miserably as a leader and a servant of God through most of his life, and yet he was successful at removing the Philistine thorn from the side of Israel – at least for a time.

The other way to look at Saul’s reign is to understand that Saul could have been a great king. Had he followed closely to God and made better decisions, we might be hailing the line of Saul and not David – or at least the line of Saul may have extended a few generations before someone like David rose up from the tribe of Judah.

Which is true? Much like the legacy of Barak Obama, I am not sure that we really know. There is something attractive about both ways of thinking. Maybe it is a mixture of the two. What I like about the second option is that it places free will back in our hands. Our choices matter – every one of them. God has instilled within us the possibility of becoming great in moral leaders, but whether or not that becomes a reality is really up to us – and the choices that we make.

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 10