Lent Lessons from a Witch Visit

Witches are not exactly a hot topic of conversation when it comes to Lent discussions.

In fact, in North America, the topic of witches are pretty much kept to Halloween, Hollywood, and that Salem-thing that happened years ago.

And North Americans who know their Bible aren’t necessarily discussing witches and witchcraft on a daily basis either.

Yet, there is a small but significant (and strange!) story in 1 Samuel 28 that talks about a witch… and dare I say, gives us some insight during this season of Lent.

 

The setting and scene here are significant  Saul and his troops are on top of Mt. Gilboa, and from there they are looking down on an army camp, full of the powerful Philistines, getting ready to attack Saul and his Israelite army. 

And Saul is afraid -- not just a little bit scared, but extremely afraid.  1 Samuel states he was so afraid, “terror filled his heart.” (28:5)

And here comes the sad part.  He asks God what to do and God is silent.  “The Lord did not answer him.”  (28:6) And if you’re like me, you’re wondering why God didn’t answer him.  Didn’t Saul actually acknowledge God, and do the right thing by asking God for help?  Why is God not answering?

So naturally, Saul is still terrified and because God is silent, Saul goes to Plan B:  consult a witch to find out what to do next.  And he had just expelled all witches and mediums from Israel, so this would be no easy task, but nonetheless someone tells him there is a witch in Endor.

So, Saul dresses up in a disguise, travels to see the witch, and it all goes downhill from there, as what he discovers with her there is the beginning of the end for Saul.

 

So what is so significant about this peculiar story, and what does it have to do with Lent?

Here is where geography comes in handy. 

When we visited Israel, we had the pleasure of going on Mt. Gilboa and seeing a vast amount of the land of Israel from the top of that mountain.  And when we were on top of Gilboa, our leader pointed out where Endor was, and made a point to show where the Philistines would have been camped out awaiting their attack on the Israelite army. 

Endor was on the other side of the Philistine army, which means Saul more than likely would have had to have gone through that army camp to get to Endor and the witch.  Quite possibly, Saul was dressing up in a disguise so he could get through that camp, not just so he could talk with the witch.

But remember how he was terrified of the Philistine army?  “Terror filled his heart”?!?  Yet, he was willing to go through that very Philistine army camp to get answers from a witch!

How can this be?  Why the risk?

I wonder if it was because there was something more terrifying than that army…

I wonder if Saul was even more terrified of the fact that he felt God had left him…  and that God was silent. 

 

Which brings me back to my question earlier:  Why was God silent?  Why didn’t he answer Saul when he reached out?

Here lies our problem:  Saul had never said to God he was sorry.  Saul had never repented and asked God for forgiveness.  Saul never fell at God’s feet and said sorry for the countless ways he had sinned against God.

Just like Adam and Eve hid and couldn’t say “I’m sorry” to God after their original fall, Saul followed in their footsteps of this common nature of human sin not to ask for forgiveness. 

Did God leave Saul?  Scripture doesn’t say that. And I believe God was still with Saul.  But by not repenting and telling God he was sorry, Saul had broken his relationship with God and so far removed himself from God, that he could no longer hear his voice.

And so Saul, instead of humbling himself and asking forgiveness from God, did rather dare to walk through the terrifying Philistine army to have a witch give him answers.  He would rather make a petrifying journey to talk to a medium, than say sorry to the God of the Universe right there with him on Mt. Gilboa. 

So let’s get back to witches and Lent…  what does all this have to do with Lent?

Many of us know Lent is a time of introspection and taking a good hard look at our lives, especially our sin in light of Christ's suffering.  But looking at our sin and shortfalls is not easy for a lot of us.  Yes, of course we can celebrate and have hope that God has forgiven us through the death of Jesus, but may  forget to actually ask God for this forgiveness and truly look at the sin in our lives, repenting and saying, “I’m sorry, God.”

This is so difficult to do.  It is so against human nature to say, “I’m sorry.”  We try justifying our sin, we try blaming others, or we just choose not to see where we are in the wrong.  But even though we are a forgiven people, God doesn’t want us to find ourselves feeling distant from him because we aren’t drawing near to him in repentance.  Like Saul, sometimes we think it’s easier to continue on in our sin and face our giants without God, rather than come before God in humility, recognizing our need for him and need for forgiveness.

This Lent, let’s each one of us take a good look at our lives and find areas where we need to ask God for forgiveness.  And as we try to weed out this sin in our lives, it is my hope and prayer we will feel God’s unconditionally-loving presence  draw near to all of us, not missing this opportunity of God’s nearness like Saul did.

 

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." (Acts 3:19)

 

 

 

Writing from Mount Dry

Dry.

This describes fairly accurately how I have felt these last couple of weeks. 

Dry.

My hands feel dry and cracked from winter air.
   My throat feels dry due to cold season being  in full force.
      My face feels dry from lack of fresh air. 

And my mind and heart feel a bit dry too… a sense of writer’s (blogger's?!?) block and associated discouragement. 

Dry.  Parched. 
  And a sense of desperation for some sort of refreshment. 

I am not sure if it’s the fact that I miss the sun or fresh air, or maybe I’m feeling the winter blahs more than usual, but I’ve been trying to write this blog for almost 3 weeks now and every time I've tried, I come up completely – you guessed it – dry.

And so what’s the only thing I could think to write about?  Right again – "Dry."

But I'm not going to write about just any type of dry.  I want to talk about Mount Dry.   

It's a real place.  I visited Mount Dry in the Egyptian wilderness  -- and yes, it was a real biblical place as well.  

You may know it as “Mount Horeb.”  But directly translated, it literally means, “Mt. Dry.” 

So as I sit here with no idea what to write, feeling mentally parched each time I try, I see in my notes something significant about “Mt. Dry.”  It was at Mt Dry – Mt. Horeb – that God reminded the Israelite people that he was there to take care of their every need, and to take away their parchedness, offering refreshment.  It was at Mt. Dry, God gave them water from a rock. 

In Exodus 17, the Israelite people had hardly been out of Egypt for long, and they were complaining about their thirst, and how clearly, Moses had just brought them out of Egypt to die in this desert.  (Having spent just some minimal time in this Egyptian wilderness, I may have been one of the complainers myself, if not the chief complainant…)

These people had just been brought through the Red Sea on dry land.  They had just witnessed their Egyptian pursuers be annihilated.  They had just been fed manna and quail --  literally food from heaven.  And yet they were complaining about their thirst and how they must have come out here to die.  After all this, they still asked  if God was really with them?

And so rather than reprimanding these chronic complainers and leaving them in the desert to fend for themselves, God yet again proves himself worthy and provides.

He provides water.
  Relief.
     Refreshment.
And from all places, the water comes from "Horeb" - dry. The water comes from a lifeless rock on Mt. Dry.

God is proving yet again how he watches over and provides for his people.  God is offering a lifespring of physical and spiritual nourishment, showing his people that even in the wilderness, even on a place called Mt. Dry, he can cause a wellspring that can quench thirst.  That he is life-giving rock in a weary land...


Perhaps you find yourself in a similar spot as these Israelites were. Dry.  Parched.  Needing some serious refreshment.  Maybe you feel a bit like me, feeling the mid-winter blahs...  

Or maybe you are having a personal or spiritual dry spell, wondering just like the Israelites did in this story, “Is God really with us?  Is God really there for me?” (Exodus 17:7)  Why is he leaving me to wither in this dry land?  Why does it seem God doesn't care for me?

If this is you, or maybe this has been part of your path in the past, let this be your encouragement:  the God of the universe cares for you so deeply, that he is able to quench your thirst, even on Mt. Dry.  The God of this universe loves you so much that he would produce for you water out of a lifeless rock. 

If you are feeling dry today, and you have been praying or hoping for refreshment from God, allow these words to sink in and drink deeply from God’s wellspring of life…

  “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 
   Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)