Raise Up Who

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

RAISE UP WHO

1 Sam 28:7-19

"There is one in Endor," they said. 8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name." 9 But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?" 10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this." 11 Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" "Bring up Samuel," he said. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!" 13 The king said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground." 14 "What does he look like?" he asked. "An old man wearing a robe is coming up," she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 15 Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" "I am in great distress," Saul said. "The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do." 16 Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? 17 The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors — to David. 18 Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. 19 The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines."

NIV

It is strange, or maybe not that strange, that Saul had turned to black magic because the LORD would not answer him. It had to be the work of evil to be able to call up someone from the grave. Of course, the power of Almighty God raised people from the dead through both the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and Jesus raised Lazarus. The greatest resurrection, however, was when God raised Jesus from the dead. But this bringing up of Samuel from the grave is not the work of the LORD, but of the black arts of evil. Just the fact that Saul attempted to disguise himself to deceive this woman, but that did not work, and yet, she worked through the power of evil to bring Samuel up from the dead. We don’t understand why the LORD did not stop this but allowed Samuel to come up to talk to Saul. Perhaps no force of evil can raise up someone from the dead, but this was the act of God so that Samuel would tell Saul once and forever, the LORD had torn the kingdom from him and given it to David. But the hardest truth Saul had to face was that he was going to lose, and he would be handed over to the Philistines, and that he would join Samuel among the dead. It is a fact that we will explore in a few chapters, but the point is that there is no other than Almighty God that we should turn to. Of course, we cannot bring anyone up from the dead, but there is someone dead and was reborn, and that person is us. We have put to death the old self and become born again; the old creation is gone, and we have become a new creation through the power of God.  Yet do we raise up that old, dead self and ask it what we should do? We do not need a medium to bring that dead self up, for we can do that ourselves, but should we? Do we find comfort in that old self? How can we, as it was not a good self, holding on to hurt feelings, it was selfish and sought not after serving God, but served self. We need to let the dead bury the dead, and leave that dead self in the grave and move forward under the power of the Almighty, knowing His work within us and the guarantor, the Holy Spirit, of what is to come. We know that one day we will be raised up imperishable, incorruptible, and immortal to live forever in the presence of our Lord. A day is coming when we will meet our Lord in the air and be with him forever. But it is only this new creation that we are, which will be with the Lord, so let that self that died, remain in the grave, and let us consult only the Lord for what we are to do.