A great example of this is demonstrated through the first king of Israel, Saul. Saul starts well and even portrays a significant level of humility. In 1 Samuel 9:21, Saul asks, “Am I not a Benjamite, from the least of the tribes of Israel?” Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Saul’s station as king to become a source of self-reliant pride in his life.

Even though it was clearly God who set Saul on the throne and established him with a victory in battle, Saul started relying on his own agenda as king rather than relying on God. Saul rejected the absolute King and tried to make his own way without relying of God. As is often the case, this happens when the pressure starts mounting. As the Philistines were mustering to fight the Israelites with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore, the men of Israel were cowering in fear in caves and under rocks. It was at this time that Saul was awaiting Samuel the prophet to come and offer burnt offerings to God. Samuel had told Saul to wait for this at Gilgal so that he might be shown what to do (10:8). But Saul’s agenda did not fit with this. Even though he had been told to wait for Samuel for burnt offerings and instruction, Saul would wait no longer, so he took it upon himself to make the burnt offerings (13:8). Saul’s fear of the Philistines and lack of reliance on God brought him to an act of disobedience in an attempt to follow his own agenda. In 1 Samuel 13:12, Saul says that he “forced himself” to do this. His desire for victory over the Philistines trumped his need for God of the universe.

Throughout Saul’s life from this time on, we see a king who continues to ignore God’s will and pursue his own agenda. God gave Saul’s son, Jonathan, victory over the Philistines, but Saul attempts to have him for going against his wishes. When God tells Saul to destroy every Amalekite and everything they owned, he disobeyed God and spared their king and livestock (15:7-9). Rather than acknowledging his own lack of disobedience, Saul set up a monument to himself as if to claim his own victory, agenda and kingdom (15:12). In response to this, God gave Samuel these words for Saul. 1 Samuel 15:23 says, “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” In other words, following your own plan is the same as following your own god. As a result of this, God completely rejected Saul as king over his people, and even more devastating is that the God of the universe grieved for this man.