Listening To Hope

Lesson:  We must turn from our obstinate ways toward God and obey Him if we are to avoid the sad, spiritual deafness which Saul demonstrates in this macabre tale. 

Text(s): I Samuel 28:1-25 

Ice-Breakers: 

1. With your group share a question a friend or co-worker has raised in your presence about the spirit world.  Share your response to the question.  Did you find it difficult to respond well?
2. Have you ever encountered the occult personally or know anyone who seriously read the horoscope, played with the ouija board or participated in a séance?  How did your react to this experience or knowledge?
3. What kinds of question shave you had about demons and the spirit world that you would like to have addressed?

Background: 

      Our society has a schizophrenic approach to the spirit world.  From Rudolf Bultmann’s liberal dismissal of anything existing beyond the five senses to the ‘Burning Man’ experience in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in which 40,000 mostly high-tech industry workers indulge heavily in sensual neo-paganism for a week we are a cultural soul divided. “It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits,” wrote Bultmann (quoted by David Taylor).  David went on to say, “Americans: hard-headed rationalists by day, soft-headed paranormal enthusiasts by night.”

      Against this cultural background we examine the story in I Samuel 28 in which a fearful, nearly-psychotic King Saul consults a medium, a ‘ghostwife’ who practices necromancy which is communication with the dead.  In our text he asks that she conjure up the prophet Samuel, who actually shows up surprising both the medium and Saul. 

Digging Deeper: 

1. Read I Samuel 28:4-25 out loud after choosing various members of your group to serve as the different characters in the story (Saul, the medium, the narrator, Samuel).  If possible obtain a copy of The Message or some other contemporary translation for everyone to use.  Which features of the story strike you?  Take some time to go over the story verbally encouraging everyone to get involved.

1. What ironies do you find in the story?  (Irony—a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood…Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and seen by an outside audience.)  What is the Bible’s lesson in this extremely ironic encounter between Saul and the ghostwife?

1. Unrepentance takes us down the road toward a hard heart.  What did Saul need to repent from (in our story and otherwise)?  How can we sustain a soft, listening heart, a heart pliable to God’s urgings?

1. David quoted Eugene Petersen, “[Channeling] seems to offer supernatural experience without any of the inconveniences of relationship and commitment, without, in fact, dealing with God.  It is a kind of spiritualist technology that offers supernatural thrills to bored and desperate people.”  Why does God demand that we communicate with Him on His terms alone?  Why do people seek spiritual experiences apart from seeking God?

1. David quotes Isaiah 14:9 to illustrate the Hebrew worldview of an underworld of the dead called Sheol.  How does Sheol differ from our contemporary worldview, if at all?  How does the resurrection of Jesus impact our worldview of life after death?

Wrap Up: 

• In pairs confess any occult activity you have engaged in and ask God for forgiveness.  Pray for one another that God will break any spiritual ties in your life to such practices.

• In a huddle (3-5 people) share your struggle in developing a relationship with God that is satisfying to your soul.  Share practices that have helped you over the years as well as wrestlings in which you may currently engage.  Pray for one another.

• David shared with us the following four verses and the antidote to spiritual difficulty they represent.  If you find it helpful, take some time to pray them over one another in your group or huddle or pair.

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  • If you lonely or sad, remember Matt. 28:20, “And indeed I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
  • If you feel out of control, remember Col. 2:9-10, that “Christ is the head over every power and authority.”
  • If you feel lost or uncertain, remember John 16:12-15, “The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth . . . he will take what is mine and make it known to you.”
  • If you feel afraid of evil powers, remember 1^st John 4:1-4, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Outreach/Mission: 

• Pray for any friends, family or co-workers who have engaged in occult practices.