1 Samuel 13:8–14 (ESV)
He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Saul's first big mistake cost him the kingdom. Why did it cost him? Because he thought it was his, not God's. "When I saw the people were scattering from me...". This is the thread that we keep tracing through the rest of Saul's story. Me. My kingdom. My legacy.
This incorrect thinking led to him overstepping his bounds. His authority. And so he lost authority. As we'll see as we continue to pull this thread, instead of repenting Saul doubled down. He forced the matter here, and the rest of his life he kept trying to force the matter to stay in control. To stay in charge. Only thinking about himself and not God, not the people he was given responsibility for.
To contrast with David, look at the previous post. He was so aware that the kingdom he ruled was actually God's that it sometimes led to inaction to a fault. He didn’t try to hold onto the kingdom from his own strength at all. The one time he did look to see how much he had gained, when he took a census, he quickly realised and repented of his wrong thinking. And when consequence came for that census what did he choose? “I’d rather leave our fate in the hands of God than man, He may have mercy on us yet”.
We’ve got to always understand our place and God’s place. Our authority is given from God, it can also be taken away. And no matter how hard we try we can’t get it back by our own strength. But there is a way to keep it: humility that leads to repentance. Humility that leads to change in our thinking, in our actions, in our behaviour. David knew it, and that’s why he was “the man after God’s own heart” that was given the kingdom instead.