阅读经文 

扫罗又要与以色列民的敌人非利士人再次打仗了。见到敌方的军队时，“扫罗……就惧怕，心中发颤。”（撒上 28:5）他想求问耶和华应该怎样做，可是耶和华没有回答他。扫罗需要有人的指点，但先知撒母耳已年老去世了，扫罗于是决定使用一个交鬼的灵媒，来尝试召回已故的撒母耳来与他沟通。

扫罗说服隐多珥的交鬼妇人，为他念咒召唤撒母耳上来。尽管神已吩咐百姓不可以这样做，（参利 19:31，20:6）但扫罗还是做了。

年纪老迈的撒母耳告诉扫罗，耶和华已从他手里夺去国权，并把它赐与大卫了。非利士人要击败以色列，扫罗和他的众子也要阵亡。扫罗听了便仆倒在地上，他“因撒母耳的话甚是惧怕。”（参撒上 28:20）

神对扫罗说“不”，是期待唤醒他和阻止他按照他自己的意愿行事，但是扫罗肯听吗？

我们很多时也是这样，神对我们说“不”，或许是祂要获得我们的注意力的方式，叫我们放下有害的选择并另辟一条路。我们需要有什么事情发生，才会信靠和服从神呢？

Saul had to fight with Israel’s enemy the Philistines again. And when he saw the opposing army, “he was afraid; terror filled his heart.”（see1 Samuel 28:5） He wanted to ask the Lord about what he should do, but the Lord did not respond to him. Saul needed advice, but old Samuel the prophet was dead. So Saul decided to use a medium, a spiritist, to try to communicate with the spirit of Samuel from the dead.

Saul persuaded a medium at Endor into conjuring up the spirit of Samuel for him. Though God had told his people not to do this (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6), Saul did it anyway.

Old Samuel told Saul that the Lord had torn the kingdom from him and given it to David. The Philistines would crush Israel, and Saul and his sons would die. When Saul heard this, he fell to the ground, “filled with fear because of Samuel’s words.”（see1 Samuel 28:20）

God’s no to Saul was an attempt to wake him up and turn him away from trying to get his own way. But would Saul listen?

Oftentimes for us too, the Lord’s no might be his way of trying to get our attention to repent from destructive choices and choose a different path. What will it take for us to trust and obey God?