Group Check-in

1. What was the best part of your week?
2. What was the most difficult part of your week?

What Is 1 Samuel 28 About?

This chapter is eerie, tragic, and heavy. Saul, once anointed and called, is now a shell of who he could’ve been. The Philistines are gathering for war. David is gone. Samuel is dead. And most notably, God is silent. Saul inquires, but there is no answer—not through dreams, prophets, or the Urim. And so, Saul turns where he once commanded others not to go: to a medium.

In disguise and desperation, Saul seeks what God has already withdrawn. He invokes Yahweh’s Name while simultaneously breaking Yahweh’s law. It’s spiritual confusion at its darkest. And yet—Samuel appears. Not because the medium summoned him, but because God allowed it. And Samuel doesn’t offer comfort… only confirmation. Saul’s kingdom is gone. His death is near. His choices have led him to this.

This is what happens when disobedience goes unchecked and pride is at the helm of our heart: discernment disappears, rebellion grows, and spiritual doors are opened to darkness. Saul didn’t end up here overnight. It started back in 1 Samuel 13, when he said “I thought…” instead of “God said.”

Did you know that if a plane takes off from Los Angeles bound for New York and is just one degree off course, it will miss New York by hundreds of miles? Instead of New York, this plan would end up in Washington D.C., or even farther off, depending on the distance traveled!

That tiny deviation at the beginning doesn’t seem like much. One degree? No big deal. But over time, that small misalignment compounds. The longer the flight, the further you end up from your intended destination. One step off God’s path may seem small at the time—but over time, it leads to total separation from His voice. And the hard reality of it all is that it’s not God who is distant, it’s us! God didn’t move away from Saul; Saul moved away from God.

Key Verse

“Saul said, ‘I am in great distress… God has departed from me. He no longer answers me.’”—1 Samuel 28:15 (NIV)

S.O.A.P. for the Week

Passage: 1 Chronicles 10:13–14

“Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord… and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David.”

Reflect: What does faithfulness to God look like even when He feels distant? How do you respond when God doesn’t speak the way you want or expect?

Ice-Breakers

• If you had to live in the world of any movie or show for a year, what would you pick and why?
• What’s a super weird or unexpected skill you have?
• Have you ever gotten really lost—like wrong turn, wrong destination lost?

Group Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think God didn’t answer Saul? What does this reveal about the connection between obedience and hearing God’s voice?
2. What stands out to you about Saul’s decision to visit a medium? What lines had he already crossed to get to this moment?
3. Saul invokes God’s Name (v.10) while directly disobeying God’s law. What does this teach us about using God’s Name in vain—and how it applies to us today?
4. What’s the danger of pursuing spiritual things apart from the Spirit of God? How do practices like horoscopes, crystals, manifesting, or even “Christianized” versions of these lead us astray?
5. Have you ever felt like God was distant or silent? How did you respond? What might God have been doing in that silence?
6. What are some practical ways to close doors we may have opened to spiritual compromise or deception?

Practical Takeaway

The most dangerous place to be isn’t on the battlefield—it’s outside of God’s will. Saul’s final days show what happens when we silence God’s voice long enough to stop hearing it altogether. Disobedience dulls our discernment. Rebellion becomes rational. And when God seems silent, we’re tempted to listen to other voices. But not all spiritual voices come from God.

The good news? Jesus is still the Shepherd who speaks. But He speaks to the humble, the repentant, the surrendered. If He feels far, the solution isn’t to seek a new spirit—it’s to surrender again to His.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, forgive us for the ways we’ve drifted, the doors we’ve opened, and the voices we’ve entertained. Help us remember that Your silence is never rejection, but often invitation—to repent, to return, to realign. Keep us from spiritual compromise. Teach us to love Your voice and wait on Your word. And guard our hearts from the lure of anything that imitates You but isn’t from You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.