Never seek Validation

There was this popular incident in the Bible, where Saul, the appointed king of Israel was given divine Ordinance to wait until the coming of the Prophet Samuel, who would then initiate the Blood sacrifice and commit the blessing upon the Israel army, as they were marching for War against their arch enemy, the Palestines.

But it so happens that with the passing of time, Saul gets so impatient that he goes ahead with the Blood sacrifice to please his soldiers. This is considered an abomination. For Saul was a man given to his vices with hands that were defiled and far from purity. Where as on the other side, Samuel, was a man who had given his life to the service of the Most High.

The Wisdom tooth analogy

To explain this in normal terms would be something like this. You have a Wisdom tooth that is giving you excruciating pain. So you decide to go to the Dentist to get it pulled out.

You meet with his assistant and tell her the issue. She tells you to wait for the dentist. But apparently the pain is intolerable, and you are in mood to wait. You push the assistant to pull the tooth out.

Out of your insistence, she ventures and pulls out the tooth. The Dentist then walks in, finds out that his assistant has done the job. Of course, it has you smiling, but on the contrary, the Dentist gets mad at her and fires her from the job.

Why the Dentist was right in firing his assistant

Now you might argue that she did a good job in the absence of the Dentist, while on the other side, she has put your Life in danger. Foremost, the assistant is neither Certified or Qualified to do this procedure.

Secondly, Wisdom tooth extraction in most cases is accompanied with a Heart attack. The reason, this tooth has connecting nerve endings that can send Electric signals to the Heart. In Traditional Medicines and in Alternate Medicines, pain associated with the Wisdom tooth is considered an indicating symptom of an underlying issue. Next comes the Patient’s history, without even knowing if you are suffering from any other syndromes or chronic ailments, the assistant ventured out in all audacity to do the extraction.

Of course, to you, she did a good job. But as you see, the consequences of a greater damage to the patient is untold. This illustration is a mere to highlight the fact that Roles cannot be interchanged.

Back to the Story

Having made that clear, let us hop back to the story. So when Samuel arrives and sees what Saul had done. He counters Saul, and questions the reason for his action to go ahead with the Sacrifice, rather than waiting for him.

Saul, looks sideways towards his assembled army and thus says, “they were growing impatient, and I didn’t want them to think that I am weak, and I ought to wait for you, Samuel, even to offer a Sacrifice”

Saul failed to understand the inner language of his Army

Though Saul did not say the same thing, this is the untold interpretation of what he exactly meant. Now the catch phrase to this is, “I didn’t want them to think that I am weak” It is imperative to understand that people think what we want them to think. In other words, it is our unspoken language that conveys to people what and who we are.

If Saul would have waited for Samuel, no matter how late he arrived, Saul would have conveyed Courage to his Army, that he cares not for their Rumbling or Muttering or even for their Slander, but for the divine Ordinance. This might be called Stubborn but there is a show of tremendous Strength behind the action. Many times it is the unseen actions that people look for in us, to judge our mental strength.

A Courageous king means, the king is in Control

Now when the army sees its king, so stubborn and stern, it clearly knows that the only way out of the battle is a Victory. Saul did not understand this inner language that goes into the minds of each Solider, instead, was easily intimidated by their grumbling and thought that by performing the Sacrifice, he would please them. Instead, he merely conveyed to his Army that the king would listen to its commands.

A timid king spells disaster

Samuel spells to Saul of his weakness and tells the outcome of the war would be a total disaster for him. Which was true indeed. For the Army did not fight to protect the king or his kingdom, but to protect itself.

When you seek Validation, you are merely telling people that you do not believe in your work and that you need the eyes and judgement of someone to tell you the quality of the work.

Though you might be innocently asking the opinions from your peers or from someone near and dear to you. But the thoughts that it kindles into the minds of the other person is varied and often displays a sign of weakness from your part.

When you value the judgement from others it only means you have lost trust in yourself.