1 Samuel 28:20-25: in context

The story of Saul reaches one of its bleakest moments. Having turned from God and consulted a medium in his desperation, Saul hears a word of doom and collapses in terror to the ground, with no strength left, for he had eaten nothing all day and night. And then, into this scene of a broken and despairing man, comes an unexpected kindness. The woman, and Saul's servants, urge him to eat; the woman prepares a meal, killing a calf and baking bread, and sets it before him, that he might have strength for his way. Even in his ruin, Saul is shown compassion.

Amid the darkness of this scene, the kindness shown to Saul stands out. He was a broken man, fallen to the ground in terror, drained of strength, facing his doom. By ordinary reckoning, there was little reason to help him; he had brought his ruin on himself, and his end was near. And yet the woman and his servants do not leave him in his despair. They urge him to eat, they prepare a meal, they care for his immediate human need, showing compassion to a man in the depths. It is a small kindness, meeting a simple need, food and strength for a broken man; but it is a real mercy shown to one in despair. This holds a quiet lesson about ministering to those in despair. There are people around us who are broken, collapsed under the weight of their troubles, drained of strength, in the depths of despair, some of whom, like Saul, may have brought their troubles on themselves. And there is a ministry, humble but real, in showing them compassion, in meeting their immediate human needs, in caring for them in their brokenness rather than leaving them in their despair. The woman fed Saul; she met the simple need of a broken man for food and strength. Encourage the fainthearted, Paul says, help the weak, be patient with all. To minister to those in despair is not always to solve their deeper troubles, which we often cannot, but to show them compassion, meet their immediate needs, and care for them in their brokenness. This searches how we treat those in despair, especially the fallen and the broken. Do we leave them in their despair, perhaps judging that they brought it on themselves, or do we, like the woman who fed Saul, show them compassion and meet their immediate needs? Restore such a one, Paul says, in a spirit of gentleness. Even to the broken and the fallen, even to those whose troubles are partly their own doing, there is a ministry of compassion, of meeting simple needs, of caring for them in their despair. The woman set a meal before the broken Saul and gave him strength for his way; and we too are called to show compassion to those in despair, meeting their human needs and caring for them in their brokenness, ministering the small kindnesses that comfort a broken soul.

When I encounter someone broken and in despair, drained and collapsed under their troubles, perhaps troubles partly of their own making, do I leave them in their despair or judge them, or can the woman who fed the broken Saul, meeting his simple human need with compassion, move me to minister to those in despair, showing them kindness and caring for their immediate needs even when I cannot solve their deeper troubles, comforting the broken as she comforted Saul?