The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.

We could also ask, why does anyone ever want to contact the dead? If you’ve heard of people having seances or seen something like that in a movie, you may have wondered what was going on.

Often, when people feel a need to reach out to someone who has passed away, it’s because they’re grieving that loss and want to feel closer to the person. Sometimes people are worried or fearful, and perhaps they believe that those who have died have some great wisdom to offer.
You can find part of the reason Saul wanted to contact the dead in 1 Samuel 28:5. But the real reason that Saul or anyone tries to contact the dead is bigger than that. When people don’t know how to ask God for understanding, or don’t believe God is real, or don’t have an active faith that lets them feel close to God, they may look for other sources of comfort, assurance, and wisdom. But these sources always fail. It’s not wrong to miss people who are no longer living, but it would be wrong—and dangerous—to place our faith in people who claim to get answers from the spirits of the dead. God is the only source of truth and wisdom that we need.

Read through Deuteronomy 18. Notice what God told His people about practices such as sorcery or contacting the dead. But also notice all the times this chapter mentions something that God provided to the people. Over and over, God’s message to His people is, “I have everything you need. Come to me!”