When Israel demanding a king, God told Samuel to give them one. He did so for one specific reason and that was to demonstrate they were better off without one. God was with Saul when he was called but after not keeping God’s commandments, and eventually claiming his sin was God’s will, the Bible tells us He regretted making Saul king. Samuel encouraged/warned Israel that king or no king God would not forsake his people if they would serve the Lord.
*I messed up my notes and began reading 1 Samuel 9:9-13 and it should have been 10:9-13. It wouldn’t hurt to go back and read all of 1st Samuel, in this case chapters 9 – 15, in order to understand this sermon in it’s full context.