Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Do you have a person or several people in your life whom you trust to give you wise counsel or guidance when you have a decision to make? If you do, what qualifies them to advise you, why do you trust them to give you good advice?
Yesterday we met a man named Saul, the son of Mr. Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin in Israel, about 1050bc. Samuel, the man of God whose life we’ve been following these last few days, is deeply trouble because the elders of Israel had told Samuel they did not want his sons replacing him as judicial and spiritual leader of Israel when he died, since they were dishonest, greedy, men who were not at all like Samuel. Rather, the elders had demanded that Samuel find a human King for Israel! Samuel had gone to seek God’s guidance.
1 Samuel 8:7 gives us God’s shocking response: “Listen to the people…it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.” This was a major transition for the nation of Israel. For Samuel, his great challenge now was HOW to find the man who would satisfy the expectations of the Israelite elders as their first King? Yesterday we saw that Saul came from a good family, his father was respected as a man of standing and Saul was a big strong man, but as far as we know Saul and Samuel were strangers, they had never met.
But then 1 Samuel 9:16 tells us “The LORD revealed this to Samuel: ‘About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over My people Israel; he will deliver My people from the Philistines. The cry of My people has reached Me.” Do you understand that God listens and hears the cries of desperate people? Do you see through history that God has responded in significant ways to such cries? Has God ever responded to your desperate cry to Him?
Perhaps you remember Exodus 2:23,24 says “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their cries…and was concerned about them.” And perhaps you remember that the very next event in Exodus is Moses having his burning bush encounter with God, and God commissioning Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery as God poured out His deliverance power through the plagues.
Now more than 400 years later, God is saying to Samuel that He has heard the cries of His people and once again He is raising up a man through whom God will work to help His people. But my friends, there’s a big difference between the cries of the Israelite slaves in Exodus 2 asking God to rescue them, and the cries of the elders of Israel in 1 Samuel 8 telling God they would prefer a human King as their leader, rather than God being their leader!
We concluded our time yesterday pondering this statement recorded in 1 Samuel 9:6 “The servant said to Saul, ‘Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there, perhaps he will tell us what way to take.” How the servant had learned about Samuel, the record doesn’t tell us. I presume it was simply Samuel’s good reputation which was all over Israel and the fact that he frequently came to this particular town.
So, the record says Saul and his servant went into the town, but of course they had no idea who Samuel was since they’d never seen him. They were hoping Samuel would be able to advise them what they should do since they had been searching for but had no lead on finding a herd of lost donkeys of Mr. Kish, Saul’s father. Look now, they are both on the same road in this town, heading for each other in the crowds of people, but neither Samuel nor Saul are aware of the other.
The record says: “When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to Samuel, ‘This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern My people.’ Saul approached Samuel, not knowing who he was, and asked him, ‘would you please tell me where the seer’s [prophet] house is’? ‘I am the seer,’ [prophet] Samuel replied, ‘Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me…and I will tell you all that is in your heart. As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them, they have been found. And to whom has all the hopes of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father’s family.?” (1 Samuel 9:17-20)
Saul was stunned, speechless. How did this man know about the donkeys and how long Saul had been searching for them? And what could this ‘man of God’ possibly mean by saying that Israel’s hopes were now focused on him, Saul?
Finally, Saul calmed his stunned mind and was able to speak: “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?” (1 Samuel 9:21) Have you noticed my friends that God often chooses what appears to be the least likely candidate for a significant God given assignment? Do you know why?
Paul wrote it like this: “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) God’s majesty is best seen when it is HIS wisdom, His power, His holiness that is on display working in the life of a normal person.
So, Samuel invited Saul and his servant to join Samuel and many others for a special meal that had been planned for that day. As they ate together, they talked, but we have no record of what was said. Then Samuel invited Saul and his servant to stay the night in their town before continuing on their journey. The next morning Samuel spoke with Saul as they walked together to the edge of town.
Then Samuel said these words to Saul: “Tell your servant to go on ahead of us, but you stay here with me awhile, so that I may give you a message from God.” (1 Samuel 9:25-27) Saul’s eyes widened as he stared at Samuel. They’d known each other only for a few hours yet Samuel had already proven he really was a man with a special relationship with God, and now Samuel has just promised that he has a personal message for Saul, which he has received directly from God! How would you have responded? Has anyone ever said anything like that to you?
As you read God’s Word do you sometimes feel God Himself is speaking to you through His Holy Spirit? This, my friends, is one of the great miracles of the Christian faith. YES, God speaks to His people through His Holy Spirit, Jesus promised that to His disciples and to us. (John 14:26; 16:13) So let’s pause right here and search our hearts and minds.
Honestly now, are you and I making efforts to keep our minds and hearts pure before God so He can speak His holy truth to us or have we allowed our hearts and minds to become cluttered by the noise, the raunchy entertainment, the anger, the violence, the sexuality, the moral confusion of our world?
Does God have a word He’s ready to speak to you today and are you ready to hear Him? Here’s a worship song which may help us listen for God’s voice…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Samuel 9.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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