Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
I assume each and all of us have made choices in our lives which we ended up regretting. Sometimes ill-advised decisions can be reversed, and the consequences remedied fairly easily and quickly. Other times the results of bad decisions last a lifetime, and in some cases the negative shadow of those bad decisions affect generations of descendants for a long, long time. Did you know the Bible has several examples of very wrong choices, made by God’s people, which resulted in great damage to their generation and several generations to follow?
In our recent journey with Samuel, we’ve seen at least two of those types of decisions which affected the entire nation of Israel in Samuel’s lifetime.
The first was the horrific decision, made by the leaders of Israel, to remove the Ark of the Covenant from the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle in Shiloh, and take it to the frontlines of the battlefield with the Philistines. (1 Samuel 4)
You’ll recall the end result of that was a time referred to as “Ichabod“, when the Ark was taken hostage by the Philistines, taken to Philistine territory which is modern day Gaza Strip area, for 7 months.
The second disastrous leadership decision is the one we’ve been looking at over the past few days… the call by the elders for Samuel to give them a human king and change the governance of Israel from a Theocracy with God as their Sovereign, to a Monarchy with a human being and his family as their Sovereign.
Yesterday I left you watching the Israelite elders walking away from Samuel, back to their homes, after God had reluctantly agreed with their demand for a King and Samuel sent them home while he worked on finding the King they demanded. (1 Samuel 8:19-21)
As often happens in the Biblical record, we have an undefined gap of time between the last verse of 1 Samuel 8 and the first verse of 1 Samuel 9. I think you’ll find the opening of 1 Samuel 9 very interesting, especially since this is an election year in America.
“There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish… He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man, without equal among the Israelites – a head taller than any of the others.” (1 Samuel 9:1,2) Now pause for a moment and consider those words, my friend, comparing them to how national leaders are selected in your country?
The small tribe of Benjamin was among the smaller tribes in Israel and had the territory near Jerusalem, so they were adjacent to the large tribe of Judah. All we know about Mr. Kish is his ancestry mentioned in that first verse and that he was a man viewed as ‘a man of standing’. I wonder what you think those four little words tell us about this man and his reputation.
Because the story will focus on his son Saul, I presume Samuel, the storyteller here, wants us to know Saul came from a reputable family, had a well-respected father, and Saul was a physically impressive man, standing taller than others. In many parts of the world today athletics is very big business so we are accustomed to hearing men described by their size, weight, ‘wingspan’ and some specific descriptors of what the athlete can do as justification for the outrageous salaries being paid to athletes and coaches these days.
Evidently Saul made an impressive first impression and for those who knew his ancestry, there evidently were high expectations of who Saul would become and what he might accomplish as an adult.
Now let’s take a moment and think about that and look at ourselves… our pedigree or our ancestry; our physical stature; our education and skill training; our job experience; our family if we are married with children; and finally, our character and spiritual life. And one more question… as we initially consider the expectations people have of us, how much of those expectations are spiritually related?
If you follow the Dramatic Audio Bible reading in the link I’ve included at the conclusion of today, listen closely to what 1 Samuel 9 tells us about Saul and his servant who were out on assignment looking for some of the animals of Saul’s father Kish, who had evidently strayed away and were lost.
Do you see a strong work ethic, a true due diligence in their work? And look closely at this particular statement made by Saul’s servant: “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us which way to take.” (1 Samuel 9:6) Tomorrow we’ll consider WHO the servant was talking about and what happened when they met.
For today may I tell you that statement penetrates my heart deeply and leads me to ask some very important questions I’d like to leave with us, asking us to consider them with some very sincere, personal reflection:
* Could that statement be made of you or me? Are you or I considered a ‘man or woman of God’?
* Are we highly respected by the people in our community?
* Do we speak the truth and if we speak in any way about the future, does what we describe come true? Are you and I people whose word can be trusted?
* Are we able to give reliable advice to other people when they ask us for helpful insight?
Now already 10 days into 2024 I think those are very significant questions we need to ponder, for our personal reputation is shaped by questions like those. And let’s come right back here tomorrow to discover who this ‘man of God’ was in that town and what startling things happened when that ‘man of God’ and Saul met each other! For today, here’s a worship song to help us consider those thought-provoking questions…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Samuel 9:1-7.
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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