I Samuel 13:8-10
“He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel. Samuel failed to show up at Gilgal, and the soldiers were slipping away, right and left. So Saul took charge: ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!’ He went ahead and sacrificed the burnt offering. No sooner had he done it than Samuel showed up! Saul greeted him.”
“Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, ‘Bring me the burnt offerings and the peace offerings!’ And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself. Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him.”
Waiting upon God requires mental gristle. Samuel was God’s representative to Israel. If he said to, “Wait,” then God said to, “Wait.” But God is unseen, as was Samuel. The unseen does not seem so important when faced with the catastrophe Saul saw happening minute by minute. Those with a worldly perspective would say, “Who could blame him?” But those who walk by faith are called to set their sights on the unseen. This is not disengagement. It is choosing to trust God, wait upon his direction, while engaging the temporal with all our strength as best we can. Usually this happens in a jumbled sort of way.
Trusting God is like wearing a girdle while our exterior clothing encounters the world. The foundational effect of the girdle entirely changes how our clothing looks and works on our body. The girdle can seem a comfortable restraining of our body’s natural inclination. If hot or swollen, it can be agony to wear. But that is just when it is needed most.
Physicists once touted the atom as the smallest building block of nature. Now, those specializing in subatomic particles find their search for the ultimate smallest of these frustrated. Once one is identified another begins to emerge. It turns out this solid sure world we live in is made of nothing more than bits of energy. Saul’s seen world was made of the unseen after all.
Lord, I can’t wait to ‘see’ the unseen, you in your glory, loved ones gone before, to be wrapped in the unseen embrace of Jesus. Death is a grand adventure to me. Grace me to share this with others, to be a person of light and hope in this world.
I Samuel 12:22
“GOD, simply because of who he is, is not going to walk off and leave his people.”
“The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name.”
Unlike us, God cannot dishonor himself. His deeds are always consistent with his nature. Knowing God, as a person, brings understanding of his actions. What are the attributes of his character? This discovery is a most satisfying journey. The undertaking of it is to fall in love with the God who is love.
Lord, grant me more knowledge of your character. That I do know tells me you are beautiful beyond imagining. Open my eyes ever more that they may mirror your glory to others.
I Samuel 12:14-15
“If both you and your king follow GOD, no problem. GOD will be sure to save you. But if you don’t obey him and rebel against what he tells you, king or no king, you will fare no better than your fathers.”
“Now if you fear and worship the Lord and listen to his voice and if you do not rebel against the Lord’s commands, then both you and your king will show that you recognize the Lord as your God. But if you rebel against the Lord’s commands and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors.”
God knows how we work best. Samuel, old and ready to retire, gives Israel one last exhortation to seek God and follow his commands. A review of Deuteronomy shows his commands are not onerous. Why then rebel? Alas we are driven by our inborn drive to do it our way. Our way never works well in the end.
God made us for himself. We have a God shaped hole (Pascal, Pensées) and seek to fill it with all kinds of rubbish. Only God can fill that emptiness. His commands are the manual to the way we work personally and corporately. These two are a pair, God filling and command obedience. One without the other always leads to mischief among us. When we set our face upon God alone we find our hole’s perfect fit.
Lord, I long for more of you. You alone fill the craving within me. You alone make me holy by your substitutionary death on the cross. You paid for me. You own me. I feel incredibly secure and actualized. Thank you.
I Samuel 11:13-14
“But Saul said, ‘Nobody is going to be executed this day. This is the day GOD saved Israel! Come, let’s go to Gilgal and there reconsecrate the kingship.’”
“But Saul replied, ‘No one will be executed today, for today the Lord has rescued Israel. Then Samuel said to the people, ‘Come, let us all go to Gilgal to renew the Kingdom.’”
Hooray for Saul! He passed his first leadership test. Earlier in this chapter verses 6-7 tell us the Spirit of God came upon Saul. God’s Spirit made Saul into a different man, a man who could lead Israel to victory. The lesson is that God supplies what we need to do the task he assigns us. Saul first experiences this truth here and it is wonderful to read. The walk of faith requires we stand upon this promise throughout our lives.
Lord, at difficult times I wilt before your call to step into your purpose. Have mercy on me. Help me to rise above my inadequacy and count on your strength to do and be according to your call.
I Samuel 11:7
“The terror of GOD seized the people, and they came out, one and all, not a laggard among them.”
“And the Lord made the people afraid of Saul’s anger and all of them came out together as one.”
Man’s perspective sees Saul take command and establish power by intimidation. I Samuel shows us it is God who gives Saul’s words and actions power to raise Israel to arms. God is at work here, not Saul.
Lord, keep me humble, always remembering you are the power of my life.
I Samuel 10:22
“Samuel went back to GOD: ‘Is he anywhere around?’ GOD said, ‘Yes, he’s right over there—hidden in that pile of baggage.’”
“So they asked the Lord, ‘Where is he?’ And the Lord replied, ‘He is hidden among the baggage.’”
Saul was not the only person who didn’t feel fit for God’s purpose. Saul was selected by God in the presence of all the people. God had blessed him with clear signs of his destiny. Still, he was ridden with insecurity. We are the same. God works through our weakness rather than our strength. (II Corinthians 12:10) God is honored and we are kept from our essential desire, to climb up onto his throne. Like Saul, we must decide whether God is capable of doing what we know is utterly hopeless.
Lord, I believe your purpose can take me to places I never thought to go. Help me in my unbelief, those times when I am mired in self and my faith falters.
I Samuel 10:18-19
“‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I delivered you from Egyptian oppression—yes, from all the bullying governments that made your life miserable. And now you want nothing to do with your God, the very God who has a history of getting you out of troubles of all sorts. And now you say, ‘No, we want a king. Give us a king.’”
“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has declared: I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you. But though I have rescued you from your misery and distress, you have rejected your God today and have said, ‘No, we want a king instead!’’”
Israel got lazy in their relationship with God. They did not see him as their deliverer nor look for his fingerprints on all that happened to them. Their half-hearted following of God resulted in partial deliverance from their neighbor’s oppression. It was a time when, “People did whatever they felt like doing.” (Judges 21:25) Faith is required to see God at work. Evidence must be teased out from our circumstances. It takes effort but is the grandest, most thrilling, scavenger hunt ever. Don’t become complacent as Israel was. God is always up to something. Look for it.
Lord, I love seeing your hand all over the history I like to read. Grace me to see your work in the present too. Thank you for the perspective of age that has proven your continual reaching out to me, always guiding and protecting. Help me to pass it on to others.
I Samuel 10:17-18
“Samuel called the people to assemble before GOD at Mizpah. He addressed the children of Israel, ‘This is GOD’s personal message to you:”
“Later Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the Lord at Mizpah. And he said, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has declared:”
I like the way Peterson renders this, “This is God’s personal message to you.” When a younger Christian I struggled to hear God speak to me. How would I know when I heard his voice? What if I’m listening to another’s voice instead? The answer was simple, though it took me years to understand. Read the word, and keep reading, until something speaks to your life. It helps to always ask yourself, “What is God doing or saying here?” Go to Christianbook.com to view the many Bible translations and choose one that is easy for you to read. As you become familiar with God as he reveals himself in the Bible, you will begin to hear him in other ways, nature, other Christians and in your spirit. His voice is quiet, small, and does not ramble. Turn aside from a voice that haunts or condemns. Learning to hear God’s personal messages to you takes practice, it is a pearl of great price.
Lord, may I always discern you correctly. Continue to speak into my life. Your voice is my rock. I need to hear it above all other things. May it fill me to overflowing.
I Samuel 10:16
“Saul said, ‘He told us not to worry—the donkeys had been found.’ But Saul didn’t breathe a word to his uncle of what Samuel said about the king business.”
“‘He told us that the donkeys had already been found,’ Saul replied. But Saul didn’t tell his uncle what Samuel said about the kingdom.”
Saul and David share something here, a dysfunctional family. David’s brothers were jealous of him, and his father saw him as a tag-along. Saul was reluctant to share with his uncle the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him. Saul never escaped his internal bondage. His god was not big enough. David did, even without the signs Saul enjoyed. We know from his poetry, the Psalms, his god was wide as the heavens, deep as the oceans and more powerful than a thunderstorm. All our families are dysfunctional to some degree. Whether we stay mired in them, as Saul, or move on to a healed, fuller life, as David, is about the size of our god. Do we believe what he says about himself, or not?
Lord, let my understanding of you grow bigger than any hurt, beyond my imagination. May my trust be bigger than any situation I could face. I want to know more of your power, both big and small, ready for the life you have for me.
I Samuel 9:27
“As they approached the outskirts of town, Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell your servant to go on ahead of us. You stay with me for a bit. I have a word of God to give you.’”
“When they reached the edge of town, Samuel told Saul to send his servant on ahead. After the servant was gone, Samuel said, ‘Stay here, for I received a special message for you from God.’”
Saul had to wait until the next morning, just before his departure, to learn the specifics of God’s favor. It is typical of the Lord to have us wait until the last extremity. Our agitations to hear his direction or see his deliverance feeds upon themselves until we are consumed by our emotions. Certainly, we learn of God’s faithfulness while hiking these kinds of trails. Yet it is the waiting that is the lesson. Waiting grows peace and patience inside us. It is a putting aside of our thoughts about our position, choosing to trust God knows his business and ours and perfect timing for each.
Lord, I dread thinking of the next trial. I know it will come because you are committed to fitting me for eternity and trial is a necessary part of it. Make me ready for what I would rather avoid. Spirit, work patience and trust within me so I may be better fit for extremity before it arrives.
I Samuel 9:21
“Saul answered, ‘But I’m only a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel’s tribes, and from the most insignificant clan in the tribe at that. Why are you talking to me like this?’”
“Saul replied, ‘But I’m only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking like this to me?’”
This verse holds a portent of Saul’s future effectiveness as king. His faith lay in himself and his family’s place in Israel. He did not walk expectantly through each day believing anything possible with God. Abiding with God’s Spirit opens perspective. Anything is possible, and God makes us ready for it. Saul’s life has no such enrichment. His view of God was too small, and he became a small king.
Lord, I don’t want my faith to be small. Grow me in solid sureness of your power, your wonderous purpose and amazing love. Make me a warrior, strong with you.
I Samuel 9:3-4
“Some of Kish’s donkeys got lost. Kish said to his son, ‘Saul, take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys.’ Saul took one of the servants and went to find the donkeys. They went into the hill country of Ephraim around Shalisha, but didn’t find them.”
“One day Kish’s donkeys strayed away, and he told Saul, ‘Take a servant with you, and go look for the donkeys.’ So Saul took one of the servants and traveled through the hill country of Ephraim, the land of Sahlishah, the Shaalim area, and the entire land of Benjamin, but they couldn’t find the donkeys anywhere.”
Saul’s most exciting journey began out of ordinary life. He left home a dutiful son and returned a king. God sent donkeys to begin the mission. Just so, he takes the ordinary to the extraordinary in our lives. My cat leaps onto my lap in the middle of writing this. I could throw him off. Instead, I set my computer aside for a moment to reflect on God’s blessing to me through this little animal, a stray who turned out to be perfect for us. The result of an animal’s seeking my affection has eternal value as I praise and thank my Lord for his perfect provision. My cat jumps down. I continue writing, full of expectation, to see where God takes my regular, ordinary day.
Lord, I am awed by your power to work in the ordinary for the billions of people on Earth. Continue to open my eyes to your work, from the smallest to the greatest. When I feel useless, remind me of your power displayed through the ordinary.