A Daily Dose of Good News

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Today, this devotional will be offered online at https://youtu.be/VOoN9AH8OAY
A printer-friendly version of today’s devotion is available at DDGN 20211019

Additionally, if you’d like to talk about this Daily Dose of Good News further, or previous ones, have questions, or additional thoughts, please feel free to email me at sara.wunsch@engagedbygrace.org.  I’d love to interactively engage with you about them.

Good morning it’s October 19th and it’s time for our Daily Dose of Good News which is from 1 Samuel 10:17-24.

 

Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’  But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, ‘No! but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.  He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.  So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?” and the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”  Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them.  Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

 

Here ends the reading.

I love this passage because if you go back and read a few chapters before, you’ll learn that Samuel knew that Saul, Son of Kish, was going to be chosen as King.  God told Samuel that ahead of time.  So Samuel knew what was happening. Saul, son of Kish, knew what was happening.  The community does not know what is happening. But Samuel trusts in the Lord to demonstrate who’s called by lot.  So what that means- is when when things are chosen by lot- is the Divine Authority way of God pointing to who is selected.  So Samuel lets that be revealed by God’s hand in front of all the people.  It underscores and reiterates, yes, it’s Saul, son of Kish, who is supposed to be in this slot as king and he’s the very first king they’ve ever had. The fact that he is head and shoulders taller than everybody else, seems to also underscore, this is a man who was elevated to be king.  A man who is of stature, who is to be respected, who is worthy of this calling- visibly.

But the part that I think is so interesting, is even though Saul, son of Kish, knew this was going to happen…knew that Samuel said ‘you’ll be king’, what does Saul do?  Saul runs and goes and hides in the baggage.  It reminds me of Jonah- hiding from God- and going in the opposite direction of Nineveh.  Saul goes and hides.  Maybe it’s because Saul is scared, or maybe Saul doesn’t trust that he can do it, or maybe Saul thinks he’s inept and he’s going to be discovered.  Who knows?  Saul sounds like he’s got some doubts of his own capabilities- which is understandable. Maybe he’s scared to be king- they’ve never had one before.  He probably feels like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.  Understandable.

But what I think is interesting is both:  Saul has some humility in recognizing: ‘I don’t know if I can do this thing that I’m being called to do’ and the fact that it’s sort of underscored a third time now, that God is in charge.  Because God knows exactly where Saul is: he’s hiding in the baggage and He points to the people and tells them that, basically.

So it’s three ways of  highlighting to us: God’s in charge.  Can we trust in that?  Can we believe that fully? Can we rest in that and not try to be in charge ourselves, but let God do it?  And if you read a little farther in1 Samuel, farther in chapter 10 or chapter 11, it talks about how the Holy Spirit, God, comes upon Saul in might.  They begin their first adversarial relationship with another group and are victorious in that.  But Saul was chosen even before God anointed him with power.

So I think it’s a good reminder for any of us who wonder about our own capabilities, who run from them, who fear what God has in store for us, or how this can possibly unfold in a positive direction for us… I think it’s helpful to remember that God is in charge.  It’s underscored three times in this text.  So the Good News for us is just to rest and trust God in all of that, in  whatever is to come for us.  Take care everybody.  Have a great day!  Bye-bye.