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SAMUEL AND SAUL (I)
MONDAY, MARCH 27
1 Samuel 9:14-19

Isaiah 44:24-28

 

“Then Saul drew near

to Samuel in the gate…”

 

SAMUEL AND SAUL (I)
 
The meeting of Samuel and Saul provides an excellent picture of the wonders of God’s providence. There is perfect harmony in the things we would call “secular” and the things we would see as “spiritual,” revealing to us how true it is that “all things work together for good” (Rom 8:28). Examples: the dreams of two convicts in a prison cell in the account of Joseph’s life; the cry of a baby in the basket in the river Nile in the account of Moses’ life.
 
“Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came…” (1 Sam 9:15). Although the people had hastened in their desire for a king, and though their desire was fuelled by a worldly perspective, the LORD permitted them to appoint their king. Yet in all this, God by divine providence ordained the meeting of Samuel and Saul. Ordinary circumstances and normal duties of both Samuel and Saul would be what God used for them to meet. For Samuel, it was his spiritual duty as seen in the message of the young maidens: “make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place” (1 Sam 9:12). While for Saul, it was his filial duty as seen in the errand he was sent to do by his father: “And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses” (1 Sam 9:3). Also, though it is Saul who chose which servant to take, God’s providence led him to pick the servant who would say: “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God…let us go thither…” (1 Sam 9:6).
 
“…the LORD said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of…” (1 Sam 9:17). The charge against Israel in their desire for a king like the nations was: “they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Sam 8:7). But in His directing providence, God informed Samuel concerning Saul that “this same shall reign over my people” (1 Sam 9:17). The people’s desire for God had waned, but God’s love and concern over them were steadfast. They were still His people and as such He silently but surely worked on their behalf even in their rebellion. God’s purposes will never be defeated.
 
THOUGHT: “Known unto God are all his works…” (Acts 15:18).

PRAYER: (Read Philippians 4:6.)

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