Guided By God
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
How good are you at keeping up with others? I apologize but have you ever seen those leashes that people put on their children? Those things look scary to me. Do you remember the first time you saw one and tried to figure out what exactly was happening to the child? They would make them look cuter later when they would turn them into a fun bear or bunny backpack to put on a child but ultimately it was for the leash the parent go to hold on their child to guide them in the direction they intended.
Have you ever though about how amazing God is that he is not bound by time yet works in the time that restrains us?
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
Samuel, Saul, and David and the nation of Israel are the Major people God introduces to us in 1 Samuel. We have enjoyed getting to know Samuel and his family in the early parts of 1 Samuel. Israel and their moment of repentance before the Lord was something we saw just a few chapters ago but chapter 9 has officially brought us to Saul. I challenged you last week not to go and run with your pre-conceived thoughts on Saul but to walk with me through scripture and allow the Lord to show us the man from the tribe of Benjamin that was called to be King.
D. Relevance of the text
Now that we have put down the temptation to run off with our thoughts of Saul today I want us to see a man be directed by God. Take pause with me this morning in your own life to look upon the beauty of God hand in your own life to get you to the place you are this morning as a child of God. I would imagine there are events in your life that you can see God’s hand in by looking back on your own life. We get to walk with Saul today and Samuel in a moment in which the God of all creation has decided to show himself.
T.S What we often find is that God Intrudes into the ordinary.
I. Intrusion into ordinary
I. Intrusion into ordinary
15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel:
16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”
17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”
“these verses are the key for interpreting all of 9:1-10:16. They are also the lens for magnifying Yahweh’s mercy in light of chapter 8. Again, let no sin be glossed over; let no one excuse its God-denying wickedness. But surely, if you are a child of God, you rejoice to see that your God is “mule-ish” on mercy, that your sin does not dry up the fountain of his compassions, that his pity refuses to let go of his people.” 1 Samuel—looking on the heart...
By ordinary I mean a Father that sent out his son for find their donkeys in the first part of chapter 9. It’s not like that screams “GOD IS COOKING UP SOMETHING!!! HE”S GONNA MAKE YOU KING!!” at least I don’t think it does. One of the amazing facts about the God of all creation is that he still has a hand in his design. GOD CARES FOR YOU!
Revealed—Literal translation would be “uncovered the ear of Samuel.” This is an idiom derived from the practice of drawing aside the fabric of a head covering to whisper confidentially in someone’s ear. What a picture. Samuel in his hurt that the people would desire a King. Knowing Samuel is human and might feel like this is all his fault. We know he felt rejected but God reminded him that he worked for God and not himself. He represented God to the people and the people were rejecting God not Samuel. In the midst of all this God comes to Samuel and quietly tells him Tomorrow is the day he would meet the King from the tribe of Benjamin..Look at verses..
“He shall save my people from the hands of the Philistines.. God’s people? You mean that these hard headed people who keep wanting to do things there way and not God’s way are going to be saved? They must have kept the ten commandments and all the offerings perfectly!! Or surely they have been so obedient that God is going to act in their life because they have reached a point that they deserve better! God declared the people his own and and saved them for himself and for is own good pleasure.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
T.S. God is in the business of Directing his people
II. God Directs the Encounter
II. God Directs the Encounter
18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?”
19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind.
20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?”
Back to the story in vs. 18 we find Saul walk up to Samuel and ask him the location of the seer?(Prophet?) Wow, how amazing lucky for Saul to walk up to the person he is actually looking.
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
The God of the universe is not directed by his own creation his providence is over all. God will fullfill his purposes! For He alone is God.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
133 Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
24 A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?
Saul on this day was just trying to find a man that could tell him the location of the donkeys that his father had lost because a servant of his informed him a man existed that could do that. Saul did not know Samuel, he did not know that God had informed Samuel of anything the day before. Saul didn’t know this would be the day that God would use to let him in on HIS plan. HAD NO IDEA!
Do we realize this is true today? You don’t know what a day has in store for your but are you prepared for whatever might come? Are blessings coming your way of encounters the Lord is sending you but you are to busy serving self that you don’t get in on what God is doing? Did Samuel tell God he was to busy to go meet the man that God had chosen to be the King of Israel? Nope…He was obedient. In faith Samuel lived his life before God..In faith he understood God’s ways to be better than his ways and on this day God would use him to provide for Saul and the people of Israel.
20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?”
Samuel tells Saul about the donkeys before he gets to ask..How about that.
Then he says “And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?
NIV—And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned? The man looking for his donkeys that is a foot taller than everyone else is in fact the person that all of Israel will look to..Saul is the leader that Israel is looking for is what Samuel just told him.
T.S. Saul meets this with humility
III. Humility in the Hand of God
III. Humility in the Hand of God
21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
Saul understand that the man that just told him about his donkeys, answering a question he did not ask, now tells him he is what Israel is looking. The response of Samuel speaks to how unworthy his lineage is coming from Benjamin.
We mentioned this last week.
46 So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor.
47 But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.
Benjamin was the smallest of all the tribes at this point why would God want anything to do with a guy like Saul? You know it is interesting that anytime we truly encounter God and see what he is up too in our life we don’t meet him with.. “well it is about time, you know how long I have been worthy of you talking with me and ready to be used by you. You know you are picking the correct guy, there is not doubt that I had this promotion coming!!”
Why is that? Because in the hand of God you know for certain just how unworthy you are that he would even know your name. All your sins flash before you eyes, the sins that are against that holy, righteous, loving, caring, merciful, perfect judge, wrathful, worthy of all Glory God and you have nothing!
Can you feel the weight of this in Saul and Samuel’s life?
T.S.
IV. God planned ahead
IV. God planned ahead
22 Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons.
23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’ ”
24 So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
25 And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.
26 Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.
27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”
vs. 24—this is the best of the meat that had been saved for Saul. It is actually usually reserved for the priest.
27 And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priests’ portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination, from what was Aaron’s and his sons’.
32 And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings.
The feast was a celebration of the event that God had informed Samuel would happen on this day. This speaks to Samuel’s understanding of the fact that if God tells him then he can trust God. It speaks to the faith of Samuel and that Faith is declared to Saul in how the events unfold in these verses. Saul may not know but they had set a place for him at this table way before he arrived and met Samuel. Now let that just blow your mind for minute.
We come to the end of this portion with Samuel telling Saul to send everyone on ahead so they can talk.
Samuel said “I will make known to you the word of God.”
Oh my goodness if you are in Saul’s shoes on this day are you not just sitting on the edge of your seat for whatever God might be wanting to tell you. You don’t doubt that Samuel is a man of God who knows the word of God because you have seen so much from him in a very short time, their is no denying who Samuel places his faith in. We stop to take pause before chapter 10 to see what Samuel will say...
App: Guided by God. Does God still work like this?