It's All in God's Providence

Intro

Occasionally there are moments in your life that seemed incidental but turned out to change the course of your whole life. Meeting your spouse, or taking an unexpected job. I met my wife in the checkout line of the grocery store, a moment that forever changed my life. Or maybe you had a providential encounter with the Lord when he called you to salvation. A woman witnessed to me in the airport and the rest is history. They are usually simple tasks that lead you providentially to something that will alter your life forever. The checkout line in a store, or walking through the airport.

Sometimes these experiences are not always good. Maybe you have had a childhood traumatic experience that has profoundly shaped you to this day. Or, maybe you lost a loved one suddenly, and unexpectedly. Those moments ripple out into your future profoundly shaping who you are today.

In our text today Saul has one of those moments. A simple farm accident, lost donkeys, leads to a life-altering call to lead the people of God. 

Summary of the Text

The story of Saul's encounter with Samuel and God's setting him aside as the next leader in Israel begins where all good call narratives begin, with their pedigree. Saul is descended from Kish, who is either a man of great wealth, or a man of great valor (v. 1)—the Hebrew could be either. Saul himself, is singled out because he is tall, dark, and handsome; because he looks like a king (v. 2).

His father has a problem, he lost his donkeys, so he sends Saul and a servant to go and find them (v. 3). But they search and search, and they can't be found (v. 4-5). It's the servant's quick thinking and preparation that leads Saul to his encounter with Samuel—whom he doesn't seem to know. So they seek out the city where the man of God resides, to ask him if he can direct them to where the donkeys have gone (v. 6-10). When they arrive in the city they are told by some women drawing water that the man of God is about to go up to the central shrine to partake in the sacrifice, all the elders are waiting until he comes (v. 11-14). They then hurry to meet Samuel before he goes up.

Meantime, Samuel has been told to expect Saul's coming. And he should anoint him to be the next leader in Israel. For he will deliver the people from the Philistines (v. 16). The Lord directed Samuel to Saul, at the same time he is directing Saul to Samuel (v. 17-18). Samuel instructs Saul to go to the feast, and there he will tell him what is on his mind (v. 19) Saul no doubt was thinking of the Donkeys, but Samuel quickly dis-spells that by explaining to him that the donkeys are fine, but that he and his father's house "our desirable" in Israel, a statement that is intentionally vague (v. 20).

Samuel then takes Saul to the feast and gives him a seat of honor and the choice meat reserved for him already (v. 22-24). Saul slept there that night, with the promise that Samuel would send him away in the morning with news (v. 25). Morning came, and Samuel wakes Saul and sends his servant on ahead to give him the news (v. 26-27).

Samuel then takes oil, symbolic of the filling of the Holy Spirit, and anoints him as leader over Israel (v. 1). Samuel gives him three signs that will take place to assure that this is from the Lord (v. 2-6). As soon as the last sign takes place he is to go down to Gilgal and wait seven days until Samuel would come (v. 8).

When he turned to leave Samuel God gave him a new heart, and the signs came to pass that day. But the narrator focuses our attention on the last sign. There at Gibeah there was a band of prophets coming down from the high place singing and playing music as they went. When Saul saw them, the Spirit rushed upon him and he began to prophesy, becoming a proverb in Israel, "Is Saul also among the Prophets?" (v. 9-13). Finally, he makes his way back home only to meet his uncle, who asks what had happened and shows particular concern for the word that Samuel spoke to him. But of the matter of the kingdom he said nothing (v. 14-16).

So the ordinary story of lost Donkey's turns out to be a setup, that God uses to direct Saul to Samuel so that he can anoint him as leader over Israel. Two things are highlighted throughout this story—the providence of God, and we begin to see something of the character of Saul. Let's look quickly at both of these.

A Providential Call

Throughout this episode, God is superintending the meeting of Saul with Samuel—this we call providence. But what is providence? Providence is a word like trinity, or discipleship, or evangelism, that is not found used in scripture—but captures the reality of what the scriptures are teaching. Our English bibles come closest to using that term in Gen 22.

This is the story of Abraham taking his only son Isaac up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him. As they make their way there Isaac sees the wood, he sees the fire, but there is no sacrifice. He asks his father,

"Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." (Gen 22:7-8)

Finally, when God does provide a ram in Isaac's place, Abraham calls the place "The LORD will provide." Every time the word provide comes up in that story the Hebrew word is "to see." God will see, or God will see to it. We use something of this expression when we say "ill see to it" meaning I will make sure that it is done. And provide is from the Latin vide meaning "see" and pro meaning "to, or towards": see to. God will See to it, God will provide.

John Piper has just written a wonderful book entitled providence. He defines providence as "God's purposeful sovereignty." I like that, it's a simple definition that captures the reality.

Notice God's purposeful sovereignty at work in the story of God calling a leader over Israel. Saul is somewhat oblivious to what's happening. In fact, the servant is the one who has the good sense to inquire of the prophet, and the resources to give him a gift. If it weren't for the narrator giving us the backstory of how God had warned Samuel that Saul would come to him and that he should anoint him as leader of Israel, it would really have seemed that Saul was just at the right place at the right time. WCF defines providence as:

God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence

I think as Christians we know it to be true, but we find it so easy to slip into viewing providence from a deist perspective. That God created these laws, natural laws, and set them in place and they govern the world. So yeah, he created everything, but he is not really intimately involved with the details of its everyday operation. The earth just revolves around the sun, because of its gravitational pull. But that way of viewing the world just doesn't give an accurate picture. The truth is God sees to it, He ensures that we make another trip around the sun. And if that doesn't fit into his purposes then he stops it—as in Joshua and the battle of the Amorites, when God caused the sun to stand still at Gibeah.

God's purposeful sovereignty is not just over salvation—although we are told that everything that happens is working together for the salvation of his people—it extends also to, well everything; including sin, sickness, death, and yes even COVID. That means that everything that has happened in your life has not been an accident. All of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly was brought about by God’s Providence. And He doesn’t mess up. 

What then of fear? What of Anxiety? Are government and media have done an excellent job of sowing fear—thats what they do best. Fear—with no hope. But Jesus Said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” I know, this is easier said than done. We like this life, and we don’t want to let it go. But we have folks who have lived this entire year gripped by fear. What kind of life is that? You will not live one moment longer than God has determined for you to live. And you will not catch COVID by accident—if you get COVID, than that too comes from the hand of your loving heavenly father. The mind knows it very well, but the heart needs to be reminded often.

Providence…

1. Leads to worship

2. Makes us marvel at salvation and humbled by our sin.

3. Helps us see everything as gods design.

4. Keeps us from being flippant with the things of God.

5. Helps us be patient and faithful and hard times.

6. It frames are suffering.

7. Undergirds prayer and evangelism.

Because God is intimately involved in the details of our everyday life, we must trust and depend on him for direction.

An Unsure Leader

But God's purposeful sovereignty does not undermine human freedom but it is compatible with it. That is God's sovereignty and human responsibility are not mutually exclusive. God has determined everything down to the smallest atom, including my sinful actions, and yet that does not take away in the slightest my moral culpability. That means that God had determined to call Saul as the next leader of Israel, with all his particularities—including his sinful tendencies, and so he would be. But just because God determined that does not take away from Saul's responsibility to be faithful in that calling.

It's unclear at first if Saul is just being humble when in 9:21, he questions why Samuel has singled him out. But throughout the whole episode, the narrator is intentionally ambiguous about the role that Saul would play. You will notice that throughout this sermon, I have not referred to Saul as the future king—but the future leader because that is the language that God tells Samuel to use.

In terms of progression, it is like this. In ch. 8 the elders insist that Samuel give them a king like the nations. Samuel dismisses them, then in the very next scene, we meet Saul. A man who certainly looks like a king—I mean he is head and shoulders above everyone else. So as far as looks go—he's kingly. But then when God reveals to Samuel that Saul would come to him and that he should anoint him in v. 16, he doesn't say king, which in Hebrew is Melek. But he says prince, Nageed—which I think is better translated as leader, or ruler. Further his call is reminiscent of the judges. Listen to the similarity from

Judges 3:9–10 (ESV)

9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel.

It seems that God is raising up Saul and will give him a new heart filling him with His Spirit for the purpose of delivering Israel from the Philistines. But how does Saul respond to this call, and filling? There is a curious note in 10:5 as Samuel explains to Saul the third sign.

1 Samuel 10:5–7 ESV

5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

Notice what is in Gibeah. A garrison of philistines. We are immediately to think, Oh, I've seen this before with Samson. Over and over again, in Judges 13-16, we see the Spirit rushing upon Samson and then we see him dealing a blow to the Philistines. We should expect the same thing to happen here. Saul leaves Samuel and is given a new heart; then, when he encounters the prophets at Gibeah, the Spirit rushes upon him. The next thing we should read is Saul rushing upon the garrison of the Philistines and defeating them with a great blow. Well, what does Saul's hand find to do? Nothing...When he finished prophesying, he came to the high place (v. 10-13).

Why the ambiguity, and why does Saul not behave as he is supposed to? The narrator is driving us to see that whoever Israel's next leader was to be God was still King, and Israel's next leader was to be constrained by the Spirit and under prophetic authority—does that describe Saul. More ambiguity—maybe. But as we will soon see Saul does not trust and depend on God, with reliance on the Spirit to fulfill his vocation. His hand doesn't find anything to do because he is still walking according to the old man, according to the way Saul before he was given a new heart, and filled with God's Spirit.

I need to say something briefly about the filling with the Spirit in the Old Covenant. Maybe your scratching your head thinking I thought that when Jesus was here on earth he promised to send the Spirit, and that was going to be something new—a hallmark of the new covenant era. But in the Old Covenant era, when it talks about filling with the Spirit it refers to divine enablement to fulfill a task. The first instance of this is in Ex. 35:1-5 When the Spirit filled Bezel and Ohliab for the task of building and furnishing the tabernacle.

This happened to the judges enabling them to deliver the people from their enemies. And the same thing is happening here to Saul. God fills him with his Spirit in order to fulfill a task. So in Psalm 51 when David asks the LORD not to take his spirit from him, he is asking that the Lord not take his ability to rule the people of God in wisdom and righteousness. Saul is given the Spirit in order to deliver the people, but being timid and unsure of himself, he accomplishes nothing. Saul fails his first test.

Life will often foist you into situations that will absolutely require your trust and dependence on God. I want to talk to you husbands and future husbands for a moment. Our country is faltering largely because we have had a lack of good leaders, from the bottom all the way to the top. But leadership is not just out there, but each of you men God has called and equipped to be leaders first in your homes and then in the church, and in the public sphere—your vocations. God gives a calling then with reliance on the Spirit he enables you to fulfill that.

Are you walking according to the Spirit, or like Saul does your hand find nothing to do? Saul suffered from what affects so many in our day—a failure of nerve. But it is high time that we begin to reclaim the lost territory due to us allowing a philistine garrison to remain in the land. Start simple with this. Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. You have a calling, husband; you have a mission, love your wife; You have an example, as Christ loved the church. And husband, loving your wife may mean that you need to sacrifice some game time to be present and attentive to her. It may mean that you repent to her for your neglect, followed by a willingness to begin to take covenantal responsibility for the home, and for the nurture of your children. Men, you lack authority in your homes because you fail to take responsibility. Your teenagers are unruly—that's on you. Your three-year old won't listen to any instruction—that's on you.

The same goes for the church and your vocation. The world is filled with unsure leaders, like Saul. They don't need more of the same, they need men and wives that support them to stand up in trust and dependence on God with reliance on the Holy Spirit and be courageous leaders. The world is not going to applaud you for this, instead, you will be mocked and branded patriarchal. But as long as you are living sola Scriptura—according to scripture—in reliance upon the Spirit, then you can be sure that you are going in the right direction.

Conclusion

God's purposeful sovereignty seen throughout this episode serves to highlight a truth Paul brings out in Philippians 2:12-13:

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God, in His providence, has lead you to the point you are at today, and he has given you in your lifetime probably multiple life-changing events. What did you do with them? Our Lord Christ, according to the definite plan of God was crucified at the hands of lawless men. But Jesus was a better savior than Saul because he wasn't unsure. Just like Saul, he learned this by his dependence on God, and his reliance on the Holy Spirit. Not one aspect of his ministry, not one point in his life does Jesus not live that way. When the Spirit-filled him for his task, he is driven to the wilderness and does battle Satan, and wins. That preliminary skirmish was only the precursor, to the head-crushing blow he would deliver by His death. When instead of ascending to a philistine garrison he descends and does combat against the garrisons of sin, death and hell. Defeating death he rises victorious having with him the keys of death and hell. After his resurrection he commissions us to join in the fight—and so armed with the gospel we press for the crown rights of Christ as we declare to the world the good news of Jesus Christ. And it is a Hope-filled message—because we know the ending. We know that God’s purposeful sovereignty is bringing all things toward that end. 

Charge is this:

Trust God, and depend on Him with reliance on His Spirit—and he will direct your ways.