Better Call Saul

1 Samuel 9 & 10

Meet Saul.

The donkey wrangler.

A tall, tall farming cowboy.  

A head taller than any of the other Israelites.

His mom must have loved being able to spot him in a crowd.  

Samuel had a divine appointment with Saul today.

Their paths cross.

All because of lost donkeys. 

God can use anything.  

Have you ever had a divine appointment? 

Been 5 minutes late or early for something.  Knowing you either missed something or met something because of those 5 minutes?   God still does that.  All the time. 

Ch 9:15 “Now the day before Saul came 

The LORD had revealed this to Samuel;

16 ‘About this time tomorrow

I will send you a man

From the land of Benjamin

Anoint him leader over MY people Israel;

He will deliver my people

From the hands of the Philistines.

I have looked upon my people,

For their cry has reached me.”

I see you!

I hear you!

I love it that God calls them His own people again. 

His inheritance.

Covenant language.

  

And very quietly Samuel anoints Saul.

And kissed him saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you leader over His Inheritance. “ Ch 10:1

This is the Saul would prophesy with the prophets when the Spirit of the LORD came on him.

This is the Saul who hid among the suitcases at his own coronation. 

A bit of an enigma.  

His heart big and open

And simultaneously insecure, impulsive, and volatile. 

And Samuel.

His heart big and open.

As this story develops in God’s Word I was struck by how much Samuel absolutely loves and adores Saul.  How honest he is with Saul about what is really going on between Israel and a King.  That it will be the role of the King to rule over the Covenant people.  How much Samuel wants this all to work out. Samuel’s deep love for Saul, as God’s anointed, must also make all the disappointment that much harder to watch and to carry.  A burden that weighs on Samuel as his big hope and the vision of what could be starts to crumble.    Samuel so integral to this story thread, holding on so tightly to keep Israel on the right path, as if it is all within his power.   But even with his relationship to Saul, he submits to God’s bidding.

Samuel.

As much a shepherd to Israel as David will be.