Lost Donkeys Bring on Israel's First King
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The scripture portion for this week is 1 Samuel 9 - 1 Samuel 10:16. It reads as one of those stories where truth is stranger than fiction. The people want a king. God wants them to see Him as their King, but they are crying out for a person they can see and touch, like the other nations have. I can’t help but get the feeling that God is giving in to the people’s cries, all the while knowing they will live to regret it. Sometimes that’s what we do with our children. We know they have to experience some of life’s greatest lessons for themselves even if it is less than ideal.
The chapter starts out with a handsome guy named Saul, who happens to be out looking for his lost donkeys. OK, that’s a strange way to introduce us to Israel’s first king, but that is literally what he is doing. He is struggling so hard to find the lost donkeys, that he actually seeks out Samuel, the man of God, to help him know where they are.
In the meantime, God has told Samuel exactly what to be on the lookout for when Saul comes. So, we shift rather quickly from looking for donkeys to suddenly being at a prepared meal with guests where Saul becomes the honored guest with the choice cut of meat and ends up being anointed king of Israel!
Can you even imagine what is going through Saul’s head?! To say this whole thing came out of left field is quite an understatement! Samuel goes on and tells him detail by detail what is going to happen in the next 24 hours, and it all goes exactly as Samuel says. Saul returns home, the donkeys have been found, and Saul is a changed man.
Saul didn’t ask to be king. He wasn’t looking for it, expecting it, or even wanting it. It just happened while he was out looking for his father’s donkeys. This story is written totally by God and Samuel...Saul just happens to be the guy chosen in this moment of history.
It’s easy to remember Saul as the bad guy in the whole David story that is to come, but in this chapter, we see a guy who we can all relate to, a guy who is likable, a guy we would even want to root for. But this Saul is different, he is humble and open to following directions. Sadly, that will change.
Can you imagine what this whole experience must have felt like to Saul? I encourage you to put yourself in his shoes and try to feel and think what he must have felt and thought.
How important is humility and the willingness to follow God’s directions?
What might I miss out on when I would rather stay focused on looking for the lost donkeys in my life than seeking God and His plans?
Worth pondering…
Ruth Spencer