“Lord, give us what we think we need! Give us what we want—a king!” We shutter when Israel shouts these demands to our Almighty God; but don’t we do that in our prayers in times of sheer frustration and fear, when anxiety overcomes us?  We demand, in Jesus Name to give it more punch, what we think we want most or what we think will fix our current uncomfortable situation.  But our immature, growing faith needs to learn it is God who created us, knows us, knows what happened, is happening, and how all will turn out for our good while declaring His glory through it all!  AND all will be used to build our faith, a faith that lasts! (James 1, Romans 8 for reference)

Merciful, compassionate, faithful God did indeed give His unfaithful people a king but God chose the man, not the people, to become king.  God has not given up His authority and never will.  God revealed Saul to Samuel as the king of His choice.  To confirm God’s Word of revelation; Samuel told Saul he would first meet two men who would tell him that the lost animals had been found, news that Saul had already heard from Samuel. This was a good experience for the young leader, for it assured him that God could solve his problems. One of Saul’s greatest failures as a leader will be his inability to take his hands off situations and let God work.  Mm, but we don’t have that problem, do we?

God knows, right now, at this very moment what is troubling you and I. Nothing escapes His notice of those who call on Him and commune with Him in an intimate relationship with God. We need to acknowledge this truth about God at the very beginning of all our prayers and thank Him for all He has already done and is doing!  The Psalms are full of these kinds of prayers!  So, we have many examples to get us started in talking with God, expressing His majesty and power, along with our love for Him! Then maybe, just maybe, we will bend to His will and humbly learn to complete our talk with God with the words Jesus prayed before going to the cross obediently; “Not my will, but yours will be done.”

We learn that God’s Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the lives of those He has called to serve!  God gave this young, man His Holy Spirit to guide him.  But first His Holy Spirit changed him so he would teachable, trusting, and obedient to God!  This is the story of God through Saul. If Saul listens to God, all is well. Later, when Saul becomes full of pride and arrogance, refusing to listen to God, God’s Holy Spriit leaves him.

Hold this thought as we read…God’s Holy Spirit living in us, guiding us, is our lifeline to God who reconciles us to Him through Jesus, His Son. 

1 Samuel 10

Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance? ² When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’

³ “Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.

⁵ “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. ⁷ Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

⁸ “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

Saul Made King

⁹ As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰ When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. ¹¹ When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² A man who lived there answered, “And who is their father?” So it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.

¹⁴ Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where have you been?”

“Looking for the donkeys,” he said. “But when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

¹⁷ Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah ¹⁸ and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹ But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”

²⁰ When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. ²² So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”

²³ They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. ²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”

Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵ Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.

²⁶ Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

TRUTH WITH AFFIRMED PROMISES: 

• God fills us with His Holy Spirit immediately upon believing in His Son who saved us.  Ephesians 1
• Where God guides us; He provides all we need, (resources and other people who God has changed by His Spirit), to do His will. 1 Samuel 10:26
• What God’s purpose is for us; His will accomplish. What God starts; He finishes.
• How God works is for our good while declaring His glory!  Philippians 1:3-6
• When God calls; we must listen, trust, and obey for God’s desire is to strengthen our maturing faith in Him as we do His good will!  The process is as important as the purpose. James 1

Believers today, who are under the new covenant of salvation in Jesus Christ, have the Holy Spirit who abides within us forever (John 14:16, 17) as God’s seal that we are His children (Ephesians 1:13, 14)!

Later, when the next king, David asked God not to take the Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11), he was thinking especially of what the Lord had done to Saul (1 Samuel 16:14; 28:15). Believers today may grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) and quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but they cannot drive Him away.

God’s Holy Spirit is the means by which we stay connected (attached securely) to God through the lifeblood of Jesus, Our Savior who desires to be the Lord and King of our lives! Jesus is The Vine; we are the branches attached to the Vine who gives Life! (John 15)  Jesus tells His disciples (and us) what His Holy Spirit does; leads us to Truth!  I want to know all that is true, don’t you? What a difference His Holy Spirit makes in our lives yielded to Him!

Lord,

Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls, and continually restore the eternal joy that your Holy Spirit provides while working on us and through us. May Your will be done in all the details of our lives—even today!

In Jesus Name, for our good, and for His glory, Amen