1 Samuel 10

“Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you” (1 Samuel 10:6-7).

I tend to have some of the best talks with God while driving. Whether I’m going to the grocery store, campus, or meeting a friend at a coffee shop I ask God to remind me of His presence. If I don’t do this, it can be easy for me to forget what God has created me for, my purpose, and to walk out in fear and not in faith. I can get anxiety walking into conversations, worried I’ll say the wrong thing or think that it’s my responsibility to change people’s hearts. It’s the Spirit who moves in us and changes our hearts. And it’s the Spirit that God promised to be with us at all times if we put our faith in Him. But we also hold responsibility to allow the Spirit to guide us.

When Samuel is giving Saul clear instructions from God, he reminds Saul that God has entrusted him to reign over His heritage. It is God’s land and people that Saul will be leading, but God is the one who is allowing Saul to lead. In verse 6 and 7, Samuel tells Saul that he should “do what [his] hand finds to do, for God is with [him].” 

God gives us responsibility and also freedom to make our own decisions. We are entrusted with the Gospel and to love people but we have to remember that everything and everyone is God’s (Psalm 24:1, 1 Corinthians 10:26). God trusts us to bear responsibilities, yet to surrender control to Him, the one true King.

God asks us to bring the Gospel to the darkest places but trust and pray that He will do the work in people’s hearts. It is up to us to bring the Gospel to our lost coworkers, classmates, family and friends but it is up to God to give them a new heart as He did for Saul that day as Samuel spoke to him (1 Samuel 10:9).

When I am driving somewhere knowing that I will be possibly engaging in conversation soon I can do two things. I can pray that God’s Spirit would be with me, guiding me through conversations and interactions or I can worry and enter into interactions with fear. The Spirit rests in us to give us peace, to guide us and convict us (Psalm 139:23-24, Romans 15:13), so allow it to do so.

So, Church, urgently proclaim the good news that God has entrusted to you, be reminded of the promise of the Holy Spirit, and earnestly pray for lost to be found (Romans 10:1).

Where do you believe that something is your responsibility and not God’s?

When or where are you not allowing the Spirit to convict and lead you?