1 Samuel 9
Earlier this spring a friend from out of town came to visit our team's city and campus. As he was walking around with some of our team, he recognized a student. He immediately went up to the student, began conversation, and after a few minutes he had come back. It turns out that he knew the student from high school, while the student was a few years younger, they had recalled their friendship from years prior. My friend had never really spent time on our campus before and the one day that he came and joined the team God placed his friend from high school out in front of him. God had a plan, God’s timing to work the individuals life plans together in order for them to connect was on purpose. God is a God of His will and timing.
The passage we read today is rich in helping us learn about the very nature of God, and how God has perfectly constructed his plan and timing.
Just as God had given direction to Samuel to find a king for Israel as they requested (chapter 8) Kish’s donkeys were lost. This situation led Saul and his servant to go looking for the donkeys. Now the passage is not specific to how long this search lasted, but they passed through several regions of land to get to the land of Zuph where they continued their search. It is here where just as they were about to give up, God had placed a seer (prophet) in the town.
Saul and his servant decide to go into the town to get direction from the prophet and go from there. Now as they enter town we see God’s hand at crafting perfect moments once again. Just ahead of them was the prophet, Samuel. Both Saul and Samuel entered town at similar times which led to their crossing of paths. God made a way for them to interact, for his plan to be continued.
While the passage leads us to see this detail retrospectively, it is also clear that God was preparing Samuel for an interaction where God would lead him to know who the next king of Israel would be. God was making clear his timing, his plan.
The chapter continues with Saul and Samuel having dinner among other guests in the high place. The next morning Saul and Samuel head to the outskirts of the city to take the next steps of the coming Kingship, and the chapter closes.
Truth about God is evident in this chapter. God has a Holy, glorious, and perfect plan and He has perfect timing to roll out this plan into fruition. With a truth so clear it can be hard to understand how we as His followers stray away from the truth and become so critical of his timing or think our timing is greater. But we do stray, we do orient ourselves to a different plan or desires of different timing.
What causes you to doubt God's plan and timing and to desire your own? What helps you trust and sit in God’s plan? Are you needing lay down distrust at God’s feet and choose to trust His plan right now?
