Unconsciously Fulfilling God's Will - Reflections from 1 Samuel 9-11

When our actions are directed by right attitude, common sense, humility, goodness, sacrifice and courage, we might be fulfilling the very will of God without even being aware of doing it.

1.      Saul’s father Kish lost his donkeys and asked his son to go and find them.  With one of his servants, Saul went in search of the donkeys so far as to be lost himself instead of finding them.  When Saul wanted to return home empty handed without having found the donkey, his servant suggested to visit the Seer.  How amazing it is to see the attitude of people towards the Seer (man of God) in those days.  The automatic response of Saul was that there is nothing left to give to the man of God…as if to say “how can we go empty handed to the man of God?” The master, Saul, is empty handed but the servant is carrying a silver coin.  It is true that the servants would most often carry their precious things on their bodies as there would be no privacy or a secure place in the house where the masters cannot do what they want to do with their servant’s belongings.  Whatever the case might be, here we see the servant carrying this silver coin that would open the door for Saul to meet Samuel.  In meeting Samuel and the feast with him, Saul spends the night talking to Samuel and early in the next morning, told the servant to go ahead alone; Samuel anointed Saul to be the king of Israel without anyone witnessing it.  When God is leading our steps, we don’t need any witness or human approval; he will do what he has planned.  Saul went in search of his father’s donkeys, Saul ran out of food and gifts, Saul failed to find the donkeys and was about to return home empty handed and hungry but God had his own plans.  It was God who leads these two men to the edge of the village where Samuel lived to be anointed as the king of Israel.

2.     After anointing Saul as the king of Israel in the presence of no one, Samuel told Saul to go on his way and expect many signs to confirm him of what had just happened.  As soon as Saul turned toward his way from Samuel, his heart changed, and later the Spirit comes upon him with power and prophecy.  Yet, not even the servant knows what had actually happened to Saul; only God, Samuel and Saul knew what was happening.  Once these signs were fulfilled, Samuel had told Saul to go home and do whatever his hand finds to do.  But then again he said to go down to Gilgal and wait there for seven days without doing anything.  It is amazing to see this young man Saul totally following the instructions and obedient to everything that would eventually be God’s doing.  He was led by God to Samuel, he was anointed in humility, he saw the signs being fulfilled and Spirit coming upon him, he did nothing that would jeopardize his anointing but at the same time took the step of faith in delivering Israel from the ammonites and remained obedeient until Samuel came to Gilgal to confirm his kingship over all Israel; a man of great patience and obedience…he even obeyed his servants and at the same time a man of great wisdom who did not go on bragging to his uncle about what Samuel had said and done to him.

3.     Even though Saul was anointed to be the king, not everyone had accepted him and some ridiculed him.  It was then that the Ammonites sized the town of Jabesh and sent the message of humiliation and gauging the eyes of all Jabeshites.  The people of Jabesh asked the king of the Ammonites to give them seven days to surrender to such a fate.  Having heard such an ultimatum, Saul gathered the courage as the Spirit came upon him to fight the Ammonites.  The town of Jabesh is rescued and those who ridiculed Saul were silenced, the place of the king was secured. 

4.     Looking at these events in the life of Saul in his beginning, we see the hand of God guiding every single detail.  However, in accordance of God’s move, we also see the human moves taking place even without knowing that they were fulfilling God’s move.  When we do the right thing, when we follow our hearts with clear conscience, when we use our common sense, when we do the right thing, when do the things in humility and for the good of others, we might be fulfilling the very will of God in our lives.  Some people spend a lot of time in seeking the will of God but they fail to do what is obviously good and humble thing to do.  They seek the will of God but they are filled with selfish attitude and bitterness against others.  They seek the will of God but are not willing to sacrifice anything from their pocket.  They seek the will of God but are not willing to take the risk or put their name in the line.  They seek the will of God but have no respect for the man of God or the thing of God.  If we violate what is obviously good and noble thing to do, we will never find the will of God but on the other hand, if we do what is good and right, when we finish doing what we did, we will find out that we have fulfilled the will of God.