1 Samuel 9 Bible Study (Saul Chosen to Be King) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Tonight in our bible study, as we continue through the book of first Samuel, and as you turn there, I would love for us to pray one more time. Thank you worship team for powerful worship. Do you believe this book is supernatural? Praise God. I believe so too.

Father, we thank you for the written word of God, for it is inspired by you. And, Lord, it has the power to save. It has the power to sanctify. It has the power to renew our minds. And in renewing our minds, it has the power to renew our decisions and our actions and our words.

Lord, we pray tonight that there would be such a tangible sense of that power as we open up these scriptures. Lord, we pray that man's opinions would not interfere with your revelation. Your word would stand alone, and we would trust in what you have to say in this season, Lord. We believe that you will speak to our hearts. Lord, as Saul needed to be free from distractions, as we're about to learn to receive from the word of the Lord.

We pray that that would be true in this moment. Liberate us from any intrusive thoughts or any intrusive actions of others or any intrusive text messages, notifications. Lord, you know what we are dealing with in this generation, but we believe your power has not changed. Manifest your glory in the midst of all that we see and experience. We look to you in complete faith and trust that you will change us tonight In your precious name, in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus, we pray these things.

Amen and amen and amen. The last verse of first Samuel chapter eight informs us that God commanded Samuel to obey the voice of the people and to find them a king. And it is in this chapter, chapter nine, that we will see the initial steps of Israel's first legitimate king being recruited and chosen to rule and reign over this people. And to our benefit, we are not just going to get some historical context of how and when and who the first king of Israel was. We are going to see something of a doctrine that is true from Genesis to Revelation, and it is the doctrine of providence.

The doctrine of providence, how God uses normal human affairs and actions to perform supernatural agendas, ultimately his will on the earth. And this is one of the clearest, most detailed illustrations of God's providential work. And that alone is not something that happened in one time at one point in history. No. Romans tells us that we can come to the Old Testament to be encouraged for our lives today.

And you and I are going to be, by the grace of God, encouraged by this doctrine today. God is sovereign. God works providentially, not just on a macro level where he determines the destinies of kings and nations. No. On a micro level where God takes you, yes, you, a number amongst billions in the world, but if you're in him in him, you're chosen and you're a child of God.

Even the minor seemingly random details of your life are inspired to play out into a wonderful story for the glory of God. He is sovereign. And so today, we're not just gonna get a history lesson. We're gonna get inspiration and a revelation of how God works right now in 2021. Because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And so we read now with the last verse of chapter eight in mind, God says, Samuel, give them what they want. Find them a king. And we are anticipating who this king is. And we come to verse one of chapter nine and we read, there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zirooz, son of Bechorath, son of Apphia, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man.

There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people. In connection with the last verse, we are being thrusted into who this king is going to be, And we are told already important information about who he is in a natural sense. And the first thing that we learn is that he comes from a influential, wealthy, powerful family, prestigious. They had a reputation, and perhaps they had some kind of influence in society.

Kish was a man that people knew about. But not only that, we are told about Kish's son, Saul, who is the object of our study. Saul not only came from a respectable, wealthy, powerful family, He himself had his own influence, and that was from his appearance. The guy was handsome. He was good looking.

And he wasn't just like, oh, that's a good looking guy. No. He walked down the street, and he turned heads. And he had people whispering, and he had girls blushing. In fact, the Bible tells us not by accident that he was the most good looking man in all of the nation of Israel.

So you're talking about a guy that is strikingly beautiful. And we're wondering why are these details being given to us immediately after being told that there is a king that is about to come on the scene. Because just from these two verses, you and I are being told that Israel is about to receive someone that fits the picture of a prince in the external sense. Great family, wealthy, probably even had the charisma. He had the appearance.

He had the height. And this is who we're about to learn is going to take the throne for the first time. And what's amazing here is that later on, when God calls Samuel to elect the second king, not Saul, but another one by the name of David. He commissions him to go to the house of Jesse, who was David's father, to recruit one of the boys. He didn't know who it was.

And upon his arrival on the scene go to chapter 16. I want you to notice something very important in verse six. You know this, I'm sure. You know where we're going. When they came in chapter 16 verse six, he being Samuel looked on Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

Now look what the Lord says. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. One of the most powerful and one of the most often quoted scriptures from the whole Bible, really, that people use today to inspire people of how God evaluates and how he sees men.

But there's so much more in that. Do you know what I see here? I see Samuel as a prophet of God making another mistake. Here's what I'm trying to understand. Samuel, because this is after Saul is rejected.

Samuel, didn't you learn that height doesn't matter? Didn't you learn that appearance doesn't matter? Case number one with Saul who had the appearance, who had the height, and he was a royal, no pun intended, failure. And now you're coming to recruit the second king, and you're mesmerized by another guy who was handsome as well. And you're like, this has gotta be God's choice.

Even men of God, even prophets of God can fail to learn from past failures. He forgot very quickly. And the best way for you and I to make the best decisions in this life is to continually be in accord with God's mind, to be familiar with God's ways, his word, his commands, his wisdom so that we can, in all seasons of life, interpret things the way he interprets things. Continually. Continually.

There must be a daily fellowship with the Lord so that his thoughts, his ways, his words would inspire our thoughts and our ways and our words. Samuel here missed it. He missed it. And Samuel here, through his mistake, God takes it as a learning lesson for all men for all time that what men often praise and consider worthy, God often rejects. God had a different person in mind.

And when it comes to qualifications for positions in God's kingdom, God has a different way of measuring who is worthy. Who is worthy? And Samuel missed it. And Israel, in this chapter that we're studying, is gonna learn the mistake of choosing based on externals. But it's not just externals.

Look at verse three, because this is quite interesting, of chapter nine. Now we're being told about who this potential king will be, and then all of a sudden, we go from the description of a man, of his family, of his looks, of his popularity, and now we're talking about donkeys. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul, his son, take one of the young men with you and arise. Go and look for the donkeys.

And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shailim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them. Now up to this point, you and I have seen different episodes of fathers and sons. Have we not?

And here we see for the first time a relationship between a father and a son, particularly with a son that is unlike what we've seen before. So we know about Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Did they obey their father? No. Samuel's sons, did they walk in the ways of their father?

No. And now we come to Kish and his son, and what? Are we gonna just see another train wreck? No. We see a man who is actually obeying his father.

He didn't sit back and say, dad, we have all these servants. Come on. Why are you asking me to get up from my chair? Call two of them and let them go. He says, son, I want you to go, and I want you to take one of the servants.

And without hesitation, he says, alright. Packs his bags, packs his lunch, and he says, let's go. So he's not just a guy with some charm and with some attraction and appearance. No. He's got some character.

He he he's actually has some kind of integrity here. He actually has a sense of obedience towards authority. But, unfortunately, what are we gonna read about Saul later on in his life? That what he showed to his earthly father, he did not show to his heavenly father. When when the Lord commanded him to do certain things, Saul did not obey to the fullest extent.

He did not display the same measure of sacrifice and willingness to go to great lengths like he does here. We read it in verse four. He went from one place to the other, and he couldn't find it. He journeyed. He exhausted himself.

They ate all their food, as we're about to find out. This is this is not giving up on the task that you were called to. But then when the Lord, as king, calls him to do certain things, he doesn't obey. And it's really a lesson that man often reserves the strength of his sacrifice when it comes to God's commands. But when it comes to different purposes and different missions that benefit self, we are very generous with our strength.

We are very generous with our emotion. We are very generous with our dedication. But when it comes to God telling us to do what we do, we are very reserved and calculated. Saul proves that here. When his dad says go find the donkeys, he goes.

When God says go and kill all the Amalekites, he keeps things to himself. It's a picture of our selfishness when it comes to God's kingdom in comparison to our own. If it benefits our household, if it benefits the bank, if it benefits our own agenda, man. Let me let me say it this way. A lot of people who profess to know Christ were much more radical when they were serving the devil.

But when they come to serve Jesus Christ, they're not as radical. Right? Because when you were serving the devil, you were willing to stand out in the cold in line for the club and come home at three, four in the morning. But when it comes to serving Jesus Christ, the service is too long, brother. I got lunch to eat.

I can stay there, but I think we should move on. What do you think? So then, we see a man of character. We see a man who actually cares about something beyond himself, at least to an extent. But we see this in another light.

We should see this in another way. Because for those who are familiar with this story, what's what Saul is about to do here is gonna lead to greater opportunity. Saul searching for the donkeys is gonna lead him to a specific person. And who's that person? Samuel.

And what's Samuel going to announce to him? Something greater than your donkeys have been found. He's gonna announce to him, you are the king of this nation. And this is a reminder to us that humble acts of obedience are often the things that God uses to promote men for his program. Humble acts of obedience are often God's means of leading men and women to be promoted in his program.

And that's not just an isolated reality with Saul. You see that in many different instances, and that's true for David who would replace Saul. Go to first Samuel 17. David has been anointed by not just oil from the hands of the prophet Samuel. David has been anointed by the spirit of the Lord.

The scripture says that the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David, and that's how chapter 16 closes out. Then you come to chapter 17, and you're told about this war between Israel and the Philistines, and David is not at war. We brought this up many times before, but this is why we need to know our Old Testaments very well. Why isn't David at war? Why didn't he go and join his older brothers to go to war?

He was too young. What was the age for you to be recruit recruited into the army? According to the book of Numbers, you had to be 20 years old. You had to be 20 years old to be enrolled in the army of Israel. Proving what?

David is under the age of 20. Proving what? God recruited a teenager to be the king. Proving what? God can use you when you're in high school if you wanna be used.

Notice something. He's anointed. His family knows that he's been anointed. And then you read this in chapter 17 verse 17. And Jesse said to David his son, take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these 10 loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.

Also take these 10 cheeses to the commander of their thousands. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them. The man was just anointed by one of the greatest prophets in Israel's history, and this father, his father says, son, come here. I need you to be a delivery boy. Take these sandwiches and bring them to your brother and and just, you you know, let them know that mom and dad care for them and that we're thinking of them.

So go. And David doesn't puff out his chest and say, do you realize that who I am? Did you not know that Samuel came over and you didn't even ask me to come? You kept me in the field when you knew I'm your son. Samuel had to get it out of you that I'm actually your boy.

So you rejected me, and now you're asking me to go at he didn't no. None of none of that. He submitted himself, and he went. In fact, he obeyed promptly because when you look at verse 20, I believe, it says that he rose early in the morning. The first chance he got to go, he went.

There was an eagerness. There was an integrity. There was a zeal in his obedience and such a menial task as delivering sandwiches. Now why is that important? Why is the the fact that he rose early?

Because there's not one accident in the bible. Not one detail in the bible is by accident. Here's the point. He rose early in the morning, which was a reflection of his attitude in service. But the fact that he rose early in the morning teaches us something very crucial because when he arrives on the scene, when he comes to the camp of Israel, he came just at the time when Goliath was taunting and challenging the people to face him.

David came right at the time where he heard it from Goliath. He inquired, and he stepped up to the plate. A humble act of obedience with promptness and a willingness and a submissive spirit led him to come to the point when Goliath offered the challenge and he made it right on time to hear it and then to accept it. Someone once said that big doors often swing on the hinges that are small. And that is certainly true in God's kingdom that great opportunities are often discovered on the path of small acts of obedience.

So don't waste the season that you're in because you feel like it's insignificant and nobody notices you. If you're faithful, God might just be leading you to where you need to be next. Like he did with Saul, like he did with David and so many others. Now they went from verse four, we read, they went from one place to the next, one place to the next. And then in verse five, we read, when they came to the land of Ziph, Saul said to his servant who was with them, come let us go back.

He's like, this is just getting ridiculous here. We can't find these donkeys anywhere. Lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us. Now Now doesn't that reveal something else about Saul? I see a man who is sensitive to the feelings of his father.

I see a man who understood, and he had such a relationship with his dad that it came to the point that my father is gonna be more worried about me than these donkeys. So why don't we just head back for the sake of his own well-being? I believe that that is a good attitude. This is a man who's actually sensitive to the needs of others, and it's inspiring. And it's it's a nice quality to witness.

But just like the first one that we realized, it's gonna be something that is gonna turn into his own demise. Why? Because Saul is going to care way too much about how people feel when he becomes king. Right? Because when God tells him to do certain things, Saul will tell Samuel, I couldn't do it because I feared what the people said.

They wanted me to do something else, and I obeyed them instead of God. Right here in this context, what he's doing is extremely applaudable. It is something worthy of imitation. But when we come down the line, we realize that it was off balance. And it proves here that he actually cared about what people wanted more than what God wanted, and that's gonna manifest later on.

Because here's the reality, caring about what others people think and what they want and what they desire at the expense of obedience to God is not compassion, it's compromise. It's not compassion, It's compromise. And he will exemplify that just in a few short chapters. But we also see a difference here between Saul and his servant. Where were they at this point in verse five?

In what area? The land of what? Does that sound familiar or no? Does that sound familiar? It's in the first verse of this book.

When you go to first Samuel one one, you'll realize something about Saul's servant that wasn't true about Saul. And there's a difference here that's gonna reveal something about Saul. In verse one, look down the line about Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of what? Zeph and Ephrathite. They're following and they're trying to track these lost donkeys, then they come to the region of Zeph.

And the servant realizes as he's in that environment, there's a trigger now. He knows that he's in the region of the prophet. The land of Zeph is where Samuel grew up. That was his hometown. That was the area.

And that's why in verse six, we read, but he said to him, behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go. Now think about this.

They arrived to this area, and out of the two, who is the one that was aware of where they were? Saul or the servant? The servant. And the way the servant is speaking to Saul implies, not only does Saul not know where he's at, Saul doesn't even know who Samuel is. He said, you know, there's a man of God in this area and anything he says goes.

Why don't we find him and maybe he can give us a direction to the donkeys? And if we don't believe that, when you read later on where Samuel encounters Saul, Saul asked Samuel, hey. Where's the house of the prophet? Same as, like, I am the seer. Isn't that concerning?

Why would that be concerning concerning Saul? Was Samuel some, like, pastor of a local church in some suburb that nobody really knew about? No. The whole nation knew about him. The entire nation knew about Samuel the prophet.

They witnessed miracles. They witnessed prophetic words that came to pass. And you have Saul who had no idea about Samuel. I'm sure you knew a lot about Facebook and sports and the latest movies, but when it came to spiritual matters, he was ignorant. He had no clue.

He had no depth, which proves, I believe, that he had no interest. He had no interest in spiritual things. He wasn't as well versed. He wasn't studied. He wasn't aware.

He didn't have a sense of God's workings in the past. He's like, Samuel, who's Samuel? That is ex that's a red flag. That is an extreme red flag, and it's only gonna show up more when he becomes king. Does Samuel prove rather does Saul prove that he's a spiritual man when he becomes king or not?

He shows that he is far from being spiritual. He knows the verbiage. He understands some of the things, but when he's convicted about sin and exposed for his sin, does he react like David does? Have you ever read a psalm written by Saul? I've read many written by David.

And we see the evidence of it right here, right before he even becomes king. He doesn't even know who Samuel is, but the servant does. But read about Saul early early on. What? He comes from a wealthy family.

He's got the looks. He's probably an Instagram influencer of his day. But who's richer? Him or the servant? I say the servant.

Who's wealthier? Who's better off in life? The servant. The unnamed assistant to the man that's gonna become king but is void of God. And you see a servant who has a lowly position, who is humbled, who is being commanded where to go and what to do, at the end of the chapter, Saul's gonna say, you go on.

I have to stay here with the prophet. But this man has more substance and more value because of a revelation that he possessed that Samuel didn't, or rather Saul. There's another example of that. Go to second Kings. I want you to see this in chapter five.

This is speaking about another great and mighty man named Naaman. Naaman wasn't a man from the people of Israel. He was a Syrian. And this man was a commander of the army of Syria. But look what it says about Naaman in verse one of chapter five of second Kings.

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. Now look at this. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. He was a leper. He had a skin disease that would destroy his future.

Now think about this. He was a commander. He had people praising him for the victory that he brought for Syria. He had the wealth. He had the palace.

He had the position. He had it all. But then we're introduced to somebody else that was richer, more powerful, more influential than Naaman was. You ready? Look at verse two.

Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, with that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. This little unnamed girl that was stripped of her livelihood, of her home, of her family, she was a servant in this palace, had a revelation, had a grasp of truth that would save Naaman's life. And no matter what Naaman owned, this little girl had more than him. She knew about a man of God, Elisha, that was connected to the true and living God that can bring healing to Naaman.

And just like the man here, the servant to Saul, it is often that lowly men and women in society have greater spiritual grasp. It is often true that those who are not distracted by the things of this life, even from their own success, have a greater clarity of divine revelation. That doesn't have to be the case for those who are influential in society, but it does say something. That those who don't have much but have God are way better off than those who have much but don't have God. Who would you rather be?

The king of Israel, the king of Syria, or the commander of the army of Syria? I wanna be like this servant, and I wanna be like this little girl that had a connection to God, though they were disconnected from so much else. You don't get a lot of amens from those points, but it's true nonetheless. And that's why Jeremiah said this in his prophetic word. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boast boast in this, that he understands and knows me. If you're gonna boast about anything in this life, the one thing worth boasting for and about is your relationship to Christ. Anything else is pathetic to boast about.

And so we see here that this servant had a a spiritual sensitivity and awareness that Saul didn't have, and that is greatly concerning for the future and the well-being of this nation. And so we come back here, first Samuel nine verse seven. Then Saul said to his servant, but if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone. That shows you how much they went through and the length of time to find these donkeys.

And there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have? The servant answered Saul again, here. I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way. Now that seems like insignificant.

Right? But I think, again, it reveals something about this servant. You had Saul who rightly said, man, we we can't come empty handed. And and what we hope is that night he doesn't think that a prophet is a fortune teller. That's what we hope.

We hope that this is just being courteous and respectable. So we'll go with that. But he doesn't have anything. But you have this servant this servant who who wasn't paid much, who was who was who knows how he lived under the ownership of Saul and his father. But he had this half shekel.

And he says, I'm willing to give this to this man of God, to respect him and to respect his ministry. Again, it proves something about those who are in lowlier positions in life, those who are not as fortunate in life. Generosity is not really dependent upon quantity. It's an attitude of the heart. And even Jesus himself testified about a woman who didn't have much, but found great joy in giving into the house of God.

And here we see this lowly servant who didn't have much to his name, but was willing to do anything to make sure that they were more in the will of God. It's a contribution service, a minister of God. It's quite amazing. He was willing to give a donation even though he didn't have much. And we see here in verse 12, he says, let's do it.

So we skip a few verses and they head towards the city where Samuel would have been. And we read here in verse 11 rather, as they went up to the hill to the city, they met young woman coming out to draw water and said to them, is the seer here? They answered, he is. Behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry.

He has come now to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. As soon as you enter the city, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.

This masterpiece of divine providence is just getting more beautiful. Everything leading up to this point should be building up anticipation. First, you lose the donkeys. Second, you can't find the donkeys. Last year, you're at the land of Zulf where the prophet is supposed to be or could be.

And now as you're approaching the place where he might be, you meet these women that are coming out of the city right on time. You ask them, hey. Is the seer here? And they know about the seer very well. And they're like, you came just on time.

He's actually just coming back from his circuit around Israel. He's coming home. They're waiting for him to bless the sacrifice. Get there because you're gonna bump right into him if you're looking for him. This is beginning to feel a lot less about coincidence, a lot more about providence.

It's about the timing. It's about how everything is right in step, and that's how providence works. It puts the people at the right place at the right time, and it puts you at the right place at the right time without your knowledge even, without any ounce of your effort even. Just you doing what? Obeying to the revelation that you've received in this season of life, serving to the capacity in which you were called to serve at this point in life, and letting God draw and write out your story.

So right here, we're seeing everything coming into play, and they are literally in steps now to coming face to face with this prophet. And who's writing the story? Well, come here to verse 15. You just heard earlier that he's going to bump into him, and we're going now from Saul's perspective, and the vantage point is changing. And now we're gonna see the story from Samuel's perspective.

And Samuel's perspective is in verse 15. Now the day before Saul came so all of this is today, yesterday yesterday, we are told verse 16, tomorrow, God revealed to Saul or Samuel, rather, tomorrow about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people, Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. So you know what is happening from Saul's end? He's running around donkeys and looking for them.

You know what's happening from Samuel's end? He's spending time with God in prayer, and he's investing his time with God. And God speaks to him and he says, hey, tomorrow around this time, there's gonna be a man. He's gonna come to you. I'm gonna show you who he is.

And that man is going to be the king of Israel. Here's the phrase that blows me away. It says here, tomorrow, verse 16, about this time, I will send to you. Now imagine you just read this verse in isolation. Right?

So imagine you didn't hear the past, wow, past thirty minutes or so, forty minutes. Imagine you didn't hear any of that, and you just read this verse in isolation. Tomorrow about this time, I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. How would you believe that God would have sent Saul to Samuel? If I were to read that in isolation, I would have probably believed that God spoke to Saul the same way God spoke to Samuel.

Hey, Saul. I need you to get up tomorrow, and around this time, you're gonna enter into this city and you will run into my prophet, and he will tell you something that you need to know about your future. Right? That sounds like God's sending somebody. You give instructions and you give the GPS address and you let them go.

Right? That's not how God sent him. You know how God sent him? He let some donkeys loose. And he let him look for hours and search and let him run out of food and get frustrated and feel worried about how his father is feeling.

That's how God sent him. Because you and I crave in this life if you're truly a believer to do the will of God, and you want God's instructions more than anything. Right? And you probably beg God sometimes in prayer that he would speak to you as he spoke to Samuel. Lord, just give me one sentence and tell me.

Where do I go? Who do I marry? What am I supposed to do? Where do you want me to serve? And God can reveal it in supernatural ways, but that is not the only way in which God leads his people.

God can send you. God can advance you in his purposes beyond an audible voice in your life. And we don't like that. We go, I want the Samuel experience. You can save me from a lot of headache and a lot of trouble, but I'm sorry you're not writing your story.

God is. And this is not the only place where God says he has sent somebody in a way in which we wouldn't send somebody. Proof? Okay. Psalm one zero six one zero five verse 16.

And speaking about the history of the nation of Israel in their deliverance from Egypt, Look what it says in Psalm one zero five verse 16. It says, when he, being God, when he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, verse 17. Look at this. He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. Imagine you read that in isolation and you didn't know the story in Genesis.

How would you have believed that God sent Joseph into the land of Egypt to preserve the world and specifically the people of God? You probably would have believed that God called Joseph, Joseph, I'm gonna ask you to go now to Egypt, and I'm gonna ask you to go before Pharaoh, and I'm gonna make his heart interview you. And then you're gonna have this position where you're gonna be second in command, and you're gonna have the wisdom to preserve them from a famine. Is that how he did it? No.

He's gonna take the hatred and the envy of his brothers to sell him as a slave, to convince his father that he was murdered by a beast. He's gonna have somebody give false witness about his sexual integrity, be thrown falsely into jail for two years more than two years, and then be elected out of that place in a moment overnight by interpreting a dream. That's how we sent him. In fact, you wanna know how detailed providence is? This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Old Testament concerning providence.

Just like Saul, the father of Joseph said, your brothers are out there tending the flock. Would you go and find them and give me a report? So Joseph, just like Saul, picks himself up, says, I'll go. And he goes where the he believes they are. He can't find them.

And then it says that there is a man who sees this person wandering, Joseph wandering, looking around. Where are my brothers? And all for a sudden in Genesis thirty seven fifteen, this unnamed man says that a man found him wandering in the fields, and the man asked them, what are you seeking? And Joseph looks and he goes, oh, I thought there was nobody here. I'm looking for my brothers.

They were tending some sheep here, but they don't seem to be around. Do you know where they are? And this man gives them directions, And they were the right directions. And if you didn't know this the part where he would become king of Egypt or second in command of Egypt, you would probably be angry at this man for giving him the right directions. This man's right directions led him to be sold as a slave, to be a servant in Potiphar's house, to be accused of rape, to be thrown in prison, because this man gave the right directions.

That's providence. That's providence. Showing up at that empty field with a stranger there who observed the brothers going in a certain direction and giving Joseph those directions, God's design. God sending Joseph even from a stranger's one sentence direction. Your Christian life is not boring.

No matter how bored you are with your routine and your schedule, trust this, that if you're walking in the will of God, there are no accidents, no random occurrences, no little details that are insignificant. That'll make you wake up in the morning with a different sense of motivation. That'll make you pull into the parking lot and fill your car with gas and talk to the clerk with a different motivation. Everything about your life in Christ is a supernatural story even in the mundane. Even in the things that don't have substance and seem like they have no value.

Do you think directions have value? Do you think looking for your lost car keys have value? Do you think people hating you, envying you, playing against you, do you think that they have they have no value to what God has for you? I send you a man from the land of Benjamin. And how does God send them?

With donkeys. You think this is just Old Testament? What did the Lord tell Paul when he was in a jail cell in Jerusalem? He said, you must also testify of me in Rome. Paul, you're in a jail cell right now, but I promise you, you're gonna be in Rome and you're gonna preach my gospel in Rome.

How does he send him? He doesn't send him like he was son Philip. He doesn't rapture him and transport him to another place. No. He puts him on a boat with a bunch of criminals, lets a storm come for a few weeks, throw them all in a loop, let him crash onto an island called Malta, get bit by a snake, all of that just to go to Rome.

See, we need to have a grasp of this doctrine of providence or else you're not gonna feel much vigor in life, And you're not gonna see value unless you see the Samuel experiences in life where God spoke to you from the heavens and a sermon touched you because it was exactly as if the preacher read your mail the night before. Listen. God can do that. But would you see the supernatural and the mundane? In your day to day, in your nine to five, in your weekend out, would you trust that God is writing your story?

And the only way you can have assurance that he's writing your story is that you stick close to him. Stick close to him. And so what happens? Well, he says, I'm gonna send you a man, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines.

Now look at this. For I have seen my people because their cry has come to me. Now this is what's really interesting. When you read the ESV, and the ESV does does justice to these verses here. When it comes to the place where it says that he will be prince over my people, he shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, What's amazing here is that you get the idea that he will rule and he will reign as a king, but the the ESV pulls out the the Hebrew where he it says he will restrain my people.

In other words, the idea is that he will coerce, he will control, he will bring him to a place under stern and strict leadership. Now that's important to understand because Saul is not God's choice for king. But it sounds like it. Right? I'm sending you a man, and he's going to be king.

But how do we know that Saul is not God's choice, at least in part? Well, let me ask it this way. Do you disagree with that? Heads went up now. Do you disagree with the fact that Saul is God's choice for king?

Who here would say yes? Who here would say no? Who here says I don't know? Meditate on it for a second. Is this God's desire for Israel?

Remember chapter eight? How was God's reaction to the request for a king? Was it a good reaction? Was Samuel pleased with the request? No.

So then how do you reconcile that with Deuteronomy 17? Go to Deuteronomy 17. I want you to see something. Verse fourteen and fifteen. In verse fourteen and fifteen, this is now remember what's happening here.

This is way before the people even entered into the land of Canaan. They haven't even conquested the land through the leadership of Moses or rather Joshua. That is way before that. God is giving instructions about how they should conduct themselves in the land that they would conquer. And would you know it?

You've come to the point where God gives instructions about a what? A king. And he says, when you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. Didn't we read that in chapter eight? You may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose.

One for among your brothers, you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. In other words, God knew and God even set them up with the instructions to prepare themselves to know and to have a king. So then why get angry about it? Why get upset about it?

Why say that you have rejected me? When he says in Deuteronomy 17, it's going to happen and here are the instructions of how you should qualify someone as a king. In fact, you go to Genesis and not only do you see instructions, you get prophetic words. Through the descendants of Jacob, there will be kings among your descendants. Okay.

So it's even prophesied. And you come to first Samuel, the people request the king and and God says, you have rejected me. What's happening here? Here's the answer. It's a two part crime.

Number one, the timing was off. The timing was not suitable. Samuel was still judge, and the people said, we want a king, when Samuel was still in the position of leadership over the nation. We want you out. We want a king now.

God in Deuteronomy 17 did have a king in mind. He did. But it wasn't at this time. It was a premature request. It was a desire for something that God had not planned for them to have in this moment, but they still wanted it anyway.

It wasn't just the timing. Some of you know the answer. What else is it? The heart, the motive. What was the reason for them wanting a king?

We wanna be like what? We wanna be like the nations. That is a terrible motivation for God's purpose in your life. We want arguably the right thing, but for the wrong reason. We like how the kings are, and we like what they do for the people.

Would you give us a king like the nations? In Deuteronomy 17, it says, whom the lord your god will choose. God had a king in mind, and he wanted to bring that king at the right time. Does anybody know what the name Saul means? Somebody said something?

Question? Something else? Somebody said something else. Ask for or to be desired. Saul's name means to be desired.

Desired by who? The people. God had a king in mind, and the red flag should have come from verse one of chapter nine. Why? There was a man of Benjamin.

Why? Why is that not right? Genesis 49 verse 10. Jacob prophesied about his sons and about their descendants, and he said something about one of his sons that gives an indication of why the fact that Saul coming from Benjamin is not a good thing. The scepter shall not depart from where?

Judah. Nor the ruler staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. The lineage, the tribe in which the king will come from is the tribe of Judah, not Benjamin. I argue that God had David in mind as his first choice. And they desired Saul, so he gave them what they desired.

Because they wanted what the nations had. Right? And here's Saul. He's tall. He's like a giant.

He looks intimidating. He's beautiful to look. He has the he fits the criteria. But there was a prophecy. It's from Judah.

That's where my king is gonna come from. Fulfilled partially by David, ultimately fulfilled in the root and descendant of David, Jesus Christ. And so they didn't know God's word. They didn't trust God's word. They were anxious, and they wanted something in the flesh.

I would use this to apply to many things, but one of the things that we can apply this to is God's timing. God's timing is very important. It's extremely important to be in submission to God's timing. How do I know if I'm in submission to God's timing? Trust God's timing.

When you begin to wiggle and push and move and manipulate for something and everything is going against it, it's good to be sensitive and pull back and say, Lord, maybe this isn't the timing. Because oftentimes, when God wants to fulfill something, there is a grace that comes with it. And so we see here that people wanted the right thing at the wrong time for the wrong reason, and they're gonna pay for it down the line. So it says here in verse 17, here is the man of whom I spoke to. It is he who shall restrain my people.

Restrain my people. That's the Hebrew word, not reign, restrain. And here's how we know. If you want the final exclamation mark on how we know that this is not God's perfect will, Hosea 13 verse ten and eleven. I want you to see this, and this will really settle the case.

We are told here much later by a different prophet after many kings have come down the line and have disappointed God and the nation. Where now is your king to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers? Those of whom you said, give me a king and princess before you move on. Isn't that what they asked for?

Give us a king. Okay. So God does. But look how it says here in verse 11. I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.

God gave Saul not with a smile on his face. And God took away Saul in his wrath, when Saul, as we're about to find out, committed suicide. And so we see here that Samuel Samuel knows that this is the will of God, but not in the sense of blessing his people, but in judging his people. Now here's the mystery of it, because that doesn't excuse Saul's disobedience that we're gonna read about. That doesn't excuse it.

But we know from the beginning that he is not the candidate that was gonna be the king that God had in mind. So now let's see what happens. We're almost done here as we read on. He's told this, and then all for a sudden, we read here in verse 18. Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, tell me where is the house of the seer.

He didn't even recognize him. Like, this is the most famous man in the land at this time, and he's like, hey. Can you tell me? Like, Like, I want you to think about the president of The United States. Imagine approaching him and be like, can you tell me where the president lives?

It's embarrassing. Samuel answered Saul, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me. And in the morning, I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. Now look at this, verse 20.

As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago so he's like, I know where your donkeys are at. Three days ago, they were lost. They're found. He says here, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel?

Is it not for you and for all your father's house? So one, he's demonstrating his prophetic authority. He's like, hey. Your donkeys? Didn't say anything about donkeys.

Doesn't know who this guy is. Your donkeys, it's all taken care of. Why is he doing that? Yeah. One, to prove that he's a prophet, but in a practical point, he is dealing with his distractions before he gives them the revelation that God wants to give him.

A lot of people come to service distracted, and they leave out of here not knowing what God wanted to tell them. And in our day, we deal with more distractions than anything. It's gonna require you and I, every time we come under the the word of God, and you, in your own time under the God God and his word and his presence, to remove distractions so that you can hear what he has to say. Samuel says, let's just deal with what's troubling you right now. Everything is fine.

It's okay. Now let's get to the matter at hand. All of Israel is desiring something. The buzz in the nation is we want a king. It's you.

You're that you're that desire. You can imagine how this this young man is reacting. Right? And I want you to picture it. You have this prophet who's an old man who's looking up to this person who's shoulder and head above everybody else.

You are what everybody's desiring. And how does he react? With great modesty. Saul answered in verse 21, am I not a Benjaminite from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?

Why then have you spoken to me in this way? Oh, it's so inspiring. Like, look. To be honest, if I didn't know Saul's future, I like the guy. Like, he he cares about his father.

He goes and looks out for donkeys for a long day and maybe even longer than that. He wants to bring a gift to this person that he's never met before. And now that he's told that he's gonna be king, he's like, what? Me? Really?

I'm gonna be the king? Are you serious? Who am I? And we are told in verse one and two that he came from a a family that had influence and money and reputation. He goes even then, he disregarded that.

He goes, what are we? What's my family? What's my line? What's my tribe? Like, wow.

Just like the other characteristics of Saul, does this last in his life? No. Because he is going to become prince, and that position is going to unveil the corruption in his heart. And the ugliness of that pride is going to be stirred up by the authority that he is going to be anointed with, because that's what happens oftentimes. Pride poisons people.

Pride ruins people. And the thing that is gonna keep you and I safe, if God is gonna use you and I in any kind of position or gifting or ability, is to have ever before as the kingship and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are king. You are Lord. You are the one who gives.

You are the one who takes away. Brothers and sisters, I say this honestly before the Lord. I don't say it in false humility. God is my judge. I have in my heart a knowledge that the Lord can flick me off this pulpit even right now if he desires to.

I've seen him do it when I've read books, and I've heard tragic stories, and I see it in his word. God doesn't need anybody. And he can demote you as much as he can promote you, and that should put a holy fear in us. But Saul's issue was not just the fact that he didn't realize that God was truly king. Saul's issue, as you and I are gonna find out, is that his identity was in his position and his ability and not in who he was in God.

I'll tell you how. Because when David gets more praise and more promotion than him, he is eaten up by a spirit of jealousy. And that only happens to you when you do not have your identity secured in Christ's pleasure over you just for who you are, not for what you do for him? I guarantee you, man. I'll tell you this.

You won't just ruin your life. You'll ruin and attempt to ruin other people's lives that stand in the way of your source of identity. It's ugly. It's demonic. James tells us that jealousy is actually inspired by demons.

It's so against the nature of Christ and God that it's the common attitude of demons. And the way you are liberated from that is that you are like David, and you are so caught up in the love of God, so caught up in the pleasure found in God. You're not concerned about kingdoms being taken away. You're not concerned about anything else other than the presence of the Holy Spirit. Get there.

Listen. Don't worry about how God's gonna use you. Oh, relax. Okay? Don't worry about people are gonna know you if you're gonna touch souls before you meet Christ face to face.

That's not your job. That's not your job to figure out the breadth of your ministry. You concern yourself with your security in Christ. You secure yourself in your character and your knowledge of who God is because that character will be able to help you and longevity remain in the will of God. People spend too much energy and focus and prayers on where they wanna be for God and not who they are in God.

And then when God takes them somewhere, they don't even have the capacity to handle all the things that come with it, and they crumble and other things crumble along with them. You want proof that this man who started on humility ended up tragically in pride? Look at first Samuel 15. After he has this supposed victory over the Amalekites, I want you to see what happens here when Samuel was called to come and rebuke him. Verse 12.

And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal. That is a long way of how we see him here in chapter nine. You know how he started? Israel is desiring a king, and you're that king.

He's like, what? Me? Really? And it's genuine. I don't think it's false.

Who am I? He's responding the same way Gideon did in Judges. Who am I? The least in my claim, the least in the tribes. Really?

Five chapters later, six chapters later, he has a victory, and the guy sets up a statue in his name. I want everybody to know for the rest of history that I, Saul, conquered the Amalekites. Wow. And you didn't even do it right. And so we have to understand, brothers and sisters, the principle of this is that God calls humble people.

Think of Moses. I can't even speak. Think of Saul. Think of all these men. Think of Paul.

All these men. What was the common characteristic? A humility. But there's another application here. Yes.

God recruits people who are humble, but God keeps people who are humble. You don't wanna just start humble, you wanna finish humble. Let me put it this way, and I say this in the fear of God. People don't finish if they're not humble. If pride stays in there and God warns you and God uses people to warn you, and even if you have all these amazing abilities and giftings, and if you are not humble, it's not gonna end well.

Because he resists the proud, even if the proud are those that are proclaiming his name. May God keep us. So what happens? Well, we're gonna skip through some verses here, and we're closing now. He calls Saul to join him in this feast.

He puts him in a prominent place at the table. He has dinner wrapped up in tinfoil ready for him to prove that he knew that he was coming. And then after all of that, in verse 26 verse 25 rather. And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he laid down to sleep. Other translations say that Samuel communed with Saul on the roof.

But here's the end of the day. Samuel brings Saul to a place on a rooftop. He lays him down to sleep. They talk. And here's what I think reading this verse as we close.

What was running through this man's mind as he lay on that mat that night? Doesn't tell us, but I like to imagine. What just happened? Earlier today, we were looking for donkeys. We come to this city.

This prophet comes up to me and tells me I'm going to be king. And then it says in verse 26, then at the break of dawn, Samuel called on Saul on the roof, up that I may send you on your way. So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street. As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, tell the servant to pass on before us. And when he had passed on, stop here for yourself for a while, that I may make it known to you the word of God.

In one night, providence can change the rest of your life. This morning would be a morning that would transition him in a way like he's never experienced before. And that's what I wanna tell you for your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. You know, there are some people who are in the faith that feel stuck in life. They do.

And they get frustrated because things are just predictable and it's common. And I would say that there is nothing common in the kingdom of God. And as you're serving the Lord, know this, he can keep you in that place like he kept Joseph in a prison cell for years. But everything can change in one night. Everything can change.

Now whether God is gonna do that in your life, I'm not the one to give you the authority to say yes or no. But I will say this, that when you serve the Lord, all it takes is one phone call, one meeting, one service, one trip somewhere, one encounter with a new brother or new sister in Christ, whatever it is, for everything to change. I say that to bubble up excitement in you. Lord, my life is in your hands. Everything can change in a moment if you want it to.

So what am I gonna do? I'm just gonna serve you at this place right now, and trust that you will lead me and guide me. And again, as you've heard over and over again, to guarantee that kind of a future and that kind of assistance from the Holy Spirit in your life requires but one thing, obedience to the Lord. Just love him where you are today. Worship him right now where you're at.

Adore him. Serve him. Speak about him. Read his word. Study who he is, and let him maneuver your life.

He is faithful to do so. What is Samuel gonna tell Saul? You have to come next week to find out. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the doctrine of providence.

Thank you that there are no accidents in our lives. Thank you, Lord, that this doctrine comforts us in our pain, in long stretches of time where we don't understand what's going on. Lord, help us really believe that you use events, you use attacks, you use assaults, you use painful moments to send us where you want us to go next. Help us believe that you advance us further in your will even in disappointing and frustrating experiences. Thank you, Lord, that we can rest in that truth.

That even when we are going through dark nights of the soul, you are leading us somewhere. You are actually guiding us. And Lord, we we want the faith to believe that tonight. Lord, this is where trusting in you will save us from much pain and turmoil. Lord, help us really understand that although what we are facing today doesn't seem to even fit in how you would use it for your glory and our good.

Help us trust in you. The same way you use donkeys to lead a man to be anointed as a king. The same way you use sandwiches to lead a young man to face Goliath that would bring him into the spotlight. Lord, you'd use amazing things. We rest in that tonight, that we are in your providential care.

And, Lord, that's not just for those who are called to be preachers or ministers or missionaries. Every single one of us are under your providential care. But we worship you because of this truth that we've heard tonight, and we give you all glory because our futures are secure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.