Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
When Seemingly Random Events Are Actually Divine Appointments
Have you ever wondered if God cares about the small details of your life? Those seemingly random events that feel inconsequential might actually be divine appointments orchestrated with purpose.
In our journey through 1 Samuel 9, we witness the fascinating story of how lost donkeys became the catalyst for Israel's monarchy. Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, reluctantly embarks on a search for his father's missing animals that leads him directly to Samuel the prophet. What appears to be a frustrating errand transforms into a life-altering encounter when Samuel reveals God's plan to make Saul king over Israel. Most remarkably, Samuel already knows about the donkeys without being told – demonstrating God's intimate involvement in even the most mundane aspects of our lives.
This narrative challenges us to reconsider what we dismiss as coincidence. Those misplaced keys that made you late, that unexpected detour, or that chance meeting – could these be "God-incidents" rather than coincidences? The story also highlights the critical importance of humility in leadership. Saul begins his journey with appropriate humility, questioning his worthiness for such an important role. As we explore later chapters, we'll discover how departing from this humble posture ultimately became his downfall, teaching us that "if you had walked up the way you walked down, you would have walked down the way you walked up."
Join us around the fire as we unpack these timeless truths and discover how God weaves the ordinary threads of our lives into His extraordinary tapestry. Whether you're feeling lost in life's details or searching for purpose in seemingly random events, this episode offers fresh perspective on how God might be working behind the scenes. Subscribe now and share your thoughts with us at lifearoundthefire@gmail.com!
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Shalom to you and your home.
All right, folks, for those of you who are just tuning in, I want to welcome you to this episode of Life Around the Fire, and we're a podcast that is devoted to spiritual growth, and what we mean by spiritual growth is this growth in our relationship, first and foremost, with God and then in our relationships with one another. What we're going to do today in this episode is we're going to continue on with our look into the book of 1 Samuel, and we're at chapter 9 right now, and we said before that when you read, when a person reads the book of 1 Samuel out loud and you read it with some feeling, it takes about two, two and a half hours. But when you look at it, in the length of time that it took to develop this whole book of 1 Samuel it took about 100 years and so when a person is reading it, it can seem like things are happening right away, like one day after the next day, and you can look at your own life and say, man, my life is nothing like that. But in all reality, it took a hundred years to put together all these stories, and so there were a lot of. There was a lot of time that there was nothing going on, and other times there was some real negative things that were taking place, and so it's really a mirror of our own lives in many respects. And so if things aren't happening day after day all the time in your life, it's not because something's wrong, it's just because that's all the time in your life. It's not because something's wrong, it's just because that's kind of life in the realm of time and space.
Speaker 1:And so we're looking at 1 Samuel, chapter 9, and we're at a transition point in the nation of Israel, where for decades they had been governed by judges and prophets, with God being their king. But the people of Israel began looking at the other nations around them, the pagan nations, and they saw that they were doing things differently, that they had kings that were ruling over them, leading them into battle and making decisions on their behalf, and to them it looked better. And again, sometimes in life that's the way things can seem that other people that don't have a relationship with God just seem to have it better, man, and we try to imitate what they're doing because it looks like that's what's made things better for them, and that's what Israel did. They looked at the other nations and said that's what's made things better for them. And that's what Israel did. They looked at the other nations and said that's what's making things better for them, when in all reality it was God who was shining on the just and the unjust, and it was the people that were in the other nations that were serving gods that were lesser than God, almighty Idols. But Israel had this thing inside of them that said we want a king. And so God said if they want a king right now, well, I'll give them a king. But it really wasn't God's first choice, it was Israel's choice, and God let them have what they wanted, and sometimes again in life. That's how things go. Sometimes, again in life, that's how things go.
Speaker 1:So we're picking up this story, and I love the fact that 1 Samuel is full of stories. I'm a story guy, and so we're picking up this story where Saul, this guy by the name of Saul, is going to become Israel's first king, and in 1 Samuel, chapter 9, we find out that he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Benjamite, and Benjamin was known to be a real kind of a one that would take over, take charge kind of person, and the lineage that came after him kind of had a bit of that reputation and Saul was from that tribe. But the beginning of this story sounds rather common, doesn't really sound all that intriguing until we get to a point where we get the picture. So in verse three we find that there were donkeys. In fact the scripture says Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father, kish, were lost. And Kish said to his son, saul, take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys. So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went into the district of Sha'alem, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of benjamin, but they did not find them. So they're like that's a long way folks. That's many, many, many miles. It's a long haul.
Speaker 1:And when they reached the district of zuff, saul said to his servant who was with him come, let's go back. And my father stopped thinking about the donkey and started worrying about us. But the servant replied look, in this town there's a man of God, and in Hebrew it's a ish Elohim I-S-H-E-L-O-H-I-M. Ish Elohim, meaning man of God, a prophet. And so the food in our sack is gone. We have no gift to take him. Okay, so excuse me. So the person says he's mightily respected and everything he says comes true. Let's go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take. Saul said to his servant If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sack is gone. We have no gift to take the man of God, what do we have? The servant answered him again. Look, he said I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us the way to take.
Speaker 1:Formerly, in Israel, if a man went to a choir of God, he would say come, let us go to the seer, because the prophet of today used to be called a seer. Okay, so he's called a seer. Good said to his servant come, let us go. So they went for the town where the man of god was, and when they were going to the hill, to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water and asked them is the seer? Here he is. They answered he's ahead of you, hurry now. He's just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. Okay, so you get the picture. These guys are looking for the donkey and they come to a town where Samuel is the seer and Saul was ready to go back. But the servant said let's go ask if the seer knows anything. And they kind of went back and forth a little bit and he said, well, we don't have anything to give to him bit. And he said, well, we don't have anything to give to him. Now, samuel would have shared what was on his heart without that gift. But because people are inclined to try to make sure that they're doing their part, they wanted to give them a gift. So they found they had this gift right. So they went to the seer and the women that they met said yep, he's here, but you got to hurry up because he's on his way to a dinner that they're going to do a sacrifice to God and then dine together.
Speaker 1:Now, skipping ahead to verse 17, when Samuel caught sight of Saul get this, this is really powerful. When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him this is the man I spoke to you about. He will govern my people. So Saul approached Samuel in the gate and asked Would you please tell me where the seer's house is? I am the seer. Sam replied Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will tell you all about what is in your heart.
Speaker 1:As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them. They have been found. And to whom all is the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and to your father's family? Saul answered but am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me? Okay, so they meet the seer, they meet Samuel. And God says to Samuel this is the man that's going to govern my people. And also, he told him about the donkeys. He told him about the donkeys.
Speaker 1:God was involved with the donkeys. How interesting. The little details, the seemingly benign, incidental details of donkeys being lost actually was something that God was involved in. Is that not just Just mind-blowing, the fact that God is involved in small details? You see, god is involved in the small details of your life. There are some things that take place that they're actually not coincidence. They are God incidents. God is in them. You didn't find your keys. You just couldn't find your keys right, for example. You couldn't find your keys and then finally you found them and you make your way to your destination Only to find out later that if you'd left five minutes earlier, you'd gotten into a horrible car crash, because there was a horrible car crash in an intersection that was on your way. Sometimes the things that don't happen are as miraculous as the things that do happen and sometimes the things that are incidental are very significant, because these donkeys led, these lost donkeys, ultimately led Saul to Samuel and God spoke to Samuel and God speaks to us today.
Speaker 1:Perhaps it's not as intricate and detailed and involved as Samuel had as a seer, but he does speak to each one of us in our hearts. Sometimes it is very clear and it's not just in our hearts, but more often than not it's in our hearts and also in his written word. In the written word of God we find him speaking to us perhaps most often, but in our relationship with God. He loves to communicate with us. That's why prayer doesn't need to be formal. Yes, there are times where it can be very involved and it can have a type of formality to it, but more often than not. Again, it's conversational. It's having a conversation with God because he's involved in our life more than we often realize or give him credit for. He loves us, he loves to be involved and he was involved in these three donkeys and the fact that he's so detailed. Samuel knew about the donkeys. No human being told him about the donkeys, but Samuel knew about the donkeys. That's significant Because there are times where God's going to share things with you and it's going to be important that you express what it is that God shared with you, not just keep it to yourself, and that can be sometimes.
Speaker 1:That's risky, you know you put yourself out there. But it's important to be obedient. Understanding can wait, but obedience can't. You got to be. It's important to be obedient now and that's also how we increase in our faith, because when we're obedient we see the effect of our obedience and our competence in God increases our trust.
Speaker 1:One I really want to highlight is Saul's attitude to begin with. He had the right attitude to begin with. He said am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel and is not my clan the least of all clans, benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me? He was humble. He was humble. Saul was humble to begin with, that's, if that beginning would have carried through all the way through his time of being king, it would have been marked as one of the best times in all of Israel. But it wasn't. We'll find that out later, but it was in the beginning, and sometimes less is more. You know what I mean, and remain at being humble instead of barreling through and messing things up and ultimately getting in the way. But being humble, being willing to be, with that attitude of I am not qualified for this, but, god, you've called me to it, so it's impossible for me, but with you it's possible. I trust you as we remain there. That's the place of victory.
Speaker 1:But you know, sometimes we get in the way. There's a story about this young man who was a young preacher and he had an opportunity to speak in front of this group of people and he was so confident that this was going to be a very significant time that he just took it upon himself to get up and really let the people know what it was that he had on his heart and in his mind and it fell flat and when he walked down after he gave his message, he was humbled. And an old man came up to him and said Son, if you would have walked up the way you walked down, you would have walked down the way you walked up, meaning if you had been humble to begin with, you could have walked away with your head held high because God had used you, but instead you walked up proud and walked away humbled. That's a lesson in life, and the other one is sometimes less is more. Don't get in the way.
Speaker 1:God can do things without you, but he chooses to use us. Just because he chooses to use us doesn't mean that we're greater than anyone else. We are equal in value, while we differ in function. And God wants to use us, and he wants to use those who rely upon him, who don't take it upon himself to say okay, god, I got this one and we try to do it on our own, and we'll find out later. That was the downfall of Saul, and it was also a lesson to Israel to not rush things, because David was in the wings, being prepared, and David was to be the greatest king in all of Israel aside from Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father, once again. Thank you, god, for who you are, for what you're doing, how you're doing it, where you're doing it, why you're doing it. We love you and we honor you and we invite you to mold and shape us by your spirit into the very likeness of your son Jesus, so we could walk like him, speak like him, think like him, live like him in all aspects of our life and our relationship with you would grow more and more. We would know your ways, more and more we would find intimacy with you a great reality. I thank you that you've given that position for us to be there by the blood of your son, and that the relationship that we have with one another would be one unified as you are, one that there would be perfect love and it would cast out all fear. Deliver us of evil from it, of it, get it away from us, out of us. Deliver us from evil, for yours God is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, and we declare these things to be true in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:All right, folks, we love you and if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at liferonthefire at gmailcom. That's our email address, or you can type in liferonthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.