Saul Seeks Out Samuel

Today’s story shows us how God can work in history-changing ways, even in small circumstances. As you read, reflect on how God is at work in this story, and what this can teach you about the character of God. What does it teach you about what it looks like to respond to God’s calling on your life? 

STUDY THE SCRIPTURE

Click here to access the reading from 1 Samuel 9:1-25

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REFLECTION

When You Get What You Want But Not What You Need

By Dan Kidd

A political activist named Adam Cronkright, from Syracuse, NY, has made some fascinating and radical reforms to the election process… for the student council in rural schools… in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. To make a long and intriguing story short, Cronkright proposes that we find better leaders from a Democratic lottery than were we to vote for our favorite candidate. In a Democratic lottery anyone interested self-nominates and a random draw chooses the winner.

Apparently, this consistently turns out a group of leaders who likely would have abstained from the race were it a matter of popular vote. These councils were far more effective than your typical student government. Among their accomplishments they established a library and cut students’ bus fare by half. These randomly selected students may not have been able to win by popular vote, but were surprisingly great leaders.

It turns out people can be pretty lousy at choosing who should lead us.

In today’s passage, we are introduced to the extraordinarily tall, exceedingly handsome young man-who-would-be-king, Saul. He is the poster boy for throne sitting, crown wearing, feast throwing, scepter wielding, and edict proclaiming. Saul is the kind of king everyone thinks of when thinking of kings. Of course he was. He was exactly what the Israelites demanded from God through their prophet Samuel. In Chapter 8, we’re told Israel’s elders convene upon Samuel and demand that he “appoint a king to lead [them], such as all the other nations have.” Samuel is grieved by this. So is the Lord.

The Lord, through Samuel, warns Israel what kings do: they exploit others on their behalf, making for themselves nations of soldiers, subjects, servants, and slaves. But they reject the Lord’s warning and insist “we want a king over us.”

People can be pretty lousy at choosing who should lead us.

And so, Saul, son of Kish, along with his servant, wanders into the district of Zuph, looking for his lost donkeys. They decide that the seer-prophet, Samuel, can help them out, and so they find their way into the town where he lives. They locate him, preparing to climb the mountain and bless the sacrifice so that the people patiently waiting on Samuel can eat.* When Saul and Samuel arrive at the mountaintop feast, Samuel has saved Saul a spot at the head of the table, and kept for him a special meal worthy of king. Saul would be their king. The Lord had told Samuel about this. I wonder if Samuel prayed that Saul might not be so bad after all?

Do you see evidence that people can be pretty lousy at choosing leaders? Might we ask too much and receive too little from our leaders? How are you tempted to replace God’s lordship with someone or something else?

*Note that waiting on the prophet Samuel is something that the faithful servants of the Lord do. We will come to see Saul unwilling to be so faithfully patient for Samuel—and it ruins him.

UALC’S CAMPAIGN OF PRAYER TUESDAY 

UNITY - God of peace, we pray for de-polarized, non-defensive pursuit of truth, unity, and equality. We pray for well engaged minds. Set us free from the competing narratives of our culture wars that funnel us into opposing camps and make of us a house divided. Kindle in us a desire for your truth that is larger than our desire to have been right.