Jonathan was using 1 Samuel 9 as the text. As Jonathan has so often done, he caused me to ponder heavily on this text. As I read his post I couldn't remember this account. I was actually shamed that I couldn't remember it, especially since we just finished studying 1 & 2 Samuel in Sunday School. In this account Kish, Saul's father, had lost his donkeys. Saul and one of the servants had been sent to look for the donkeys. Saul, growing tired of looking for the donkeys, began to complain and kept coming up with excuses as to why they should just return home (hmm. . . how like me to complain and think of reasons not to do it if it's not on my agenda). However, the servant convinced Saul to press on. About the time Saul and the servant are looking for the donkeys God is telling Saul , "About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me." (1 Samuel 9:16)
As Jonathan points out in his blog post, what Saul thinks is a useless search for lost donkeys is actually God's providential leading of Saul to Samuel. Wow! God leads us. Whether we realize it or not there is a reason certain things happen. Here is how Jonathan put it:
God is a God of means. In this situation he chose to cause Kish’s donkeys to walk away. How often have we grumbled and complained when God is using means in our lives to accomplish his purposes? Of course, the difficult part of trusting God with the interruptions to our lives is that we don’t know the outcome. When we read 1 Samuel we have the advantage of knowing how the story ends. In our lives we may never know why things happen to us. And, it would often be a mistake to speculate. But, the one thing we must do is trust that God has his good purposes for all things that happen in our lives, even what we would call annoying interruptions (Rom. 8:28).I've thought about Jonathan's post all week. And let me tell you, when you are looking at God's providence with this perspective you will certainly see it. Thanks Jonathan for encouraging me, once again, to trust God's providence in my life.
When our plans change by circumstances out of our control, God would call us to trust that they are perfectly in his control. The long line at the checkout, the fender bender on the way home, the lost keys that make you late for your appointment are all for the good. It could be that the house your car broke down in front of has been waiting for the gospel to reach their ears. It becomes difficult to think on such things if we’re kicking our tires and screaming on the telephone.
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