Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 10 verses 17 through 24:
17 Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, ‘No! but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”
20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man,[g] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?” and the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Saul was chosen the first King of Israel, but from the very start he never could quite believe he was up to the challenge.
When the Priest Samuel anointed Saul, he then turned back and said not a word to anyone. That seemed like humility — a good quality in a leader — but then we come to this scene where Saul’s calling is made known before the people, and young Saul refuses to come out and instead hides himself amongst the baggage. Suddenly we see there is something more seriously deficient in Saul. And, as some have said, maybe it’s because he had a lot of baggage.
Our past can bind us. Our sense of inadequacy because of where we come from or what our experience is or is not can betray us.
This is not humility; it’s fear. And it can keep us from living into the fullness of our anointing, and in the end, as we shall see with Saul, drive us mad with envy and jealousy and lead to our own final self-destruction.
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow’s Lesson will be from 1 Samuel chapters 13 and 14. Also, it’s Maundy Thursday so be looking for a second special meditation I wrote for the Church to be shared here also later today.
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