Daily Lesson for June 28, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 9 verses 1 through 5:

There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2He 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; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, ‘Take one of the boys with you; go and look for the donkeys.’ 4He 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 Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, ‘Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.’ 6But he said to him, ‘There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honour. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.’

There is an old Buddhist saying, “When the student is ready the teacher comes.”  It basically means that people and purposes reveal themselves not at the beginning, but as we go along.

Saul was about to be anointed king over Israel by the prophet or “seer” Samuel.  But Saul thought he was chasing a couple of donkeys!  Life is like that. What we are doing now may seem to be one thing, but then the path reveals itself and suddenly we discover we are actually doing quite another. 

So we trust the path.  We look for the donkeys. We remain faithful to where we are and what we are doing right now. Then suddenly a teacher appears to tell us about the journey we are on; and we discover its purpose is far greater than we thought.

When the student is ready the teacher appears; and when we can’t even keep up with a single lost donkey a calling comes to watch over an entire nation. 

O the inscrutable ways of God! And O the surprising places today’s frustrating path might bring us to tomorrow . . .