Just Looking for Lost Donkeys

Saul (son of Kish- Old Testament) was simply out looking for his dad’s lost donkeys. He providentially runs into the prophet Samuel and ends up being king. Yet, if you study his reign, it seems that he was always still looking for those donkeys. He’s pretty much clueless most of the time.

Even from the beginning, even as Samuel is trying to introduce Saul to the people, they can’t find him. It seems he’s off hiding among the luggage (1 Samuel 10). When he is officially introduced, everyone yells “long live the king” (I guess we can assume that was the official beginning of the Israelite Monarchy) and then they all go home, including Saul.

The very next thing we hear about the new king is when messengers arrive at his hometown with the news that the Ammonites have captured the Jewish town of Jabesh. The citizens have already surrendered, but the Ammonites also want to remove everyone’s right eye (you know, for some people, a simple victory is never enough. They also want to rub it in, or in this case, poke it out!).

So when the messengers show up with this awful news, the new king is out in the fields, “behind his oxen.” We can only assume he wasn’t giving royal commands to the beasts, but rather, was plowing the fields himself.

Imagine if next January, John or Barack walked onto the grounds of the White House after the Inauguration and grabbed a lawnmower.

Poor Saul. He had never been a king before. His people had never had a king before. There’s a real steep learning curve here and those fields just had to be plowed. But when the moment called for a real king to make a kingly decision, God intervened (1 Samuel 11).

“The Spirit of God came upon him in power.” Saul started to act like a king and vowed to defend his territory and people (okay, his initial response and message was kinda gory and creepy – almost like a mafia movie- but it was a long time ago!)

The point is, when God chooses us, we might rather hide out among the suitcases or run back to the farm and plow. But when he needs us, he needs us, and will empower us to do what he has called us to do.