Samuel looked around. He shook his head. "He's not here." A sea of people from the tribe of Benjamin stood before him, and a man named Saul was missing.
"Well, where is he?" A man shouted. Others echoed his agreement. Samuel looked to the sky...and shrugged.
That was a good question. A good question indeed.
Saul tried to steady his heartbeat. Was that the trampling of feet he heard? It was hard to tell, being buried under a pile of baggage.
Something was definitely coming closer.
"Pull the baggage away!"
He definitely heard that.
The pile on top of him seemed to disappear instantly. He could feel the sun shinning on the back of his neck. He looked up from the bag where he had buried his face. A huge crowd of people stood around him.
He should probably stand up.
Slowly, he stood up, straightening his robe and tunic as he did. He was shocked to see just how many people were gathered around him. He stood at least a head taller then everyone else.
An older, stately man looked him up and down. "Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people."
The Lord did what?
He looked around frantically, but all the people shouted, "Long live the king!" Saul gulped. He was their king now. Lord, help me...
Based on 1 Samuel 10:20-24
God is sovereign. He knows who will choose Him and who will ultimately turn their backs on Him. He knows it all.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.And those whom he predestine he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Romans 8:28-30
God knew how much Saul would screw up, and how he would completely abandon him after he became King.
God knew.
So why did God allow Saul to become King? Better yet, why did God even pick Saul to be King? Wouldn't stuff have been so much easier if God had just said, "Yeah, you're going to mess everything up. I'll find somebody better, somebody loyal to Me for the job instead."
God has always got a plan. He invented the "man with the plan" expression because he is the one with the plan. He can work everything to the good of His ultimate plan.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
God still gave Saul the opportunity and choice to serve Him. Despite knowing what his choice would be later, God still gave it to him.
There are so many people in the world who truly feel like God does not want them. They say, "I've screwed up too much for God to want me. He could never love me. How could I be around someone that holy after all the terrible things I've done?" Maybe you are a person saying that...
You need to know that God does not feel that way. Not now. Not ever. He loved Saul. Genuinely loved him. Saul used his free will, and walked away from that love, but that doesn't change the fact that God loved him.
If God could love Saul that much and still make him King, why would His love stop with you?
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
It wouldn't. Choose Him.
V. Joy Palmer
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