Thoughts for the Day

There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. He 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.

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.’ He 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.

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.’ But 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.’ Then Saul replied to the boy, ‘But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?’ The boy answered Saul again, ‘Here, I have with me a quarter-shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.’ Saul said to the boy, ‘Good; come, let us go.’ So they went to the town where the man of God was.

As they went up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to them, ‘Is the seer here?’ They answered, ‘Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine. As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterwards those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.’ So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out towards them on his way up to the shrine.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Having just gone through a General Election recently in Great Britain, we have seen how the will of the people has played out. When the elders of Israel came to Samuel to ask him to appoint a king to reign over them, like other nations, they might have thought that one of them would be chosen to lead their people. But this was not to be, for Samuel consulted God who would take the people's desires and use them to draw the tribes together into one state. The person chosen by Him would be someone unexpected. From earliest times God had chosen and directed the nation's leaders and this time would be no different.

So the scene is set with Saul being sent out by his father to look for some lost donkeys. They might be a wealthy family, but they couldn't afford to lose a portion of their animals. Saul and one of 'the boys' (presumably a servant) are tasked with the job, and cover a great deal of ground looking for them. The story is one of those series of "God-given coincidences" - that is, some animals are lost; the father sends a chosen person to search for them; a servant suggests asking the 'seer'; and they arrive at the right place and right time to meet the prophet. We see these coincidences in the Hebrew scriptures again and again - in the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22.1-14) and in that of Joseph (Genesis 37.1-36) for instance.

We also see such God-given coincidences in our own lives, but often only when we look back and see realise we have missed a train for a reason, or took a walk in a different place for a reason. When we offer to God our joys and woes "coincidences" begin to happen!

Lord God Almighty,
help us to tune into You continually,
to offer You our hopes, our dreams,
and our fears each day.
We know You listen,
but sometimes we try to go it alone,
and forget that You are concerned
with everything in our life.
May we apply such attention
not just to ourselves,
but also to our world,
bringing everything to You.
Amen.