A God Who Makes the Ordinary Extraordinary - 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16

A few weeks ago, I found myself pulling into our driveway only to realize that I didn’t remember the drive home. I was on autopilot the whole time, nothing unusual happened, so I didn’t remember any details. In those moments, you just think, “I’m glad I made it home safely.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s ever experienced that.

Our minds are wired to remember the unusual, and forget the ordinary.

But our lives are consumed with the ordinary aren’t they? You’ll make another trip to the grocery store. You’ll probably fill your care up with gas again. You’ll probably have to take your kids somewhere.

These are the ordinary events that fill our lives, and yet the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that every detail of your life and of this world is under the sovereign control of God Almighty.

Which is exactly what we see in our passage isn’t it? It’s another ordinary day for Saul, but God’s providence is quietly working behind the scenes.

God's providence is evident in the anointing of Saul as Israel's first king, reminding us that His holy will is not restricted in any way by human expectations.

And we see this play out in three ways: first, we see God’s sovereignty in the ordinary events (vv. 1-16), second, we see that God uses ordinary people (vv. 17-10:9), and lastly we see an ordinary man’s contact with God’s extraordinary Spirit (vv. 10-16).

Because what we read in 1 Samuel 9 is really just the continuation or fulfillment of what we looked at last week. Remember judges ruled over Israel, which had historically been a loose confederation of tribes.

And what would happen is, an enemy nation would gear up to attack them, the people of Israel would cry out to God for help and he would send them a judge to deliver them from their enemies.

The classic example of a judge in Israel is Samson. God raised him up to deliver the people of Israel from the hands of their enemies.

But as we read last week, Samuel was an old man and wanted to establish his sons as judges in Israel. But there was a major problem - his sons were wicked.

And so the people of Israel saw this as an opportunity to make a dramatic change in the way Israel was governed. No longer did they want to be a loose confederation of tribes governed by judges. They wanted centralized power by establishing a monarchy.

They said, “Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” And the Lord instructed Samuel to, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you...”

God's Sovereignty in the Ordinary Events (vv. 1-16)

So that’s the backdrop of our passage. And of course, Samuel is responsible for anointing a king in Israel. What a heavy responsibility, right?

This whole passage describes the events leading up to and shortly after Saul is anointed as the first king over Israel.

No doubt there is a chasm between the way you would expect something like this to happen versus the way it actually happened. Because you’d expect there to be some sort of thoughtful process to anointing a king. There would need to be a vetting process. Men would have to apply for the job, then Samuel would have a stack of resumes to review, then sit them down for a Zoom interview, etc, etc. After all, being king over Israel would have been the most important job in all of Israel. You’d want to make sure that you got it right!

But that’s not at all the way this worked! The very fact that Saul was anointed would have been shocking. Because he wasn’t some sort of Jewish aristocrat just waiting for his opportunity to ascend the throne. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, if anything he was born with a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth.

Saul was a farmer’s kid. His father, Kish, was a wealthy farmer. Nothing about Saul screamed king material except for his appearance. Apparently, he was tall, probably dark, and handsome.

And the whole sequence of events that led to him being anointed king over Israel began with him doing ordinary farm life tasks: the donkeys have escaped again!

So he and his servant went “through the hill country of Ephraim,” “passed through the land of Shalishah,” “passed through the land of Shaalim,” “passed through the land of Benjamin,” and eventually found themselves in Zuph.

And it’s in Zuph that Saul was ready to give up the search for the donkeys. The street lights had begun to turn on in Zuph and He knew his father would begin to worry about him.

But the servant suggests one final hail mary in verse 6 to find the missing donkeys: “Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.”

It was customary to bring something to a prophet and it just so happened they had a “quarter of a shekel of silver” to give to Samuel, who they eventually found.

But everything in verses 1-14 is incredibly ordinary, isn’t it? This is just another day on the farm for Saul. It’s in the same vein as your car breaking down on a day that you really need to run an errand. It describes the typical inconveniences that plague our everyday lives.

It’s not until verses 15-16 that we learn something extraordinary:

“15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel.”

It seems from our human perspective that Saul just so happened to find himself in Zuph, where Samuel just so happened to be, but we all know, God was behind the scenes orchestrating all these events.

In fact, the Lord tells Samuel that he would send him a man from Benjamin. Which brings us to an important point: God typically uses the ordinary events in life to fulfill and accomplish his plan.

Which is an important reminder that (a.) there are no random events in life. And (b.) everything has a purpose.

Sometimes we don't know why we experience pain, hardship, or even great success for that matter. But you can rest in the fact that there is meaning behind it even if you don’t fully understand why.

Isn’t that crystal clear from our passage? We see a clear purpose in the ordinary events of Saul’s life.

But God was particularly kind and gracious to both Samuel and Saul because he told Samuel exactly why he chose Saul to serve as the first king in Israel.

Look at verse 16: “He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”

Even in passages where God’s grace and mercy isn’t the central focus, it still shines through. God is going to use Saul to save his people from the hands of the Philistines. It’s a picture of God’s goodness, graciousness, and mercy because if you remember from chapter 8, the people were adamant that they wanted a king - and God tells Samuel, they’ve rejected me as king over them.

It’s what’s so amazing - God is going to save his people from the hands of their enemies despite the fact that they have rejected him.

He’d be totally justified to say, “you know what, you’re on your own!”

You really get a glimpse of God’s faithful, covenant love because the Lord is going to save undeserving people.

Which is of course, a microcosm of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Jesus went to the cross because of God’s love. Isn’t that precisely what we just read from Romans 5? “...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Or how about the words of Jesus? “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The people of Israel are sick, and it’s not covid, the flu, or monkeypox. They’re sick with sin.

And so God was preparing to show his love for them by giving them a leader who would protect his people from their enemies.

In this passage, the veil is pulled back so that you and I can see God’s hands at work in and through what would appear the average, ordinary, events of everyday life. Saul left his house thinking he was going to pick up a few lost donkeys, but God had something completely different in mind.

God can work through the supernatural, the miraculous, the extraordinary, but God ordinarily works through the mundane, the everyday, the uninteresting events in your life.

And of course I bring this up because I don’t think this is what we like to hear. We prefer the supernatural, the miraculous, the extraordinary, over the natural, mundane, and ordinary.

We’d rather read words in the clouds than words in a Bible, wouldn’t we? Could God write you a message in the clouds - well, of course. But he speaks to you everyday, in the Scriptures, that we so often take for granted.

Spiritual growth rarely comes through extraordinary events in life. Spiritual growth typically comes through ordinary Christian things like faithful church attendance, reading God’s Word, and spending time in prayer.

You and I need to do a better job of looking for and anticipating God to work through the ordinary rhythms of life.

God uses ordinary people (vv. 17-10:9)

But it’s not just ordinary events in life. God also works through ordinary people.

Because that’s who Saul is, right? He’s just a regular guy. So Samuel had to be somewhat surprised when he looked at Saul and God said in verse 17:

“Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” “Restrain my people” means, “rule or reign over my people.”

When Saul and Samuel finally meet, Samuel invites Saul to go sacrifice with him at the high place, eat, and stay with him. Because in the morning he would reveal everything he needs to know.

But the donkeys are fine. And then Samuel hints at the fact that Saul may be the king over Israel when he said, “And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father's house?”

Saul understood this as a reference to him ruling over the people of Israel. Which is why he tells Samuel, “I’m from the tribe of Benjamin.” I’m not from the royal tribe of Judah, I’m from the weak tribe of Benjamin.

In other words, Saul is telling Samuel that he has no qualifications to rule over anyone.

Samuel did exactly as he said he would. It was customary to eat after a sacrifice so Saul stayed and ate along with thirty other people in verses 22-25, and then stayed the night with them.

And it’s at the beginning of chapter 10 that Samuel officially anoints Saul as king over Israel. Samuel told Saul, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.”

It really is an amazing turn of events isn’t it? What started as a search for donkeys ended with Saul being anointed king over Israel. It’s such a wild sequence of events that it had to have seemed surreal to Saul. In fact, Saul may have actually thought, “is this actually happening right now? Is this for real?”

After all, he’s totally unqualified. He hasn’t given any thought to being king over Israel. This is coming from left field. Which raises an important question:

How will Saul know that his anointing to be king is actually from the Lord and that Samuel hasn’t gone rogue? Samuel tells him that he’ll receive three signs that will confirm his anointing is from the Lord.

First, he’ll run into a few men at Rachel's tomb who will tell him that they’ve found his father’s donkeys. Second Saul will meet three young men around the Oak of Tabor who, “will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which [he will] accept from their hand.” And lastly Saul will, “meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”

The signs that God is behind his anointing are not generic fortune cookies statements. Samuel doesn’t say, “Here’s the sign this is from the Lord, ‘you will have a good day eventually.’” Or “You will eat something soon.”

The signs are incredibly detailed aren’t they? You’re going to be at Rachel’s tomb when you’ll run into three men who will tell you the donkeys have been found. At the Oak of Tabor three young men will give you two loaves of bread. Then you will “meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”

And of course, we’re told in verse 9, “And all these signs came to pass that day.” Saul could rest assured that his anointing was indeed the will of the Lord.

Everything that takes place in this passage from Saul being anointed king to him prophesying with a group of prophets was surprising and unusual. Even the people who knew Saul were saying, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

It became an expression of surprise! We might say something like, “sometimes real life is stranger than fiction,” but in ancient Israel it was, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Saul receiving confirmation that he will be king is amazing when you consider the fact that fifteen minutes ago he was looking for some donkeys. Not to mention he’s totally unprepared and unqualified to be king!

Which of course again, demonstrates God’s sovereign hand is upon this whole situation. The man that he is selecting to serve as king over Israel is someone no one would have ever seen coming.

Which is ironic because God even with all the events going on, with Samuel anointing Saul as king, God is the true king.

Mark Hanna was instrumental in getting William McKinley elected as President in 1896. Hanna used his personal wealth, business connections, and political savvy to organize what many consider to be one of the great political campaigns in history.

And it was for that reason, he became known as a “kingmaker” in American politics.

There’s a kingmaker in our passage as well and it’s not Samuel. It’s the Lord. He’s the true kingmaker. Which of course, illustrates for us who’s truly in charge. It’s not the people in the passage - it’s the Lord!

He’s the kingmaker isn’t he? And he sees and chooses men for specific roles based upon things you and I cannot see.

We see the son of a farmer in Saul, but God sees the first king in Israel.

And in perhaps an odd way, I think this should give us all confidence. Not confidence in ourselves or in our own abilities, but confidence in the fact that God has placed us exactly where we are at this precise moment for a specific reason. It may not even be clear to us why at this moment. But we can have confidence that God is at work in and through us.

Ordinary man’s contact with the extraordinary Spirit (vv. 10-16)

But there’s also a word of caution from this text: God can use people even if they’re not totally devoted to Him. God causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. Just because life is going well and things seem to be working out doesn’t necessarily mean God has rolled out the red carpet for you so you can stroll right on into heaven. You have to trust in Jesus Christ. You have to turn yourself completely over to him.

I bring that up because there’s no doubt that God’s favor was upon Saul, who was a man who was used by God, was aware of God, but never fully trusted in God.

You may wonder how I could say something like that when we read in verse 9 that “God gave [Saul] another heart.” Or that “the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among [the prophets].” How could those wonderful things happen to Saul, but I say that he never fully trusted in the Lord?

As many of you know, Saul may be one of the most complex and difficult to understand characters in the entire Bible.

It’s important to recognize that the Old Testament uses the same language of “the Spirit rushing upon a man” for him to accomplish a particular task.

Some examples of this are when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Bezalel to help him work with metal to construct the ark of the covenant. The classic example in my mind is when the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson giving him supernatural strength to kill hundreds of Philistines.

When the Spirit came upon Saul, and God gave him a new heart, I don’t think we should understand it in a salvific sense. When it says that God gave Saul a new heart he was giving him a new calling in life. Saul was no longer interested in chasing down donkeys for his father, suddenly he was interested in protecting the people of Israel from their enemies.

Pastor Rick Phillips said: “God’s Spirit gave Saul a new sense of calling so that in this limited sense we can say that he received a new heart.”

And one of the things that really plagues Saul throughout his life, is that he doesn’t fully trust God. He often tried to take matters into his own hands and I think we see a seedling of this in his interaction with his uncle. Look at verses 14-16.

14 Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul's uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.”

It’s not exactly the response you’d expect is it? Wouldn’t you expect Saul to say, “you’re not going to believe this…”

No doubt there’s a sense of humility from Saul in his refusal to give his uncle all the details. And of course, he’s waiting for further instructions from Samuel.

But you also see a seedling of hesitation to go accomplish God’s word. He doesn’t say uncle I’m processing everything still, but I was anointed king, and my task is going to be to protect the people of Israel from the Philistines.

After all, that’s the primary difference between a true believer and someone who professes faith in Christ. True believers seek to implement God’s word in their life.

Not that long ago, I was talking to a friend who told me that he spent many years of his life as a false convert. He professed faith in Jesus Christ, but he never sought to apply God’s word to his life. He simply lived how he pleased.

And that’s really one of the things that stands out about Saul’s life! He regularly fails to trust God’s word, which is a defining feature of unbelief.

Jesus warned us all against this didn’t he? “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in.”

It was in this way Saul really was a king like all the other nations. He was a king who thought of religion as a useful tool. It helped the overall morality of the people, but he never turned his life completely over to the Lord.

And I think that’s an important question that we must all wrestle with this morning: as one pastor put it, “do we just give lip service but not a heart of obedience to the Word of the Lord?”

If Jesus is truly your king, he demands our full allegiance. Not as a king who demands obedience by the tip of the sword saying, “you will comply.” Our allegiance is in response to what he did for us on the cross.

Let’s pray together.