Before I leave to pick up Amelia and Ezra a couple of mornings a week while their mom goes to the gym, I have learned to close my bedroom doors and latch the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. Little Ezra is quick and he is quiet. Once he’s inside, he usually goes to pet his big furry buddy, Jake. If our Great Dane isn’t on his bed in the living room, Ezra knows to look in our bedroom but recently he doesn’t stop there. He’s meandered into Poppy’s closet or through our bathroom into the laundry room exploring.
The other morning, we picked up groceries on the way to the house. I dashed back and forth, grabbing several bags at a time from the garage after putting Ezra down in the kitchen. Depositing the second load, I saw Amelia coloring at the counter but no Ezra. “Where did brother go?” I asked Amelia. “I don’t see him,” she replied, not looking up from her coloring. He can’t quite reach the doors to open them so I knew he hadn’t gone far. Doubling back for another handful of bags, I found him climbing into blue car, working on his buckle, ready to go for a ride. I clicked him in and together we ferried the last of the groceries in from the garage.
There are lots of great hiding places in my house. The grandkids love to duck behind clothes hanging in my closet, climb over chairs into vacant corners, run into empty rooms, slamming doors behind them or disappear around corners, begging to be chased. Once or twice they have stymied me and my heart skipped a beat, unsure of where they had gone, but usually their giggling gives them away.
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.13.NLT
The grandkids and I listen to one Adventures in Odyssey segment on repeat during our monthly drive to the zoo. Focus On The Family produced these when my kids were small. One twenty minute episode, the story of David and Goliath, entertains us for miles or at least until the babies doze off. Amelia requests it often. It’s amazing how many places we go that take exactly twenty minutes but on this last time through, she was really listening. Usually she constantly interrupts the story asking, “Where is Goliath?” This time, however, she was hearing dialogue as if for the first time and her questions were different.
If you are a young parent, an aunt or uncle, or even a grandparent like me, I encourage you to read your Bible often. Know it well. Better yet, know the Author intimately. Tapes and Bible story books are great tools but nothing compares to the off the cuff conversations with your kids for which only the Holy Spirit can prepare you. Jesus promised His disciples that when God’s Spirit came, He would teach and remind them of all He had spoken. We have God’s Word written down because He kept that promise. He is still keeping His promise today to all who believe.
We are not meant to rely on anyone else to sustain our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom. In Christ, the way is open to know God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God revealed Himself through His Son and He still reveals Himself to His people through His Spirit and His Word today. The apostles and prophets were His messengers, speaking to a people without the filling of the Spirit.
“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.
We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!””
2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.5.20.NLT
Samuel was different, unique in Scripture. He was the last of the judges God used to lead His people Israel and he was also a prophet. He would usher in the time of the kings but not by his own design. God was weaving His story together, layer upon layer, until in the fullness of time, One who was Prophet, Priest, and King, the One who is our ultimate Judge, would come from of Israel, out of Egypt via Bethlehem. God’s story is an epic and sadly few are curious enough to pursue it, but it is also our story, mine and yours. I write to understand it and to proclaim it. Come with me on this epic journey.
““Look,” they told Samuel, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you.
Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance.
“Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you.
They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods.
And now they are giving you the same treatment.
Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.
“We want to be like the nations around us.
Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.”
Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.”
1 Samuel 8:5-9, 19-22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.8.7.NLT
“Later Samuel called all the people of Israel to meet before the Lord at Mizpah.
And he said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has declared:
I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were oppressing you.
But though I have rescued you from your misery and distress, you have rejected your God today and have said, ‘No, we want a king instead!’
Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by tribes and clans.”
So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot.
Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen.
And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them.
But when they looked for him, he had disappeared!
So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”
And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”
So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king.
No one in all Israel is like him!”
And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!””
1 Samuel 10:17-24 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.10.17-24.NLT
Where was Saul? He stood a head taller than any man. He should not have been difficult to spot. Yet on the day he was to be anointed Israel’s first king, he was hiding among the baggage. How he must have crouched to conceal himself. He was at least curious else he would have snuck away or not have come at all. But why hide? Saul’s father, Kish, was wealthy and influential. The Bible describes Saul as a man’s man, exactly what people would expect in a leader.
“His son Saul was the most handsome man in Israel—head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.”
1 Samuel 9:2 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.9.2.NLT
Saul looked the part but he was lacking in depth of character. We will see that God would supply that lack by filling Saul with the very spirit of God. This is always true where God calls today. The challenge is to abide, to keep trusting God to provide, not to shift into leaning on our own understanding but in all our ways to acknowledge Him. The words Samuel spoke over Saul were meant to embolden. They were sober words but hope filled. “I am here to tell you that you and your family are the focus of all Israel’s hopes.” Saul was not the hope of Israel. God was and is their hope even today but God was focusing in on Saul, ready to use him in mighty ways.
“Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul’s head.
He kissed Saul and said, “I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.
As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart, and all Samuel’s signs were fulfilled that day.”
1 Samuel 10:1, 9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.10.1-9.NLT
We get a glimpse of Saul filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesying. This was only one sign given by God through Samuel to instill courage in Saul but Saul was impetuous. He must have assumed he controlled the spirit within him as he rushed ahead, no longer seeking counsel from God or His prophet. He steps recklessly into priestly roles not his to assume, making excuses rather than repenting when Samuel calls him out.
“Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived.
Saul went out to meet and welcome him, but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”
Saul replied, “I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle.
So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’
So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”
“How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.
Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.
The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.””
1 Samuel 13:10-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.13.10-14.NLT
Saul continued as king but God removed His Spirit from Saul, replacing it with a spirit of torment, an evil spirit which filled him with depression and fear. He became paranoid and with good reason. God had spoken. Your kingdom must end. The Lord has already appointed a leader, a man after His own heart. We recognize this to be David, son of Jesse, but Saul did not yet know it, for at the prompting of his servants, he called David to serve him. God was already moving David into a place of power, had already filled David with His Spirit, but David did not seek to advance himself as Saul did. He waited on the Lord, though he was presented with many opportunities to overthrow the unstable king. He trusted God’s timing. We would be wise to do the same.
Saul rushed God’s plan and it cost him the kingdom, but it was never his kingdom. God called Saul from the smallest tribe of Israel, from the house of Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin. He filled Saul with His Spirit in order to deal with Israel’s enemy, the Philistines. Remember Samuel’s words to Saul on the day they met? I am here to tell you that you and your family are the focus of all Israel’s hopes.
“Now the Lord had told Samuel the previous day, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin.
Anoint him to be the leader of my people, Israel.
He will rescue them from the Philistines, for I have looked down on my people in mercy and have heard their cry.””
1 Samuel 9:15-16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.9.15-16.NLT
God always hears His people crying out to Him and He always acts out of His own goodness and mercy, showing unfailing love and kindness to a thousand generations of those who love Him and obey His commands. He forgives sin and rebellion when we humble ourselves, confessing to Him the error of our ways, but He does not excuse the guilty who willfully continue in sin.
“If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.
But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.
That is how we know we are living in him.”
1 John 2:4-5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.2.4-5.NLT
“But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.
“We want to be like the nations around us.
Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.””
When Israel remembered her true King, God heard her cries for mercy.
“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2ch.16.9.NLT
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.
O Lord our God, others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship.”
Isaiah 26:3-4, 8, 12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.26.3-13.NLT
“The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah at Ephes-dammim.
Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the valley of Elah.
So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.
Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel.
He was over nine feet tall!
He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.
He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder.
The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.
His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.
Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites.
“Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul.”
But were they really? Saul was their king in name only. They had forgotten they were servants of the most High God. God would defeat His enemies, all who set themselves up against Him, so that the world would know there is a God in heaven. A day is coming when the kings of the earth will band together, seeking what the men of Babel sought, a kingdom reaching to the heavens with glory for themselves.
“Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all Lords and King of all kings.
And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.””
Revelation 17:14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.17.14.NLT
“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.
Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.
So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.
And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.
As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway.
Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
Romans 1:18-23, 28, 32 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.1.18-32.NLT
God’s Champion was chosen before the foundations of the world, but scripture is filled with stories of heroes who seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness above all else. They are not perfect for only One ever was, but these are the ones God uses, the ones who deny themselves and follow Him, the ones who point not to themselves but to Jesus.
“Choose one man to come down here and fight me!
If he kills me, then we will be your slaves.
But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!
I defy the armies of Israel today!
Send me a man who will fight me!”
When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.
As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.
“Have you seen the giant?” the men asked.
“He comes out each day to defy Israel.
The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him.
He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!”
1 Samuel 17:1-11, 24-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.17.1-25.NLT
“For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.”
1 Samuel 17:16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.17.16.NLT
Where was Saul during those forty days of Goliath’s challenge? Before David arrived carrying food for his brothers who had followed the king to war with the Philistines, Saul was waiting for someone, anyone to step up to fight his battle. Israel wanted a king like all the nations around them, a king who would lead them in battle. They already served a God who fought their battles. Their history was a litany of proof. Saul forgot God and so he stayed in his tent, day after day, waiting for someone else to do what God had charged him with doing.
“David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel?
Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”
Then David’s question was reported to King Saul, and the king sent for him.
“Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win!
You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
But David persisted.
“I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said.
“When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth.
If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.
I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!
The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”
Saul finally consented.
“All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”
Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail.
David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.
“I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.”
So David took them off again.
He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag.
Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.
Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy.
“Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?”
And he cursed David by the names of his gods.
“Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.
David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.
And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!
And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear.
This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!””
1 Samuel 17:26, 31-47 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.17.26-47.NLT
“How amazing are the deeds of the Lord!
All who delight in him should ponder them.
Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty.
His righteousness never fails.
He causes us to remember his wonderful works.
How gracious and merciful is our Lord!
He gives food to those who fear him; he always remembers his covenant.
All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy.
They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity.
He has paid a full ransom for his people.
He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever.
What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.
Praise him forever!”
Psalms 111:2-5, 7-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.111.2-10.NLT
Where was Saul? The answer each time is simply not where he should have been. Each of these moments only proved his head and his heart were not where they belonged either.
Where are you? That is the question God is still asking you and me. It’s the same question He asked Adam in the garden. It cannot be that all-knowing God is unable to locate us. He has never once wondered where to find even one of His children. He saw you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. Every day of your life was written in His book long before your first breath. He knows your thoughts. He numbers the hairs on your head. You can never escape His presence, not for a second. Darkness cannot hide you. He examines your heart. He knows everything about you and still He loves you unequivocally.
“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”
Romans 5:2-5, 11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.5.2-11.NLT
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.
Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NLT
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