Saturday, August 23, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Samuel 9-10
Key Verse
1 Samuel 10:1 — “Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?”
Devotional Thought
Saul enters the story chasing donkeys. His father Kish, a man of standing in Benjamin, sends him out with a servant to search the hill country of Ephraim and the lands beyond, and for three days they find nothing. It is a small errand, the kind of ordinary chore that fills an ordinary week. Yet God is already at work in it. When Saul suggests turning back for fear his father will begin to worry about *him* instead of the animals, the servant mentions a man of God nearby in Zuph. Saul worries they have no gift to bring; the servant has a quarter shekel of silver. So they climb the hill to the city, asking young women at the well where the seer might be found. They do not know they are walking straight into the purposes of God.
What strikes the reader is how completely hidden the divine hand is until it is revealed. The Lord had spoken in Samuel’s ear the day before: “To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin.” Saul thought he was looking for asses; heaven knew he was being led to a crown. Samuel invites him to the chief seat at the sacrifice, tells him the asses are found, and pours oil on his head at dawn. Then come the promised signs: two men by Rachel’s sepulchre, three men at Tabor with bread, a company of prophets at the hill of God. And when the Spirit falls, Saul prophesies, and the neighbors ask, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Yet notice the man himself. When Samuel names him before all Israel at Mizpeh, Saul is hiding among the baggage. He who stood head and shoulders above everyone had shrunk to the smallest opinion of himself: “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes?” God gave him another heart that day, but the heart would still have to be exercised in obedience. And even at his anointing, some “children of Belial” despised him and brought no presents — and he held his peace.
Late August is a season of ordinary errands: school supplies, harvest work, the last warm evenings before the year turns. Most of us will not be anointed king this week. But this passage insists that the donkeys matter. The lost animals, the spent bread, the servant’s small coin, the well-side directions from young women — God threads His purposes through the plainest stuff of a Tuesday. Our part is not to manufacture grand assignments but to walk faithfully in the one in front of us, and to remember that the God who said “I have looked upon my people” still sees, still sends, and still anoints.
Reflection
- Saul set out seeking asses and found a kingdom. Where in your ordinary, unremarkable routines might God be quietly arranging something you cannot yet see?
- Saul hid among the baggage when called, and later “held his peace” when despised. When God’s call feels too large or others dismiss you, do you shrink back, or do you trust the One who gave you another heart?
Prayer
Lord, You are the God who sees the lost donkey and the anxious father, the servant with his quarter shekel and the seeker climbing the hill. Teach us to walk faithfully in the small errands of this day, trusting that You order our steps far beyond what we can perceive. When You call us to something larger than ourselves, give us courage instead of hiding among the baggage. When we are despised or overlooked, grant us the grace to hold our peace as Saul did. Give us another heart, we pray, and let Your Spirit rest upon us, that we may serve You and Your people well. Amen.