September 24, 2019: Day 10 – I Samuel 10

We find the anointing of Saul take place at the very beginning of this chapter.  Stacy and I have watched both seasons of the show The Crown.  It is something we have never done before, watched a show consistently.  It was fascinating and I am somewhat looking forward to the next season starting in November.  The pomp that went into the crowning of Queen Elizabeth was amazing.  The weaving of the political and the religious is evident in that the Queen is said to have been chosen and anointed by God.  In front of everyone the choosing of the queen becomes evident and becomes front and center.

That really wasn’t the case with Saul.  There was only Samuel and Saul and he gives him directions on what to do in order to make his anointing a public affair, which up to this point it has not been.  Samuel gives him a whole list of things that he is going to see and how he is supposed to act.  As king he is told that he is to prophesy, and so there is a very real intersecting between the religious and the political.  Now that is something that we do not have within our governing system, but many countries do, especially those that have monarchies.

Don’t  overlook vs.9 where you see that  God gave Saul a new heart.  That is what we are given when we receive Jesus as our Savior, as we sign onto the new covenant and our lives are recorded in the book of life, we are given a new heart.  But like anything new, it can get used and abused, as we see later on with Saul and his heart.  

Do you see how Saul embraces his new responsibilities?  I love this quote in vs.22 which reflects how he was feeling about becoming king: “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”  Yeah, not really embracing his new role.  But all the people call out to him: “Long live the king.”  When we are called to a new role or to a responsibility within the church our first reaction might be to hide among the baggage.   But I pray that we would extricate ourselves from our suitcases and start to feel more comfortable as we lead people and as we lead the church to a future where our hearts would be changed for the Lord.