I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 9, or you can turn in your order of worship. The 20 pages of text is printed out there as well. At some point, it's like, is there a copyright thing? Anyhow, as we have these long passages. No, it's all legal. It's all legit. It's okay. We are looking at an extensive passage together this morning. We'll be considering 1 Samuel 9 all the way into chapter 10, verse 16. And we've been walking with the people of Israel kind of out of the dark days of the judges. That context is so important as we think about what's taking place. The book of Judges ends with everyone doing what's right in his own eyes. And God is at work bringing his people, in spite of that, back to him. And we've seen in the last few weeks, back in chapter 7, Samuel led the people in repentance to the Lord at Mizpah. The Lord amazingly delivered them from the Philistines as he thundered against them, just this heavenly intervention. The people raised their Ebenezer, these statues of God's faithfulness to him, these monuments of faithfulness, stones of faithfulness, and they were saying that phrase, "'Til now the Lord has helped us. We have seen his faithfulness to us.'" But then, as we saw last week in chapter 8, the people of Israel, like us, are so prone to wander. And Samuel is now growing old, and his sons are wicked, and what are we going to do? And the people aren't even really asking what they're supposed to do, they're telling God what they're going to do. We want a king like the nations. And this was hard for Samuel to hear, but the Lord tells him what to do. Give them a king. And this raises a lot of questions for us. What is the Lord going to do in light of his people's fearful, unfaithful response? How will he work with their fears and their lack of faith? What is he going to do in carrying out his plan? Well, today we begin to see the answer to this. And as we do, we're introduced to Saul. Now, Saul is a complicated character. And as we read this story, we'll engage with that a little bit as we go on. But I think a few things will stand out to us. One is just how strange this story is. If you read it before you came today or if you've read it before, it's okay that it sounds a little strange. We're going back thousands of years in history to when things were done very differently. a very different time and place. And so part of what stands out is the strangeness of what we're reading. But the other thing that stands out to me that's just beautiful is how realistic this account is. As we read this, we see it's real life. God is working with real people, not just flat characters who are all bad or all good, or I think I did that wrong, but all bad or all good. And what we'll see as we look at this section, is really how God works in real life with complicated people like us. And I think as we consider that, we'll find it encouraging. And so since this is a longer text, I'm going to pray and ask the Lord's help, and then we'll walk through it together rather than reading the whole thing. So let me pray and ask for God's help, and then we'll consider it. Our Father in heaven, we come humbly now, realizing that we are about to consider the lofty grandeur of your Word, who you are, your ways, how you are toward your people, how you are toward us. We confess that we are far removed from the events in this passage, and it can be easy just to zone out or to think that these things don't apply. But will you help us by your spirit to better know your heart, to better see who you are, and to be more reassured in our faith of how we can walk with you, even in dark and complicated times? We ask this all in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so what we're going to do is walk through the passage. I'll make some comments as we go, and then we have two concluding applications, so just so you know where things are going. And so we'll begin with verses one through 10 of chapter nine. So hear God's word in 1 Samuel 9, starting in verse one. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Barakoth, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a man of wealth. And 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. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul, his son, take one of the young men with you and arise, go and look for the donkeys. And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and he passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shalem, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but he did not find them. When they came to the land of Zuth, Saul said to his servant who was with him, come, let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us. But he said to him, 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. Then Saul said to his servant, but if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread and our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring the man of God. What do we have? The servant answered Saul again. Here I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way. Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, come, let us go to the seer, for today's prophet was formerly called a seer. And Saul said to his servant, well said, come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was. We'll stop there for a moment and just kind of get our bearings on what's going on. We're introduced to Saul and right away we're told something very important about him, something that would be especially important to the people of Israel listening to this, his family background, his pedigree, where he comes from. And his father Kish was a wealthy or a valiant man. We can see that he had multiple donkeys. It's kind of like he had multiple hummers or tractors in his garage. And he's from the tribe of Benjamin. Now, one of the things that's interesting when we're reading through 1 Samuel and we come to the tribe of Benjamin, what should be ringing in our ears is how the book of Judges ends. And the way the book of Judges ends is that the people of Benjamin did some of the most horrible atrocities in Israel's history. So when we hear, oh, he's a Benjamite and he's a wealthy man, we think, hmm, interesting. We'll see where this goes, right? We'll see what happens. And then we're introduced to Saul. Saul is tall and handsome. He's taller than anyone else in Israel. He's one of the most handsome men around. Very Tom Holland-esque in his beauty, we could say. And it's interesting that he's described as tall, right? Because this is the only time in Scripture that one of the Israelites is ever called tall, or their height is pointed out in that way. Throughout the rest of scripture, the only time other people are tall is when they're the enemies of God, like Goliath will be. So again, these things that are just interesting to us. Then we move right to the problem. Donkeys are missing. And this is a major deal. It's hard to go some days without donkeys. And so Saul is supposed to find them. And after going out and traveling in a big circle, which later we come to realize took about three days to do, They've looked everywhere, they've run out of food, and there's no luck. And so, Saul is concerned about what his dad is going to think after they've been gone for so long. No longer worried about the donkeys, now worried about his son Saul. But the servant, who's with Saul, has this amazing idea. He realizes that they are near the city where the man of God is, where Samuel is, and they can go to him to ask for help. And we see that Saul's not sure about this. We have nothing to offer him. It's interesting because we don't find in Scripture that it's prescribed that you need to pay a prophet or a seer to help you. So this may have been a legitimate practice, or it could be showing us the nature of the times and the corruption that's there where the men of God are charging people for spiritual help. We're not totally sure. But the servant convinces Saul, and they go to find Samuel, and that's where we carry on with the rest of chapter 9. So resuming here in chapter 9, verse 11. It says, as they went up the hill to the city, they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, is the seer here? They answered, he is. Behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. As soon as you enter the city, you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately." So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place. Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel, Tomorrow, about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall restrain my people. Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, tell me, where is the house of the seer? Samuel answered to Saul, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me. And in the morning, I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father's house?" Saul answered, am I not a Benjamite from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way? Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about 30 persons. And Samuel said to the cook, bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, put it aside. So the cook took up the leg and what was on it, and he set them before Saul. And Samuel said, see, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed that you might eat with the guests. And so Saul ate with Samuel that day. And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep. Then at the break of dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "'Up, that I may send you on your way!' So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street. As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, tell the servant to pass on before us. And when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God. Let's stop there for a while while we talk about the Word of God. As we look at this scene, there's a lot that's happening here, right? The city, as we find out, was up on a hill, which was a good place for cities to be defensively. It makes sense. But the problem with being up on a hill is that the water sources are usually down below. And so people from the city would come out and go down to draw water. This was usually a job that the young women would do. And so Saul asked these young women if the seer is in town. And they have great news. It just so happens he's here today because there's a special meal that's taking place. And Saul and his servant go up toward the city. And as they do, you can just picture the scene where it's one of those where it slows down and zooms in on different people's faces. And you have Saul headed toward the city, and it's on his beautiful, tall face, right? And then the camera switches, and you see this older man coming out of the city. And then we have a flashback to the day before, where there's no busy city gate. There's no Saul there. It's just Samuel. And the Lord makes known to Samuel what is going to take place the very next day. And the text literally says, he opens his ear to some news. Today, the Lord is going to bring him the man that he is to anoint, who will lead the Lord's people. And now it's happening. And then we zoom back to the scene, right? And people are bustling around. And what do you know? Saul walks right up to Samuel, And he says, can you tell me where this guy's house is? He has no idea who he's talking to, but Samuel knows who Saul is because the Lord has revealed it to him. And all of a sudden, Saul's plans quickly change, and he's going to be the guest of honor at a meal and spend the night on a roof, and then he's going to be told the word of God. Samuel is going to tell Saul what's on his mind, but he also says one thing that shouldn't be on your mind is the donkeys, because they're fine. That's all been taken care of. But Saul's really confused by this lofty treatment. Why are you talking to me this way?" But Samuel continues to show from start to finish that this has been planned by the Lord and that he is showing honor over and over again to Saul. He has the place of honor at the table. They bring out this giant leg with all kinds of meat on it and set it on Saul's plate for him to eat. He's clearly being shown to be someone special. And Saul goes back with Samuel after that meal, spends the night on his roof. That's not because Samuel didn't have an extra bedroom or something. That's the best place to stay. You get the cool breeze. It's a flat roof. He wasn't tied to it or anything like that. And then in that morning, Samuel wakes up Saul at the crack of dawn, and then as they're leaving, he says, wait a minute, I want to talk to you privately. Send your servant ahead. And that's a pretty uncustomary thing. And so we're just waiting on the edge of our seats. What is it that Samuel has to tell Saul? And so here we resume with chapter 10 as we finish out our passage. It says in chapter 10, verse 1, Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, 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 shall save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to you, the donkeys that you went to seek are found. And now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you shall go from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. After that, you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds you to do, for God is with you. Then go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait until I come to you and show you what you shall do. When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he had prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, what has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And a man of the place answered, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. 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 that they were not found, we went to Samuel. And Saul's uncle said, please tell me what Samuel said to you. 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. Well, so far, the reading of God's word, that concludes our passage this morning, but we'll talk a little bit more about what happens here in chapter 10, and then look at a few applications together. Before Samuel speaks to Saul, he anoints him with oil. Now, if you've been reading the Bible much or in Sunday school, that may not sound very surprising. We know that oil would be poured down the head of people. And once you get over the like, doesn't that stain their clothes? You start to realize it's a good practice that's happening. But one of the things that we might lose sight of is, again, if you're reading along in the Old Testament through Israel's history, and if you haven't jumped ahead, Who are the only people so far who have been anointed with oil? It's the priests, right? The priests are the ones who would be anointed with oil. And here we see we're coming to this amazing transition in Israel's history where God is instituting the office of king. But you'll also notice that all throughout the text, the author's going out of his way to make it clear that Israel's king is to be different than all the other kings. You hear that even in the language here, where he's to be a prince over the people. Later, he's going to be called the king. It's fine to call Saul and David kings, but it's emphasizing the fact that the king of Israel is always to be under Yahweh as the true king. And so Samuel goes on to tell Saul that three things are going to happen to him to confirm all of this so that he can be sure. Because can you imagine being Saul, showing up thinking you're looking for donkeys, you eat a ton of meat, and then all of a sudden you sleep on a roof, wake up, and all these wild things are happening to you? Was I dreaming that? Like what was taking place? And so Samuel says three signs are going to happen. And notice the beauty of scripture, and when God reveals signs like this, how specific they are. He doesn't give them three fortune cookies, and it's like, something good will happen today. You will be sad later, and it's, ah, it's coming true. These are really specific things. And they start small, and they continue to get bigger and more significant. And notice, first it's two men, and they say, hey, the donkeys have been found. Then it's three men who are going up to worship at Bethel. And you can tell they're going up to worship because of where they're going and what they have. And they will give Saul two loaves of bread. Now, we might think, that's nice. Maybe he's hungry. I mean, he just ate a bunch of meat, but why not have some carbs to wash all that down or something? The loaves are significant because these are loaves that were reserved only for the anointed ones, the priests. They were taking these up to worship. And that's why Samuel's instruction here that you are to receive these loaves is actually very significant. He's to accept this bread, which is confirming he now too is an anointed one. And then it's this group of prophets and they've got all kinds of instruments and the Spirit will rush upon him and he will prophesy with them and he will be a new man. Now, I think one of the things that's helpful for us as we study the whole Bible about what it says about the Holy Spirit's work is when we come to this as New Testament believers, we hear the Spirit rush upon and prophesy and you're a new man. And we think like the regenerating work of a believer. In the Old Testament, this language was used to speak of God coming upon someone to empower them for a task. And so that's really what we see happening here, is the Spirit will come and make Saul the man he needs to be to do what God has called him to do. And the text goes on. It says all this stuff happened, but let's zoom in on this spirit work that God was doing. The spirit rushed upon Saul just like it had with Samson, just like it's going to do with David. And he prophesied. He spoke and sang and worshiped in such an uncharacteristic way, a way that's so different than the way Saul of Kish was, that the people came up with a saying, is Saul also among the prophets? And that's a saying that the people would use anytime something very out of character was happening. And so you think of like kids who don't like vegetables and you're trying all the time, eat your vegetables, eat your vegetables. And all of a sudden they say, I'd like some more broccoli. we would say, is Saul also among the prophets? I've been thinking all week of how to use this with my kids, and maybe now that I've preached it, it'll work, but it just doesn't feel like it translates well. But it's describing something that's so out of character. That's how much the Spirit's work was working upon Saul. Not everyone was impressed. There's this kind of offhanded comment, and who's their father, kind of questioning the legitimacy of the whole thing. That will be attention later on. But we can step back and just look at this. While these are some pretty strange events taking place, a pretty wild few days for Saul, The point is that God orchestrated three confirming signs for him, and they all came about exactly as he had said. And when Saul arrives, he's able to tell his uncle the donkeys have been found, but about the matter of the kingdom, he didn't say anything. He's not ready to reveal that yet. There's more that's still to come. And so it really leaves us at a cliffhanger. What is Saul's hand going to find him to do at Gilgal? And to answer that, you'll have to come back next week, because this is actually a good place to stop. One, because I don't know how many more Israelite names I can pronounce, but also because this story shows us a lot about how God works. And the way that he works, I think as we consider this, is really unexpected. And so I have two applications to consider today. God's unexpected providence and God's unexpected equipping. God's unexpected providence and God's unexpected equipping. First, let's just consider God's unexpected providence. In our confession, the documents that we have as a church that summarize what the Bible teaches about various topics, ours is the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. Chapter 5 speaks of divine providence, and it's a really beautiful chapter. But it summarizes providence this way, saying providence is the way that God wisely and powerfully directs and governs all things, everything that happens. And one of the things that it points out is, from the greatest even to the very least. And here we see that on display in this story. And there are two things that we see about God's unexpected providence. The first is that God's providence is unexpectedly ordinary. It's unexpectedly ordinary. If you think of what the people of Israel are going through, it's some major problems, right? The Philistines keep coming. You notice even in the story, they're going to go to a town and there's what? A Philistine garrison there. There's an outpost right there just waiting to say, hey, we're going to make some trouble. They're breathing down on them, and that's been happening for decades. And now Samuel's getting old and his sons are evil. And what are the people gonna do? They're gonna be vulnerable to attack. And not only that, but the spiritual condition of the people is a mess, right? They are turning away from the Lord and seeking their own solution. So these are major problems. And in it, we would expect God to be doing big things, wouldn't we? I mean, I expect to read about Samuel going around with some sort of project to try and feed the soldiers something that will make them taller like Goliath. Like, come on army, we need to get stronger. These Philistines are big. or Samuel on his campaign, raising funds to build some sort of mega-tabernacle for some sort of big revival to get things back on track so Israel can be what it needs to be. But instead, what's going on in the story? Donkeys wander off. Women are getting water. Prophet's doing his normal prophet thing. He's coming to bless a meal. People are going up to worship. You know, often in the big problems of our lives, we tend to look for God to work in big and surprising ways. And one of the things that this passage reminds us that God wants us to know is that just because our lives seem ordinary, it doesn't mean that God is inactive. It may just be another day looking for donkeys, but God is doing something far bigger. And so we see that God's providence is unexpectedly ordinary. But what is God up to behind the scenes as he's working through all these normal things? When he opens the ear of Samuel to hear what he's about to do, it's fascinating there in chapter 9, verse 16, he says, In that section there, when God tells us what he was doing, he repeats my people three times. He's all about his people. And in fact, as you read that verse and it says, their cry has come up to me, I think if you were reading through the Old Testament, you'd say, ah, that sounds like something else. That sounds like the Exodus again, doesn't it? That God sees his people's plight and he's about to do something. And what is it that he's about to do? He's going to save them, deliver them from their enemies. What is God all about? What is he always doing from the Exodus and even before all the way? He's all about his my people work. And so when we are wandering through the ordinary hills, looking for donkeys and wondering what God is up to, part of what scripture wants us to see is this. we can be guaranteed that God is up to his my people work, even though we often don't see it. And that leads us to the second unexpected thing about God's providence. His providence is unexpectedly ordinary, but it's also unexpectedly merciful. His providence is unexpectedly merciful. Think of the people of Israel. What have they just done? They've said, we're not even asking you, Lord, what we should do next, we're telling you, we want a king. And that's fine, you talked about that in Deuteronomy, but we want a king like the nations. And we want a king like the nations who can lead us in battle, because you're not doing a very good job protecting us and keeping us from being afraid. They're fearful, they're finding their own solutions. And so what would you expect God to do? What would you expect him to do in particular in the Mosaic Covenant where it's a relationship with these people where things are spelled out very clearly? We would expect him to say, and figure it out yourselves, I hope you can handle those Philistines. By the way, Goliath's pretty big. He's growing quickly. I'm done with you. You're on your own. That's what you're asking for. But his response is so unexpected. He takes their misguided request for a king like the nations, and he's mercifully weaving in even their own foolishness and faithlessness into his plan to deliver them. Because what is he all about? They're my people and I am going to save them. And this never stops. This is what he did back in the Exodus. This is what he's going to do here with the Philistines. And then in our scripture reading, we're going to come, well, in Ezekiel, when you come to Ezekiel, we won't get there today. When you get there, they failed again. It's exile. It's all over. And what is God saying when he comes to his people? I'm gonna give you a new heart. I'm gonna put my spirit within you. I'm going to fix every problem that's there so I can truly save you and so that you can finally be my people and I can be your God. You see, the surprising thing about God's providence is it's so unexpectedly merciful as he's orchestrating all things big and small. And so what about us? Where do our hearts often go when we're facing the big problems or the little annoyances of the donkeys got out again. The Philistines are bearing down and we don't have a king. What are we going to do? Or I need to go out wandering. Where do we tend to go? I find my own heart goes two places, usually at the same time. God isn't doing anything. And when I actually attribute action to him, I say he's against me. He's working against me when he is working. God wants his people to know, and he's given us the whole scripture to show us this, his my people posture of merciful providence in our lives. When it comes to his people, God will not be thwarted even by their wandering. He will work his unseen, mysterious, merciful providence, not only to deliver his people from the Philistines, but ultimately to bring his people to the fullness of salvation that he has promised and that Jesus has earned for them. And so there's this ongoing invitation we see in scripture in the pressures and fears of the Philistines in your life to look back at your Ebenezers of God's faithfulness to you and to trust him for what lies ahead. saying that phrase that Israel failed to believe till now or so far, the Lord has helped us. And I know that he will mysteriously and sovereignly and mercifully continue to do so. Our Confessions chapter on providence ends with some of the most beautiful and comforting words, because it says, yes, God's providence extends to all creatures in some way. But it says this, in a more special manner, it is always working to take care of his church, his people, you and me, those who are trusting in Christ. His providence is working toward their good. And so that really leads us to our next point. Not only do we see God's unexpected providence, but also we see God's unexpected equipping. God's unexpected equipping. Now, I just want to tell you up front, there's debate about the character of Saul. How are we to understand Saul? He's a complicated guy. On the one hand, Saul seems like the expected choice. The people ask for a king like the nations, and so they're getting one who's tall and handsome. And if you look at the reliefs of the pictures of kings that people in the ancient Near East were looking for, they'd be giant-like when they're drawing them. I don't know how tall they actually were. We want a tall one who can see the problems and lead us in battle. And so he seems like an expected choice. On the other hand, when it comes to the things that the Lord is looking for in a king, the text is clearly showing us that he's an unexpected choice. Leaders in Israel were to be shepherds of God's people. Now, you didn't have to have been a shepherd of animals to do this, although many of Israel's leaders were. We think of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David's gonna be a pretty amazing shepherd. Yet the opening scene of this story, when we're introduced to Saul, the first thing that we learn about him is he's really bad at shepherding. Donkeys, pretty big, noticeable animals, have wandered off, and he spends three days, and he can't find these things or bring them back. In fact, the story ends, and the donkeys are there, and Saul had nothing to do with it. He's like, shepherding was not my thing. The other thing that really stands out about Saul is that at least at this point in our story, he is very spiritually unaware. Saul doesn't think about seeking the Lord in the midst of their problems, his servant does. Saul doesn't even know that they're near Samuel's city of Ramah, his servant does. Saul doesn't recognize Samuel, but he asks him where he can find the seer's house. Now, all of this within a context that we find in chapter three, verse 20, that says, all Israel knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. So I don't wanna be overly hard on Saul. I really have a soft spot for him in my heart. But the point is this, if you were looking for someone to lead Israel spiritually and to shepherd them, it's not Saul. But what does God go out of his way to show Saul in this passage? He gives him a threefold sign. that even though Saul may not think of himself as fit for this task, God will equip him to do what he is calling him to do. And think of the three signs. Saul, you may not be a competent shepherd. Saul, you can't even fix the problem of the donkeys that are gone, or even find them. But two men are gonna come to him and say, the donkeys have been found. Saul, the Lord has your problems covered. He can handle the shepherding of his people, and he can help you with that. We think of the second sign. He may wonder if Samuel got the wrong guy. I mean, a lot was happening, and Saul had never heard of this before. But then three men give him two loaves of bread that is intended for the anointed ones. It's intended for the priests. And the Lord confirms to Saul, my choosing you, my anointing you was not an accident. Take the bread and acknowledge your anointing. And then in the third sign, you know, Saul may be wondering, is he the right kind of man to lead God's people? I mean, what are people gonna think when they hear that Saul is now to be the leader of them? He can't even shepherd donkeys. He doesn't even know who Samuel is. but God sends a group of prophets and he uses that encounter to show Saul and to show the people who are around that God's spirit will enable and equip Saul to be the kind of man he needs to be for the task that the Lord has for him. And it's an empowerment that is so striking that the people who have known Saul their whole life, they say, is Saul also among the prophets? I mean, what is going on here? And so by the time Saul gets to his uncle's house, he can know beyond the shadow of a doubt, I may not be ready for or even understand all that the Lord has planned, but he has given me signs to show me that he, by his spirit, will equip me for it. And the question that will unfold is, will Saul depend upon the Spirit to follow the word of the Lord, or will he do what's right in his own eyes? But what about us? I don't know what situations you're facing this morning. I know that we are all facing big things and little things that tempt us to fear and to find our own solutions. But God wants you to be sure that by the time you leave here today, you can know that he is at work in his merciful providence, and he has clearly shown you that he will equip you for everything that he has planned for you. And I think that's really good news. Think back over that threefold sign. He wants you to know that he can handle every problem. You see, our greatest problem isn't that we've lost some donkeys or that we're not good shepherds. Our greatest problem is that we are sinners who have each turned to our own way, that we are the lost sheep, not even donkeys, with no hope of return in ourselves or no one who's skilled enough to even come find us. but God has done the most unexpected thing. He has sent us the king that we really need, the one who is not esteemed for his own looks or his stature, but the one who is the truly good shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep. And through Jesus' death and resurrection, God has shown us beyond the shadow of a doubt that he can handle every problem that you're gonna face. Your sin, your enemies, death itself is no match for him. He wants you to know he can handle every problem. But then think of the second sign when he gives them those loaves of bread. God wants you to know today that his choice of you is legitimate. It's not a mistake. No matter how put together you may look or not look on the outside, no matter how inadequate you feel on the inside and you wonder if anyone else knows what a foamy you really are, none of us has what it takes. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And for Saul, he had this oil running down his head that said, God has chosen you for a task. But brothers and sisters, the waters of our baptism drip from our head and our body to tell us of God's eternal love and choosing of you that can never be taken away and was not a mistake. Saul was given two loaves of bread to say, your anointing is for real. Every Sunday, we're given the bread and the cup that say, my choice of you was not a mistake. You are forever forgiven and forever welcomed into the kingdom of my beloved son because of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then third, he wants you to know today that he will empower you by his spirit for everything that lies ahead. When I read a story like this, I get carried away in picturing like, what all went down with all those instruments and Saul? I look forward to one day kind of knowing that more fully somehow. The Lord's work in Saul seems so extraordinary that sometimes we really wish for something like that, don't we? Oh, then I would know if something just wild happened in my life. But the scriptures say that what we have received is actually something far more profound. The risen Lord Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit upon his people, what does John say? Without measure. And it's not something that's temporary, an empowerment for a task that can be taken away as David's later gonna cry, don't take your Holy Spirit from me, let me keep at this. Instead, as we heard in our scripture reading, it's this amazing, profound indwelling that happens where God himself, by his spirit, takes up residence within us and doesn't just conform us externally so that we do things we didn't used to do, but he changes us from within so that we desire and are able to be people who are more like Jesus. And you think of those people who saw that wild thing happen with Saul, and they say, what's happened? Is Saul also among the prophets? And I think of so many conversations I have with you all, the people of God, as we've walked together over decades, and we know what we're like apart from Christ, and then somehow something wells up within us, and we say, I don't even know how that happened, but I was gentle in the face of anger. I was at peace in the midst of raging anxiety. I had a soft word to my kid. I had love for a neighbor I had never even seen before. And in all of it, we're not saying, is Saul also among the prophets? We're saying, it is amazing how God is at work by his spirit, making us people who look more and more, not like Saul, but like our Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, whatever you're facing today, Your heavenly Father wants you to know the most unexpected answer. He will be with you in his ordinary, merciful providence to equip you for all that he's called for you to do. until one day we get to experience that forever rest and delight of being with Him in His kingdom, with everything as it should be, forever. And that's His encouraging word and His unexpected answer for us today. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are amazed by your mercy and your grace. Lord Jesus, we are so thankful for all that you did so that we can receive all of this love and empowerment. And Spirit, we thank you that even as we have heard about these things, as we will sing in response, and as we will receive these signs, that you can use them to do a profound work in us that conforms us into the people that we were made to be. and who we are being renewed after the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen.