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The only way to find what you’re looking for is to die to yourself and surrender to God.
This is completely countercultural. The world will tell you to seek satisfaction and security in your power, your possessions, your pleasure, your performance. These things, however, will never satisfy us. Only God will be enough; only He will provide love, joy, and peace when we follow Him. He is in control, and He has our best interests at heart.
Every day, we have to decide whether we will die to ourselves and seek God, or whether we will fall prey to the temptations of the world and walk in rebellion.
The nation of Israel chose to seek satisfaction through a visible king. The people desired to be like the other nations, and so they rebelled against God. They sought control, believing that God did not have their best interests at heart. Thankfully, God is sovereign despite our rebellion, and He knows what is best.
We see how specific His plan can be and how intimate His sovereignty in 1 Samuel 10. In this chapter, God gives Saul specific signs of his kingship and changes his heart to have temporary courage; He is making a way for Saul to be king. This chapter tells the story of what Saul could have been like if he had followed God—but it has a sadness to it, because we know that Saul sought control and rebelled against God’s purposes.
When the time came to publicly anoint Saul as king, Samuel gathered the people together and exhorted them not to forget God. But the people had already forgotten, despite God’s deliverance of them from Egypt and care of them in the wilderness. Samuel knew they had forgotten, and so he was reminding them to turn to the Lord. Saul’s anointing was another opportunity for them to remember God.
Unfortunately, the people of Israel would forget again. They would commit adultery, so to speak, against our covenantal God. But the good news is that our gracious King did not allow the story to end there. The anointing of a king foreshadows the anointing of the Messiah and our redemption. These human kings would fail, but God never will. His perfect plan will always be accomplished.
If we are wise, we will walk in the way of the Lord. We would do well to follow Samuel’s exhortation to fear the Lord, serve Him in truth with all our heart, and consider all that He has done for us.
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This teaching is based on Ken Boa’s Handbook to Scripture. This devotional is the perfect gift or tool for anyone wanting to dive into Scripture and learn how to study its key themes and chapters. To receive this devotional tool daily in your inbox, sign up for Daily Growth.
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