Trusting God

Scripture

1Sam. 10:21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.
1Sam. 10:22 So they inquired again of the LORD, “Did the man come here?” and the LORD said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
1Sam. 10:23 Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them.

Observation

The people of Israel had cried out that they wanted a king.  This was not God's intention for the people and yet, he listened to their cries and found them a king.  Saul was to become their king.  Samuel had met up with him a week before this particular meeting.  Saul knew that he had been chosen by God to become the leader of the people of Israel.  Here he was a big, strong, strapping young man who knew that God wanted him to become king.  Samuel had told him where they would meet the following week and now the time of the meeting had come.  Saul, having all of this information, went and hid among the baggage! 

Application

Obviously Saul had trouble trusting God.  He had plenty of information that day that should have allowed him to have the strength and courage needed to stand up before that crowd of people and accept his responsibility.  Not only did he have the promise of God, he had the physical strength and prowess as well.  People looked up to him, both literally and physically.  And yet, he was hiding away in the baggage.

God creates each and every single one of us with his purposes in mind.  We are created to be a reflection of Christ to this world, and each one of us is infused with talents and abilities, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of God.  There are moments when we are called into action by God.  He says, "now is the time that I need you to bring everything that I have put into you and allow me to use you."  The question is -- do we trust God when we get that call?  Or, do we take God's talents and abilities and hide them somewhere because of our own fear.  Maybe it's a fear of failure.  Who knows what Saul's fear was that day.  From our perspective it looks like a no brainer in terms of trusting God.  Maybe that's the way it ought to be in our lives too -- a no brainer to trust God.

God is wanting to use his people in ways much greater than any of us could ever imagine.  Are we limiting God's ability to work in this world by not affirming the abilities he has placed within us?  Are we simply not trusting God and hiding out, hoping he won't call on us to use what he has given us for him?  We are not gifted for our own personal benefit.  We are gifted to give glory to God.  Therefore there ought not to be fear in moving forward and trusting him.  We must stop hiding ourselves, get up, and get going with God. 

Prayer

Lord, help me to trust in you every moment of every day and may you use me to accomplish your work here on this earth.  Amen.