1 SAMUEL 10

One of the things I love most about God is that He never just asks us to take His word for anything. He always backs it up with evidence. He always provides confirmation. And most of the time, He doesn’t provide just one type of confirmation either. He gives evidence both to us and those around us.

1 Samuel 10 is a great example of that. At the very beginning of this chapter, Saul was anointed as king. There, it was done! Israel had a king. God had chosen His man. He had spoken, Samuel had listened and obeyed, and voila! Long live the king! Except... nobody else besides Samuel and Saul knew what had happened. So, that’s why I find it interesting that a series of four things happened immediately following Saul’s anointing. Two signs for Saul and two signs for Israel. These would confirm in the minds of Saul and the Israelites what God had done.

1. Saul was going to meet two men near Rachel’s tomb who would confirm that the lost donkeys had been found.

2. Saul would meet three men under the great tree of Tabor, and one of them would give Saul two loaves of bread.

3. Saul would meet a procession of prophets coming from Gibeah and would begin to prophesy with them.

4. By the casting of lots, Saul was "chosen" to be Israel’s king.

I love how the first two events were just for Saul. They would confirm to him that God had chosen him to be king... but if anyone passing by witnessed either event, they wouldn’t think anything of it. One was a simple conversation, and the other, an offer of bread. Big deal. However, once Saul’s personal experience had been confirmed, God would also reveal the choice He had made to all of Israel—beginning with Saul’s prophesying (which caused quite a stir among the Israelites) and culminating in the lot-casting process.

This once again served to remind me that God is not the author of confusion. He doesn’t leave us wondering about what’s going on. Nor does He ask us to believe His own word without independent confirmation. Rather, God is in the business of conviction. He will make sure that we have all the evidence we need to believe what He says. Thus, we are never left in the dark. He communicates with us and then provides confirmation of His plan. And (at least for me) this is what brings me complete peace and assurance in trusting His will for my life.