Lesson 100 | 1 Samuel 9-12 | Heartbeat of God | 2025-2026 Bible Study & Commentary

Lesson 100 of the heartbeat of God. I'm your Bible study friend, Kanoi. And I'm Holly. Welcome to the Heart Dive Podcast. Well, we finally made it to day 100. It has felt kind of like a little bit of an eternity. I mean, if you're studying with us in real time, if you're not, you're like, what are you talking about? I'm on day 100 on day 100. But it's exciting to be here because we've really chosen to listen to the Lord, to slow down, to, you know, just be honorable in the time that we spend and where we spend it and still very much so in the word of God, that's for sure. But these heartbeats of God are so special because it does. It really takes us a long time to kind of extract them. And so here we are in 1 Samuel chapters 9 through 12. 9 through 12. And I'm glad we were able to sit in it for a minute because I feel like there's a lesson in every chapter that resonated with us over the last week and a half. And it's a meaty one for sure. But before we jump into it, we would love it if you guys could do the business stuff, If you could hit the roll call buttons, that is the thumbs up button. Also, making sure you subscribe, got that notification bell on. You're subscribed to our email newsletter if you want to be. You're in our Facebook group if you want to be part of our community. All the fun things. You can find all of the info either on our website, heartdive. Or you can go to the description box or show notes for anything else that you might want to know about, about this podcast or about our ministry. Yeah. Make sure you go to Heart Dive 365 Hub on our website if you're looking for the downloads for the heartbeats or the heart checks or the heart work. It's all on our hub. Thank you for following along with us. Yeah. Speaking of which, make sure you have your Bibles out and ready to go today, as well as the Heartbeat of God documents, because I don't have an overhead camera today. So it's going to be a lot of our faces. So make sure you're following along on your own Bibles and in your own documents. And that way you won't lose where we are because we don't have a chance to actually show that on camera today. So thank you for your grace in that. But before we get started, we're going to go ahead and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your will in our lives. May it come alive in new ways like it never has before. I know I say it every time, but I mean it. I want your word to resonate throughout my bones. I want the scroll to burn in my mouth as we walk through 1 Samuel 9, 10, 11, and 12. As this whole scroll of Samuel's story comes alive, may we see your fingerprints on every single page. May we see your promises and your heart beat off of it into our lives so that we can remove any lies that perhaps the Israelites were also living during this time. If there's any sin or transgressions, any apostasy like we see here on these pages, remove it from us, Lord. Take away that burden, that yoke, and replace it with your love and your goodness. May we always see your light in the pages of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. In Jesus' name. So we left off in our last lesson with Israel demanding for a king. We need somebody to lead us. And we are introduced now to Saul, of course, Israel's first king here in chapter 9. I mean, from the get-go, it's kind of interesting because they describe his outer nature, right? He's tall, dark, and handsome. And at first, that's all I saw. I was like, they love Saul. He's tall, dark, and handsome. But I thought about it this time. I'm like, man, God was so intentional with that detail. and the fact that that's exactly what they wanted. They just wanted somebody who looked the part and they focused on the outward appearance, but it also reflected the inner state of Israel's heart and what they were looking for. Yeah, they want things to look great on the outside, but perhaps they were still one foot in, one foot out on the inside. Well, the way that they find them, if we just start off in verse three, it says, now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul, his son, And take one of the young men with you and rise and go look for the donkeys. And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. They passed through the land of Shalem, but they were not there. And they passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them. And so here we see this storyline, I guess it kind of sounds like a story of them looking for lost donkeys. But of course, we know the end of the story. It was much more than donkeys. And when we were talking with Winter, she was just in awe of how someone looking for donkeys could turn into this transition to a man being made king. Yeah, it always happens in the unlikeliest places. You know, when you're not looking for that big thing, you know, perhaps you're just washing the dishes, doing the laundry, just doing your day to day, perhaps delivering mail to someone's house. And then you get this God appointed opportunity that just pops up and you're like, I'm just doing my I'm just doing my due diligence, just walking in obedience. And I also see here that we can see the character of Saul here. Like he's handsome, but also he has servants. He's taking care of his herd and a good steward. He listened to his father. All of these beautiful, humble beginnings for a potential leader for the people of Israel. Right. I love that so much because when I think about some of the most pivotal moments of my life, they really were in those humble seasons when I was just doing the thing. You know, I had no idea that God was about to turn things for the better. And I just think that's important because a lot of the time we can get stuck in those seasons of like, man, you know, when's something going to get better? Or when am I going to get out of this rut I'm in? Or I don't know, I'm kind of just bored, you know, and people end up being really, They come to this place of complacency. I don't know. I just, I live with the expectation that God's going to do something greater all the time. I mean, no matter what season I'm in anymore, because I've seen him do so much that I'm like, he's going to keep on doing more. So what kind of heartbeat did you see here in this mundane, in the simple, in the humble? Well, one, God is a generational God and he is a God of the covenant. And so he is working through the generations as we saw, like right from the beginning, when I said that he was being very intentional with what he was speaking of. And it's the way he always has. You know, he's like, this guy came from here way back, way back then. It started from the seed back in the day. And just the way that he is intentional and the way that he chooses to reveal himself through his people. And then also the fact that what we desire often reflects the spiritual state in our hearts. And we kind of went through this as you and Winter were here this past week. It's like, what's going on in our hearts? You know, we had to check out, we checked our hearts a lot and it really did reveal a lot of what was going on in our spirits and, and, and what we were desiring and who we were trying to please and what, you know, so it's neat that God can do that. And he always has, I mean, nothing's changed, you know, from back then to now. yeah and then and in the mundane like you were just saying that god was there and the heart checks like he was just doing the donkey herding and looking for that but god didn't change his assignment to us hasn't changed he's still there he's still loving he's still the god of covenant rather i'm changing diapers or filming a youtube right god hasn't changed i need to check my heart and see if it's being transformed and changed for him or transformed and people pleasing. Amen. You know, it's interesting because Saul's servant, he was the one who had more discernment in this lesson here or in this period of time. Because Saul's like, you know, we're going through all these cities. We haven't found the donkeys. I think we should go back. And it was his servant who actually said, behold, there is a man of God in this city. And he's 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 which we should go. And so you've got this man who's supposed to be king. We said he's humble. He started off pretty well as a man, but it's the servant. So again, it goes back to that idea of it's the ordinary, the unlikely that God uses. And sometimes we think we have to have the platform. We've got to have the spotlight. We've got to have the position, the title in order to think that God's going to do something great through us. But also if Saul is, you know, the son and the one in charge and stewarding all this, he has a lot on his plate. He's not paying attention to the small things. Yet the servant who has less things on his plate, he's well aware. He's like, I know where the seer is. I know where the prophet is. And so kind of evaluating, do we have so much on our plate? We don't even know where the man of God is in our life, where the church is, where the Bible studies are, where we can be fed because we have so much on our plate, we don't run to God. I've been there many times. I mean, that kind of comes with the territory of having that sort of monkey brain. We want to do all the things and say yes to everybody and everything sounds fun. But yeah, it can be really easy to get lost in that and miss what God is doing. Yeah. So thank you, servant, for having Saul go to the seer. Yeah. And it's funny because Saul's like, well, we don't have anything to bring to him. You know, it was kind of customary back in the day, sort of like bringing flowers to a guest's house or something. But luckily, the servant did have a just so happened, right? In air quotes, to have that shekel of silver. So they did. They head to the city. And again, just so happened to stumble upon some women at the well who are like, hey, you guys are right on time. Just perfect timing. You know, they said Samuel just got here, you know. So I just thought it was funny that there were so many little just so happened moments. But really, that's the providence of God and how he is always, always working behind the scenes, directing our steps, making sure things are ready. You know, he's he's clearing our path constantly and on the path. He's right there with us. Sometimes you don't even think he's there. And he's like, I was here all along. Hurry up and catch me. Yeah, right. Exactly. Really like that. Yeah, no, it's true. But I mean, God kind of confirms everything right here in verse 17. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, well, here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall restrain my people. That's an interesting word right there. And I circled it. I don't know. Do you have more on that? Because I was like, why did I circle that? I must have had something to say about it. Well, why would he need to restrain the people? Why isn't it abundance? Why isn't it blessing? Right. Why wouldn't he be like the man who will bless my people, the man who will flourish and prosper my people? Yeah. Interesting that the word choice for his, and we're going to look at it, his negid, his prince, his steward over his people is restrain them. Which actually, now that I look at restrain, the word means to govern, hold within boundaries or control. and it's ironic because they actually wanted freedom in a sense, right? But God is like, oh, let me tell you what we're actually going to do here. We're going to bring you all in or bring you, herd you in here. But then Saul approached Samuel in the gate. This is verse 18. And he said, tell me, where is the house of the seer? And Samuel answered Saul. He says, 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. So isn't it interesting that he says, can you tell me where the seer is? And he's like, hello, I'm right here. How often do we have encounters with God or the spirit and we go, where's God? And he's like, hello, I'm right here. I'm right here. I never left. I've been right here all along. And a lot of people, our friend winter for one, can look back on their life and say, I asked of you, I thought you should have shown up and I didn't think you were there. And now I see you were there all along. So do we need to check ourselves and say, has there been a point in our life where we thought God didn't show up, but really it was his providence. It was his timing and planning in that moment. And we didn't even see it. Yeah. I mean, probably every one of those moments, I think in the moment, I either didn't know God was doing something. I mean, I'm a girl of faith. I've had faith from a very young age, but maybe I didn't recognize that it was going to be such an integral part of the journey that I was on. Yeah. Yeah. See, I'm not a girl of faith. Yeah. I was born in the church, but trauma had shaped my psyche. And so when I came to know who the Lord was at an older age, even though I knew his word, I knew what I was supposed to say, what I was supposed to do, my mind was warped by the trauma. And when I finally was able to reconcile, reconciliation, restoration, I was able to see his fingerprints, even on the trauma and say, okay, you were there. Mm hmm. Yeah. How much do you not want that for everybody? I mean, I think to a certain extent, we all have trauma from something, you know, at some point in our lives. And oh, man, I just want that freedom for people to be able to break free from that bondage, because it really can take such a toll on you. And even sometimes when you have been healed or think you've been healed, but it wells up again, and there are those trigger moments, you know, you don't realize that it's still there. It's still very much so a part of us. Yes, we are free from anything that holds us captive, but we have a responsibility to be able to let go of those things. Because sometimes God's like, I've redeemed that. I have healed that. But yet we're sticking it back in our bag. We're like, oh, I'm not ready. I'm not ready yet. I still need to deal with it in my own way and my own terms and I need to go say this and say that before I come to you, you know, and fix this. So yeah, but what freedom there is whenever you are able to just. Yes. Now, if Saul could have learned that lesson before the end of his kingship. Yeah, yeah, I know. And that's kind of always the case like, man, I wish I would have learned that long time ago. But we'll continue here in verse 20. It says, as for your donkeys, and that's funny that Samuel knew about the donkeys, right? As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found And so obviously, Paul was probably still worried in that moment. And Samuel, the seer, who knew like what was going on in his heart and mind, said, don't worry about that stuff, you know, and that's how we can be a lot of time. We've got all this stuff in our hearts, in our minds when we come to the Lord and we're like, hey, can you tell me what's going on and what do you want me to do, Lord? But then there are all these things that are and I just feel like the Lord says that, like, do not set your mind on those things. It's hard. It's really hard. It is hard. Yeah, we talked a lot about that in our anxiety, heart to heart. Mm hmm. guarding that peace. And so sometimes it's quite easy. He can still see there's no peace on this young man as he's searching and trying to, you know, be a good steward and be a good son and be a good leader of his servant. And yeah, he's like, don't put your mind at ease. And that is just like the Lord to come in and say, be anxious for nothing. But the beautiful thing is that he's still using Samuel, right? To do wonders and the signs, to be his voice box. That is what the prophet was meant to be. That was what they were creating here. As you look at the new government, you know, moving from a theocracy, God is their leader. God is in charge. And they had like, you know, priest and clergy. But now there had to be this voice box between the king or the appointed leader to God. And that was the prophet. And how beautiful is it that you can, he was able to even know the thoughts and what was in the heart of Saul. And then where along the way did Saul tried to usurp that and say, I actually can do this for myself. I don't need you or God. Again, humble beginnings right here. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I mean, obviously, God is he honors that kind of humility. You know, I mean, Saul had it right here. He says, Am I not just a Benjamite from the least of the tribes of Israel? 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? And so again, you know, we see that that humble beginning. And Saul's not remembered this way a lot of the time. We talked about this before. It's like, oh man, I kind of like to just sit in this moment of remembering Saul that he did start off well, you know. But then Samuel, he ends up seating Saul and his men at the head table. And that is the way that God works when we are, you know, put ourselves in that place of the least of these. And that's when he loves to elevate. He loves to elevate those who are humble and he will also take down those who are prideful, you know, but he gives them that choice portion. And I almost kind of wonder, like, was he testing how Saul would react, knowing that he was about to be hoisted into that place of honor? Or was Samuel just honoring God's chosen one? I've always looked at it as a meal was normally what you would do to not rectify, but confirm a covenant in what was being happened. And so they use this often with treaties. And so he's kind of creating a contract and a covenant contract at that saying, you're going to be the new king. So let's now seal the deal and have a meal together. And that's why there's a line that says, you will sit at the table with your enemies, because that means a treaty has been made. Yeah. There's a lot of gospel message in this one chapter alone. If you really dig into it, I mean, just everything from the prophet, the intercession of Samuel. I mean, it actually is through these four chapters, this communion meal, you know, having fellowship, preceding before you are placed in a place of leadership or authority. Like God doesn't just put people into authority. He wants that fellowship first and that communion first. But then we kind of see this short period of rest before Samuel is like, okay, up and at them. You know, it's time to send you out. It's time to send you out. So it's like he gives him that period of rest and then it's time to work. And we talked, we were talking about this behind the scenes, like, because you mentioned it, you said rest started to feel like a sin. And then as I was editing that video, I came back to y'all. I'm like, oh, my gosh, the Lord spoke to my heart and was like, OK, yeah, rest is not a sin. Absolutely not. And we will try to warp that in our minds. But then he so clearly said, but idleness is a sin. And if you are needing to rest after a day of idleness, then where are you at? You know, and I was like, oh, my gosh, we need to talk more about this. because we, we, God gave us rest. It's a gift. But then of course, it's time to get up and work after that rest. Yeah. So even in this next chapter, Saul hides, you know, he's sitting in idleness instead of walking in obedience with what he's been called to. And so you're not, you know, that you're not wrong. There's plenty of Proverbs actually, where it talks about, you know, the ant getting up and doing his work every single day pretty much calling us to get up and do the work like an ant like keep going keep pushing Put one foot in front of the other and not sit in that idleness because you need to store up what you need for the future ahead. Don't get complacent eating the best portions and not doing the work. And again, that goes back to that idea of when I was questioning, maybe Samuel wasn't tested. I don't want to say Samuel was because that's not something that God would want us to do. But was God testing Saul's heart? Yes. you know like okay i'm gonna give you a little taste of what it what it's like to have that choice portion to have that seat of honor how you can handle it you know and then i mean that's what he does right like he gives us a little and then he wants to see if we'll steward it well so that he can give us even more well i think the kingship is the test actually a lot of the commentaries that i read on logos bible software one of them i said why you know because it has ai built into it but it only feeds from the commentaries which is beautiful so it's only feeding from there it's not going on the internet. And so the commentaries that pulled up, I said, why does Saul get chosen as the king when we knew, according to prophecy, that Judah was supposed to hold the scepter? And I'm like, why, why, why? And it says that everything points to the fact that God was showing us, he was doing a test, and it was meant to be a negative lesson saying that everything here looks great according to human qualifications. This man is wealthy. He's from a good family. He's taking care of the farm. He sat and sat and had dinner and looked the part. He had the proper etiquette. You know, imagine him tall and sitting there strong, shoulders back, eating properly with the pinky up in the air and everything looks right. And then something goes wrong along the way, which we're not there yet. So let us all put on our thinking, discernment caps and kind of see what happened here and what transformed throughout that process where the human qualifications didn't pass the test for God. So maybe we'll call this one a quiz then. This was a quiz before the big test. I mean, we have a lot of those. I feel like we have a lot of quizzes along the way, you know? And it's not always like some big God is testing me. It's just like, here's a little opportunity. Well, the Bible Project has what they call the classroom. It's completely free. And their classroom is considered seminary level classes. And they say that the Bible opens with a test and ends with a test. And every garden is a representation of that test. I know, right? So it's completely free if y'all want to go and download their app. It's called a classroom. But let's talk about that test, right? So it ends here. And it said, and as the verse 27, 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's passed on, stop here yourself for a while that I may make known to you the word of God. So how do we pass the test? We know the word of God. But there's one thing where you have knowledge acquisition. He knows God's word now. Yeah. Is he going to apply it? Well, now in chapter 10, Saul is anointed king. We start off in verse one. Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on his head. So this wasn't just a, you know, dab the oil in a cross on your forehead. This was he poured it. It was messy. And he kissed him and he said, has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people, Israel? And I think you had mentioned this before, that he's not called a king. He's called a prince. Yes, actually. And that is in our heart work today because I stopped there and I was like, prince? Like, that's where I got hung out, you know, just like where you saw restrain his people. So the word here in Hebrew is nagid. So if anyone wants to write it in a GID and it means prince. or a steward or a landlord. And specifically, it's not a sovereign ruler. And I said, well, if that's not a sovereign ruler, which most kings like to call themselves that, what is the term for sovereign ruler? And in Hebrew, it's mikiel. Maybe I said it wrong. M-E-K-E-L. So for some of your handiwork homework is to go and research these terms and then look for all the names of God that has some variation of Michiel in it. So he has been anointed with that oil and it's dripping with that beautiful abundance. But yet his calling, his assignment is not to rule over the people, but to help govern them, to lead them, to steward, to be a shepherd because God is still sovereign over them. Yeah. I mean, that goes back to that word restrain When we kind of just stopped on it for a moment, that is, it means to govern, hold within boundaries, control. And so it's not like rule with an iron fist. It's like, no, you keep them in the boundaries that I have created as your sovereign king. Right. And it's still like that today. I mean, nothing's changed. He's like, he's like, here you go. I've given you all the boundaries right here, you know, and I'm king over your life and I'm to rule over your life. And again, we see all so much gospel in this. We see Jesus all over this because even when he says he's been anointed as prince, right? So Jesus, the anointed one, the prince of peace over his people, Israel, you shall reign over them. Jesus reigns over us. He will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And then he tells them, this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. And he gives them very precise details of what that sign will be to make sure that it's clear. Like there's no questions. You know, I had someone ask me the other day, like, I feel like God's giving me signs, but I'm not quite sure. And after reading this, I'm like, you know, I don't think we need to go digging so much for signs. Like God, he's clear whenever he wants to give a sign. He doesn't leave us to guess. Yeah, yeah, there's no guessing. And this is where, like, people also ask the question with connection to that is, am I in God's will? And so I feel like if you are in God's will, then you actually see those signs more clearly because you're learning to literally hear his voice through his word. As you're in his word, like we said, these are love letters. You tend to know they're from him. You know, when people were way up in the war, they would get love letters, you know, from their significant other. And then they could tell when one came and it was just off, just slightly off. And you're like, no, my love would never write like that. That would never come like that. And so when you can, when you're sitting with God intimately and you, and signs come in your life, yeah, you don't question. You're like, yep. Okay, Lord, I hear you. That door is open. Let's go. Yeah. Or even when people start to speak into your life, which I, man, I've had so many people speak into my life and claim that it was from the Lord. And I knew, I was like, that is not his voice. And it just was like, it wasn't because they were saying anything evil. It just was like, you know, I was like that, that note is a little flat. Like it hurts my ear a little bit. My equilibrium is off, you know? Yes. Yes. I know what you mean. Like your spirit just feels like, yeah. Which is says in the New Testament to test the spirit, to test it. Even though it might sound beautiful, you know, but a caged bird will still sing. Oh, girl. That was good. That's true. But it might be a little bit flat. So if your spirit, if your spirit is tweaking a little bit, yeah, that's that. I mean, I feel like that in itself is a sign. I mean, that is that gift of discernment, I think, when you kind of just feel a little like, I don't know about this. I'm going to sit with the Lord with this a little bit longer. But let's take a look at some of those signs that he did give him. Verse 2, he says, When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelza, and they will say to you, Well, 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 on from there farther, come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men now going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, 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. And then 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. I mean, I'm just, I'm blown away. I'm like, what incredible detail here. And again, it would not leave Saul guessing because if there wasn't the tambourine and the lyre, maybe just a harp, maybe a trombone, I don't know. It would be like, no, that's not it. That's not God. You know, I'm waiting for that other line of the music to be played. And then verse six, this is the big one. Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. I love that line. I love that line so much. Turned into another man. Yeah, you and I spoke about that one. Yeah. I absolutely love that the Lord already knew what needed to happen. And during this time, he would allow his spirit to come in and transform people to be used for his glory, to be empowered with his spirit to do the work that he's called them to. And yet, where did he go wrong? And I was like, how could you turn your back on the spirit that is in you? And then it so clearly showed me the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Like it was a conscious decision where you're running, you're running with God, you're running with his spirit in you. And then you hit this place and you're like, nope, no more obedience. And it's an about face and you run in the opposite direction. Like that's all there is to it. You have said, I reject that spirit. But here, this beautiful dance that God does with him. And then he speaks the love and the truth all over these people that they were astounded. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know, it's interesting. We were, again, talking about it, about when we are saved, we are immediately a new creation. But it does take some time, right, to transform. It's kind of like we had that image of the butterfly. Like you can be a chrysalis, like God creates, you know, you as a new creation. But there takes some transformation that or transformation needs to take place before you turn into the butterfly. But the thing is, the butterfly was always there. And that really just helped me to see it so much better because, I don't know, some people kind of wonder, like, I don't know. what now? You know, when they become a Christian, they're like, I mean, I thought life was going to be like rainbows and butterflies and sunshine. It's like, actually, I hate to tell you this, but it's actually the fire. You know, it's those hard times that are actually going to refine you and transform you and mold you into who God wants you to be. It's always trial by fire, right? Where he does his greatest refining work. And yet, what a beautiful thing at the end of the day, if you are able to stand firm in that, you know, and you can weather that storm with the Lord, that's the thing. He'll always be with you and he'll get you through it. And if you can, then, you know, you have this beautiful end of a story. Yeah. Well, as you use that imagery of the chrysalis, I just saw the butterfly's wings when they first come out. They're wet and they're furrowed and they have to sit there and wait in pain, waiting for them to unfurl and dry out. And then I was like, man, they need that time. And I saw the turtles. I know this is so random, jumping over. Do you know the turtles, the sea turtles? Now, you know this better than most, right, Hawaii? Aren't you not allowed to help the turtle out of the shell? Nope. They need the struggle to strengthen their bodies. They need the fight to get out of the eggshell and to crawl out of that hole. Because without that strength, without that travesty of getting from that into the ocean, they will not survive because they are not strong enough. And they didn't learn survival techniques. So even though you're a new creation in Christ, you need to go through the fire to get strong. And in verse 9, we see that not only has he been given a spirit, but it says that when he was turned back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. Not only is the power of the Lord on him and the spirit is upon him. This is what we're talking about. The heart. I want a new heart, Lord. That's what it says in the Psalms. Cleanse my heart of the Lord. So Kenoy, what heartbeats are just bouncing off these pages as we see this transformation of Saul? Well, I really linked the new heart to verse six, you know, where he transformed him into a new man. And that just shows us how that is God's heart for us. Like he wants to transform us and mature us so that we can now step into the role and into the calling that he has for every single one of us, you know, and each one of us is so different. And so for all of us, it's going to look a lot different in the way that this happens. But he has such a great purpose. Hard to find, you know, that's kind of our big question. Like, what is my purpose here on Earth? But how are you going to find it? Yeah. Yeah, girl, I'm a cocoon turning into a moth. Okay. not a chrysalis into a butterfly. The monarchs can have it. I'm going to be like that glowing, was it the moon moth, you know, that's all green and big and glorious. I'm going to shine bright in the middle of the night. That's what I am. You're going to scare my daughters. She's scared of moths. They're so big. The mammoth, that's what's called the mammoth moth. Yes, I think they're gorgeous. And with that spirit of the Lord rushing upon Samuel, you know, that was God empowering him to be able to do the things that he has called him to do. And that's exactly what has to happen before anybody can kind of take authority, like take your authority. It's like, well, have you been empowered by the spirit of God to be able to do that? You know, but he has this calling in this role and his purpose for him to be able to prophesy. And that is kind of what happens next, you know? And so again, there's that sign and that, that fruition that we're starting to see take place here in verse 10, 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, which we read just a little bit earlier, but he won't be a prophet by trade, but this was a really great opportunity for him to be able to do what God was calling him to do in that moment. Yeah, I really like that. As you jump down to verse 11, it says, the people said to one another, what has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And like you said, that's not what he's meant to do. And the man of the place answered, and who is their father? Therefore, it became a proverb, is Saul also among the prophets. And when he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. And he was anointed and he was given this great prophecy in this moment. But that doesn't just, you know, this one time event make him a prophet or a prophetess. He was anointed in this moment and empowered, but he has his own calling and anointing to do. But people around them, they're going to see what they want to see. they're going to see him as the prophet or the donkey herder or you know this guy from quiche like you can't change what people are going to perceive you as interesting i'm the girl who reads the bible every day and if i don't read the bible every day some people think that i'm not living out the will of god which is really really yeah really disheartening i'm like pretty sure i am but yeah yeah that was that was a season that was a role that was a purpose in that season and And now what if he prophesies for six months? Like he was all in, but that's not the anointing. That's not the calling, the oil of flesh that was poured on his head. But you can't control how he was perceived. And it keeps on going until his own uncle is asking him, where'd you go? To seek the donkeys? And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel. Please tell me what Samuel said to you. Like they're already like, what's going on? Yeah. Spill the tea. Right. My girl, my little daughter says, and he said, 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 has spoken, he did not tell him anything. So again, the calling was there. The prophesying was there, but yet he said, I'm going to guard this in my heart. And that reminds me of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who see these miracles and see these happening. And she goes, I'm going to guard that in my heart. It's not the season or time to reveal what the Lord has given to me. So even you, Kenoy, the girl who read the Bible every single day, when you were given the mission of the heartbeat of God here, you've been staying obedient to it, but it doesn't mean it's easy. Just like Saul is going to hide. He's going to hide from his calling for a little bit. He's going to sit in that idleness for a little bit. He's going to sit in fear for a little bit. And then he's going to step out. And where we want to take note as disciples, right? in discipleship is surround ourselves with people like Samuel, people who are going to speak truth into our life and help us stay on that calling. Okay. I mean, I know I definitely have had some Samuels in my life, you know, who have kind of checked my heart or checked me where I was at in my life and called me out on things that I didn't really want to listen to or hear at the time. But that's what Samuel does, you know, in this next section, he calls the people together at Mizpah and then he drops some truth bombs on them and reminds them, you know, y'all have been rejecting God, by the way. I'm giving you, you got your king, but that was a sin, you know, and he holds them accountable, you know, and they're brought together by lot. So again, it's one of those like by chance things, but really it's not. God's sovereignty was all over this. I'm sort of like that lottery system to choose their king. And they're like, wait, because Saul, obviously he goes and hides, right? Like you were saying earlier, he goes and hides in the luggage. And then everybody's like, wait a minute, in there, you know, after they do the the tribe, the clan, and the family. And they're like, isn't there one more dude that's supposed to be here? And it was. It was Saul who was hiding in the baggage. And then he pops out, pops out this tall, dark and handsome man. And that's exactly what they wanted to see. And so they're like, long live the king. This is the man. And they're celebrating. And I was like, oh, man. It's like, there we go again with all of that celebration, that outward, everything looks good on the outside. But that doesn't mean that there's approval by God in the sense of, yes, this was what I wanted for you all along, because that wasn't. He's like, actually, I'm giving you what you want. You can go ahead and celebrate, but it's not the best thing for you. I just saw parallelism as you went through, like they called the clan, they called the father, they called the sons, and then the ones hidden off on the side, and where he knew his calling and his anointing, yet he chose to hide. But whenever it was David's turn, he wasn't off hiding. He was, again, doing the humble beginnings, doing what he needed to be doing. But he bravely and calmly stepped into it and took the flask and the anointing and hid it in his heart for years. That's interesting because I sit and think like, how have I reacted? Have I been a Saul or have I been a David And I never want to like put myself in a box or anything like that or speak that over my life But when I really do think about it I like have I hidden from my calling at all That's in the heart work. Oh, it is. OK, I'm going to sit with the heart work this week because obviously the Lord wanted to work on my heart with this one. I am. I'm going to sit with that one because I kind of feel like I've been, again, such a girl of faith that I've never had a problem. In fact, stepping out in faith has always been very exciting to me. I like excitement like that. I like being a faithful, let's just take a chance, take a chance, you know, and see what the Lord will do. So, yeah, I don't think I've hid from it, but I've definitely, I don't know, I've definitely kind of drifted away at points. Yeah. Like, are we still hearing and discerning the word of God or did it get distracted with the ambience and the noise of the cymbals and the gongs and the voices of the people? And so why we keep hiding and running away the way that Jesus did in the New Testament is I need to go sit in silence. I hear one voice so I can discern it over the noise of the world. So after that celebration, Samuel does what he's supposed to do as that leader. He announces the rights and the duties or basically like the leadership boundaries of this kingship for Saul. And then in verse 26, it says, Saul also went to his home at Gibeah and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. And I sat with that one for a moment. Obviously, God was, you know, giving Saul protection and God touched the hearts of the men of valor. What did that mean? Yeah, I sat with that one, too. One, it was beautiful. Just just the whole thing, the men of valor. Like these are men of integrity. These are men of courage. These are men of valiant behavior and attitudes, and they're going to surround Saul and give him protection. You know, Lord of hosts. We can see his mighty heartbeat of wanting to protect his anointed, to protect those who have a mighty calling to do his work. But it said, whose hearts God had touched. Man, you can go in a few directions with that. You know, for someone like me who likes to do deep search, deep research, it's almost that, well, has God got to touch your heart before you can do the work? Like, was this, did they have free will in here or their heart was fertile ground and they were already ready to receive it? And so when he touched them, it was kind of like the Holy Spirit being filled because they were willing. Yeah. And they had and they had trained up like the men of valor. They probably trained almost their whole life to become this. And so they were. I mean, it was that readiness, that discipline, all those years of discipline. We talked about discipline. That led to this moment of like, okay, now I'm going to touch your heart. And now you're ready to go. That's good. But they weren't the only ones there watching Saul and their hearts being touched. The very next line says, but some worthless fellows said, how can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present, but he saw his peace. He held his peace. Well, that just spoke to me. Right. I mean, he wasn't their cup of tea. And leaders, anytime God chooses his anointed ones, you know, chooses and anoints people, empowers them. They're always met with opposition. I mean, it's all throughout the Bible. You know, Israel's constantly met. Once he empowered them, anointed them, spoke to them, gave them their boundaries, sent them out to go, opposition immediately. Yes. And that always happens. But it is that he held his peace. Yes. We were just talking about this. Guard your peace. Peace beyond understanding. Peace that comes from the knowledge of God that will rise up against any lofty opinions or arguments that someone may have against you. because you're in his will. When the person's not in the will of God, that's when you need to question and test the spirit. But here God is letting us know that from front facing, Saul is doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's walking in the calling. He's anointed for the work. And some men whose hearts are turned right there because they were ready and they were willing, everyone's going. But even in that, there's going to be opposition. You're never going to have everyone. Yes. You're not going to please everyone. You're not everyone's lemonade because they drink tea. You're not everyone's cup of coffee because they drink Pepsi. Coke Zero with cherry. Coke Zero with cherry. Okay. My sweet tea. All right. We just can't be everything to everyone. It's hard, you know, because especially when you care, you have the heart to serve, want to, you want to help people, but you do have to come to a place where it's like you can't help everyone. I mean, there were times when, not because he couldn't, but there were times when Jesus would cross the road when people were just, Jesus, you know, and sometimes some people have to be left in their discontentment or dislike of a person, maybe because it's their season to go find somebody else, or maybe because that person just isn't their Samuel or, you know, their leader. Yes. And that goes for myself, you know, I have to find part of the guarding your peace If you don't want to be anxious every day, sitting under the leadership of a person, you might want to bring that in prayer to the Lord. Like, is this the person who I'm supposed to be sitting under? Because that anxiety and that anxiousness and all of that that wells up within, that's not of the Lord. We got to protect our peace with everything within us, because that is a beautiful gift that the Lord gives to us. And we are called to steward it. Which again, hold this. If you haven't read the rest of the story, you'll see that Saul stopped guarding this peace. He stopped protecting his heart and he allowed those arrows to stick and stay. And then from there, he had insecurities breed up inside of him. And he thought that he could control the situation. But the more that he held tightly to what was in front of him, the more he actually lost control. So it seems like we're kind of off to a good start. You know, Saul's chosen. He's anointed. He's humble. He's had this amazing mentor supported by most people, not all, but most transformed by God. But sadly, it doesn't last. Like you said, in verse one, we see where there is a little bit of a quiz. I was going to say test, but I'm going to call it a quiz. Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a treaty with us and we will serve you. But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, on this condition, I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all of Israel. In case you got mixed up in who everybody is right here, because sometimes that can happen. We're just going to paint it very simple. The Ammonites, that's the enemy, that Nahash, right, comes up against a part of Israel, which is Jabesh Gilead, and he besieged them. And so they're scared. You know, they're like, they're right back where they were before they asked for a king to save them. And so because they don't want to go into the fight, they kind of sort of compromise. And they're like, actually, can we make a treaty with you? You know, they start talking to the enemy. And Pastor Jabin even said this past week, and he's like, don't have conversations with the devil. Don't talk to the enemy. Don't compromise. Don't make deals with him. Don't make treaties with him because that's what's going to get you in trouble. Yes. Yes. Now, what's interesting here as well is we see the word besieged and it's very helpful to know what tactic he is using. He has surrounded them and trapped them in their own land where they are a prisoner. Yeah. They have nowhere to go. They're going to have famine. We know later in the first and second Kings of first and second Chronicles that there were cities that were besieged and they ended up eating their own children. So not trying to paint you a horrible picture, but that is how bad it can get. And so they're like, hey, we don't want to die from starvation. And they reach out and want to make a treaty with the evil one. And what he says here is very interesting about gouging out the right eye. So back then you would hold up a shield and it would cover your left eye and your right eye is all that you could see. And so your right eye being gouged out means that you are no longer suitable for service or as a soldier you're no longer a man of valor you can't go and fight for your people so he's like yeah sure but you'll never be a fighting man again when you give up and you cowardly sign a treaty with the enemy how will you ever stand on your own two feet and face the enemy again because you physically can't anymore that's kind of what he's saying he's like yeah but give me your manhood yeah right he's gonna do it physically. And that is so the devil's way still. That's still his MO where all he can do is intimidate us. He can't touch us. And a lot of people forget that. I always hear, I have people who message me often and they'll tell me they're, or they'll talk about demon possession or which, you know, like they've had a spell cast on them. And I lovingly tell them, if you are a Christian, If you are covered by the blood of Jesus, the enemy cannot touch you. Now, yes, there is such thing as oppression, possession. You cannot be you cannot be possessed where the spirit of God is. The demon, the devil cannot possess what Jesus has bought back from him. Right. Like that's just the plain and simple. Jesus got you like he's the one holding you. So the devil cannot possess you back. OK, so I just want to be very clear about that to give people empower them, like to give them authority. Like, no, no, no, no. He may be, his enemy might be trying to intimidate me. Other people might be trying to intimidate me. There may be lies being spoken about me to me, whatever. And that, but that's all the devil's got. That's all he's got is intimidation until you give him permission, which is kind of what was happening here. They were giving him permission to now gouge their eyeballs out. Yes. Yeah, that's exactly it. And so where are they going to turn? Where are they going to go for refuge, for help? They got a new king on the scene. So let's see how he shows up. Yeah. I mean, they kind of got what they wanted, you know, and they're still scared. Like, this is that same kind of fear that made them ask for that king in the first place. So, I don't know. Yeah. So, when it's visible, you have security. So, they're going to go to their visible security in the new prince of the land. He's not even a king because where did they find him? He's not on a throne. We're still in chapter 11. So, we go to verse 3. It says, the elders of Jabash said to him, give us seven days. Respite. Remember, they're being besieged. I'm just going with it, girl. Let's go. That we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you. And when the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people and all the people wept aloud. So there is some respite here. He gives them permission to go out seven days of not starving them or beating them up or torturing them so they can get a messenger out. I don't know why he had them under his thumb, why he gave them this. All I can see is God's heartbeat, right? Yeah. His provision, him looking over them. Oh, yeah. Like, I'm going to give you a window to cry out and get the help that you need and go to the visible security that you can get to. And all the people wept. And now Saul is made aware that his people are in need of a savior. Yeah. And it's interesting because we see him once again. He's working, right? He's out in the field working. And when he gets back, he sees the people weeping and he's kind of like, well, what's going on over here? You know, what is happening? And then in verse six, the spirit of God again rushes upon Saul. Saul, then he heard these words and his anger was greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen, cut them in pieces, sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of the messenger, saying, whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And then the dread of the Lord fell upon all the people and they came out as one man. So I found that interesting that when the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul, that's when he became angry. But it's righteous anger, obviously, because he's not rebuked here for this action and what happened. And I thought that was interesting because we know the verse that says be angry. So anger is not necessarily the sin. It's what you do with that anger. Be angry, but do not sin. That's sin. Yeah. Yeah. And I had asked you a question, too, about here are these stories in the Old Testament. And do they still apply today? Or do people pull it out of context, pull it out of what is happening here and try to apply it to our lives today? when we're now under the grace, under forgiveness. You know, these are some of those mysteries that I wrestle with and not having clear direction and explanation on. Yeah. I mean, today when people speak about righteous anger and stand on truth, you know, and they get angry about it and a lot of people will defend that. And I'm not saying this is wrong, but a lot of people will defend that with the verse that speaks about Jesus flipping the tables. Yes. Right. Oh, Jesus got angry and Jesus flipped tables. But then you were saying, yeah, but it's easy to do the flipping of the tables. It's not easy to do what happened right after that. Yes, to walk in that place of humility and long suffering, because that's what Jesus does next. He was angry, righteously angry, as they turned his house of God, the house of his father, into a den of thieves. And he's like, get out. He cleaned house the same way that Gideon cleaned house, the same way that Samuel has called the people to do clean house. Get the idol ship out. And here it was money. It was greed. And he said, clean the house so I can go home. And that's what he did. He walked that long suffering road and he let them spit on him. They let him he let him humiliate him. He took it on the nose. And that's really what it comes down to, because it's easy, again, to flip the tables. It's easy to be mad. It's easy to, quote, defend the truth. It is not easy to die to self. And if you are, Jesus wasn't attacking the people. He was cleaning house of the sin that was taking place. So if you are, quote, flipping tables in the name of tearing someone else down, you know, saying things to hurt them or whatever you're doing, you aren't in that place of humility. You aren't dying to self. If we're all called to die to our own selfishness and pride every single day, that's part of taking up our cross. You know, that is that crucifixion that we do of our flesh. So it's amazing that, yes, this this is so applicable in such a real way today, especially today. You know, it's so easy for people to just with all of their anger. Yeah. And, you know, like you said, he wasn't rebuked because he says, Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people and they came out as one man. Then the dread of the Lord came out and they come out as one man. They were united in this righteous anger. They became one person, one people to fight for one common goal, which was to not stand under the tyranny. Right. I mean, this is a different kind of fear that's in them now. You know, it's really a pivotal moment because he's stirring the hearts of the people in a different way. where he puts his fear, not their own fleshly fear. It's the fear of the Lord in them. And that is the kind of fear, right, that we are called to have that will produce that unified obedience. And that is the kind of fear that's going to lead to salvation. That is the kind of fear that's going to lead to the gladness of heart. And you see in verse 10 and 11, therefore, the men of Jabesh said, tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you and you may do to us whatever seems good to you. And then the next day, Saul put the people in three companies. So they're kind of making it seem like that he's going to get what he wants. But Saul has another plan. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning, watch, and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered so that no two of them were left together. So just like you said, they didn't end up where they thought they were going to end up. Yeah. And so just like that, God is going to unify us. The day will come. We will all be one people, one tribe, one nation under God, and we will not stand divided anymore. But the enemy will be divided. He will not have a leg to stand on and no two will be able to gather together. And all the lies, all the strongholds that the enemy has placed into the people will be replaced with the true word of the Lord and a fear of the Lord and no longer the fear of man. Yeah, we see that happen, too, right here at the end. Like you're you're actually leading us to write what happens where God or the people say to Samuel. Hey, you remember those guys who are on the outskirts like who is this to lead us? Right. The people said to Samuel, who is it that said shall Saul reign over us? And then he says, bring the men that we may put them to death. So now they're like those guys, you know, who didn't believe in you. Let's bring them out and hold them accountable. And then it leads into this renewal of the kingdom. Like whoever was opposed to the kingdom are now being held accountable. Again, you see gospel all over that. And it's still a humble heart of Saul because he says, Saul said, verse 13, not a man shall be put to death this day for today. The Lord has worked salvation in Israel. So he's not there to condemn the men or point a finger. See, do his gotchas. That's what I call it. Right. Gotcha. God call me. Now what you got to say? No, no. He goes, no, no, no. Today's a day of celebration. It's not about me. And it's not about them who doubted me. It's about what God did through us and the salvation we have through him. And I just love that. Flip the script, y'all. Flip the script. Yeah. Because God, he's going to avenge his people. You know, he will bring victory and it can stir vengeance in the hearts of man. But God will vindicate those whom he chooses. And so Samuel calls for the renewing of that kingdom right there. And the people make Saul king and they rejoice and everybody brings peace offerings. And then everybody live happily ever after, which, of course, we know they didn't. It just feels like that at the end of this at the end of this chapter. But really, they had to accept the one that God had appointed for their king and their deliverance. And this is a beautiful moment of communion, symbolizing that covenant renewal. The fact that it's happening here at Gilgal, that is really significant because this is a place of that communion that would often take place where God would renew the covenant. So now here in chapter 12, we come to Samuel's farewell address, you know, and he starts off pretty much by defending his integrity. You know, he's like, I've walked before you since before my youth. I made you a king. You know, my sons are no longer in positions of authority. So basically, he's like, you know, I didn't practice nepotism. and he says, God as my witness, in the end, what he's basically saying is like, God is the ultimate witness to our character. And that's who he's calling upon here, that he will be vindicated before the people which is what God is doing here I mean we see it written plainly before us And I find this interesting in verse 7 He says Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. And I circled that stand still because immediately I thought of, you know, be still and know that I am the Lord. But this is more like courtroom language. Okay. OK, so expound on that, because the only thing I can see are busy people. Yeah, we hear you. But I got to get my Bible up and I got to get in my car and make it to Golden Corral before the rush hour. Those buns are so good. I love their little buns. No, yeah, that's exactly what is happening. So when you think about a courtroom and the judge coming to his stand, what does he do? He puts the gavel down because everybody's talking. We're a busy body, busy body. And he he's like, stand still, quiet, you know, take a stand. present yourself, but quiet your spirit. Yeah. Okay. So he's like, I know that y'all have a lot going on. I know that y'all with Samuel up here, but hush, sit, listen. Yeah. Okay. All right. I mean, and really, do we not hear that? Like, again, we ask the question, what, Lord, what do you want me to do? What is my purpose? What is my calling? And he's like, will you just be quiet for a moment? You know, let me speak to you for a second. We got two ears to listen and one mouth. Yeah, I feel that for real, because one thing that I've done is that I'm very good at multitasking in the sense that, well, also I need something going on. We talk about it all the time. I don't sit in silence very often. I always have music going, worship music going, regular music going, or a sermon or a podcast in my ear. And over the last couple of weeks, I could feel anxiety blowing up because I would not stand still before God and just be still. That's a spiritual discipline. And I say that to one, hold myself accountable to anyone who's out there, but also to you, my friend, Kanoi, which we do talk about things. Iron sharpening iron. Yeah. And just sitting. So now I purposefully say, I'm not going to listen to that until I can be still. Yeah. And that's what I'm doing. So the rest of the time, I'm just present. And that is another thing. Yeah. Just being present while I wash the dishes and talking to God. Being present with my kids in the car or at the softball game or the baseball game or the wrestling game. or the wrestling game or the wrestling match. I can name a couple more. Yeah. You've got times five. It's true though. I mean, that is, I feel like that is a part of rest is being present. That's really hard to do for, for us today with, you know, this, this in our hand, right? Like with this in our hand constantly all over the place, like your, your mind is never resting when you're constantly scrolling and scrolling and scrolling because now you're investing your whole self and all your thoughts and allowing, you know, all kinds of things to fill your heart and mind. And I'm not condemning anybody. I'm preaching to myself here. You know, it is to be present. It's funny because when we first got together, Holly, you and I were really good at taking the pictures and doing the things and, you know, branding and all this stuff. The last three times we've been like, dang, we forgot to take pictures because we were, we were just being present in the moment and having enjoying the fellowship you know together and i think gosh what do we do take one selfie in church this the past four days that you guys were here and that's okay yeah but we do we we've come into the society of everything's got to be documented or it didn't happen yeah yeah and then that's a lie it's a lie that we need to keep up with you know what the world wants it to look like and also like you need to have a glimpse into all the behind the scenes and everything that's happening. And the Lord is saying, you need to just sit in this and be with me. And that, you know, if y'all go back and watch the heart to heart on anxiety, you'll see that even though we are running the race for that well done, my good and faithful servant, even Paul said, guard your peace to sit and to rest because he cannot run around trying to please man. He's like, who am I if I please man, but I haven't lived to please God that I I don't fear him. And so we wrestled with just being women of Christ, sisters loving Jesus. Here, right here, Samuel is pleading with these people, with God's chosen people. And he's like, you need to sit for a moment. Don't worry about the wheat. Don't worry about the sheep. Don't worry about the donkeys. Sit. Listen. Isn't it interesting? The Lord is, he's repeating that over and over just in these four chapters, like sit still. And it's been in different moments of Saul and Samuel's lives that he's doing that. And how loud of a whisper that is, that he's like, sit still, sit still, you know? A loud whisper. Yeah, it's a loud whisper. And why? Well, Samuel kind of shows us what he's trying to do here. He takes that moment when he finally does get their attention to remind them about the faithfulness of God. But also he reminds them of their unfaithfulness, you know, like reminds them again, And hey, y'all still rejected God as king over your life. And so if we go down to verse 12, he says, And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your king. And now behold, the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked, behold, the Lord has set a king over you. So he's like, yeah, you guys asked for it. But at the end of the day, God is still sovereign. and he is the one who is giving you exactly what you wanted. Like you guys were scared and you did stupid things because of that. But God, I can just end right there. But God, because if we really think about it, it is our fear of whatever, fear of man, fear of not having enough money, fear of this, fear of that, that leads us to make stupid decisions. That leads us to sin. and if you just replace those fears with the truth of God's word, you would be in a different position. And I should really stop saying you because, again, I'm preaching to myself. Yeah, yeah. Well, and because it is us. It goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. Again, I listened to a sermon this morning just for my own personal study of dealing with emotions. And he made a point. He says, you know, we were not created or built to handle rejection. Wow. But it was never God who rejected us. Right. It was always us rejecting him. Wow. And then so when we are faced with rejection, a spouse, a romantic relationship, a friend, it's always hard to swallow. And then we then run in these circles and swirl and fear and control because we were not built to be rejected. Wow. I need to sit with that. Yeah. It says you forgot God. That's what Samuel says to them. You forgot God. He didn't forget them. Yeah. He didn't forget you. Whoever it is sitting on the other side of the camera right now, I'm going to look down. I'm going to look at you, Kanhoye. I'm looking at me. He didn't forget us. But how often do we forget he's there for us? You know, Samuel, after reminding them of the faithfulness of God and their unfaithfulness, he gives them a bone, I feel like, in verse 14, I believe it. It says, if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, if both you and the king. So he's holding both the people and Saul accountable, who reigns over you, will follow the Lord your God. It will be well. And I'm like, thank you. OK, you know, like stop reminding me of all the bad stuff. He gave him a bone, you know, and he's like, I want I want you. I want things to be well with you. God cares about our well-being, you know, but it's always going to stem from fear of the Lord, serving him, being faithfully obedient to his word. I mean, that's exactly what he says here. Like, if you want it to be well with you, you got to fear the Lord, serve him with your whole heart and obey his commands. And he's always said that. Yeah. Yeah. Through the entire Torah, even from Genesis. Obey me. Here you go. Serve me. And in that is freedom. And that's the oxymoron that we can't seem to grasp. But he's saying, if you do these things, which seem like bondage, but really is freedom in it, you will be well. But it's when we in the next line, it says, but if you will not, not him. It's not a but God here. It's that but you, you, me, you know, a big old but, you know, when you point your finger, there's four fingers pointing back at me. OK, you know, but you, Holly. But if you, you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. So he says that same thing you mentioned earlier, Kanoi in verse 16. Stand still. Now therefore stand still. Stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. What is he going to do? He says, is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord and asking for yourselves a king. So Samuel called upon the Lord and set the thunder that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And so then they go into a prayer. But first, he didn't give them a wonder and sign to say, here's a blessing and a providence and an abundant. He gave them a sign saying, it is true. You have sinned and your sin is asking for someone else to lead you other than God. And that hit me hard. They had sinned in asking for a king. Why? Why was that considered a sin? I mean, they rejected the lordship of God over their lives as the true king, the one and only true king. And it goes back to that word prince that you were talking about, you know, when you said or when we talked about Saul being called a prince, he was never intended to be the true king over them. Yeah. Well, thankfully, with that fear that is now in the people after seeing this confirmation, yep, you all sinned, then the people finally come to sort of this place of humility and repentance. And they say in verse 19 to Samuel, pray for your servants to the Lord, your God, that we may not die. So they recognize that sin, the wages of sin is death. The fact that they have sinned, they know that death is right around the corner. For we have added to all our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king. And so that is that first step, really, to true repentance is having that fear of the Lord, heeding the conviction, right, whenever there is a sin, and then pleading for that intercession. And again, gospel, we still need that intercession today. Like we have to plead the blood of Jesus in order to be forgiven, right? If we don't have our intercessor, if we didn't have Jesus, none of us would be righteous to stand before God. Yeah, he bought it. He paid the ransom for us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so we all kind of cry that same cry, like, pray for us so we don't die. That's what Jesus did. Does. Constantly. Constantly in the courtroom, right? Like, he is our mediator. He is the one who is defending us. He's our attorney, in a sense. Yes. Ooh, I love it. And that's true, that all those terms are used, even the propitiation. Like, all of that, that's courtroom liturgy. All of it points to we, there is a court case and our sin is on the docket. We are being judged for it. And it was all cleansed and wiped away, blotted out. Again, more of that courtroom terminology that we are found innocent, not because of anything we did, but because of his blood. Yeah. And that's that mercy. And we see the mercy extended right here in verse 20. Samuel said to the people, don't be afraid. Gosh, that's so beautiful. You know, like they're so, they're shaking in their boots. God has so much mercy to be like, you guys don't need to be afraid. He says, you have done all this evil. So yeah, you did. You know, and that's going to be the same way. I believe when we stand before the Lord, yes, he forgets our sin. And it talks about that, how he will take our sin and throw it into the fire. But there is going to be accountability for everything that we have done. It's not something to be scared of, though. And he models that right here. Yeah, you did. But don't be afraid. Right. He says, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. And there are so many beautiful heartbeats all over that. And just the way that God will never leave them. He'll never forsake them. They are his people. He has chosen them. He's a covenantal God. He's a generational God. I mean, you just go on and on and on and on. but it is a picture of us as well. That's the Lord speaking through him, giving them peace and hope, really. Hope that, yeah, you will sin and you have sinned and you did mess up, but if you just lean onto me, cling to me, that's something you said a lot this weekend, clinging to the Lord and not the empty vessels, not the things that will not bring them profit. And Samuel here gets an opportunity to say, Moreover, as for me, verse 23, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will instruct you in the good, in the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king. So what Samuel is saying, He's like, I know my job. I know what I'm called to do. And it is to pray for you unceasingly, to instruct you unceasingly, to be the shepherd that God has called him to do and to continually exhort you. This is good. This is bad. This is good. This is bad. This is for profit. This is for blessing and abundance. This is for wickedness. This is for folly. And so maybe take a page out from Samuel and be like, what has God called us to? What anointing, what voice box have we been given? Whether it's to our coworkers, as a teacher in a classroom, a nurse in that ER, the mother who's at home right now listening and washing those dishes, the father who's having to, you know, drive that truck across the United States to get goods to the next person. Maybe you're a pilot, but if God has called you, only fear him and love him and obey him. And perhaps pray for those that are still lost. There's time. Pray for your loved ones that they will not still do wickedly and be swept away. Heavenly Father, we see your hand at work in these chapters today. And we just humble ourselves before you with so much fear and reverence. Because we do, we want to faithfully serve you with our whole heart. And we thank you, Lord, for reminding us where we do need to be and for giving us those clear boundary lines so that we can be anchored in your holy place. May we always stay under the refuge of your wings, never turning aside or going after empty things, for we know that they do not profit or deliver. And please show us, God, if we are drifting or if we have ever failed to give you permission to pull us back in line. We only want to be where you are. We want to cling to you. So forgive us, God, for ever putting our trust in anything other than you. We know that you are the only one who saves, and we recommit our hearts today. We recommit our minds to be set on you. And we thank you for always extending so much mercy whenever we lose our footing. Lord, may we be more like Samuel, a compassionate and honorable leader who stands on truth and dignity. And may we intercede for those who might be struggling today and even speak truth in love, always pointing people back to you, Jesus. We ask today for a Samuel mentor in our own lives, just as Saul had. Will you connect us, God, with brothers and sisters in Christ who will give us wise counsel, who will pray for us, who will give us encouragement whenever we need it. But again, we'll stand on truth and give it to us in love. So we ask that you will touch our hearts today so that we can be transformed by your presence. We make room for you. We give way to you to be Lord over our lives. And we ask for your peace to wash over us now. And may we stand guard always against the attacks of the enemy who prowls around looking for something to devour. And may our words and our actions be ones that reflect your peace rather than ones that tear down or get defensive. And may we never be agents of the devil's work, but men and women of valor working only for your kingdom and your glory. And we thank you again, Lord, for seeing us just as we are. We are nothing but broken vessels. We are full of insecurities, but we are also redeemed and chosen by you. We're so grateful, God, that you never call us to perfection, but to simple obedience. Even in the everyday or common things, You are always preparing the way and accomplishing something eternal. We love you so much and thank you for this time in Jesus name. Was your heart softened today? Did you feel a nudge from the Holy Spirit that you are ready to accept the open invitation into salvation with Jesus Christ? this is an opportunity for you to accept his love and surrender your heart fully and completely to the sovereignty of our god he knows you he loves you and there is nothing that will keep you from him he will never forsake you or leave you there is nothing that we can do no amount of checking off a list and earning or deserving of that love, but he still gives it. It's a free gift. And so if you feel moved to finally accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to listen to these words, say them out loud, because it says when we believe and confess with our mouth, we will be saved. And so we're going to follow through with the ABCs of salvation. accept believe and confess lord i accept that i'm a sinner i have fallen short of your glory and cannot save myself i acknowledge my need for you and humbly come to you i believe lord that you sent your son jesus christ to die for my sins i believe he rose again conquering death so that i may have eternal life in him. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I surrender my life to you and commit to following you all the days of my life. Amen. If you have prayed this prayer today, welcome to the family. Welcome to God's family. I encourage you to take the next step in courage. Walk boldly and unashamedly in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We encourage you to find a church, a small group, or even some people to do Bible study with. To continue to grow in your faith. And remember the next step in announcing your new salvation in Jesus Christ is a public proclamation and declaration through baptism. Remember you are never alone. God is always with you.