Scripture Daily

Context No. 2129 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 9:22-27: in context

22Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the guest room, and made them sit in the best place among those who were invited, who were about thirty persons. 23Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’” 24The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Saul. Samuel said, “Behold, that which has been reserved! Set it before yourself and eat; because it has been kept for you for the appointed time, for I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25When they had come down from the high place into the city, he talked with Saul on the housetop. 26They arose early; and about daybreak, Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, “Get up, that I may send you away.” Saul arose, and they both went outside, he and Samuel, together. 27As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” He went ahead, then Samuel said, “But stand still first, that I may cause you to hear God’s message.”

Samuel, who knows that Saul is the one God has chosen to be king, honors him at a feast and keeps him overnight. As Saul prepares to leave in the morning, Samuel walks with him to the edge of the town, and then gives a quiet instruction. He tells Saul to send his servant on ahead, and then says: but stand still first, that I may cause you to hear the word of God. Before Samuel delivers God's message, he asks Saul to stop, to send the others ahead, to stand still and be quiet enough to hear.

Samuel's instruction, stand still, that I may cause you to hear the word of God, points to something we easily miss. Before Saul could hear the momentous word God had for him, he had to stop. The servant was sent ahead; the motion of the journey was paused; Saul was to stand still. Hearing God's word required stillness, a stopping of the busy movement, a quieting in which the word could be received. The word was not heard in the rush of travel but in the pause, when Saul stood still to listen. This speaks to how we hear God, or fail to. Our lives are often full of motion, busyness, noise, one thing after another, with little stillness in them. And in the rush, God's word can go unheard, crowded out by the constant movement and noise. Samuel's word to Saul is, in a sense, a word to us: stand still, that you may hear. Hearing God often requires stopping, pausing the busy motion of our lives, quieting ourselves enough to listen. The word is not usually heard in the rush; it is heard in the stillness. Be still, God says, and know that I am God. There is a knowing of God, a hearing of his word, that comes only in stillness, when we stop long enough to listen. This searches the pace and noise of our lives. Do we ever stand still, stopping the constant motion, quieting the noise, to hear God's word? Or is our life so full of rush and busyness that the word goes unheard, crowded out? Samuel had a momentous word for Saul, but first Saul had to stand still to hear it. And God has words for us that we will hear only if we stop, pause, and quiet ourselves to listen. I will stand at my watch, the prophet says, and look to see what he will say to me. This calls us to build stillness into our lives, to stop the motion and quiet the noise, that we might hear the word God has for us. Stand still, Samuel said, that I may cause you to hear the word of God; and we too must often stand still, pausing the rush and quieting ourselves, if we are to hear what God would say to us in the stillness that our busy motion crowds out.

Is my life so full of constant motion, busyness, and noise that God's word goes unheard, crowded out by the rush, and can Samuel's instruction to Saul, stand still first, that I may cause you to hear the word of God, teach me that hearing God often requires stopping and quieting myself, so that I build stillness into my life, pausing the busy motion long enough to hear the word God would speak to me in the stillness?

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