1 Samuel 9:6-11: a reflection

6The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely happens. Now let’s go there. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.” 7Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8The servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9(In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come! Let’s go to the seer;” for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.) 10Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said. Come! Let’s go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. 11As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?”

The young man Saul is out on an ordinary errand, searching for his father's lost donkeys, when the search proves fruitless and his servant makes a suggestion: there is a man of God in the nearby city; perhaps he can tell us where to go. So they set off to find the seer, Samuel. Saul has no idea that this ordinary errand, and this small suggestion of a servant, is leading him toward the moment when he will be anointed king of Israel. A search for lost donkeys is quietly becoming something far greater.

Notice how God works here: through an ordinary errand and a servant's small suggestion. Saul set out for a mundane reason, to find stray animals; and along the way, through the ordinary unfolding of the search and a passing suggestion, he was being led toward his calling. He could not see the greater purpose at work in his ordinary day; but God was guiding his steps through it, turning a lost-donkey errand into the path to a throne.

That is worth remembering about our own ordinary days. We often think God works only through dramatic, obvious moments, and we overlook the ordinary errands, chance suggestions, and mundane unfoldings of daily life through which he may be quietly leading us. Saul did not know that finding donkeys would lead to a kingdom; and we rarely see, in the moment, where our ordinary days are leading. Trust that God is at work in your ordinary days, guiding your steps through mundane errands and small suggestions toward purposes you cannot yet see. Do not despise the ordinary; God works his purposes through it, as he led Saul, through a search for lost donkeys, toward his calling.

Lord, Saul set out on an ordinary errand to find lost donkeys, and through the unfolding of the search and a servant's small suggestion, he was being led toward his anointing as king, though he could not see it. Remind me that you work this way in my own ordinary days. I often think you work only through dramatic, obvious moments, and overlook the ordinary errands, chance suggestions, and mundane unfoldings of daily life through which you may be quietly leading me. Saul did not know that finding donkeys would lead to a kingdom; and I rarely see, in the moment, where my ordinary days are leading. Help me trust that you are at work in my ordinary days, guiding my steps through mundane tasks and small suggestions toward purposes I cannot yet see. Keep me from despising the ordinary; you work your purposes through it. Help me walk my ordinary days trusting your guiding hand.