The Calling

 DEVOTION

1^ST SAMUEL

The Calling

1 Samuel 11:9-15

9 They told the messengers who had come, "Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.'" When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. 10 They said to the Ammonites, "Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever seems good to you." 11 The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 12 The people then said to Samuel, "Who was it that asked, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring these men to us and we will put them to death." 13 But Saul said, "No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel." 14 Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and there reaffirm the kingship." 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.

NIV

Saul acts like a king for the first time, and the people of Israel respond to his leadership. We do wonder why, after he was anointed king by Samuel and all Israel said, “Long live the king”, that he was out in his field behind his oxen when he heard the news about the Ammonites laying siege on the men of Jabesh Gilead. We saw this in the preceding verses, but now he has called Israel to fight, and he has three hundred and thirty thousand fighting men to deliver the men of Jabesh Gilead and destroy the army of the Ammonites. This is exactly what happened as Israel slaughtered them and they scattered so that no two of the Ammonites were together. Now, the men of Israel and the men of Judah went to Gilgal and reaffirmed Saul’s kingship. What do we learn from this narrative? Again, we do not know why Saul was working in his field, as he had been anointed as king over Israel, but now he has taken hold of his calling, his anointing, and led Israel in a great victory, showing his kingship. Although Samuel was the one who did the physical anointing of Saul, he was picked by the LORD. Of course, the LORD was not pleased with the people because they rejected him as their King, leading Israel through prophets, such as Samuel, and they wanted an earthly king so they could be like all the other nations. Nevertheless, we would do well to harken to the call of God upon our lives, doing whatever he has planned or purposed for us. Although following Jesus is indeed his purpose for all of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Within that general purpose for believers of following Jesus, we should search our hearts as to what that means and what that looks like in our lives. We wonder if we follow close enough or if we chase after our own ambitions while we simply think we are Christians, do a few religious things, like attending church, and even serving in some way, or doing some works. But is that truly following Jesus? Maybe that is the way life is, and that’s alright, as long as we confess with our mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we are saved. Yet, at the same time, we know that we each have been called to one task, Noah was called to the singular task of building the ark, while Moses was called to the one task of delivering Israel from the Egyptians and Samuel was called to the singular task of being a judge over Israel. Now we see that Saul is called to the position of king. Therefore, we believe each of us has been called, or assigned by God, to this one individual task in life. Yes, as Christians, or rather as believers, we have all been called to follow Jesus and live by his teaching. However, just as we have been given the example of the body of Christ is made up of parts, as our human body, with some being the eyes, others the hand, and so on, we each have an individual part in the kingdom. We cannot do everything, or desire to be or do what someone else is or does, as we have our very own calling from God to be who we are and do what he has called us to be and do. If we haven’t figured out what our task is, then we need to ask him, and he will give us a clear understanding of our calling. Let us serve where he decides. Let us simply follow his calling on our lives, being and doing our purpose in the kingdom.