Have you ever read the First Book of Samuel in the Bible? If you have, you know it’s one amazing story of a great prophet, Samuel, being raised up, who anoints Israel’s first ever king, Saul.
You probably even know that that story continues with a shepherd boy named David killing a giant named Goliath, and later gets crowned as the true king of Israel.
Oh, and if you didn’t know this, David is the ancestor of Jesus. David is a symbol of the King to come.
And thus, through the story that is written in the book of Samuel, we get the redemption of the world and the salvation of mankind.
But here’s the thing – we look at Samuel, Saul and David in this story and probably think, “wow, what great men. Truly God was working like crazy throughout their lives”, and you’re absolutely right – God was indeed working powerfully throughout their lives.
God has been working powerfully throughout your life too.
It’s just that you and I may be bad at recognizing it.
If you actually read the book, you’ll know that the birth of Samuel took place because his mother, Hannah, had a difficult relationship with his father’s other wife, Peninnah. It was Peninnah’s taunting and mocking that drove Hannah to beg God for a son, who she dedicated to the Lord’s service – and that’s how Samuel ended up as a prophet.
Saul was a regular guy whose family donkey went missing and while he was searching for it, he met Samuel, who anointed him as – wait for it – the first king of Israel.
David was a little boy. He was a shepherd boy. All his big, strong brothers were soldiers who were fighting the war against the Philistines.
David had one job in this war – to take food to his brothers. And as he did that, he saw Goliath, the giant, mocking the army of Israel and their God.
And he couldn’t stand it.
He went to the king, offered himself up to fight against Goliath, and destroyed the giant with a slingshot and a pebble.
He went on to become king.
All these men did great things. But they also did ordinary things.
And it was in doing these ordinary things that God led them to their destiny.
God’s saving plan is fulfilled in the ongoing day-to-day lives of human beings.
It is in the ordinary that God works out His purposes – preparing us, pruning us and leading us to have encounters with mockers, prophets and giants.
It is in the ordinary, that God suddenly shows up, and leads us to our destiny.
Ordinary situations are the most meaningful in human life, and it is in these that God “works for good.”
God worked powerfully in the lives of those in 1 Samuel.
God is working powerfully in your life and mine too.
