God's Purpose among Questionable Characters

            Saul’s such a great choice for a king.  After all, as Kenny Mayne often comments on SportsCenter, “He’s tall.”  Also, his dad’s rich.  He must be a good choice.

            On the other hand, he takes direction from a servant, he’s from Gibeah—infamous from the end of Judges—and, when the lot falls to him, they find him hiding among the baggage.  (In Saul’s defense, there is a long history of avoiding office among God’s people:  Moses famously tries to talk God out of it; St. Augustine (early 5^th century) was corralled into priesthood almost against his will and very reluctantly became bishop.  I’ve often commented that if my primary concern was my own spiritual well-being, I would have avoided the Ministry.)  Then, having been anointed, he returns to his home.

            The monarchy is off to a grand start, and to make it worse, Samuel goes all Richard Nixon on the people of Israel:  “You won’t have old Samuel to kick around anymore!”

            Reading Israel’s history makes life in the church a little easier.  After all, it’s pretty clear that there’s no golden age for Israel.  They’re as much God’s problem as the means for His solution.  The same thing holds in the church.  At any given time, it is populated by reluctant leaders, questionable choices, and prickly personalities.  But, through all that, the Church is still called to be the instrument by which the Lord shares His good news with the world.