This post is a part of my series of once weekly devotionals called Faith for Thought. Bookmark the homepage for Faith for Thought here to return to it for the weekly update on Thursday!
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1 Samuel 9:3-6, 11-21
3 Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” 4 So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.
5 When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”
6 But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.”
11 As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer here?”
12 “He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. 13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”
14 They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place.
15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.”
17 When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”
18 Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”
19 “I am the seer,” Samuel replied. “Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will send you on your way and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20 As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?”
21 Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”
1 Samuel 9:3-6, 11-21, NIV
Devotion
After my second year teaching, I quit. It wasn’t because I found another job; it was because I was burned out. I was feeling overworked and overwhelmed, and I decided teaching wasn’t for me after all. So I just quit.
A couple months later, in August, I still didn’t have another job. Over the summer, I had applied at some non-profits, some translation/interpretation companies, and some social work-type organizations. I had some interviews too. But nothing had panned out, and now it was the end of August. With my teaching degree, maybe finding another job outside of teaching was going to be more difficult than I had thought.
Then, a week before school was set to begin, I got a call about a part-time teaching job on the other side of town. Turns out my former assistant principal had given them my name (I hadn’t applied). I wasn’t looking for a teaching job; I was looking for something else.
But when a job falls in your lap –especially when you don’t have one — it’s hard not to take it.
And turns out if I hadn’t taken this job I never would’ve met my husband.
At first, though, I was not excited. I quit teaching for a reason. And I felt like Saul, asking, “But am I not the one who quit teaching, telling my former assistant principal I wanted to be done? Why are you even calling me?” Like Saul looking for the donkeys, I was looking for something else.
But I’ve realized that we don’t plan the course of our lives; God does. And even though we like to think we are the ones figuring out our callings and running after God, He’s the one who calls and runs after us.
Action Steps
Occasionally I read the Message version of the Bible, and one of my favorite parts is from Galatians 3:11-12. It reads, “The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.” (Galatians 3:11-12, msg)
Spend some time thinking about the life that God has arranged for you. Are you trying to fight against Him for the life that you want? Or are you embracing the life that He has given you?
