Seize the Moment – Day 743
The Lord Reigns Over the Nations!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, March 30.
The next three chapters cover the choosing and the anointing of the first king of Israel – King Saul. The account from 1 Samuel 9:15-17 ensures that all readers know that it was God who chose Saul and not Samuel or any person or committee of people:
Now a day before Saul’s coming, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel saying, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel; and he will deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have regarded My people, because their cry has come to Me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people.”
It can’t get any clearer, but for those who know the rest of the story, it is important to remember that Saul was the Lord’s chosen, and he was humbled by it. Saul’s reluctant words to Samuel’s favor are remembered in verse 21: “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me in this way?” God chose Saul to rule on purpose!
In today’s world of self-promoting politicians and endless committees of government bureaucracy, it is easy to forget the Bible’s teaching from Romans 13:1b, “For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Paul was echoing Daniel 2:21b, “He removes kings and establishes kings.” We must remember that regardless of all that we can see, and no matter how hard it is to believe, the Lord reigns over all the nations.