3 Now
the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his
son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for
the donkeys.” 1 Samuel 9:3 ESV
So often when bad things happen in life we fail to look for God's plan in the situation. We may put on a brave face and quote Romans 8:28, but so we really believe it, and do we recognize when God's plan is moved forward as a result of the unfortunate or even tragic event?
When we catch up with the Israelites in the 9th chapter of 1 Samuel, they had already demanded a king to rule over them, even though God has warned them against such a course of action. Since they are resolute in their demands for a king, the next step was for God to identify that man to Samuel so he could anoint the new monarch.
Since this was a new form of government for the Jewish nation, there was no lineage or precedent to determine who would be king, so divine intervention was needed. God's plan was put in motion through a herd of lost donkeys. Kish's donkeys to be exact.
When Kish discovered his missing donkeys he called on his son, Saul, to go in search of the missing live stock. After searching in Ephriam, Shalishah, the land of Benjamin, and Zuph to no avail, Saul and his servant were ready to return home empty handed. However, Saul's servant suggested they go visit the local prophet to get some direction. Saul agreed.
The prophet was Samuel who has been told by God in a vision about a man who will be visiting who Samuel is to "anoint to be prince over my people Israel." This newly anointed king will "save my (God's) people from the hand of the Philistines."
When Saul and Samuel meet the following day, God tells Samuel, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” And true to God's word, Saul does lead the Israelites in their successful war of independence from the Philistines.
This God-ordained meeting between Saul and Samuel was put into motion through what seemed at first to be an unfortunate event- the loss of a heard of donkeys. Yet this event was the catalyst to bring about a series of events that lead the independence of a nation.
We may not always be able to make such a direct connection between unfortunate/tragic events and God's greater plan, but that connection is there for His children. We must trust God's promises. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 ESV
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