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THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S
were the best judges of what would be conducive to their welfare. Although such a step had been predicted long be fore, Divine sovereignty and foreknowl edge does not effect nor affect human action. Man is free to choose his own way. The ancient sin of Israel is the sin of the modern church. We are dis posed to put our trust in the material and visible rather than the spiritual and invisible. We would rather be like the world than to be a/peculiar people sepa rate unto God. We displace and ignore the Holy Spirit in our assemblies. It is so much easier to get the sense Of a meeting than the mind of the Spirit. We suffer incalculable loss because God permits us to have our own way. WEDNESDAY, May 19. 1 Sam. 9:1-14. Saul’s Errand. The threads that make up the warp and woof of daily life sometimes appear to be entirely unrelated or hopelessly entangled. Great and momentous events hang upon the merest trifles. There is both a natural and a super natural element in Divine Providence. Having bidden Samuel to accede to the insistent demand of the people for a king, God now brings to view the man of His choice. The natural circum stance of the straying and lost asses is a link in the chain of events which brought Saul to the kingdom. We should make everything a subject of prayer and wait patiently for Divine leading. God guides us directly by His Spirit and indirectly by the course of events. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and his stops also. THURSDAY, May 20. 1 Sam. 9:15-21, 25; 10:1. Israel’s First King. God gave Saul another heart, ch. 10: 9. An old writer says, “ Saul had no longer the heart of a husbandman con cerned only with corn and cattle. He now has the heart of a statesman, a
general and a prince.” He did not have the heart of a child of God. He was not a man of God. He was given the gift of rulership as Aholiab and Bezaleel were gi^en architectural gifts for the making of the sanctuary. Ex. 36:1. Saul had another heart but not a new heart. Natural endowments or intel lectual attainments have no necessary moral value. Gifts are no substitute for grace. Gifts may confer power and bring fame but they do not make any one fit for fellowship with God. FRIDAY, May 21. 1 Sam. 10:17-27. Saul Presented to Israel The demand of Israel in asking for a king was to have something strong in their midst and before their eyes, to do those things for them which God had done for their fathers. A gift of God was wanted rather than God Him self. The name Saul means “ de manded.” God gave them exactly what they asked. Samuel presented him to the people, saying .“ Behold the king whom ye have chosen and whom ye have desired.” He was the tallest, comeliest man in Israel. The people welcomed him with open arms and shouted with one accord, “ God save the king.” A monarch is an expensive luxury as Is rael soon found to its cost. Saul and his ways throughout were an example of using God’s gifts even for Israel’s good, as though God were absent. Would He who had walked with them through their forty years of wilderness wandering, and brought them over Jor dan, be willing to dwell apart from them or let gifts take His place? SATURDAY, May 22. Acts 9:10-19. A Chosen Vessel. Samuel had grown old and gray in a service that made all Israel from Dan to Beersheba know and rejoice in God yet Saul’s servant knows more about Samuel than Saul himself and Saul does
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