Hiding Among the Baggage

Therefore they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” So the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.”  (I Samuel 10:22 NASB)

Samuel was about to anoint Saul as the King of Israel, yet we find him hiding among the baggage.  Why?  Was it because he was small in his own eyes?

Tall but Small

Samuel had explained to Saul the plans of the Lord for him.  Saul had tested his anointing and had prophesied among the prophets.  His friends said of him, “What has happened to the son of Kish?” (1 Samuel 10: 11 NASB)  Upon his public revealing, they had to look for him among the baggage.  If God says that you can do it, it is never humility to say you can’t.  It’s timidity and stupidity.  It is never smart to contradict God.

I have had times in my ministry that I should have spoken out, but I didn’t.  I thought that there was probably someone better than me to do it.  Silence is golden justified my quietness. In these situations, I believe the color was a little more yellow than gold.  At other times God had placed on my heart to do various things.  There always seemed to be others who were better able to do the task. I decided that I would serve in the background and help them do it.  Honorable in some cases, but it was not real service or humility in others.  In fact, in some instances, it was an inverted form of pride.  I focused on what I could do--or not do. Instead of what God could do through me.

Are you small in your own eyes?  Has God said that you can do it?  Then don’t hide among the baggage.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Podcasts: http://kensblogpodcast.blogspot.com

                http://gleaningspodcast.blogspot.com

Knowing the Knowable

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

(Deuteronomy 29: 29 NLT)

 

In God’s infinite wisdom he has information known only to him. The Lord loves for us to use our intellect to seek out wisdom from him, but if the pursuit becomes to obtain knowledge just for the sake of knowing, it becomes meaningless.

Yes, God does delight in us seeking out hidden things (Proverbs 25:2 NLT).  In our quest for truth, there is a point where we can cross that line between what we can know and what is unknowable.  God does have secret counsels and trying to explain them is an exercise in futility.  About God’s foreknowledge and man’s freedom, it appears that the Bible does not entirely clarify their relationship.  What God has not completely explained, maybe we should not expect to totally understand.  Being overly inquisitive about such issues can be just an intellectual rather than a spiritual pursuit.

Pastor Alistair Begg has often said, “The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.”   Dwelling on things that cannot be entirely known never leads us to obedience and often divide Christians instead of uniting us.  You cannot obey what you do not know.  Obedience should be the result of all revealed truth.  Dwelling on the minute details of our faith can often lead us to miss the main thing, knowing God and making him known.  Trying to know the unknowable can result in us missing the plain thing, the ultimate command to take the Gospel into all the world

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Podcasts: http://kensblogpodcast.blogspot.com

                http://gleaningspodcast.blogspot.com

A Heavenly Vision

Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan; (Deuteronomy 34:1 NLT)

Keep Your Eye On The Prize

The Lord took Moses to the peak of Mount Nebo to die.  He looked down at all the land of Canaan where will not be permitted to enter.  With death on his doorstep, at some point, he must have stopped looking down and peered upward to his heavenly Canaan that would be far more glorious than any earthly inheritance.

That moment on Mount Nebo must have been bittersweet.  He will not enter the land he has sought his whole life but takes great delight in knowing that Joshua and his people will fulfill his quest.  At this point in the story, we tend to dwell on the temporal loss instead of the eternal gain, his inability to cross the Jordan River instead of the glorious passage of that great river.  The moment he passed from life to death, his remembrance of Canaan must have paled in comparison to the splendor of his heavenly inheritance.  He was finally home with the Lord.  It has often said that people can be so heavenly minded that they are not earthly good.  I am sure this can be true, but it is also correct that you can be so earthly minded that you have no heavenly vision.

My dear Christian friends, no matter how glorious the past was, the future is always brighter.  There is great satisfaction in our temporal pursuits, but our eternal rewards are always greater.  So my blessed brothers and sisters keep your eye on the prize, and the prize is nothing less than the Lord Jesus himself.

Image used with permission by Google.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Podcasts: http://kensblogpodcast.blogspot.com

                http://gleaningspodcast.blogspot.com