SATURDAY February 16, 2019
Are You Hiding from God?
So they [the people of Israel] ran and brought him [Saul]from there; and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”
1 Samuel 10:23-24
Saul had a call to be king, but he had hidden himself among the equipment, and he could not be found. Saul failed to respond to God’s call on his life. It was a folly not to respond. Saul’s actions revealed a great weakness in his character. I believe Saul did not want to be king. Yet, he could not get away from God. The Lord showed Samuel and the people where Saul was hidden, and they went to fetch him.
Saul, taller than anyone, stood before the people, and they all shouted, “Long live the king!” This is an English term that is still used today; a proclamation is made following the accession of a new monarch. In the Hebrew language the phrase Long live the king, means “Let the king live.” Understand, King Saul became man’s choice and not God’s choice.
Jonah was a prophet who tried to run away and hide from the call of God. He did not want to preach to the Assyrians in the city of Nineveh. They were cruel and wicked. Jonah tried to take a ship and go in another direction. He thought, Finally I have got away from God, but the Lord sent a strong storm, which almost broke up the ship. The men on the ship found out Jonah was running away from God. Jonah, to calm the storm, asked to be thrown into the sea!
Yet, God sent a great fish that swallowed Jonah. In the belly of the fish he prayed to the Lord. Jonah became submissive to Him. God directed the fish to Nineveh, and command Jonah once more to give His message to the people (Jonah 1-4). A true son or daughter cannot run away and hide from God! He is omnipresent.
There will be no peace in any soul until it is willing to obey the voice of God.
~D. L. Moody~
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