With Interest...

In First Samuel chapters 9 and 10, we see an interesting progression of events in the narrative:

v  Saul leaves home for a few days: not because of his own desires, but because his father’s donkeys are lost and he needs to find them.

v  Saul seeks out Samuel: not because of his own desires, but because his servant knew of a prophet that could lead them to the donkeys.

v  Saul receives a prophetic word concerning his destiny as king of Israel: not because of his own desires, but because Samuel obediently shared the word of the LORD with him.

Sometimes we think of prophecy as an event that we ought to run to. And, sometimes, we do run to prophetic events. We hear that a famous minister is preaching, and we show up to hear him. Or we get on a plane and fly out to see an individual who we believe may have “a word” for us. But, in Saul’s case, he had no desire to seek out a word for himself. His interest was in finding his father’s property.

I wonder if any of us today are interested in finding our heavenly Father’s property. I wonder if any of us today will walk the miles, and write the letters, and make the phone calls, and pray the prayers on behalf of those who are unsaved.

Could it be that the receiving of authentic personal prophecy, even in today’s context, must be preceded by our heart’s desire to find the ones who have gone missing from our Father’s house? There’s part of an old chorus that says “So forget about yourself, and concentrate on Him, and worship Him, worship Christ, the Lord.” Worship is far more than singing. It is a declaration that our Father is awesome and His interests are our interests. It is an indication that we have forgotten about ourselves. Our lips declare this, and our lives demonstrate this.

But what a gracious God He is! As we seek to save the lost, He shows up and surprises us with great things that we weren’t even looking for. As we seek to save others, it is He who does the saving. As we commune with Him in His sanctuary, He tells us things about ourselves. And when we have heard His word and left His house of worship, He does the amazing work of establishing His residence in us. Saul experienced this at various moments in his life. We can experience this every day too! All we need to do is ask the Spirit of Jesus to cleanse us from sin and make us more like Him by sending His Spirit to live in us.

Today is a good day to stop chasing after “a word” about what interests us, and start chasing after the things that interest our Lord.

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.