Saul is chosen as king before all of Israel. Except, when his name is called, he is no where to be found. He’s hiding. He hadn’t mentioned to anyone about Samuel telling him he would be king.

I don’t know what he was thinking. Did he think he could avoid being king if he hid? He obviously hadn’t embraced the thought. He wasn’t relishing in this yet.

He didn’t know the lesson we all need to learn. When something is wrong, we run to God not away from Him. He’s trying to hide himself from God. God calls Him on it and points out to everyone where he is.

If you haven’t figured this out, you can’t hide from God. Psalm 139 talks about that. You can’t run from Him. He’s everywhere. And that’s a good thing.

Why would Saul want to run away from his calling?

When we first were going overseas as missionaries, I remember being told that there would be people uncomfortable with us because they had known they were called to missions but never went.

How many of us miss our calling? Can we miss it if God is in control? Saul is going to reign as king for 42 years, but he still missed it.

God gives us choices. It’s a wonderful awful thing. We need to start each day choosing Him and His ways, laying our lives down before Him again and again, day after day. We need to choose God and His way of life, the paths of righteousness that lead to eternal dwellings (Psalm 23).

I want His heart, His thoughts, His words, His actions. I want His life.

That’s exactly what we’re offered. Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”

On our own we can do nothing. Saul seemed aware of his inability. But if we let Christ live through us, suddenly all things are possible. Saul needed to trust God, leaning on the Everlasting Arm instead of on his own understanding.

He needed to be like the men of valor, and so do we, allowing God to touch our hearts to follow after Him and fulfill our calling and purposes we were created for.