1 Samuel 10, Stop Hiding Behind Your Baggage
1. Receive God’s Grace And Obey Him
2. Trust God To Provide What You Need As You Obey Him
3. Trust God To Be With You As You Obey Him
1 Samuel 10, Stop Hiding Behind Your Baggage
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Amen as we look at first Samuel Chapter 10 this morning I've titled The Message.
Stop hiding behind your baggage.
Stop hiding behind your baggage. It comes from verse 22, of course, where the time comes in the midst of the ceremony to call out the one who is to be king. And as the selection process happens, the.
Casting of LOT is the method that God chose so that everybody would know and understand.
This was God hand and God direction and as they.
Call out Saul the son of Kish.
They find that he is nowhere to be found.
Perhaps one of those classic pictures, Samuel on stage and now presenting Saul.
Son of Kish
And so looking behind the curtain.
Hey, anybody know where Saul is Saul, son of Kish?
And so they have to inquire.
Of the Lord. Further, it says in verse 22.
And God has to reveal him and says there he is hidden among the equipment.
Many translations also substitute the word baggage for equipment, and so there is this gathering of stuff as all these people from all around Israel have gathered together.
There's all kinds of baggage.
Equipment and stuff, and Saul is crouched down perhaps.
Hidden behind some pieces of baggage, some luggage, some equipment, some stuff. Now this point in Saul's life.
Many times is viewed favorably.
You could look at this passage and think, wow, it's you know, quite remarkable how humble Saul is, and isn't it amazing?
Look how he's really not ambitious.
You know he's not trying to be in the spotlight and look how he's not trying to take control of a nation and have all of this.
Power he's not trying to be popular or at the center of everybody attention like we could look at this and think of Saul quite favor.
Probably, but as I look at this passage and many of you have heard me share this a little bit over the years as well.
I I have a different perspective as I look at this and that, is that Saul here is not showing remarkable character but really showing us what not to do.
When we know what God has called.
Us to do.
Disobedience is never an act of humility.
And and let that kind of resonate in your mind and heart for a little bit.
Disobedience is never an act of humility.
It can look like humility.
It can look like that you know solace being humble in this case, but I would suggest the reality is, there's a much.
Darker issue here.
There's a much more troubling situation going on.
The inquire of the Lord further has the man come here yet, and the Lord answered there he is hidden among the equipment he's hidden.
Now, it's not just that he's out of view.
That he's hidden in the sense that you know sometimes when you're in a big auditorium, you're happened to be seated behind a big column, right?
So you're hidden so people can't see you 'cause where you happen to be.
It's just not a very visible area.
But that's not what is happening here. It's not just that Saul's spot in the crowd happened to be hidden by equipment.
Really, the idea here is that he deliberately went and hid himself.
In fact, other versions besides the new King James.
Specifically include it.
That way the ESV version says, behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.
New International version also says, behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage that it is a deliberate act that he embarked on that he went and did not just a circumstance of what happened to be with the location of his seat in the ceremony.
The same word is used in Genesis Chapter 3.
Verse 8 with Adam and Eve in the garden, they heard the sound of the Lord God in the garden, in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
There we recognize to write again.
It wasn't just that Adam and Eve happened to be behind some trees.
They heard the Lord and they ran behind the trees deliberately trying to hide, deliberately trying to not be visible to the Lord.
Here, Saul in a similar way, is deliberately trying to.
Not be visible.
In the midst of this ceremony and the anointing and the announcing of the king.
And so, so we find is hiding himself.
He made a choice.
He he took a deliberate act in the midst of this situation.
And he went and hid amongst the baggage.
What's what's going through Sauls head at this point?
What do you think?
Why is he hiding what?
What is he thinking about, perhaps?
In his mind, he's saying, you know.
I don't deserve to be king.
I I'm a little guy from a little family and a little tribe that there's no right real merit or strength that I have.
I I don't deserve.
I haven't earned the right to be king I I haven't gone to school.
I I haven't been involved in politics.
I haven't, you know, had any kind of education or training.
Maybe he's thinking I don't deserve this.
Maybe he's thinking I don't want to do this.
I can do this.
I know God wants me to do this, but I don't want to do this and so I'm going to hide and try to get out of this.
Maybe if I hide they'll pick somebody else?
And I won't have.
To do it and that'll be great.
Perhaps cell is thinking.
I'm not able to do this.
I just there's just no way this is.
Too big of a task.
This is too hard, too much responsibility.
There's no way I'm going to be able to do this, and I'm going to really let these people down and cause harm to them if I step into this role.
As king, or perhaps Saul is there saying.
Look at all those people.
I mean I was ready to accept it, but.
Then there's all those people.
And I don't know if I can.
I have a little bit of.
Stage fright here and.
I don't know if I could stand up in front of all of those people.
Couldn't we do a more private, you know, announcement ceremony?
And of course, that had already happened.
As you read out there earlier in the Chapter 10 and Chapter 9 as well, but.
We don't know exactly what was going through solids head, but you can imagine there's a lot of things happening in his head.
But the fact that he's hiding whatever reason he might offer whatever reason he might be able to declare to us.
The fact that he's hiding.
I'm suggesting to you is an act of disobedience.
He made a deliberate choice.
He went and hid himself in spite of what he knew.
God wanted him to do.
In fact, in a couple of chapters, we're going to get to Chapter 13 of First Samuel, where the Lord announces saw your Kingdom is going to come to an end, and I'm going to choose someone to replace you, who?
Is the man after my own heart?
And then God contrasts.
Saul and David, in first Samuel chapter 13.
Verse 14.
Samuel tells Saul, your Kingdom shall not continue.
The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people.
Because you have not kept.
What the Lord commanded you.
The real issue of Saul's reign.
Was that he did not keep what the Lord commanded.
And from the very beginning, he really was reluctant to obey God and respond when God spoke to him and called him to this role.
We can learn a lot looking at the contrast between Saul and David.
Of course we know David as the man after God's Own Heart, and if we want to be a man or a woman after God's own heart, we need to understand it's.
It's really about obedience to God.
While Saul was continually disobedient, David continually sought the will of God and the plan of God.
With Saul as King, God says, all right, we're going to end this dynasty.
And we're going to find a person who is willing to be obedient to seek my will and to follow.
Through with that.
Well, as we consider these things for ourselves this morning again, the title of the messages stop hiding behind your baggage.
That I I want us to consider Saul and what he was experiencing, what he was going through.
True, he was hiding behind baggage, literally.
But of course, that word baggage, it kind of hints at those emotional problems.
We might have those issues in our background.
Those issues in our lives that.
Can at times be an excuse for us to hide behind?
So that we will be disobedient to God, we will not step into what we know.
God has called us to, but we feel like we.
Have a good excuse.
Guys look at this baggage I I can't I won't I shouldn't because here's a piece of luggage that hides me from this responsibility.
And so this morning I want to encourage.
You stop that.
Stop hiding behind your baggage.
Few things to walkthrough as we look at this here.
In first Samuel Chapter 10, here's point number one this evening.
This morning receive God, Greece and obey him.
Here's how to stop hiding behind your baggage. First of all, you need to accept and believe in the grace of God and obey him, trusting in God's grace to cover you again.
Verse 22 here in first Samuel 10 says therefore they inquired of the Lord further, has the man come here yet, and the Lord.
Answered there he is hidden among the equipment.
Saul is hiding.
Why is he hiding?
What baggage is it that has him in this position and hidden from this place of responsibility that he's been given?
I'm going to.
Put it this way, his baggage perhaps is feelings of unworthiness.
Can you picture us all hiding?
What if I tried to teach the rest of the message like this?
Do I have to teach do?
I have to you.
Yes, you have to OK stand up.
And yet, many times we are going to face feelings of unworthiness and we can allow those feelings to be baggage to hide behind that you know that's just not really something that I am worthy of.
I I'm not deserving of that kind of role or that kind of opportunity.
But in our lives, God is always going to call us to things that we're not worthy of, because that's the way that God works.
It's by his grace.
None of us deserve anything good.
None of none of us deserve any responsibility or any opportunity to participate in the work of God in the Kingdom of God and in the plan.
Of God, none of us deserve any of that.
It's always going to be a matter.
Of God's grace.
We can understand that Saul could have easily felt unworthy as we looked at Chapter 9 in the reading this week for Samuel Chapter 9, verse 21, when Samuel.
Tell us all that the desire of all Israel.
Is upon him.
Saul's response was, am I not a benjamite?
Of the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family, the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin.
Why then do you speak like this to me?
I'm not worthy of all the attention of all of Israel.
Saul says
That's not my role.
That's not my position.
I'm of the tribe of Benjamin.
Now we've read through the Book of Judges and we saw the tribe of Benjamin be just about completely wiped out.
As a result of their defense of gross sin within their territory.
There was that civil war that broke out amongst Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was left with 600 guys who remained, and that was it. And so here we find.
So, being a descendant of this tribe, they were going to be the smallest tribe because they were nearly wiped out just a few years back.
We're a small tribe.
We're not a prominent tribe.
We're not the famous tribe.
We're not the leading tribe, we're we're a small tribe.
And he says, my family, we're a small family.
We're not an important family. We're not like my dad's, not the elder of Benjamin. He's not the representative of Benjamin.
He's not the the one in a position of authority or power.
My family is not a powerful family, not a prominent family.
Our tribe is not a prominent tribe, not a powerful tribe.
Why do you speak to me like this?
This doesn't make sense.
This doesn't fit.
This isn't, you know something that would be ordinary.
Leader on in first Samuel chapter 15.
As Samuel is rebuking Saul again later on in his reign.
He calls back to this time in Saul's life.
For Samuel 1517, Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes.
Were you not the head of the tribes of Israel and did not the Lord anoint you?
King over Israel.
There was a time, probably this time, that we're talking about here in first Samuel 10.
Where Saul was little in his own eyes.
That's not the same as humility.
But so was little in his own eyes.
Perhaps felt unworthy.
And so he hid amongst the stuff.
Now leader Uninstalls rain, he changes and he becomes big in his own eyes and he.
In his pride, really tries to change or to thwart the plan and the purposes of God and accomplish his own plans instead.
But here at this time he's little in.
His own eyes.
He thinks this doesn't make sense.
This isn't ordinary, this is it.
Something that I deserve or is like a natural progression.
Of course you know he would be the next one to reign.
This is something.
It's an act of God's grace that's given to us all.
God always works in our lives according to Grace.
Where God does good things for us gives us big opportunities, gives us.
Resources, gifts, callings.
That we could never deserve.
It's always going to be by God's grace that we do anything for the Lord. And yet it is easy for us to feel like a nobody.
Right, you could be sitting here and you could feel like a nobody as far as you know gods Kingdom as far as gods work in God's plans and purposes.
It's easy to feel like a nobody.
I don't have a big family history.
I don't have, you know, an education.
I didn't go to Bible college.
You might be thinking I don't have big talents or skills.
I don't have, you know, guitar playing opportunity.
I'm not great at sharing the gospel.
You know all of these different things about why I I don't measure up.
I don't have.
A worthiness to serve the Lord in any capacity.
But you need to be reminded this morning that God works in your life according to Grace.
Maybe your focus though is not so much on the lack of history or the lack of.
Maybe your focus this morning would be on your failures.
And you would say you know I'm unworthy because.
I've had this big issue in my life.
I have these real struggles that I experience.
I have these sins that.
I've been unable.
To shake or remove from my life.
And it's the same exhortation that I would remind you of, and that is that God works in your life.
According to Grace, no matter where you've been or what you've gone through, God provides for you a path forward.
There is the opportunity no matter what our history, no matter how many failures, the path forward in confession, repentance.
Enables us to receive the grace of God and step forward into what he has planned for us.
You might think if there's anybody who could hide behind their baggage of failures and being unworthy, it would be the apostle Paul.
Who was an enemy of the Lord and enemy of the church?
Persecuted the church caused Christians to blasphemed the name of the Lord.
We could easily understand if he got saved, but then said OK, but I can never have any role in ministry or any responsibility, never opportunity to serve the Lord because of what I've done, I'm unworthy.
Paul explains in First Corinthians chapter 15.
I'm the least of the apostles.
I'm not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I.
But the grace of God, which was with me.
Paul says I am.
An apostle.
Even though I don't deserve to have any role or any responsibility.
Because I persecuted the Church of God, but the grace of God and God is good in my life, even though I have not been good to him.
Even though I'm unworthy.
He's counted me worthy.
He's given me opportunity.
And it would not be humility for Paul to say, you know.
I just can't get over how bad I've been, so I'm not going to do good.
For the Lord.
It wouldn't be right for Paul to do that.
The right thing for Paul to do is to receive the grace of God and take the role that God has given to him, even though he is painfully aware of how unworthy and undeserving of that role he is.
Here's Saul, whatever is going through his mind again, we're kind of exploring some things he might be experiencing.
Some of the feelings he might be going through.
Perhaps he's feeling unworthy.
Not deserving of this opportunity, but it's always by God's grace.
That we have opportunities from the Lord G Campbell.
Morgan says it is well that we remember that modesty becomes sin when it prevents any man from stepping at once into a place to which he knows that God is calling him.
The standard by which conduct is ever to be measured is the standard.
Of simple loyalty to the will of God.
It's always sin.
It's never humility.
To disobey God.
That that is never something that we can kind of like.
Hang it on and say, well, this is what God called me too.
I know God put this on my heart, but because I'm so humble I'm going to say no.
God, I'm not going to do what you want me.
To do like that, that is a perhaps convincing excuse to other people around you, but the Lord sees right through that.
It is not humility.
To disobey God.
It is not an act of humility to disregard what God has said.
No, I I want you to consider this and and think about it.
Be praying about it because.
What we're talking about here is not just opportunities.
On a stage or opportunities in a church environment, right?
Here's Sauls opportunity is is not primarily a spiritual opportunity.
He's called to be the king of a nation.
And so as you're considering these things.
Of course, pray about your role in opportunities that God has for you within the.
Body of Christ.
But think beyond that as well, because your role.
In the home.
Is real and it comes with.
Some things that God has called you to and and you cannot.
You should not hide behind your unworthiness and say well I can't fulfill this role in the home because I'm unworthy.
No, you need to receive God's grace and obey him and fulfill your role within the home.
Trusting in God's grace, his goodness. Yes, you don't deserve that role.
Perhaps there's no education, no, no, you know.
History behind you that would say make you say that I'm worthy of this role.
I've prepared all my life for this role, right?
Or or maybe there's failures in your past that would make you say I'm unworthy for this role.
But by God's Grace you have.
A role you have an opportunity.
You have a responsibility.
Within your home.
There's things that God calls you to, perhaps in the workplace or in the community.
There's works of God that he has in store for you.
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 talks about those works of God that that he has set before us.
He's prepared them in advance, so we just got to walk down the path that God has set for our life.
But it is very tempting for us to behave like soul in the midst of it, as we have the opportunity and we hide behind our baggage.
It becomes sin.
When we allow our feelings of unworthiness to keep us from doing what we know, God wants us to do.
Stop hiding behind your baggage.
In verse 23, it goes on to say they ran and brought him from there.
What did they have to do?
They had to drag him to the place where he was supposed to be.
Stop hiding behind your baggage and stop forcing people to come and drag you.
To do the work that God has called you to do.
Stop forcing people to come and drag you into the place that God wants you to be.
Be there when the need is there, be there when the opportunity is there, step into what God has called you to by the grace of God.
Receive God's grace and obey him.
Well, continuing on the second thing to consider is we look at Saul and hiding amongst the baggage point #2 this morning. Trust God to provide what you need as you obey him.
Trust God to provide what you need.
Again, verse 22, they inquired of the Lord further has.
The man come here yet.
And the Lord answered, there, he is hidden.
Among the equipment.
Can you picture saw hiding?
I can't be king.
I'm so inadequate.
I don't have what it takes.
I've never led an army before.
I don't know how to lead these.
I don't know how to make.
Economy decisions I, I mean, what am I going to do?
I don't.
I don't have wisdom to make these decisions.
Feelings of inadequacy.
I know I'm being silly today.
That's OK.
You'll forgive me.
But your picture's all hiding, just like no I can't. I can't I'm not equipped I'm inadequate.
Leading up to this, you can see that God has given Saul everything that he needs.
Including some supernatural signs to show him not only does he have everything he needs at the.
Moment but.
Just to solidify the point that God is with him and that God would continue to provide what he needs.
At the beginning of Chapter 10 here we see.
In Saul's encounter with Samuel prior to this ceremony.
So spends a day or spends the night with Samuel and Samuel, gives him some encouragement and.
Leaves before him.
The task that God has set before him.
In verse one you see Samuel take a flask of oil and anoint Saul as king.
Although this announcement is happening later in the chapter as we're reading it, that's the public announcement.
It was preceded by a private anointing, a private encounter where Saul is anointed as king by Samuel.
And Samuel says, now, just so that you are abundantly convinced that this is God's will for you.
There's going to be 3 signs you're going to experience today as you go from here.
As you head back home, sign number one, you're going to meet with some messengers.
That lets you know that the donkeys that you were searching for have been found.
And are safe.
So the first sign is you're going to meet some people who.
Tell you about.
The things that are on your hearts.
The things that you are looking for, the things that you're searching for.
They're going to give you the message that you need to hear.
Then sign #2 verses three and four year of chapter 10. You're going to meet some men with bread, and they're going to give you 2 loaves of bread.
So sign number one, you're going to meet some guys.
They're going to give you the message that you need to hear.
Sign #2, you're going to meet some guys and they're going to give you some provision. They're going to give you 2 pieces of bread.
And then sign #3.
You're going to.
Meet a group.
Of prophets further on down the road.
And as you meet with them, the Holy Spirit.
Will come upon you.
And you will prophecy with them.
And he says, and be turned into another man.
You're going to prophesy with them.
You're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you're going to be transformed and changed.
Sign number one. You're gonna have a message about the things that you're looking for. The practical needs sign #2.
You're going to get some bread, some practical provision sign #3. You're going to experience some spiritual provision in the receiving of the Holy Spirit and and you'll be changed into another man or turned into another man.
You're going to experience something radically new in a relationship with the Lord.
You can see God gave Saul everything that he needed and that was Samuel telling him those things and then as he left he experienced all of those signs.
And so Saul had the prophets support, he had a clear confirmation of his calling.
He had the new nature that the Lord had given to him.
He had the Holy Spirit.
He had the guidelines of the scripture that had outlined what was required of the king.
He had everything that he needed.
But he likely still felt inadequate.
It's not really a foreign concept to us.
Because we also have everything that we need.
I'm sure you know the saying.
We say it often.
God calling is his what?
Enabling only Richard knows it, but that's OK, someone knows.
God calling is his enabling.
When God calls you, he equips you and enables you to do what he's called you to do, and that includes being king.
Or President, if that's something God calls you to do, or governor or school president or.
Manager or mom or dad.
Whatever God calls you to whatever role and responsibility give God gives to you along with that comes his enabling for you to fulfill that role in a way that honors him and glorifies him.
Saw had everything that he needed now.
As you look at Saul's life and his reign going forward, you see there's kind of an implosion where Saul's life falls apart. His trust in God, his obedience to God really just is evident that he is far from God as he moves forward in this rain.
But that doesn't mean that.
So was the wrong guy to begin with.
God honors our choices.
God gave Shaw everything that he needed to be successful.
He set him up for success in this role in this Kingdom.
But saw sabotaged himself by not trusting God.
To provide for him.
Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way.
God did not give Israel a time bomb just waiting to explode.
Saul failed because of the choices he made, not because he lacked the qualities necessary.
To succeed.
He had what he needed.
But he made his choices there in the midst of the ceremony, as everybody has gathered, he he had what he needed, but he chose.
I'm gonna hide amongst the stuff.
I'm going to try to prolong this or delay this role.
I don't want this right now.
Maybe they won't find me.
Maybe they'll pick someone else and I won't have to fulfill this role.
I won't have this responsibility.
Wrestling with perhaps feelings of inadequacy.
Feeling like he doesn't have what it takes feeling like.
He's gonna fail.
A while back we spent time in it series called inadequate example.
And there we looked at over and over and over and over again.
First Timothy Chapter 4 verse 12.
Where Paul encouraged Timothy, let no one despise your youth.
But be an example to the believers in Word in conduct and love and spirit and faith and impurity.
Timothy your young.
There's going to be a temptation to allow feelings of inadequacy too.
Your impact in people's lives.
Your own internal feelings of inadequacy or other people's feelings of your inadequacy. You're going to be tempted to allow those to dictate how much.
You do for the Lord in your role.
There in Ephesus.
And Paul says, don't let it happen.
Let no one despise your youth.
Don't let that be an issue.
Don't let your youthfulness your lack of experience, your lack of wisdom, your lack of whatever.
Whatever thing you know, people might stumble over.
Don't let that be an issue.
Instead, you just do your best by the Lord to be an example.
And that these specific areas, he says, be an example to the believers.
Just go forward and do it.
Timothy, you're going to have what you need.
Go forward and do it.
Don't let those internal feelings hold you back.
Don't let other people impressions or thoughts and feelings about you hold you back.
No, you go and be the example that God has called you to be trust, God to provide what you need as you obey him.
Stop hiding behind your baggage.
Yeah, you don't feel prepared.
None of us.
Really do feel prepared for.
The opportunities that God gives us.
Stop it, stop requiring people to drag you in.
And and hold you there in that place where God has called you to be.
Allow the Lord to give you some boldness.
By the Holy Spirit.
It is not a boldness in my abilities or in your strength.
It's a boldness in God and trust in God to provide what we need.
In the roles and responsibilities that he's given to us.
Your role within the body of Christ, your role within the church service this morning.
Your role in the home, your role in the workplace, your role in the community.
These are all things that God has given to you.
And you need to trust God and not hide behind the baggage and sidestep opportunity and responsibility you need to trust God.
And step forward.
As God sets those open doors in front of you.
You need to take advantage of those opportunities.
Not hide and try to escape them.
Well, continuing to consider Saul here, and first Samuel chapter 10. It gives us point #3 and that is trust. God to be with you.
As you obey him, trust God to be with you.
Again, verse 22 therefore, they inquired.
Of the Lord further.
Has the man come here yet?
And the Lord answered, there, he is hidden among.
The equipment.
He's hidden himself.
Made a decision.
I know I'm supposed to be called up there.
I already know I don't have to wait for the lot to fall upon me.
I already know God called me to be king, so let me proactively go hide amongst the baggage.
That was what Saul chose to do.
And perhaps.
The baggage here what he's experiencing is feelings of fear.
Anybody have stage fright?
I want to just take a moment, let's call everybody up on stage who has stage.
Fright come on, let's.
Just get it.
I'm just kidding.
Yeah stage.
Fright get on the stage, right?
Perhaps he really did have stage fright.
Perhaps a lot of people around really intimidated him.
That's a.
Real possibility, not hard to imagine.
Feelings of fear.
He might have been fear of fearful of failing.
He might have been fearful of.
The responsibility he might have been fearful of battle.
If I become King, I'm going to have to.
Fight the philistines.
But the Lord had promised.
That he would be with.
Go back a few verses diverse 7 here.
At first Samuel chapter 10.
After all three signs were confirmed.
Saul says, or Samuel says, this all in verse seven.
Let it be when these signs come to you.
That you do as the occasion demands for God is with you.
Samuel tells Saul, look, God is set up for you.
All of these confirmations so that you can be solidified.
This is God call in your life.
This is what God wants for you.
This is the role.
That he's given to you.
And so when that's established now.
Here's the way you are to operate.
Do as the occasion demands.
Because you know God called you to be king.
So whatever a king is to do in the occasion that you're experiencing, then do that because that's who God has called you to be, and you can do it with this knowledge that God is with you.
And so here at the public anointing the public ceremony.
Saul is hiding.
Behind the baggage.
But hiding is the exact opposite of doing what the occasion demands.
On this occasion.
The occasion was to announce and anoint the King publicly.
Hiding is exactly the opposite of what the occasion demanded.
But that's what's all did.
Because of an overwhelming fear that he was experiencing.
He didn't trust God to be with him.
Living God is with you.
Does it just mean he's present?
But he's with you in the sense?
That he is for you.
And that he is always working for your good.
And the occasions that you find yourself in the situations that you find yourself in.
You need to trust God and know that God is with you, no matter what those occasions are.
No matter what those experiences are, God is with you.
He's for you and he is working out.
All things for your good.
That's the promise to those who love God and are the called.
According to his purpose.
But notice at the beginning of verse seven there says and.
Let it be.
Let it be.
This puts some responsibility upon Sao.
Let it be saw.
This is what God has said.
This is what got us colegi to.
There's going to be occasions.
That well are.
Appropriate for you to behave as the king in.
All of that is going to be orchestrated.
You're going to experience that.
But you also have to take an active part in this.
And step into this role that God has given to you.
Let it be.
When these signs come upon you that you do, as the occasion demands, God made his will clear.
Now you saw Micah choice to walk in it, you must choose to walk in the plan of God to walk in the will of God.
And you must choose to do what the occasion.
The new living translation puts verse seven this way.
After these signs take place, do what must be done.
For God is with you.
There are things that must be done by the King of Israel.
So do those things that must be done.
So, because you are the King of Israel.
Do what's up right right, what's right, what's appropriate, what must be done.
The ESV version puts it this way in verse 7.
Now when these signs meet, you do what your hand finds to do for God.
Is with you.
God is giving you these opportunities and and what your hand finds to do, what what you determine is the best course of action in those occasions.
In those opportunities, well, that's what you must do.
Seek out the.
The will of God the best course of action from that situation and do what must be done. In other words, God's not going to give him three signs every time there's a new occasion in his life to do something right.
Every decision he makes, OK, he's waiting for those three signs.
No, that's not how it's going to work.
I'm going to give you these three signs at the beginning.
God says this is going to establish that you are called to be king now as king do the best you can seeking the Lord knowing the Lord based on his nature, his character, what he has said in his word.
And do what must be done.
You may not feel like you have all the answers and.
You won't have all the answers.
But you need to do the best with what you have.
God wasn't going to give him a sign on every occasion, but on every occasion he was to do.
The things that a king should do in the midst of that situation.
Again for you and I following the example here we we have a similar opportunity, similar responsibility, and the Lord could tell us, do as the occasion demands you're a Christian.
As a believer in Jesus, so do what a Christian would do in the situations that you face.
Do what a Christian.
Father a Christian mother would do in those occasions.
Do what a Christian employee or a Christian coworker, a Christian manager, do.
Do what a Christian would do in those occasions.
In those situations, is it easy to do what needs to be done?
No, of course not.
There's going to be great challenges, and there's going to be occasions where we are incredibly fearful.
Should I ask for a show of hands who has ever been fearful about something that God has asked them to do?
How many times have you been fearful about something you know needs to be done?
We need to determine now, Lord, whatever you want me to do.
I will do.
I'm not going to hide behind my.
Baggage of fear.
But I know you've called me to make disciples.
I know you've called me to be a Christian.
I know you've called me to be a witness.
I know you've called me to this role in the church.
This role in the home, this role in the Community or workplace?
I know you've called me to these things.
And God, I know that you're with me.
When you are where God wants you to be.
You need to trust him.
And move forward.
Even if.
You are fearful.
I took a little test this morning.
Found this online.
The stage fright test.
Found out I have stage fright.
I need to seek help immediately.
It's a reality.
All of us all the time.
Are called to do are asked to do things that.
We're not comfortable doing.
The roles and responsibilities that God gives to us are not based on how comfortable we are.
The roles and responsibilities that God gives to us are based upon what is good for us.
I was looking up some information about personality profiles, right?
You know those personality tests you can take, and there's like a million of them.
Now you can find out all about yourself.
It's great.
The problem I.
See with those is that typically we latch onto those labels that were given and we use them as baggage to hide behind.
Well hey, I'm never going to be that way because it's kind of like I showed a couple weeks ago like I had determined in my head.
I was always going to be in debt and so I lived my life.
In a way that would ensure that I was always going to be in debt 'cause I had already given up trying to get out of debt.
It's have you ever heard of a self fulfilling prophecy?
Self fulfilling prophecy.
I'm always going to be in debt.
That's my false assumption, my false prophecy.
And if I believe that and then I live assuming that I'm always going to be in debt, well, then that prophecy will be fulfilled because I will have continued to incur debt and add to my debt because I'm always going to live in debt anyways and so.
That prophecy is fulfilled not because that was the truth from the beginning, but just because that was the mindset I had from the beginning.
Stop hiding behind your baggage.
You can have in your mind a mindset that is not of the Lord.
Not what God has called you to.
That keeps you in a.
Place where God doesn't want you to be.
You need to learn to receive God's grace and obey him. And yes, you're not worthy and you're not deserving and there's history of failures and lack of preparation ahead of time.
But God's going to be good to you and give you opportunities that you don't deserve.
Receive God's grace except.
His goodness towards you and his pleasure in you and walk in obedience to him.
Trust God to provide what you need as you obey him.
Trust him.
He's going to give you what you need.
You may not see it ahead of time.
You may not feel you know all of the equipping and things that would make you comfortable in the role that God given to you, but.
Trust him, he's he's going to give you what you need.
He's going to provide for you.
The spiritual gifts, the wisdom.
Whatever is necessary for the role that he's called you too.
And trust God to be with you.
As you obey him, he's with you.
He's for you.
He's on your side.
He wants what's best for you, and so whatever you face.
Do as the occasion demands.
For the role that God has given to you fulfill it, walk in it.
Stop hiding behind baggage.
Stop requiring and forcing people to drag you to the place where you are supposed to be.
And start trusting God to step forward.
Into the plans and purposes that he has for you.
Let's pray, Lord, I pray for each one of us and the roles and opportunities that you've given to us.
Lord, would you help us to stop hiding?
To stop?
Allowing these reasons these excuses, these fears and feelings.
To keep us from doing what you have set before us, help us God to trust you for real.
To have boldness in who you are and all that you've done.
For us, trusting that you will provide for us and be with us.
And work out all of these things for our good Lord.
May we go forward and step into these paths.
These opportunities, these good works that you've.
Set before us.
I pray this in Jesus name Amen.