March 28

A long read today I Samuel 9-12

Hope for “Nobodies”

1 Samuel 9:21 Saul answered, "But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?"

Have you ever wondered if your life has an impact on the universe? We are just one individual out of 6 billion, on a small planet floating around in a 250 million star galaxy in the midst of 100 billion galaxies. It is easy to think we are nobodies, just one grain of sand on the countless beaches of the world.
Perhaps you can identify with Saul who looked at himself and only saw smallness. The vast majority of us will never make it on the cover of Time Magazine or even the front page of the Advocate. Most of us were not elected home coming king or queen. We are just ordinary, run of the mill people living out our lives in quiet desperation, as Henry David Thoreau wrote.
But just wait one minute, with God there are no “Nobodies” there are only “Somebodies.” Saul goes from hiding in the baggage to the king of Israel in a nanosecond. How does this occur? It occurs when he allows God’s Holy Spirit to come upon his life. This transition has nothing to do with college degrees, elections, athletic achievements or any human strategies. It has everything to do with God changing his heart. The principle is clear; a nobody becomes a somebody when God is working in their life.

If you view yourself as a nobody... turn your life over to God.
Spending one day with God as the king of your life will have more of an impact than you being king of your life for 100 years.

Some factual information about the changes that will occur as we move from “Judges” to “Kings” in Israel:

1. Dynastic Succession
2. Central location of power – One man in charge.
3. Privileged class, before it was a classless society.
4. Transition from Bronze Age poverty to Iron Age wealth.
5. Transition from subjected people to conquerors. David will expand Israel's territory some ten times over.
6. Transition from decentralized worship to centralized worship, with one city as both a political and religious capital. Jerusalem will now become a world class city.