First off, I have to say, the Bible is such an intriguing book, how is it possible to read something over and over again and get different messages from the same chapter or verse? Amazing!

I was reading the bible recently and I came across the story when Saul was introduced to us which started in 1 Samuel 9. What I found most intriguing is how sometimes the road we don’t intend to embark on becomes the road that leads us to the place we are meant to be. In this chapter, we see that Saul’s father lost a donkey and sent his son Saul along with a servant of his to find the donkey. They searched for a while in different towns and did not find it. After a long search, Saul wanted them to go back home to make sure his father was not worried about them. The servant suggested they go ask the man of God Samuel if he could help, and when they did, Samuel revealed to Saul that he was chosen by God to be king.

What stands out to me the most is the idea that this lost donkey was technically what led him to the prophecy and later rulership. Sometimes we go through hard seasons, times where we lose something we love or someone we love or we feel lost in life, but we have no idea that the loss or absence of what was familiar sometimes is to bring us to the place where we need to be. The thing is in that moment when we go through the loss, it doesn’t feel good, in some ways it even feels cruel for God to allow us, His beloved, to go through something that seems in many ways unfair. One thing I have come to embrace is the bible passage that says we know in part, we see in part and it is when we are united with Christ that we will fully know.

I sometimes put myself in characters’ stories and as I read the chapter I wondered how long and hard they searched, how exhausted and tiring it must have been for them to go to town after town, city after city, and not find what they were looking for. Saul even gave up and decided it was time to go back the same way we sometimes feel in seasons where we feel we are lost and there is no hope. I also wondered what his father “Kish” felt because he lost his donkey but it seemed like his son was gone for so long he started to worry he had lost him too. But ultimately what Kish or Saul don’t see is that all that loss, the search, and the time was all leading to a place of change, of elevation, of promise.

Reading this passage is a reminder to us to trust God’s plan even in the difficult seasons, in the seasons that don’t make sense, in the seasons of loss, in the seasons of heartache, in the seasons that represent the absence of the familiar, in the seasons that take much longer than expected, in the seasons when we want to give up. It is a reminder to us that in those times and seasons especially when we are close to giving up we should pause and ask ourselves to seek God’s perspective like Saul’s servant said, and maybe, just maybe we will get direction for the road unplanned. In these types of seasons, we get to know a side of God we have never known, He has a unique way of coming to us and revealing His truth to us in times like these the same way He used Samuel to bring prophesy. Life deals us different cards, some good, some bad and some unbearable, and most times unexpected but our faith in God and trust in God should be a reminder to us that even when we are going on a road that seems unplanned to us, God always has a plan for us a beautiful purpose and He will be faithful to complete it. Just hold on and trust that He will make all things work out for your good.