Readings for today: 1 Samuel 7-9, Luke 13:1-21
I am learning to walk with open hands before the Lord. He is reminding me that nothing I possess is actually mine to own. Nothing I’ve achieved is mine to hold. Nothing I’ve gained is mine to hoard. Not money. Not influence. Not position. None of it is mine to grasp. Instead, I must release. I must let go. I must walk with open hands and let the Lord fill them with whatever He may will.
Let me illustrate what I mean. When I first graduated from Princeton, I was blessed to be called to a special church in Mobile, AL. The people there embraced me and my family as their own. They loved me well and put up with my crazy ideas. They prayed for me. They challenged me. They accepted me. They followed me. The result was a wonderful six years of fruitful ministry as the Lord blessed the work of our hands. I was then called to plant a church outside of Madison, WI. The experience could not have been more different. I struggled. I suffered. I didn’t handle things well. My insecurities and fears rose to the surface and crippled my ability to see beyond myself and my own pain. I was rejected over and over again. I was abused in many ways. Those 19 months almost cost me my marriage. My family. My ministry. Everything I held dear was put at risk. In the wake of those two experiences, close friends asked me if I had misunderstood God’s call. If I had heard Him incorrectly. If I had made a mistake in leaving Mobile. The answer is no! As hard as it is to accept, God sometimes calls us to suffer. Sometimes calls us to experiences that are hard and heartbreaking. All to teach us how to walk with open hands.
Think of what we read today from Samuel’s story. Here’s a man who’s served God and His people almost from birth. He was born to lead Israel. Set apart by God for this purpose. His is was a testimony to God’s great faithfulness. He’s led Israel to great victories. He’s led Israel to spiritual revival. For decades, he’s gone from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah in order to keep God’s people on the right spiritual track. As he got older, he enlisted his sons to help him in his work. Tragically, they did not follow in the faithful footsteps of their father and Samuel’s credibility as a leader began to erode. His sons took bribes and perverted justice to the point where the elders of Israel finally came to Samuel and demanded a change. “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 8:5-6) No one likes to hear they are too old. No one likes to hear they are considered to be washed up. No one likes to be fired or let go because they simply don’t have what it takes to lead anymore. Samuel is hurt by their words. I imagine all sorts of responses ran through his mind. Perhaps he even had the votes to remain in power if he chose to go that route. But Samuel loved the Lord. Samuel walked with open hands. So instead of reacting in anger, Samuel went to prayer. He took their request and his disappointment to the Lord.
And how did the Lord respond? “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7-9) What an affirmation and yet what deep conviction! You have not been rejected, Samuel. They are rejecting Me. I am sure this grieved Samuel’s heart even more. After all, Samuel’s greatest desire was for the people to return to the Lord with all their hearts, putting away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among them and directing their hearts to the Lord in order to serve Him alone. (1 Samuel 7:3) But Samuel obeys the Lord. He gives the people what they desire. He identifies a king for them and humbly relinquishes all his power and authority.
I want so much to be like Samuel. I want to be the kind of person who walks through life with open hands. I want to hold onto the things the Lord brings into my life loosely. I want to place all that I have at His disposal. I want Him to take all my treasure, my time, my talent and use it as He sees fit. I want to be poured out like an offering before the Lord so that at the end of my life I can honestly say I held nothing back but gave everything up in service to Him.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 10-12, Luke 13:22-35