Have you ever met Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy? He is one of my favorite characters in literature. In some ways, I believe J.R.R. Tolkien fashioned Gandalf after Samuel. His recruitment of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit reminds me of our passage today. Samuel found Israel’s future king Saul and gave him very specific instructions about how he was to proceed as he became King of Israel. Saul was afraid, but Samuel was not. Thankfully, Saul obeyed Samuel and found that things happened exactly as Samuel said.
Saul was looking for donkeys, but Israel was looking for a king. How did Samuel know what would happen to Saul? One person would have three goats, another would give him two loaves of bread. How exactly did Samuel know? Samuel lived his live in the council of God. He knew what God needed him to know when he needed to know it. As a prophet, Samuel could say, “Thus says the Lord.” He learned to recognize God’s voice as a child. So when Samuel spoke, his words did not fall to the ground. Saul should have listened closely.
This story also reminds us of Jesus sending his disciples to get a donkey for the triumphal entry and to set up a place for the last supper. Some would contend that God doesn’t really do these things anymore. Virtus Gideon, my professor in seminary, told me that in every church I would serve, I would find someone who listened closely enough to God’s voice to know what we should do. In William Barclay’s words, these disciples would be “wonderfully thick” with the Almighty. If we find someone like that, we should knit our souls to them. I have found Dr. Gideon’s prediction to be true. I remember when he prayed, I thought he knew God on a better-than-secondhand basis. His prayers evinced gravitas.
We would do well to find and listen to the people who have learned to recognize God’s voice. Better still, we could become those people. The key word in the Old Testament is Shema – “listen.” Our discipleship depends on our ability to hear God clearly as he speaks to us through others and through his word. Once we hear God’s voice, we should definitely obey.
