Having just celebrated the Christmas season, the bright wrapping paper and the glittery bows and all of the anticipation over giving our loved ones special presents are all still fresh in many of our minds.
I remember my daughter’s second Christmas. She was only a week old for her first Christmas, so she wasn’t at all interested in presents that time. But for her second Christmas, we were so excited to surprise her with a big present. We brought her downstairs on Christmas morning, all decked out in her candy cane jammies, and we presented her with a gift that was bigger than she was.
She wasn’t sure what to do with it at first. Why were we looking at her with glee? Why did Dad have the camera in hand, pointed at her and the big wrapped box in front of her? What was she supposed to do? After looking perplexed for a bit, Kendall did the only thing she could think to do. She crawled up on top of the wrapped box and began to explore the box itself.
Even after Matt helped her unwrap the box and opened the Playskool Weebles Weebalot Castle inside, Kendall was way more intrigued by the box. Later, when Matt’s family came over and Kendall had another chance at the whole gift-unwrapping adventure, she settled down with a feathery bow from one of her presents and was content to marvel over it as we unwrapped her remaining gifts for her.
If you asked Kendall what her favorite Christmas morning activity was this year, she would probably say her stocking scavenger hunt. We hide her stocking every year and find fun and whimsical ways of giving her clues, according to what she is into at the time. This year, she is all about her music (as, I imagine, we all were at 14).
So I found lyrics to some songs from her favorite band, and I made them into clues as to where to find her stuffed stocking. She had to guess which song the lyrics belonged to, as well as figuring out what information those lyrics held as to where to find her next clue. She had a blast, and I learned more about her favorite songs and how she feels that they relate to her life experience at this point.
But I thought about how our kids so often love the boxes more than the gifts that come inside of them, and about how we get so involved sometimes when we’re searching for something that we may even miss the more important thing. I’m reading through 1 Samuel now, and I have so enjoyed reading about Saul.
I love how we meet him in chapter 9. We are told that he is the most handsome young man around and stands out a head and shoulders above everyone else. We read that Saul’s father has lost some donkeys, and he tells Saul to go look for these donkeys. And Saul really takes this search for his father’s donkeys seriously. He is really wanting to find them.
But what we as readers know is that this is about way more important matters than lost donkeys. Verses 16-17 tell us: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”
When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”
And Samuel anoints Saul as the first king of Israel. God equips Saul to do what he needs to do in this capacity, and it’s an amazing story, and it all began for Saul when he went out looking for something as ordinary as lost donkeys. As far as he knew, that was his job. That was all he was doing. But God was looking for Saul, and God was orchestrating His plan, whether or not Saul was aware of it at the time.
It reminds me of Kendall being content to crawl up on the big box without even noticing what was inside of it. The box was good and fine, but what it contained was so much greater. I also think about how we are usually looking for something, whether it is our car keys or our glasses or our coffee mug or even bigger things like satisfaction or meaning or joy.
Just like Saul seeking those donkeys, we are intent on what is needed right now, what our task is at this particular moment. And sometimes I have felt in my life that God nudges me through His word and encourages me to step back and be still and watch Him work. I can be a bit of a do-er, and sometimes it’s good for me to step back and be still and see what God in His infinite wisdom is doing.
On New Year’s Day, I was on chapter 12 of 1 Samuel, so I just read that chapter, and I was so touched by the timeliness of it. Samuel is reminding the people that God is their king and wants them to see Him as such, but because they have demanded an earthly king, He has chosen Saul.
I love verse 16, where Samuel tells the people: Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. And I thought, I need this too. I want to have the wisdom to know when to run ahead, when to get busy with the work, and when to stand still and see the great things the Lord is always doing right before my eyes.
Because sometimes I am too focused on the boxes and the wrappings and the trappings of daily life and to-do lists, and I miss it. I miss seeing what God has done, what God is even now doing right in front of me. I miss it because I’m looking for the lost donkeys like Saul. God is doing a mighty thing and I am completely clueless because I’m looking for things that really don’t matter all that much after all.
And later on in chapter 12, Samuel warns the people – and us too! – do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty (v. 21). This, too, is a good thought for this new year, that when I am running ahead and when I am seeking and when I am going, going, going, what am I running after? Is it something that will benefit me in the long run? Or is it, in fact, empty?
Is it an empty box? Is it a ribbon that sparkles and is good at decorating presents but can accomplish little else of lasting value? Am I getting distracted by lost donkeys and completely missing what God is calling me to at that moment, that day, or even this year?
And yet, we could make the argument that looking for those lost donkeys is what brought Saul to Samuel. Saul’s obedience in the small things put him in the place where God could call Him to bigger things. I would think the key here, then, is in the not-getting-distracted part. In the being-ready part. In the serving-well-right-where-we-are-while-also-being-willing-to-move-when-God-calls-us part.
For that, we need His wisdom. Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
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