Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3075
“And the donkeys of KKish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul, his son, Take now one of the servants with you, and arise, go seek the donkeys…And as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, set not your mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire ofIsrael?Is it not on you, and on all your fathers house?” 1 Samuel 9:3,20.
SAUL went out to seek his father’s donkeys. He failed in the search, but he found a crown. He met with the Prophet Samuel, who anointed him king over God’s people, Israel, and this was far better than finding the obstinate colts. Let us consider this amazing incident. Perhaps, though it treats of donkeys, it may yield us some royal thoughts.
I. Our first remark shall be—OBSERVE HOW THE HAND OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE CAUSES LITTLE THINGS TO LEAD ON TO GREAT MATTERS.
This man Saul must be placed in the way of the Prophet Samuel. How shall a meeting be brought about? Poor beasts of burden shall be the intermediate means! The donkeys go astray and Saul’s father bids him take a servant and go seek them. In the course of their wanderings, the animals might have gone North, South, East or West—for who shall account for the wild will of runaway donkeys? But so it happened, as men say, that they strayed, or were thought to have strayed, in such a direction that, by-and-by, Saul found himself near to Ramah, where Samuel, the Prophet, was ready to anoint him. On how small an incident the greatest results may hinge! The pivots of history are microscopic.
Hence, it is most important for us to learn that the smallest trifles are as much arranged by the God of Providence as the most startling events. He who counts the stars has also numbered the hairs of our heads. Our lives and deaths are predestined, but so, also, are our sitting down and our rising up. Had we but sufficiently powerful perceptive faculties, we would see God’s hand as clearly in each stone of our pathway as in the revolution of the earth. In watching our own lives, we may plainly see that on many occasions the merest grain has turned the scale. Whereas there seemed to be but a hair’s-breadth between one course of action and another, yet that hair’s-breadth has sufficed to direct the current of our life! “He,” says Flavel, “who will observe Providences shall never be long without a Providence to observe.” Providence may be seen as the finger of God, not merely in those events which shake nations and are duly emblazoned on the pages of history, but in little incidents of common life—yes, in the motion of a grain of dust, the trembling of a dewdrop, the flight of a swallow or the leaping of a fish!
II. But that is not the consideration to which we now invite you. Our drift is this—as Saul went out to find donkeys, but found a crown, so, IN THE MATTER OF GRACE, MANY A MAN HAS RECEIVED WHAT HE LOOKED NOT
For
That is a remarkable text in Isaiah—“I am found of them that sought Me not.” Sometimes the Sovereign Grace of God is pleased to light on persons who had no thought about it—who were, to all appearance, quite unprepared for it—no, even opposed to its Divine operations. These persons have stumbled on the treasures hid in the field when they were only thinking of their plow. They have met Jesus at the well when they only purposed to fill their water pots. They have heard glad tidings of the Savior when they were only caring for their flocks.
On ground not furrowed the rain of Heaven has fallen. Grace has come unasked. We have emblems of this in the Scriptures, in the miracles which were worked by our Lord and His Apostles. There was a young man dead, carried out to be buried, and around his bier were his weeping mother and relatives. Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, was entering in at the gate of the city, but we do not read that any of the mourners sought a miracle at His hands. They had not the faith to expect that He would raise the dead. The young man, being dead, was far beyond the possibility of seeking help for
himself from the miracle-working hand of Jesus. But Jesus interposed and commanded the bearers to stand still—they did so and then, unsought and unasked, Jesus said, “Young man, I say unto you, Arise,” and he arose to be delivered to his mother! Many a young man has been in like plight—he has been dead in trespasses and sins, but Christ’s interposition has not been sought by him. He has not trembled at his low position. He has not even understood it, being utterly dead and, therefore, insensible of his ruined state! The Redeemer has sovereignly interposed. The Holy Spirit has poured light into the darkened conscience. The man has received Grace and has lived a new and spiritual life—a life for which he had never sought!