I had a moment like that this morning, reading of the coronation of King Saul, the first king over Israel. A ceremony had been laid on to go through the process of identifying the new king by lot, but here’s what happened, as related in 1 Samuel 10:20-25:
“Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, ‘Has the man come here yet?’
“And the Lord said, ‘Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.’
“They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, ‘Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.’
“Then the people shouted, ‘Long live the king!’
“Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.”
It seems to me the most amateurish coronation ever. The man who would be king doesn't want to be, and hides among the baskets and bales of stuff brought along to support all these people. Then, when he’s dragged out, the people shout, “Long live the king,” but Samuel has to explain to them what the king is actually going to be doing on their behalf, and what they owed the king in return. No one, king or people, had any idea how to do this.
But note the faithfulness of God throughout. The people want a king, and he has decided they will have one. He points out the hiding place of Saul, and his prophet explains to everyone how the kingship should work. Rather than sitting back and letting this comic farce progress to its natural, disastrous conclusion, God ensures that it will, in the end, work.
It warms me to think that God sometimes loves his people so much that he protects us from ourselves when we go our own way. What a wonderful love that is!
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