Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): The God of the Mundane, next on Abounding Grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: How does God lead his people? Or another way we might ask that is, what is the will of God for me? What does it look like for God to lead a person? I hear people talk about it, and this is how it's phrased many times. I hear about my Christian friends or friends that I know have a relationship with God, and they say the Lord led me to do this, or the Lord is leading me.

You may be encouraged from the Scriptures often times. The Bible talks about being led by his spirit. What should I look for? What should I listen to? How should I listen? How do I know when God is leading me? Maybe that's on your mind right now. But in 1 Samuel chapter 9 here, we get insight that God often will use the mundane.

Guest (Male): Could I marry him or her? Should I accept that job offer or move to another state? When we're dealing with questions like these, we wonder what is God's will on the matter and how does he lead us?

Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor looks into this as we return to 1 Samuel. In chapter 9, we discover he'll often use the mundane simple things to lead and guide us.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 9. That's where we are. We finished the chapter last time, but I want to backtrack to the first few verses and answer a question that often comes up in the lives of believers, a question that I'm sure you've asked many times, a question that comes up that grips our heart. We want to know, how does God lead his people?

Another way we might ask that is, what is the will of God for me? What does it look like for God to lead a person? I hear people talk about it, and this is how it's phrased many times. I hear about my Christian friends or friends that I know have a relationship with God, and they say that the Lord led me to do this, or the Lord is leading me.

You may be encouraged from the Scriptures often times. The Bible talks about being led by the spirit. The children of God are led by the spirit. What should I look for? What should I listen to? How should I listen? How do I know when God is leading me? Maybe that's on your mind right now. Maybe that's what you're considering.

How does God lead a person? Now, we're not going to cover, nor can we cover, every avenue of how God leads. But in 1 Samuel chapter 9 here, we get insight that God often will use the mundane, the daily grind if you will, the simple things.

When you ask the question, why am I working here? To learn the will of God. Why am I living on this street? To learn the will of God for your life. Why am I unemployed? To learn the will of God for your life. Why am I facing such great tragedy? To learn the will of God for your life.

Now, you have your Bibles open to 1 Samuel 9. Hold your places there and turn over to Psalm 31 for a moment. Let's build a little bit on this topic. David would often cry out for the leading of God in his life. It was a very important part of his life. You read through the Psalms, and he's constantly wanting to know the will of God for his life.

He says in verse 1 of Psalm 31, "In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me, deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me."

Sometimes when we think of being led by the Lord, we come up with these ideas. Sometimes we think if we're really going to hear the will of God, then we need to get away like a monk and go into the caves or into a monastery. That's where the voice of God is in the silence. Getting away for quiet times with the Father is very commendable and important. Getting away out of the mundane of life, getting out of the busyness of life to seek the Lord is very good.

It is certainly a way the Lord can speak, but it's not the only way. It's not really an accurate picture of how God speaks in the Bible. Other times we think God will speak to us as we flip through the Bible and come to a place and say, "Right there. That's it. Let me see. This is the will of God. Oh no, that's not it. This is the will of God."

Certainly, God will speak and lead through his word. He'll use our normal daily devotions. He could even use as you turn to his word, you don't know where to go, and you just open the Bible and there's just an encouragement of God for you there. He certainly can use that and does. But there's no need to randomly flip through the pages of the Scriptures hoping God will stop our finger at just the right verse.

Still others see God speaking and leading through the supernatural, the emotional, the hyper-expressive move of the Holy Spirit. Or supernatural things like a cloud. I won't move until there is a cloud of fire by night. A pillar of fire by night, a cloud by day, that's when I'll move. A burning bush, that's when. I keep going to my backyard, Pastor, waiting for the bush to burn. It hasn't burned yet.

Well, we do see those in the Scriptures, and we do see God using them as tools, but they're not normal. In another way, they're not the normative way that God reveals himself. As we learned last time in our study in 1 Samuel, God will often use supernatural things in very natural ways. He'll lead us supernaturally using very natural things.

We have these pictures and thoughts of how God really speaks. We think that God more often than not will use these hyper things and these extravagant things when indeed, more often than not, God leads and speaks to his people while they're in the process of doing their daily routine. The mundane. He's the God of the mundane. In case you didn't know what that word means, I had to look it up myself.

I've used it many times, but I like to look words up just to say, "I wonder if I'm using it correctly." Here's the definition: lacking excitement, dull, regular, routine. Life can get that way at times. In our study through 1 Samuel, we've come to a major change in the book. We've come to a major shift.

All the time prior to this section of 1 Samuel, the children of Israel, God was speaking to them and leading them through the judges, through God's appointed leaders, godly men and a woman leading the country. They had these cycles we've studied through Judges verse by verse. They've had these cycles of sin and repentance and idolatry.

Even though they struggled, God continued to send them a judge. God continued to send them someone that would take care of them. God continued to send them someone that would deliver them. What a gracious and loving God we have that God will continue to deliver. They paid the price and they had consequences.

But then now we're coming to the point where they go, the children of Israel look around and they say, "We don't want this anymore. We want a king. Everyone else has a king. We want a king." And God says, "Okay, you want a king, I'll give you a king." As we looked at last time, the king we were introduced to, his name is Saul.

God is working behind the scenes. You're unable to see it yet. Saul wasn't able to see it. We read the Bible and we get to read the whole thing. We can read a life story in about an hour. But you've got to remember that the people in the Scriptures were living this moment by moment. They were living it in real time. They couldn't see what was happening. They had no idea what was up ahead.

Saul here has no idea what God is going to do in his life. He has no idea. But he is a faithful man. In chapter 9 we're introduced to him. There was a man of Benjamin, verse 1, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

He had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people. Now it gets interesting with this man named Saul. The donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. Kish said to his son Saul, "Please take one of the servants with you and arise and go and look for the donkeys."

So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, and they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them. When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul called his servant who was with them, "Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us."

His father sends out his son to look for donkeys. That's the next king. Where do you find the next king? He's looking for donkeys. That's where the next king is found. The whole scene of Saul connecting with Samuel and the anointing of this new king is one where a man, he's not a kid here, we saw that he's not a child here.

The whole scene of God arranging Samuel to meet Saul all surrounds some lost donkeys and the faithfulness of a son to obey his dad and to do what he was asked. God is leading a man through the mundane task of obeying his dad, honoring his father, leaving what he was doing to look for some donkeys. Imagine that. How about this the next time somebody asks you, "How do I know the will of God?" Go look for some donkeys.

It's absurd, isn't it? How do I know the will of God? Go to work. What? Yeah, go back to work. How do I know the will of God? Wash the car. Change the diaper. Yeah, that is the will of God, change the diaper. Sounds like we might need one changed right now.

It's an interesting thing, isn't it? That God would so often lead us supernaturally in very normal, natural ways. This is very natural. He's doing what his dad asked him to do. And while he's doing what his dad asked him to do, he's going to find out that he's anointed king of Israel. God is working behind the scenes.

How do I hear from the Lord? Stay faithful. Do what's in front of you. Be a man or woman of your word. Follow the Scriptures. The Bible says to honor your father, then honor your father. It's often in the simple things that get skipped that we miss out on what God is trying to show us. Looking for something more.

Let me read to you in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. It says, "So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God's secrets. Now a person who's put in charge as a manager must be faithful. What about me? Have I been faithful?

Well, it matters very little what you or anyone else thinks. I don't even trust my own judgment on this point, but my conscience is clear. But that isn't what matters. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide." And out of faithfulness comes a great calling of God, and it's not uncommon.

Many times when God wants to redirect a person's life, when he's ready to reveal a new direction, it's in the mundane. God so often works in these ways throughout the Scriptures. Remember Moses? Do you remember Moses when he was called? When God got his attention, where was he when the Lord spoke?

According to Exodus chapter 3, we often are focused on the burning bush. But really in Exodus chapter 3, verse 1, it says, "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian." That's when the Lord spoke to him, just taking care of the flock. Yeah, the burning bush gets all the attention, but we can't miss Moses taking care of his father-in-law's flocks. Just a daily life.

Gideon, where was he? Well, according to Judges chapter 6, verse 11, it says, "Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites." Gideon, what was he doing? He was threshing wheat, hiding in fear from the Midianites.

Oh, we remember David. According to 1 Samuel chapter 17, David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. The faithfulness, his whole life changed delivering food to his brothers. Because the Bible says that the Philistines drew near and presented 40 days morning and evening, but Jesse said to his son, "Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these 10 loaves and run to your brothers at the camp.

Carry these 10 cheeses to the captain of their thousand." I didn't even think that this verse, we would be reading this verse in the middle of our fast. Dried grain, 10 loaves, cheeses, little Taco Bell. It wasn't on purpose. Carry these 10 cheeses to the captain of their thousand and see now how your brothers fare and bring back news of them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah. His whole life changed delivering food to his brothers.

How about Jesus' disciples? How did they learn the will of God for their lives? Well, they were called to follow him while fishing, collecting taxes, whatever the job required. Wherever they were, that's where they were called from. And when we read through the Bible, you'll find that some of the greatest work ever done through the people of God was done as they were doing their daily work faithfully, and God met them right there in that place and transformed their lives.

How does that speak to us today? How is God stirring up us as a fellowship family in the days in which we live? I believe God is calling us to more faithfulness, a more steady faithfulness in our life. I believe God is calling us to enhance our witness for the gospel of Jesus by being faithful godly men and women in what we're doing.

The model and the pattern of Scriptures is that is often a place where God will give you the desires of his heart for you and your life. He will speak his will into your life as you're faithful. I mean, think about it. If you're unfaithful, if you and I are unfaithful and we're in a position of whatever it might be, just kind of complaining or gossiping, upset about my life, upset at where I'm at, whatever it might be when we are unfaithful, not doing what we said we would do, it's very difficult to hear the will of God.

You're going to be flipping through the pages, "What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?" And you're going to hear from heaven: "Be faithful. Be faithful." I don't want to go look for the donkeys. Be faithful. Those donkeys are important to your dad. Just go find them. I'm much better than donkeys. No, just do what you're asked to do. Simplicity. And it's in the simple, it's in the obedience of doing what you and I are asked to do that the Lord so often speaks.

Well, if you're taking notes, let me give you a few things to consider. It's all by way of repetition, I'm sure, but it's good for us to be reminded. Number one, God speaks to us as we are daily doing what we need to do. God speaks to us. According to Genesis chapter 24, verse 27, it says, "He said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master. But as for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren." You'll recall he was given an impossible task to find a wife, and yet on the way, the Lord led him exactly where he needed to be.

Secondly, God leads us not only in the doing of it, but in doing what is before us diligently. Diligently. That's what we see with Saul here in chapter 9, verse 4. He passed through the mountains, they passed through the land, he passed through the land of the Benjamites. I mean, he's diligently looking. This isn't just lip service.

I used to do this growing up. I hated to brush my teeth as a kid. I just didn't want to do it. It take a couple minutes, but my parents would tell me, pretty much like you parents probably do, "Go in and brush your teeth." I would turn the water on, I'd play with the toothbrush, I'd wet it, I'd squeeze the toothpaste without opening it, just so if they went and checked on me, everything would look legit.

And I'd stay in there as long as it would take for someone to brush their teeth, and then I'd go out and lie to my parents. "Did you brush your teeth?" "Oh yeah, no problem, go check." What they should have done is said, "Come here, I'll check." But for some reason, they never did. I would spend all this energy, all this precious energy, and then even be deceitful.

I'd do all these things to get out of something that was actually good for me, and I wouldn't be diligent. That was a pattern of my life until I got saved. A pattern of my life was a lack of diligence and find any way I could to get out of what was before me. That's not so with the Lord.

The way of the Lord is to be diligent in what you're doing. Everything you do matters for the kingdom of God. Why? Because you are a citizen of the kingdom of God, and everything matters. So do what's before you diligently. As he comes to the end of the land of Zuph, he says, "We've got to go back." He was diligently looking. He passed through, and he passed through, and he passed through. For some time he was searching and looking over. This was no just one verse, 30 seconds. This was some time. He was very diligent.

We know that time passed because they ran out of provisions, and he began to worry that his dad would be concerned. And the words in verse 4 and 5 speak to us of everyday lives with ups and downs, lefts and rights, concerns and worries. They were looking for animals, but we don't read of any frustration or anger or anything like that. We just see Saul being faithful.

And if he did have any of those things, he didn't express them to the people that were with him. And I believe one of the greatest tests in our spiritual lives is when God allows our agendas and our plans and our goals to be challenged with the mundane of everyday life. I mean, it looks like this: we've got great plans and great aspirations and great dreams, and we take the needed steps to do what we believe God wants us to do.

And we see the timing of what God wants us to do to be far sooner than what God has in store. And so instead of attaining what God has so far in the future, he's left us. "I've got this great aspiration, I want to work in this capacity, and I want to be the CEO of a certain company." But instead, you're answering phones, answering phones of complaining customers.

You're sitting there with an MBA answering phones. Why? Because that's where you begin, and you answer phones, and you be the best phone answerer that you possibly can be in Jesus' name, not just for a promotion. Promotions neither come from the east or the west. God raises up one, he promotes one and puts down another. You know your promotion and the things you're waiting for at work are going to come from the Lord. But really as you're serving, you're serving the Lord.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. Well, maybe the timing of all of that couldn't be better as you're wondering what the will of God is over a certain matter in your life. Why not give this a second listen? It's titled The God of the Mundane. You can hear it again right now at aboundinggraceradio.com.

Pastor Ed, I'm sure you get this question on Calvary Live or asked to you in person quite a bit: What is God's will for my life? We learned today he very often uses the mundane simple things to lead us. So do you think we sometimes miss what he's doing in our lives because we're looking for something like a neon sign flashing in the sky?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Yeah, Larry, God often does use the regular things in everyday life to lead us and guide us. It's important that we not get caught up in the worry and anxiety of not really wanting or liking where we are right now. That's often the trigger. The trigger is that sense where what is God's will for my life because I really don't like what's happening right now.

Be careful, because God's will for our lives is living out our life unto him day by day, learning how to trust him, learning how to know him through his word. And he reveals his will to us in simple ways. One way is he uses open and closed doors. Often that is a clear way of saying God says no when he closes a door, and then he says yes when a door seems open.

Then we just walk by faith. One of the things with open doors that many people get frustrated is they go through the open door and then bam, it's a closed door right after. They go, "Wait a minute, I thought it was an open door." It was. But here's the thing, please listen: we have to surrender our wills and our lives and our thoughts and our agendas to him.

Would you consider memorizing this week Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6? The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he'll direct your paths." It's one of the first verses I ever memorized as a believer, and I didn't even know how important it would be in my life, because he'll direct my paths, but I trust him and I lean into him and I acknowledge him and I follow him.

Guest (Male): Thanks again, Pastor Ed. We look forward to hearing the rest of your message on The God of the Mundane tomorrow. Here in the month of August, we've picked out an excellent book written by Bob Hoekstra called "How to Counsel God's Way." This book is a call for God's people to return to Jesus as our wonderful counselor so that we avoid the pitfalls of following after man's wisdom and trust the Lord Jesus for his reliable riches that are already ours in Christ.

We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Please remember it is through your financial support that we're able to come to you day by day on this station and others like it. Your gift, whatever the size, would be greatly appreciated and put to good use.

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And we'd like to connect with you before the day is done. Say hello, tell us what God is up to in your life when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com and then click on "Contact Us." Don't miss our next study in 1 Samuel with Pastor Ed next time on Abounding Grace, and may God richly bless you with his abounding grace.