Details

Last week we dug into the first sign that Samuel told Saul was coming in order to give him confirmation that he was indeed chosen to be the new king of Israel.

This week, let’s dive into the second sign!

“Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.” 1 Samuel 10:3-4 (ESV)

This sign is so filled with intricate details that I had to read through it a few times to get a good picture of what Saul would be seeing.

But, I think maybe that’s the point.

If I were to say to you that you would walk by someone on a bike today, that wouldn’t be so crazy. It would be easy to brush it off as coincidence if a man zoomed by on his bike while you were on an evening walk.

But, if I said to you that four blocks away from your house in front of Ms. Smith’s mailbox, you’d meet someone riding their bike with a purple backpack on and their black poodle on a leash. And they’re going to stop and give you a piece of their Big Red gum…well then I’ve got your attention.

There’s so many details claimed that it seems ridiculous.

But this is exactly what God did for Saul.

This sign coming to fruition right in front of Saul’s eyes should have given him not only the confidence that the One who has claimed him to be king has the knowledge to do so, but He also has the authority.

Saul could have seen these men and all those details before and it probably wouldn’t have meant much to him.

Why? Because he wasn’t looking for God to be in the details of his life like this.

But now, now he has eyes for it. He’s intentionally looking.

That changes everything.

God specifically told him what’s going to happen, and so he knows it’s God’s hand now and not random or coincidence. Down to the very details of the men’s travel items and exact numbers of what they would offer him.

Saul would have missed God moving in his life like this if he hadn’t been intentionally looking for it.

Honestly, I was at a loss at how this passage was applicable to our own lives, specifically in times of waiting. I knew it was to be about God’s active movement in the details of our lives and how He knows every little thing that comes our way, but how does that change the way I live and wait on Him?

And then God helped me make the connection through my own life.

How many details do I walk right by that I don’t recognize as actually God’s Hand in my life?

I think especially during times of waiting on the Lord my focus gets consumed by whatever it is that I’m waiting for, and I glaze over God’s Hand in the details of the path under my feet.

I don’t want my relationship with God to be like that.

I don’t want to only recognize His Hand in my life when it jumps out at me.

I want to be aware enough and have eyes that are actively looking to acknowledge just how intricately and intimately He is walking with me.

But, honestly, I was at a bit of a loss on how to do that.

I don’t have a prophecy in my own life, like Saul did, where God has told me I’m going to meet some specific person under a tree today.

So I asked God to help me and intervene in the way I look for Him.

And I should not have been surprised how quickly He answered my prayer! He showed me that just as He had the foreknowledge and authority to give Saul such a detailed sign for his life, He can open my eyes to see His Hand in the details of my own life.

Suddenly, my eyes were opened to all these little ways that God had been in my day that I would have otherwise moved right passed if I weren’t looking for them.

That morning, I loaded up the boys into our double stroller and headed to the library for story time. On the way, I gave them each a snack bar in an effort to ward off any hangry disaster that seems to only happen in places where I need them to be quiet and civilized little humans.

So, once we made it outside the library doors, they were sticky messes that I needed to get cleaned up before we went inside.

Well, a wet baby wipe may as well be a coarse sheet of sandpaper to JJ. He passionately hates getting his face cleaned off.

I pulled out the wipe preparing for a full on WWE fight with my one-year-old, and just then the most beautiful noise blared overhead:

An airplane!

Lately the boys have been obsessed with finding airplanes in the sky and watching them fly overhead. This gave me the exact 10-second distraction I needed to find JJ’s smiling face underneath his crumby leftovers.

And I just felt God’s presence in my life in something so miniscule.

At the exact moment I needed assistance, God sent the very thing that my boys love to sit still and watch.

The more I let that sink in, the more known and loved I felt after realizing one small way God’s Hand had showed up in my “just trying to be a good mom” journey.

God knows me. He knows where I am at all times. And He knows my boys I’m trying to take care of. Even down to their likes and dislikes, that seriously change on a weekly basis.

These times of seeing God in the details just kept popping up all over my day.

And it was so awesome to see and feel the intimacy of God’s Hand in my life.

But, you know when it became a life source for me?

When dark days came.

These have been an especially difficult couple of weeks for me.

We had an unexpected, very early miscarriage. And as I was spending my hours trying to wrap my head and heart around what was happening, I became so thankful for the days beforehand where God showed me to look for Him and I will see Him in my daily life.

Because in the midst of a confusing, heartbreaking season where I just don’t understand, my instinct was not to ask God, “Where are You?”

I knew in the depths of my heart that He is with me.

He’s shown me even in the little details of distracting my boys with something they love so that I could do what a mama needed to do.

How could I question Someone’s presence in my life after seeing Him over and over again daily?

I still question why something like this happens, but I don’t question His heart and love for me and authority over my life.

And instead of feeling completely alone in a particularly difficult, painful situation….I’ve felt known.

This changes everything.

It doesn’t extinguish questions of why or give clarity to everything I don’t understand. But, it allows me to rest in the Arms of the One I know is holding me.

Even when I don’t agree with what’s come in my path.

So, I challenge you to take this week and ask God to open your own eyes to how He is in the details of your life.

I pray you store these moments, which I know will come, in your heart, and let them strengthen your faith and trust in the God who knows you.

From one of His children to another,

Christi