Nothing is Random to God

 

Amy Beth was out in her neighborhood taking her dog for a walk when she saw a young man run into a nearby alley; a car followed. The young man grabbed a huge piece of wood from a dumpster and started swinging at the car. Amy Beth froze; she was caught in a gang fight. Suddenly, the young driver of the car tried to get away by accelerating backwards. He slammed into Amy Beth. She landed on the trunk and was thrown into the street. Amazingly, she wasn’t seriously hurt.

Later, she tried to make sense of her experience. She came to this conclusion: Bad things happen-tragic and horrible things. Good things happen-amazing and miraculous things. And all this happens randomly to us. But it is not random to God. He is larger than the events that seem to contradict his goodness. We will experience sickness, accidents, sorrow, and death; but we are not on our own. God is in control; we can be confident that one day we will be safe with Him forever (Our Daily Bread)

In Acts 13:19-22 we read “he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years. “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”

God delivered his people from Egypt, guided them through the wilderness until they settled in Canaan. His guidance did not stop once the land was secured and the Israelites settled in Canaan. God continued to shepherd the nation through Spirit-empowered deliverers.  “The Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety (1 Sam.12:11).

The era of the judges detailed in the Book of Judges, describes a cyclical pattern of sin, oppression, repentance and deliverance. Whenever Israel needed deliverance the Lord raised up a judge. The Lord was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived. The judges were not kings but were military deliverers and spiritual leaders (Judges 2:16-19).

God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet (Acts 13:20). Samuel “was the last judge of Israel, ruling all the days of his life” (1 Sam.7:15). His lifetime marks the historic transition between the era of the judges and the beginning of the kings. He was the first prophet in the new era (1Sam.3:19-20), anointing the first two kings of Israel, Saul (1 Sam. 10:1) and David (1 Sam. 16:13). Samuel was a Priest who interceded for Israel (1 Sam. 7:9; 12:23).

Then the people asked for a king (Acts 13:21). They told Samuel, “you are old...now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king” (1 Sam. 8:5-7).

The people's desire for a king was influenced by their desire to be like other nations.Their desire reveals a heart shift from trusting God’s direct rule through judges to craving human leadership. God called their request a rejection of Him as King (1 Samuel 8:7), yet he allowed it, illustrating how He may permit what people insist on, while also warning of the consequences (1 Samuel 8:9–18; Hosea 13:10–11).

He gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years (Acts 13:21). Despite Israel’s misplaced motives, the Lord remained in control. Saul was chosen by God. His selection is detailed in 1 Samuel 9-10.  God told Samuel, “Here is the man of whom I spoke; he shall rule over my people”(1 Sam.9:17).Samuel told the people “Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you” (1Sam.12:13). 

Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin the smallest tribe of Israel. The tribe of Benjamin had a tumultuous history, including near extinction due to civil war (Judges 20-21; Judges 21:17)). Saul humbly questioned why God had chosen him to be king “but am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?(1 Sam.9:21) Paul himself was a Benjamite (Phil.3:5).

In 1 Samuel 13 we read that Saul waited for Samuel to come and offer burnt sacrifice. When Samuel delayed Saul offered up the burnt offering.  When Samuel arrived he said to Saul ,“You have done a foolish thing...You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people”(1Sam. 13:5-14).

In 1 Samuel 15 Saul was told by God to attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belonged to them. They were to put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. But Saul spared King Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. Then the Lord said to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions”.

Samuel was angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night. Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he had set up a monument in his own honor. When Samuel reached him and why he did not obey the Lord,” Saul said the the best was spared “in order to sacrifice them to the Lord”. But Samuel replied “To obey is better than sacrifice... you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” (1 Sam. 15:20-23).

Then the Lord said to Samuel, “how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?...I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided myself a king among his sons”… Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward... But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him” (1 Sam. 16:1,13-14).

In 1 Samuel 28:3-19 we are told “now Samuel was dead and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. The Philistines assembled to fight Israel. When Saul saw the Philistine army terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or Prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”

Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said… Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? … Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord … will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me”. “Saul and his three sons died together the same day (1 Sam.31:6).

says “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse”. Saul’s disobedience: sparing Agag, presuming priestly duties, building monuments to himself,  consulting a medium, led to his rejection by God.

After removing Saul, he made David their king (Acts 13:22). God “chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance” (Ps.78:70-71). God said “I have found my servant David; with my sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him” (Ps.89:20-21).

God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do” (Acts 13:22). God's testimony about David is significant, as it reflects divine approval and endorsement. Despite David's flaws and failures, he loved God deeply (Ps 63:1-8). He could write, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Ps.40:8). When he failed he repented wholeheartedly (Ps 51).

David's identification as the son of Jesse roots him in the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:18-22). This fulfilled Jacob's prophecy that “the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come” (Gen.49:10). In 2 Samuel 7:4-16 God said to David, “I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.

 Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you … I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him ... But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.

Psalm 145 is titled “A Psalm of praise of David ”. In this Psalm David says “Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom …Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does…The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does”.

In 2 Samuel 23:1-5 we read “now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain.’ “Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
Will He not make it increase?

Acts 13 compresses over a millennium into a few paragraphs to showcase God’s unbroken faithfulness. God’s promises are sure, His timing perfect, and His leadership trustworthy from generation to generation. God is sovereign, his purpose cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2). Our God is in heaven, he does what pleases him (Ps.115:3). History is his story. You can take him at his word.