Verse: 1 Samuel 9: 6-10
6 But the servant replied, “Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.” 7 Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a shekel[a] of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.) 10 “Good,” Saul said to his servant. “Come, let’s go.” So they set out for the town where the man of God was.
Title: Honor the Men and Women of God
Message: God anointed people to deliver to us his message, to physically make us feel his guidance and wisdom. Thus, when we are in trouble or are experiencing difficulties in life, we are advised to seek the help of these people, the men and women of God. Just like what the servant had decided upon, he suggested that they would seek the advice of a man of God for them to be guided in their undertaking. He manifested his belief and trust in a person whom he didn’t personally know. All he knew was that they would be seeing a man of God and that such a person would be telling them the truth and be giving them ideas concerning the lost asses. Here, giving honor and great importance to a man of God and his words are evident. As Matthew Henry says, "Men of God are honourable men, and should be so in our eyes."
Promise to Claim: Making wise decisions is typically hard for us especially when we are being governed by our emotions or having a feeling that we are incapable of coming up with anything. Thus, God provided us men and women to approach and consult to whenever we need help, especially spiritual help. Through these people, we are made aware of our acts and their consequences, of our priorities and above all, of God's purpose and will in our lives through sharing to us His words.
Command to Obey: Let us approach men of God, consult them of what we are ignorant of and make their words of wisdom our guide in confronting our problems. Let us regard them highly. Give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7).
Warning to Heed: We will become lost souls if we cease consulting and listening to men and women of God because it's they who will make us mindful of God's word, will let us see and realize what our spiritually misguided mind and heart are incapable of seeing and realizing and will, above all, guide us back to the Father.
Application: I will always see to it that I connect to any man or woman of God for me to be guided in my every decision, for my action to be correct not only in the eyes of men but most importantly in the eyes of the Creator. I will teach the same to my children and students for them to respect these people and see their worth in their lives and salvation as a whole.
