²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. ²¹ Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! ²² So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”

And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.” ²³ So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.

²⁴ Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!”

And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

Dear God, it’s become a bit of a tradition for me to come to you in prayer on the day of our big fundraising event and do some repenting. Somehow, I build this thing up in my mind because there will be a lot of people, and there is potentially a lot of money on the line tonight. Then there’s my image and reputation. The reputation and image of our organization. And I’ll confess that my carnal, selfish ego wants to look good tonight. I want to look good in the eyes of the people there, our board of directors, and our staff. I want to raise lots of money for our programs. I want accolades afterwards. It’s all of this that I am repenting for.

Here’s where I want my heart to be and what I haven’t mentioned so far. We are honoring a specialist who helps us help our patients. I want her to feel loved, honored, and your joy. We have a patient she helped who is going to speak. I want him to feel loved and supported by us. We have staff who are going to be there who work hard and will hopefully enjoy a nice evening. Love on them tonight, please. And thenn there are all of the people in the room. There are hundreds of them coming from all different kinds of places. Experiencing different stresses in their lives. Perhaps looking for you in the midst of a world that seems overwhelming to them. It’s for them that I really want to pray this morning. I want them to be the center of attention tonight. I want everyone there to feel a sense that you are here. In the midst of what seems like chaos, you don’t chew your nails. You don’t fret. You don’t worry. You know what’s happening. You are God. Things might not be working out the way we want them to, but that doesn’t mean we should fear. Your rod and your staff, they comfort us.

Father, help me to offer your love tonight and the opportunity to be your sheep. I pray that you will bring joy in the fellowship. Joy in the hearing about our work. Joy in the celebration of what we’ve been able to do for this patient. Joy in the celebration of our honoree. And joy in the gifing. Help me to decrease so that you can increase. Help me to love others more than I seek love. And help me to be willing to sacrifice anything of my own for your glory.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

P.S. I picked this passage because I feel like Saul, wanting to hide with the baggage instead of leading for your glory. I’m sorry for that too.