Young Maidens Drawing Water

Before Saul was king over Israel, he was a handsome young man whose father was Kish, a Benjaminite. Kish’s donkey got loose, so Kish sent his son Saul to go look for them.

Saul and a servant searched for the donkeys throughout the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they couldn’t find them. They continued their search through Shaalim and Zuph, but still no luck. 

Saul suggested they head back home since surely his father would now be worried about the two of them since they’d been gone so long. But the servant told there was a man of God in the nearby city. He suggested they go to the prophet so that he might tell them where the donkeys were. 

The two men headed into town, but didn’t know where to look for the man of God. As they went up the hill to the city, they met a group of young maidens on their way to draw water. They asked the women if the prophet was there.

The women answered that he was in town for a sacrifice on the high place. They told him where to go and urged them to hurry in order to catch up with him. They followed the directions and met up with Samuel who not only told them the lost donkeys had been found, but went on to anoint Saul as the king of Israel. 

Those young women were merely going about their daily business when God allowed their paths to cross with Saul’s. He used them to connect Saul with Samuel and thus fulfill a prophecy that God had given Samuel. We never know how God can use the simplest acts to achieve the mightiest results. 

Read about the young maidens in Scripture: 1 Samuel 9.

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