“When You Were Little in Your Own Eyes”

“When You Were Little in Your Own Eyes”

What was Samuel referring to when he said these words to Saul? Was it not Saul’s hidden attitude of mind which was spontaneously manifested when Samuel came to anoint him as king over Israel? 1 Sam. 9:21. “And Saul answered and said, ‘Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?’” He was very consciously aware of his incompetence. That attitude represents a painful death to our enemy—the human ego. It is a great grace that we can watch and pray that we never come away from this awareness! Saul’s response when Samuel anointed him to be king was a simple, honest acknowledgment of the truth. From that point, God could teach and anoint Saul for the task he was to carry out.

To be little in our own eyes involves having a deep longing to learn from Jesus to be “meek and humble of heart,” and we receive power to do precisely what we read about Jesus in 1 Pet. 2:23-24: “. . . but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” By the Spirit of truth, we understand that we are by no means qualified to allow our thoughts to analyze or criticize what others think and believe. Matt. 11:29. To be able to “learn” requires an inner attitude and disposition in which we acknowledge that we don’t know as we should. 1 Cor. 8:2. Then the way is open for us to receive God’s thoughts, which are true and righteous. Then we can learn to think soberly, as it is written in Rom. 12:3: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

We rejoice that through the cross we can partake in Christ’s sufferings and bring our own thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We get to know Him in fellowship with Him in His sufferings—this is our calling. Those who are little in their own eyes see the glory in receiving God’s thoughts as good and perfect gifts from above, which are so much higher than their own thoughts. Having faith in those thoughts, they are equipped to carry out the works that God has prepared for them: serving others.