1 Samuel 9:6 And he said unto him, Behold, now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go.
Jim Bakker. Jimmy Swaggert. Robert Tilton. These are men who once claimed to be amongst the ranks of men of God who are now held in disdain for their illicit actions. Sad, isn’t it? It would be easy to write off these men and say, “Well, they are Charismatics; their bad doctrine bred bad morals.”
Yet amongst the ranks of fundamentalism, we have our own hall of shame. Though lesser known on the national scale, regionally we hang our hearts and heads when hearing of their moral disintegrations. These are men who left their marriages and ministries in pursuit of money, mistresses, or mysteries. These are men who proved to be Servants of Self, instead of Servants of the Savior. Though the trend seems to be amplified in our day, we must recall that there are men who are not of this way! There are still men who are of Godly rank and reputation.
A young Saul was certain of one thing the day he was searching for his father’s donkeys. He knew that in the city of Zuph he could find a man of God. In his mind, he was confident that if he could find God’s man, he could find the direction he needed. He went to Zuph and found Samuel.
Notice Saul’s perceived testimony of the man of God. Saul said, “There is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go.” Saul was confident when he found God’s man he would find three things.
1. His identification will be heavenly. “There is a man of God”
2. His integrity will be honorable. “He is an honorable man”
3. His instructions will be helpful. “All that he saith cometh surely to pass”
The wise reader would also discover in Saul's simple statement the needed reputation for every preacher today. Oh, how we need to realize that men of God today are in the majority, not the minority.
You say, “I am not a man of God but I sit under the ministry of God’s man.” I urge you to hold him up! Hold him high before the Lord. Protect him from the subtle attacks of money, would-be-mistresses, and the unexplored mysteries of sin.
Every man of God I know starts out the ministry to finish not fail. But failures come. Let us help keep the testimony of the men of God as Saul stated it “There is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go.”
