What Kind Of Gift-Giver Are You?

God gives gifts greater than we can understand or that we would choose for ourselves.   ~~~   How would the people to which you give gifts rate your gift-giving abilities? Would they say, “He is so thoughtful and knows me so well?” Or is it more like, “He is so interesting in the gifts he gives?” There have been one or two times when I knocked it out of the park with my gift-giving. And then there are times when I can see the confused look in my wife’s face. But no matter if you are a great gift-giver, or an “interesting” gift-giver, usually, with gifts, we want to give a gift that will make the life of the receiver better in some way. Or we want to get them a better something of what they already have—a new watch with better features, a better this or better that, socks with no holes, a better scope for their rifle. Well, what we have been studying in 1 Samuel is that in the Israelites quest for someone to lead them as a king, God is able and willing to provide them with something better…something better than what they had chosen for themselves. But for us as a reader is that we have been getting a behind the scenes view of some things that were taking place. And we have been given this view so that we would see that God, by His divine providence, provides Israel a better King. We see that God gives better gifts. God is the best gift-giver of all time. And He has done the same thing in our time. We need a better king than we can provide. We need a better king than ourself. We need a better king than fame, or popularity, or money, or power. And God gives us that in Jesus Christ. He is the better King.