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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] What if the thing that disqualifies you from your future isn't your past, but the place that you're hiding? Welcome to Shifts and Ladders. I'm Ryan Robinson. Hey, I want to jump right into it. We are. We've been talking about faith, but we're going to talk about something a little bit different today. We're going to talk about baggage.
[00:00:21] Baggage. There's so many bags out there, y'. All. I mean, I mean, you got travel baggage, you have bags for your school, bags for work, everyday carries, which is a very odd term. Consider we're talking about baggage that people carry that is intrinsic. You can't see it, you can't touch it. But all of us have baggage. We have a history, we have circumstances and situations that we've come from.
[00:00:49] But perhaps you might have baggage that you're hiding behind, particularly like this biblical character named King Saul. So, quick overview, what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about 1st Samuel, chapter 10, verses 20 through 23. It's going to set the background for us. It gives an idea, and then we're going to get into some leadership principles. Because King Saul, as great as he was intended to be, was found hiding in his in baggage amongst the bags, the Bible says.
[00:01:22] And it was a foreshadowing of the kind of leader he was going to become.
[00:01:27] So in our lives, as we're going through finding places to declutter our soul and clearing out some of the things that we are holding on to, perhaps the thing that we are that's holding us back is the thing that we're hiding behind.
[00:01:41] So let me get to it. We're going to go to First Samuel, chapter 10, verses 20 through 23. I'm going to read it. In the NIV new international version, it says this. When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribe, the tribe of Benjamin was taken from the lot. He brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Marti's clan was taken.
[00:02:07] Finally, Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, has the man come here yet? And the Lord said, yes, he has hidden himself amongst the supplies, or some translations say, amongst the baggage. And they ran and brought him out.
[00:02:29] As he stood amongst the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.
[00:02:36] So what do we learn?
[00:02:40] So first things first with this one, if you're king, I don't want anybody trying to pull me out to make me show up to Be a king. So this is the part I'm going to say. This is one thing.
[00:02:56] Saul was God's choice, but insecurity was Saul's choice.
[00:03:03] Many of us, at some point in time, we choose insecurity over what we've been called to do.
[00:03:11] It was actually something that we've been announced, but we actually denounce in private because we feel that we're not worthy or we find out or think that someone's going to find out that you're not as good as you think you are.
[00:03:27] So when actually, when it came time for Saul to be king, he disobeyed God.
[00:03:35] He was jealous of David, David's success. And he was always looking for validation. Now I'm gonna tell you what happened that really ticked off Saul about David.
[00:03:48] David, as you know, slayed Goliath. He was a celebrity. He started working in the king's king's palace. And he was playing music. Happened to be a warrior, cold blooded dude. So he ends up getting this opportunity to start leading the armies and the army. The men are like, hey, we like this dude David. He's pretty tight. So he's winning battles for Saul.
[00:04:13] And he's coming in, it's him, Saul's leading, and then David's right behind him. He said, these are my guys. It's like the dynamic duo, you know what I'm saying? Like Saul's Batman, David's Robin.
[00:04:27] And all of a sudden, the ladies start saying something and they start saying, saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.
[00:04:38] And my man Saul was like, hey, man, that's supposed to be for me, not for you. Young. Youngin, man. I'm saying youngin makes me sound really old.
[00:04:51] But the point is, it was meant for him.
[00:04:56] It wasn't meant. He wanted it for himself, not for David.
[00:05:00] So this insecurity of him of himself started popping up so Saul couldn't look at David the same.
[00:05:08] It's stated several times in the Bible that David, even David, had to avoid spears that were thrown by Saul.
[00:05:16] And David still stayed.
[00:05:20] Isn't that crazy? If somebody's throwing spears at me, I'm finna go.
[00:05:24] But there was something that David actually needed from Saul. That's a whole nother sermon. And teach it. But we'll get to that one day, right?
[00:05:34] So the question for us, how many of us are praying for elevation while still holding to the baggage that's keeping us down?
[00:05:47] Something to think about, eh? All right. Okay. Number two, hiding in baggage is actually a metaphor. Okay? So it Is.
[00:05:57] It is something that is the anchor I kind of alluded to. Number two, baggage is anchors for. Is an anchor for a leader.
[00:06:06] So in the Hebrew word for supplies, it means vessels, instruments, and gear.
[00:06:13] Okay, not just your backpack, but what you have in it that we're talking about.
[00:06:18] So baggage could represent past trauma. It can.
[00:06:23] It could be a fear of failure.
[00:06:25] It could be a fear of success.
[00:06:28] It could be shame. It could be the weight of expectations from other people.
[00:06:33] It could be us clinging to comforts. It could be a lot of things that actually keep us from actually moving forward. Now, who knows what Saul's ultimate insecurity was? Because the thing. It might have been because he was too tall.
[00:06:47] I mean, if you're a head taller than everybody and everybody's looking at you, I kind of be a little insecure, too. I'm a short dude, so I really can't speak on it. But I will say some people who you wouldn't think would be insecure are actually insecure about certain attributes of themselves. And clearly, Saul was.
[00:07:07] And it might be some things that we haven't evaluated. So here's a quote here or a great point.
[00:07:17] The man who hides in the baggage becomes the king who hides behind excuses.
[00:07:28] You can't lead with an excuse.
[00:07:32] You lead as a leader.
[00:07:37] Nothing else to say after that one.
[00:07:40] All right, here, this is the last one.
[00:07:42] I'm gonna keep this one tight. Short and tight for this one.
[00:07:49] This might be, maybe I might add another one.
[00:07:53] But God still calls you out. Number three, Saul had. If you read chapter 10, first Samuel, chapter 10. There's an incredible, incredible story as to how Saul was anointed and all these circumstances that allowed Saul to be positioned as king and in hiding at the moment when he's getting this big announcement to the entire nation, by the way of Israel. He's hiding is like pulling back the curtain and there's no performer or magician on stage.
[00:08:32] And everybody's like, where is the D? And then somebody has to push him or her into the middle of the stage so they can be announced.
[00:08:44] That's what that was like. Really odd.
[00:08:47] And this is the thing. They inquired of God, like, where is this guy?
[00:08:52] And God's like, oh, he over there.
[00:08:55] He pointed him out.
[00:08:57] There is no hiding. If you think baggage is thick enough for you to hide from God, from the responsibilities that God has given you for the opportunity that God's presented to you, you got another thing coming.
[00:09:13] Ask Jonah.
[00:09:15] He tried to hide. He crap. He got. He had a make a hotel room and A fish for three days. So.
[00:09:23] So I think we need to be careful about with the fact that we can actually hide from the responsibility that we've been given, but also too, some of these things, some of the baggage that we carry is something that most people don't want to.
[00:09:40] We think most people don't want to see.
[00:09:43] You don't have to unpack it. That's what most people get confused.
[00:09:47] Some people feel like they have to unpack their baggage and they just dump on people.
[00:09:53] They dump. There's therapists for that. That's what we pay therapists to do, to listen, psychiatrist, whatever, whoever you talk to. Then you pay to listen with confidentiality. That's where you do the dumping right? Now the problem is most people don't do that.
[00:10:09] So what ends up happening is not only do they bring their baggage, they dump all the components on the person and ask them or in some cases, demand them to help them put it all back.
[00:10:22] Not fair. There's some people that are there that can help you carry it a little bit, but they're not responsible for dealing with what's inside of it.
[00:10:31] So if you're asking someone to deal with the stuff that is in your baggage, you have taken the responsibility away from you and put it on someone else who has their own baggage and stuff in it to deal with.
[00:10:47] Okay.
[00:10:48] King Saul really speaks to what happens to a soul that is not clear or of intention and of purpose.
[00:11:00] All of these things that we just talked about that could make an insecurity possible is the very thing that kept Saul from being the kind of king that he could have been.
[00:11:15] Instead, he vacated that position because he wanted to be liked, he wanted to be loved, and he wanted to be acknowledged.
[00:11:24] When, honestly, y', all, he already had all of those things at his disposal. He was the king of Israel. You're going to get all of those things just by being the king.
[00:11:43] This is probably this lead to something else here soon. But isn't it crazy how sometimes we pursue the very thing that we desire in the wrong way?
[00:11:56] He already had it, but he was trying to find another way to get it.
[00:12:01] But it was already destined for him to have it.
[00:12:07] Perhaps sometimes in your evaluation of your life, God might already have blessed you with the thing you have baggage for.
[00:12:13] He's just asking you, can you just drop this off and I can take care of it so you can travel a little lighter in your life.
[00:12:22] Maybe God wants to do something different.
[00:12:26] At least give you capacity to see what life could look like without some baggage.
[00:12:34] Awesome. Listen, if you were blessed by this, like share comment on YouTube, on Instagram, on TikTok, where you can get some inspirational, motivational and minimal.
[00:12:54] I won't call it minimal, but what's the right word?
[00:12:59] Some content that can help you remove some of the clutter out of your life, your soul and your purpose so you can see clearly what God has in store for you. So with that said, take care, be blessed, and we'll see you in the next one.
