Awakening the Inner Shepherd King

Neville's Inner Vision

Past and present meet in this verse: the elders recall a time when Saul ruled, and the I AM within you declares that you are now the feeder and captain of your inner people. In Neville’s language, every outward office is an inner state of consciousness. To be asked to feed Israel is to feed the life within your mind—your ideas, your loves, your purposes—so that a whole inner nation thrives. The term captain over Israel is your claim to govern the thoughts and sensations that compose your inner kingdom. When you realize that the ‘LORD said’ to you, you hear the divine directive as your own implicit conviction: I am the one who directs, nourishes, and leads. If you accept this, you move from mere memory of past leadership to the felt reality of present authority. The verse invites you to identify with the I AM, to imagine you already ruling with tenderness and clarity, and to observe how inner movements become outward expressions of your inner kingly life.