Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Tuesday,
I’m sure all of us have had the joyful experience, at least once in our lifetime, of being ‘selected’. Perhaps on the playground as kids were choosing sides; or maybe later in life when you tried out for a team; or later in life when you applied for a position you really wanted. But what is it like when a person discovers they are selected by Almighty God Himself!?
Of course, the “Grand Narrative” of God’s work in human history is filled with those stories. Remember Abraham, or Moses, or Joshua, or Samuel and even the man we looked at yesterday, Saul the first king of Israel. They were ALL personally selected by God!
But unlike the others I mentioned, Saul failed God badly, remember? And Samuel gave Saul this hard news: “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, HE has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:23,26) Yesterday we watched as Samuel and Saul took separate paths away from that very difficult meeting and they never saw each other again. (1 Samuel 15:35) Samuel grieved, for a long time.
He grieved for Saul who was now struggling to lead a nation without God’s help. He grieved for the people of Israel, now being led by a man who had no spiritual orientation or passion; after Samuel had dedicated his entire life to leading Israel by his daily reliance upon God’s guidance.
And then one day, I presume unexpectedly, God spoke to Samuel: “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (1 Samuel 16:1) My friends, what does that tell you about God? It tells me God is paying close attention to ALL that is going on, even to the smallest detail and God is always working to accomplish His purposes here on earth!
God knew about Jesse in the little town of Bethlehem. And God had evidently been watching Jesse’s large family and God saw something special in the heart of one of Jesse’s sons. It tells me God had not given up on His people Israel, even though they had given up on God as king and they insisted on having a human king. It also tells me God understood the heart ache, the grief of His servant old Samuel, and in God’s love for Samuel, God wanted to include Samuel, even in his old age, in this next step of hope for Israel.
Samuel was both fearful of what Saul might do if he heard about this, and probably a bit skeptical about a second attempt to find a reliable man who would be obedient to God as king over Israel. So somewhat reluctantly, Samuel took his ram’s horn and anointing oil and headed south from his home in Ramah, about 15 miles to the little village of Bethlehem. The road took him through Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, but evidently, they did not see each other. The old prophet Samuel was of course well known in all the towns in central Israel so when he showed up unexpectedly the elders of Bethlehem were shaken. (1 Samuel 16:4)
Samuel and Jesse connected, and Samuel began his review of Jesse’s sons. Perhaps Samuel knew of Jesse’s family because of their special heritage. Do you remember? The story of Ruth concludes with the birth of a son to Ruth & Boaz whom they named Obed, who was the father of Jesse and grandfather of Jesse’s boys! Therefore, I assume Obed may very well have been there watching Samuel’s history making visit that day!
God had made it clear to Samuel that God would guide Samuel to recognize the man God had selected and when Samuel saw Jesse’s sons, he thought surely any one of these fine young men could be the next king. But no, as one after another passed in front of Samuel, God said to Samuel: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
Samuel understood of course. Saul’s primary criteria was both his handsome appearance and his being a head taller than everyone else, (1 Samuel 9:2) but Saul had failed badly in what was most important to God and was now a disqualified king! Finally the line of sons ended and God had not selected one.
Samuel was confused and asked Jesse if he had any other sons. Jesse replied, perhaps he too was confused: “There is still the youngest, he’s tending the sheep.” My guess is finding the boy out in the fields, cleaning him up a little and bringing him to Samuel would have taken quite some time. We have no record of what they did or talked about while Samuel, Jesse and maybe Obed waited.
What we do know is as soon as the boy arrived Samuel heard in his spirit what he had been waiting for: “Rise and anoint him, this is the one.’ So, Samuel took his horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David.” (1 Samuel 16:13) History was being made in Bethlehem again! We have no record of Samuel’s explanation to Jesse and his family about this consecration moment, but I have no doubt they all understood God had selected little boy David for something very special! Shortly after, that same day, Samuel headed back home.
The next verse in Samuel’s record of these events is troubling: “Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented Saul.” (1 Samuel 16:14) As God had sent His Holy Spirit upon Saul when Samuel first anointed him as God’s selection for king, so God withdrew His Holy Spirit from Saul when Saul rebelled in disobedience. God also removed His hand of spiritual protection from Saul so as the dark kingdom sought to influence and even control Israel’s king, God did not prevent it!
The remainder of 1 Samuel 16 is a very sad description of how the dark spirits affected Saul’s moods, emotions and even his thinking. It was discovered that young David, son of Jesse, had learned to play the harp, perhaps as a means of calming the sheep as he tended them, thus David was recruited to calm volatile Saul in those times of fearful emotional darkness.
We need to pause right here, that’s a great deal to think about today, isn’t it? “Grand Narrative” history is being made here in 1 Samuel 16, but also God is challenging us to look very closely at our own lives and even our families, to discern both the work of the Holy Spirit of God as well as the schemes of the disruptive influence of the dark kingdom.
I invite us to pray, asking God to help us see how this spiritual war is involving our families, our city, our nation. And again, very helpful study notes are available on the Grand Narrative link below, and I’ve found a very special worship song for us and that link is at the bottom of this page. We’ll be here waiting for you again tomorrow. . .
Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 16.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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