After Saul’s (Israels first King) further rebellion against the Lord and his subsequent rejection by the Lord, Samuel (the Prophet of the day) was commissioned to seek out the one who would succeed Saul as the next King of Israel.
This new king had already been identified as “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) and “one of [Saul’s] neighbors” who was “better than” he (1 Samuel15:28). David had been chosen from eternity past to be ruler of Israel. The rejection of Saul did not force the Lord to a new course of action. Rather, God’s action followed His omniscient plan in such a way as to use Saul’s disobedience as the human occasion for implementing His higher plan.
God had permitted the people to have the king of their choice. Now that that king and their mistake in choosing him had been clearly manifested, God proved the superiority of His own wisdom in raising up a king who would come in fulfillment of His perfect will.
After an undetermined length of time in which Samuel morned over the rejection of Saul, the Lord commanded the prophet to go to Bethlehem to select a son of Jesse... to be king (1 Samuel 16:1-3). Jesse was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 4:18-21), and so was in the line of promise. As the wives of Jacob gave birth to a royal house (Genesis 35:11; 49:10), so Ruth would produce the Davidic dynasty (Ruth 4:11). God did not tell Samuel to be deceptive, but rather to combine the anointing with the business of sacrificing (1 Samuel 16:2). The elders in Bethlehem wondered and feared if Samuel had come for judgment.
After the seven older sons of Jesse were disqualified one by one, David was singled out by the Lord and anointed by Samuel. The anointing, as in the experience of Saul, was accompanied by the coming of the Spirit of God mightily on the young man. This was the supernatural authentication of God’s will. Later David was anointed king over Judah and then over Israel.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
I'd like to share this week from one of may favorite authors (Alan Redpath) and one of my favorite books (The Making of a Man of God).
The Bible never flatters its heroes. It tells us the truth about each one of them in order that against the background of human breakdown and failure we may magnify the grace of God and recognize that it is the delight of the Spirit of God to work upon the platform of human impossibilities.
No where is this more true than in the story of the life if David. As I think abut the life of David, I am reminded of the old adage - "The conversation of a soul is the miracle of a moment; the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime."
Another way of saying that is that salvation is istant but sanctification (becoming like Christ) is a lifetime. Bottom Line: None of us has arrived, we are all a work in progress. What lesson can we learn from the life of David in this passage?
Many of us tend to size a person up based upon external evidence. Are they beautiful, intelligent, propoer grooming, the right kind of education, a good paying job, nice car, nice home, etc...
In this passage, God obliterates that type of thinking. That's why 1 Samuel 16:7 is ourmemory verse this week. The foundational truth found in that verse is lif-changing. Man looks at the outward apperance but God looks at the heart.
Nobody involved in the drama that day in Bethlehem would have guessed that David, of all the family of Jesse, would be God’s chosen one. His brothers despised him- to his family, he was only the lad who kept the sheep; the others pursued their business and pleasure in total disregard for the young stripling.
Even David’s father called him “the youngest” - and the word used in this connection, suggests something other than mere youth. It meant he was the least in his father’s estimation; so small was David in his father’s esteem that it wasn’t considered necessary to include him in the family when the profit of God called them to sacrifice.
Samuel himself, God's man - the Prophet of the day - had no idea that David was God’s chosen one. Samuel was ready to settle upon the others sons of Jesse, thinking surely that they were the Lord’s anointed, andbecause of that short-sightedness, he drew upon himself the rebuke of the Lord.
It has been my own experience, that so many well-educated, intellectual, clever personalities - have turned their heel on the simplicity of the gospel; it was not refined enough for them. Sometimes we covet attractive and talented people for the Lord’s work, but they turn out to be heartaches because they are not God’s chosen.
The basis of God’s choice is contrary to all this-when He would “build a man or woman of God” He looks for different timber.
Folks, God is looking today, just like He did in David's day, for a man, a woman, a student, a child, for a heart that loves Him and will obey Him and follow Him. My question for you today - will you be that person?
What's the condition of your heart this morning? You, like David may not be well thought of by others, maybe even by your own familyy. You may not be the prettiest, or the most talented, or the smartest, but take great comfort today in the truth that God does not look for those things when He seeks someone to use. He looks at the heart.
"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." 2 Chronicles 16:9
Will you give Him you WHOLE heart today?
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