1 Samuel 16:1-13
For the next two weeks we'll be looking at the life of David on Back to the Bible with a new series called "David: Pleasing the Heart of God." So today we start at the very beginning, when God selects David as the next king. Samuel is a key player in the formal process of anointing David. Yet oddly enough, Samuel totally misses the mark. He thinks David's oldest brother is the person God has chosen to replace Saul, but quickly learns otherwise.
So what does Samuel getting off track suggest about us? What are some things we can do practically to help us keep our hearts and decisions in alignment with God as we prepare to take action? Tami W.
P.S. If it's your desire to please the heart of God like David, I invite you to join Dr. Kroll and me for the new series "David: Pleasing the Heart of God." It's excellent.
In my own pride, my first instinct in any situation is to rely on my own wisdom, and the wisdom of the world to form opinions, make judgment calls, and make decisions. I have to remind myself to pray, to seek God's wisdom, and His heart about a matter. It is so encouraging to me to see that Samuel, the man of God, the prophet, making the same mistake, and yet God was patient with him, and used him mightily. He looked at Jesse's eldest son, and saw a man who appeared in every human way to be the perfect choice for the king, and assumed this was God's man. But it wasn't! "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” This is a reminder to me, how desperately I need to seek God in every situation to have His heart towards every person, and in every situation.
Secular studies bear out the truth of this passage. Taller, better looking folks tend to find it easier to gain employment and promotions on the job. Christians need to avoid this trap, but look to the heart, starting with their own.
Who knows a man's heart but his spirit? We need to search our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and measure what we find by God's Word. It should be an ongoing, continual process.
Samuel's actions are like my own- sometimes I misjudge things/people without preparing my heart before God first. I have to listen to Him and let Him be the Judge. Some practical things are to pray for His guidance, pray for His forgiveness when we err, and to wait on Him in ALL things. Samuel's actions serve as a good lesson about waiting on the Lord. He will show us the way if we are willing to wait and listen. Also, Jesse, the elders, and Jesse's sons saw firsthand the power of the Lord and through His power He is able to look at the heart of man. My prayer today is that we all go forth before the Lord and be acceptable to Him- not to be rejected but to be chosen to do His work on this day. Amen.
Our earthly natures are "wired" to judge and determine things from only seeing the outward appearance. Whereas the Lord looks beyond the externals .... and see's the heart of things.
He knew David's heart was a heart that was after His own. This is a great example in Scripture for us to learn from. We all need to judge things from the Lord's perspective. Looking for those inward spiritual qualities that please God goes way beyond just looking at the external appearance!
Hey everyone,
You may have noticed the images are not showing up in today's P4 email. We had a technical problem, so we apologize for that. Looking forward to your comments today...
Meredith, P4 team member
Samuel's getting off track reminds me of me sometimes. I always see what I want to see and like Samuel seeing this tall and handsome man I would perhaps have said too, yes! this is the one just because of his stature. We look at people and think how beautiful or handsome...mmmm that's a good person to know not knowing how devious the person might be. This has taught me not just to look on the outside but on the inside of a person. We can learn this from talking with the person and hear his/her views on God.
God told Samuel 1 Samuel 16:7 (paraphased)He does not look on the outside but on the inside. It is also reported in Isaiah 53:2 concerning the first coming of our Lord an Saviour, "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" (KJV). God is concerned about our character, our godliness and obedience, not our outward appearance. We must therefore listen and take heed in what He says and treat all persons equally, also pray and ask God to lead and guide us in choosing our friends. When we keep in His Word and serve and obey Him God will never fail us.
I think it's so easy to judge people based on our first impression. We can learn a valuable lesson from Samuel--we must ask God to give us His eyes to see others.
Instead of allowing our minds and feelings to control our reactions to others, we must learn to consciously respond in a Godly manner.
Sometimes just asking someone about their lives can help us gain empathy and understanding.
Most importantly, I am learning to pray whenever I feel my inner woman rising up in annoyance or anger or even hatred. It's a process in which we must constantly strive.
Samuel's sin, suggests to us that we, like him, have in our mind the answer to the situation that seems like that of God's but is contrary to that of God's, I attribute that to when Eve ate of the fruit of the tree she was INSTRUCTED not to eat of how slick and slithery that serpent was! If we are not careful, we will be more inclined to lean on our own understanding not realizing that it was not of God until after we acted upon it. We must Trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding and acknowledging him in all our ways and he shall direct our paths. See, if Samuel acted on his belief he would have botched up the whole thing! Same with us we can have an idea of what we should do BUT we must ALWAYS trust God and go the way of him EVEN though it is not what we may want or expect. The main thing to do, to stay in line with God is to stay in his word, when you feel yourself drifting away you must go to the scriptures so you can get back to that place you need to be. We must be in tune with our spiritual selves and know when we do drift away (how it shows of in us).
Just an aside, I love how God illustates the idea of "What God has for me it is for me" through David. He had a plan for David and no one else could fulfill it BUT David. So it is with us today. His word is true, Jeremiah says that God knows the plan he has for us! Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!
We can all get off track as we follow God. Samuel was hesitant, but he followed. He allowed fear to get in the way and often times we do too. As we take action and make decisions, we must pray and search the Scriptures to be sure we are in alignment with what God wants for us to do.
I think like Samuel we need to be focused on Christ and what he desires. Samuel thought the older brother was big in stature and he would be annointing him, but he didn't. He waited on The LORD. How wonderful is that. To be that in tune with our saviors voice and to do. I was preticularly amazed that Samuel went even though he feared Saul, but too here he was following Christ and took the sacrifice for the journey.