October 17, 2010
Scripture:
Prayer
Hymn 338 - I Love My Saviour
Prayer
1 Samuel 16:1
In our last story, Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord had rejected him as king. Now the Lord must pick a new king; so He told Samuel to stop mourning for Saul, fill his horn with oil and go to Jesse the Bethlehemite. One of Jesse’s sons was to be the new king. Samuel was afraid of what Saul would do if he found out, so the Lord said, “Bring a heifer and say ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord’. Then call Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. I will show you what to do.”
Samuel went and did what God said. Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice. Now Saul had been chosen as king because he looked good. So when Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, he thought “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before me”; because he looked very handsome. But God told him, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” We can’t change what we look like very much; but we can change our heart, and God wants a heart that will follow Him. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our heart. We need to keep our hearts obeying and showing kindness, that’s the heart that God looks for.
Seven of Jesse’s sons passed before Samuel, and God didn’t choose any of them. Samuel asked, “Are these all your sons?” Jesse said, “The youngest is watching the sheep.” I guess Jesse didn’t think that David would be picked, so he didn’t bring him to the sacrifice. But when David came from the field, God said, “Anoint him.” He wasn’t as big as his brothers, but he had a heart for God. He had faithfully watched the sheep, and trusted in God to help protect them against the lion and the bear.
God doesn’t look on the outside. He wants a faithful person. A person who can be faithful in the small things can be faithful in big things. It starts with being obedient. We’ll go on and see how David was faithful and obedient in his life.
We have been looking at the remnant; we’ve seen how so many people didn’t put any heart into fearing for the Lord. However, we saw a few that feared the Lord and spoke often about Him. These people were precious in the sight of the Lord; but there were only a few of them. There’s an important word in v. 18 that we should look at: “discern”; one brother once said that, “I don’t claim to have knowledge or wisdom, but what I pray for is discernment.” When trouble comes, we must pray for discernment, so that we can choose the right path.
In ch. 4, the Jews are told what is going to happen in the future. It’s interesting to note in Scripture that God tells the future to those that go on for Him. Here, He’s telling this Jewish remnant. He does the same for us in Revelation.
It’s amazing to see how many parallels there are between us and these Jews. however, their portion was (and will be) earthly, while ours is Heavenly. Although we don’t know very much about what we will be doing there, we know that “in thy presence is fullness of joy.”
We can see in v. 1 that those who do not reverence the Lord will be destroyed; compare this with II Peter 3:10.
In v. 2, we see the blessing for those who fear the Lord. This refers to the appearing. The “Sun of righteousness” is a Jewish title; read Revelation 22:16. To us, He is the “bright and morning Star.” The picture this title gives is that of the day dawning: it is still dark, but that bright star is a promise of what is coming. Because of this, we long for the Lord, and say, “Come” (v. 17). We also tell those that are athirst (not saved) to come, before it is too late.
The Lord will come with healing; there will need to be much of that, but when He comes, He will bring true peace to the world, and reign in righteousness.
Today, we see so few going on for the Lord; however, God said wherever there are two or three, He will be there to encourage them to go on.
Hymn 200 - ‘Tis the hope of His coming
Prayer