David:The Shepherd King, #2
How To Be Ready When God Calls You For Something Special
1 Samuel 16:1-13
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
Introduction
It may not be on the mountain's height
Or over the stormy Sea;
I may not be at the battle front
My Lord will have need of me;
But if by a still, small voice He calls
To paths I do not know,
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Thine,
I'll go where you want me to go.Oh, I remember the enthusiasm with which I sang that song in chapel as a freshman in Bible College! And I meant it with all my heart! If God would just give me a chance to do something special for Him, I'd go. I'd serve. I'd sacrifice. Whatever it took, I was ready!
Have you ever felt that way? Many of you probably have even if your intention has never been to preach the gospel. You'd just like to be used by God to do something significant with your life, something that makes a difference.
If you can identify with what I'm talking about, I have a message for you. I would like to ask and answer the following question: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BE READY WHEN GOD CALLS YOU FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL?
Many of us could be used by God in very significant ways if we were just ready at the time of God's call. There is so much work to do all around us for the cause of the kingdom! And, as has been the case since the days of Jesus, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37) One of the reasons for that shortage of workers is that many of us are not ready when God calls for special things. Perhaps we are distracted or inattentive or spiritually disqualified, so He has to pass us over.
In order to answer the question I've posed, I would like to take you to a portion of the life story of a young man who was called to do something for God that was very special - so special that it blessed the whole world. I refer to David, and the portion of his life I want you to see is found in I Samuel 16:1-13.
We'll need a bit of background to understand the points I'm going to make, so let me fill you in...
Two events recorded in I Samuel signaled the beginning of the end of the regime of Israel's first king, Saul. In the first event, Saul was camped at Gilgal waiting for Samuel the prophet to arrive and offer the burnt offering to assure God's favor on Israel in the battle against the Philistines. Israel was vastly outnumbered and the situation was tight. Samuel was late getting there, so Saul just took matters into his own hands. He offered the sacrifice himself - something expressly forbidden by God's law since he was not a priest. Saul was told that, because he had violated God's law, his kingdom would not endure.
Then, sometime later, Saul again blatantly disobeyed God. Israel had just defeated an ancient enemy called the Amalekites. God's orders before the battle had been crystal clear: Take no prisoners. Take no spoil. But Saul spared Agag, the King of the Amalekites, along with the very best of the sheep, oxen, and other choice plunder.
God was not pleased with the disobedience. When Samuel got there and heard the air filled with the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen, he confronted Saul who at first tried to shift the blame to his men, then finally admitted his sin. God's word through Samuel was final: "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you." (I Samuel 15:28).
David, a young shepherd boy of Bethlehem, the son of Jesse was that neighbor who would be the next king.
But the scepter of power did not go directly to David. It would be a number of years before he would ascend to the throne of Israel, years that would be filled with many ups and downs.
Upon the pronouncement of God that the Kingdom would be taken away from Saul, the King returned to his palace at Gibeah and the Prophet went home to Ramah. It was there in Ramah that God came to Samuel and told him to go and secretly anoint a new king. That is the place we'll pick up the story in this message.
Samuel was very disappointed at the downfall of Saul. His grief was evident enough for the writer of the Scripture to note it.
(Read v. 1)
I find myself wondering about Samuel's grief. God had told him years before that Israel's insistence on a king wouldn't work.
You see, Saul was never God's choice in the first place. It was Israel who demanded a king so they could be like the nations around them. Saul was man's choice, not God's choice.
(Read I Samuel 8:18-20)
The people had demanded a king, so God gave them exactly what they were demanding. God does that, sometimes. He gives us just exactly what we insist on. Of course, He also lets us live with the results, something that Israel had been sorry about for 32 years. Look back at that last phrase of chapter 16, verse 1 of our text: "...for I have selected a king for MYSELF."
This passage describes the calling of a man chosen by God. David wasn't chosen by man. As a matter of fact, as this account unfolds, you are going to see that man would never have chosen David. David was a nobody in man's eyes. It wasn't evident that he had what it took to please and impress men. He didn't even impress Samuel! I'll show you that in just a few minutes. But first let's notice one of the things you must do if you want to be ready to be used by God in a special way:
I. You Must Determine to be God's Choice, Not Man's
You see, becoming man's choice and becoming God's choice are two different things. If you are looking for men to call on you and notice you and promote you, you are going to do things that please men and ignore things that please God. You're going to be competitive with others. You're going to at times be jealous when it seems that others are being used and you are not, that others are promoted over you.
James, writing in the New Testament, had something to say to teachers in his day who were striving to be the choice of men rather than God.
(Read James 3:1, 13-18, 4:10)
I remember a very painful illustration of this during my ministry in California. I had spent several months teaching a couple whom I met in our flyfishing club. They were having marriage problems. Ultimately, they became Christians. After their baptism I continued to teach them in their home. We fished together, ate dinner together. Both of them struggled with harbored bitterness and could get rather caustic toward others at times. They were easily offended, the kind of folks who tend to wear their feelings on their sleeves. Sometimes it was like walking on eggs to be around them. It did seem that they were making progress, though, so I just let it roll off my back in hopes that they would grow out of it. We got very close as friends. Then one day, about a year and a half after this couple became Christians, a woman who had been in charge of our nursery program moved away. I met with the other church leaders and we appointed a lady who was the mother of a number of her own children and was compassionate with the other children in the church.
Well, it had no sooner been announced that the nursery would have a new director than my flyfishing sister called me and demanded an explanation as to why she hadn't been chosen for the job. After all, she and her husband were both experienced business people and responsible members of the church, and they had been Christians longer than the one we appointed.
The whole thing caught me rather flat-footed. She had asked why, so I told her in the nicest way I knew how. To make a long story very short, they left the church in an uproar and started a campaign against me and the church leadership. They also tried to pull a few people out with them. No one went, but I still hurt when I think about the loss of their friendship and the hatred they manifested and continue to manifest toward me and toward the church leaders today.
Let me tell you something about promotion in the Lord's Church. You don't have to force and demand places of responsibility in the church. If you are pleasing God, then He will move you up. You won't have to call attention to yourself before men. If you are faithful to Him (as the other lady proved to be), He will even move you around others who are stalled out in the "lack of humility" lane. One of the passages I read in James (4:10) says this: "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."
What I am saying is this: Determine that if you are going to be used by God it will be by His choice. It is Him you must please. We will see how David did that shortly.
First, though, Samuel has a little problem that needs to be solved. He's afraid to do what God told him to do.
(Read v. 2a)
You see, anointing another king while Saul was still on the throne would be considered an act of open treason. And Saul, by now fighting with bouts of depression and paranoia, was getting more unpredictable every day. He might just kill a prophet of God.
No problem, Samuel.
(Read v. 2b-3)
No problem, Samuel. Just get a heifer and tell them you've come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, which was true. Then get hold of
Jesse and invite him and his boys to come along.
God wanted this anointing to be done in secret because it would be some years before David would ascend the throne.
(Read v. 4)
Bethlehem was a small town. Samuel was a high level official. High level officials don't come to little towns just to visit. They only come if there is something wrong. So, naturally, the elders of the city were alarmed. It might be like the Vice President of the United States coming to Sweet Home and showing up in church. The elders ask, "Do you come in peace?"
(Read v. 5)
So, they all go through the consecration rituals, the elders, Samuel, and the Jesse family. Unknown to all of them but Samuel and God, Samuel is watching as the sons of Jesse come in.
(Read v. 6)
Samuel, using human judgement, immediately notices the one he thinks God will pick. Samuel probably thought himself to be a pretty good judge of character, just like some of us do. But he was dead wrong!
(Read v. 7)
Notice the two things that God mentioned to Samuel that he shouldn't look at: "Do not look at his appearance or his height...." That's what Samuel was looking at! Eliab was tall and good looking! As chapter 17, verse 13 says, he was the oldest in the family. A natural choice! But not God's choice! You see, Eliab had the same characteristics as Saul, the one God rejected! Look back with me to the description of Saul.
(Read I Samuel 9:2)
Saul was tall and good looking.
You see, our natural tendency is to look at the externals when we judge a person because that's all we can see. We are blind when it comes to looking at the heart! That is why, when it comes to choosing leadership in the church, we must take time. Deacons are to first be tested. Elders are to be ones who have ruled their own households well. That implies time. We cannot judge hearts. We can only judge actions. God doesn't need such time. He can look directly at the state of the heart of a person and tell you exactly what he or she is like.
That brings us to our second answer to the question about how to be ready to be used by God for something special.
II. Put Your Effort Into the Things God Looks At.
"...man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Remember, you want to concentrate on being God's choice. He is the one you need to please. God is looking for people who have right hearts before Him. That is the limiting factor when it comes to being used. Let me show you a remarkable expose verse on this:
(Read II Chronicles 16:9)
Do you see what God is looking for? But He did not find it in the 7 older sons of Jesse.
If you want to be used by God for something special, then take an inward spiritual inventory. In your heart of hearts, whom do you serve? When sin finds its way into your life, do you grieve or do you harbor it? Do you hate it or do you love it? Are you genuinely interesting in promoting God's cause or is it really your own cause that you want to promote. These are some of the issues that God looks at as he looks at our hearts. David was "a man after God's own heart." That was the stated conclusion after God's inventory of his life. Would that be your's and mine as well?
Well, Samuel quit second guessing God after that first blunder with Eliab. Maybe that would be a good thing for you and me to do, too.
(Read v. 8-10)
Hmmm. What is going on here?
(Read v. 11a)
It's almost as though Jesse goes, "Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot. There's the baby of the family. I didn't really think you'd be interested in him, though. He's at home taking care of the sheep." Apparently David wasn't significant enough in his family for them even to consider that he might be God's choice.
And did you notice where he was? He was with the sheep! He was back home faithfully doing his job! And by the way, that was the job that was always done by the servants or the women or the youngsters. In other words, it was a menial task in that culture.
There is a principle illustrated here that appears elsewhere in Scripture as well. It is very important to understand if you are looking to be used by God for something special. When God is looking for someone to do something special, he looks for one who is faithful to what he is currently doing. In the NT book of Matthew, the faithful servants in the parable of the talents were told,
"Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things."
That brings us to the third answer of the question of how to be ready when God wants to use you for something special:
III. Renew Your Faithfulness to the Tasks You Have Now.
With two different companies in my working life outside the church I have been in position to hire people for jobs. One thing I always made sure I asked in the interview was "What are you doing right now for work?" If the person I was interviewing answered that he was idle, and the next person interviewed had a job and a good reference, the first person was passed up and the second was hired.
Now, I don't ask you to accept my particular business acumen, and I certainly wouldn't claim that I've had vast experience. I will tell you that if you are a person who is studiously idle, waiting for a job to come along that is worthy of your talents and level of skill, and you are reluctant to take something you feel is "beneath you," and God finds you thusly idle when He calls, He will pass you up. You see, what God is looking for is faithfulness. While we may feel that some jobs are too menial for us, no job is too small or too menial to prove faithfulness. It could probably even be said that the smaller and more insignificant the job seems by human standards, the greater the opportunity to prove faithfulness. Here is the way Jesus put it:
"Whoever wishes to become great among you shall become your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all." (Mark 10:43-44)
If you have a task you are doing right now for the Lord that seems unimportant or unnoticed, and you would like to be used for something greater, the pathway to that greater task is to redouble your effort with what you are doing now.
God reached out and took David right out of the sheep pens of his father where he was faithfully doing what he was charged to do. He can do the same with you if you are faithful.
(Read v. 11b)
There was to be a dinner that would accompany the sacrifice. Samuel says, "We won't start without the boy. Go get him."
(Read v. 12a)
David's outward appearance is given here. He was "ruddy." Most scholars believe that means "red-headed." He had beautiful eyes. Literally that reads "bright eyes." He had a handsome appearance. Now, while David wasn't bad looking, apparently he didn't possess that commanding appearance that Saul and Eliab did. But he surely possessed what God was looking for!
(Read v. 12b-13)
Samuel anointed David to be king. Then he went home to Ramah. Where do you suppose David went? To the palace? No. Saul was still on the throne there and would be for some years to come. David went back home to his father's sheep! He went back to work! That is where he would remain until God called him to his actual service many years later! Check out these next few chapters. Where do you find David when he isn't busy playing music for Saul or checking on his brothers on the Philistine battle front? He's with the sheep!
Hey, he could have forced the issue! He was the new anointed King! But he kept right on tending the sheep. Look at the record. You'll find that David never raised a finger to force God's timing. At one point he was even in a position to kill Saul in a circumstance where no one would have blamed him for doing it. Yet he passed it up. David was content to wait on God.
If you want to be ready to be used by God for something special, then you must fourthly,
IV. Accept God's Timetable, Don't Insist On Your Own.
That is so hard to do sometimes! Especially when we are brimming with enthusiasm for something. But it's God's way. He has a timetable. It is seen here in the life of David. But the principle is stated in words in II Peter 5:6 -
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."
The "proper time" is his time, not your time or my time. God is in control. He is working out his plan. If you want to be used by Him you must get into step with Him.
Remember what happened when Moses set out to deliver Israel on his own timetable? Yeah, it blew up in his face, didn't it. And it wasn't until 40 years later that God's time was right.
Now, I am not suggesting here that you sit back and do nothing to further God's will, saying "I'm waiting on God's timing." You must keep striving to advance His kingdom. That's the faithfulness I referred to earlier. When it doesn't work out like you expected though, don't try to force the issue by resorting to the methods and timing of the flesh.
If God wanted David to be King, He was certainly capable of making it happen. Saul would have been out of there and David in there so fast it would make your head swim! If God wants you to do something special for Him, He certainly has the power to make it happen. You should never resort to forcing a situation by using methods of the flesh.
I heard one time of a situation where some folks in a certain church concluded that the church just couldn't move ahead for God until several members of their leadership were removed. So, instead of going to God with their problem, and taking action through proper channels (such as talking to the leaders in question and telling them the truth), they started a gossip campaign and circulated a petition with unproven accusations on it. Oh, they got rid of the leaders alright. After they were gone, the rest of the church fell apart. Just recently the building was sold after the congregation disbanded. That is an example of what I mean when I say resorting to methods of the flesh rather than respecting God's timing.
Conclusion
"I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord,"
You won't if your not ready to answer His call. And you're not ready for that until you've determined to be God's choice, not man's.
"Over mountain or plain or sea,"
That cannot become reality unless you are putting your effort into the things that God looks at.
"I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord,"
Oh yeah? Well before you say you're sure about that, let me ask you this. Are you saying what He wants you to say right now? Are you faithful to the tasks that he has given you right now?
"I'll be what you want me to be."
On whose time table, your's or His? If being what He wants you to be means waiting some more, will you accept God's timetable or insist on your own?
I sincerely hope and pray that every one of you wants to be used by God and will be ready when He calls you.
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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