How God Chooses A Servant-Leader Series

HOW GOD CHOOSES A SERVANT-LEADER

1 Samuel 16:1-13

This chapter opens with God reminding Samuel of the fact that He has rejected Saul as king of Israel. Saul was chosen as king because the people wanted to be like the other nations around them, 1 Sam. 8:1-5. Up to that point, God had ruled the nation, raising up leaders as they were needed. This was how things operated all way from the time of Moses through the days of the Judges. They were warned that elevating a man to the throne would bring political corruption and trouble, 1 Sam. 8:7-21. When Saul was chosen to be their king, the people were elated. He was fine physical specimen, standing head and shoulders taller than anyone else in Israel, 1 Sam. 9:2. While he may have been a giant among men, he was a spiritual pygmy! Saul was a jealous man, who lived for the praises of the people. He tended to overstep his boundaries and was guilty of gross disobedience to the commands of the Lord. As a result, the Lord proved to Israel the dangers of a human king and God rejected Saul as the king of His people.

As a result of Saul’s rebellion, God chooses a new king to rule over Israel. He chooses a young man named David. When God chooses David, He chooses an unlikely candidate for such a lofty and powerful office. In God’s choice of David as king, we are allowed to see something of the process God uses when He would choose someone to work for Him.

Today, I want to preach for a little while on How God Chooses His servant-Leader. It may be that He has His hand on someone in this very room. It may be that He is about to choose someone from our number to go to work for Him. I know He is looking for such people this morning. Let’s notice the teachings in this passage as we think about How God Chooses.

I. GOD’S CHOICES ARE SOVEREIGN (v.1)

A. It is against the backdrop of rebellion and rejection that God begins the process of choosing a new king for Israel. He was ready to raise up a new king and the people had been made ready to accept a new king. God worked behind the scenes during those difficult days in Israel’s history to prepare the way for His plan to be fulfilled.

B. Samuel is told where to go to find the new king. It appears that the Lord had been arranging everything to bring His chosen king into the world at precisely the right moment in history. If you look back at the ancestry of King David, you will find the hand of the Lord moving and shaping events. One of David’s ancestors was a woman named Rahab, Judges 2. She had been saved out of pagan idolatry and brought into the nation of Israel. She married a man named Salmon, Matt. 1:5, and became the mother of a man named Boaz, Ruth 4:20. Boaz also married a Gentile girl brought out of paganism by the sovereign grace of the Lord, named Ruth, Ruth 4. Ruth and Boaz were the great grandparents of a boy named David.

These events were not accidental! They were part of a perfect plan, formulated in eternity passed and worked out in time. This was not coincidence; it was the mighty hand of the Lord!

C. Notice the words “I have.” Many people have great plans and dreams, but they lack the power to bring them to pass. Not the Lord! What He proposes, He is well able to dispose!

Illustration

God rules in the affairs of men. Napoleon, at the height of his career, is reported to have given this cynical answer to someone who asked if God was on the side of France: "God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery."

Then came the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon lost both the battle and his empire. Years later, in exile on the island of St. Helena, chastened and humbled, Napoleon is reported to have quoted the words of Thomas à Kempis: "Man proposes, God disposes."

We can learn some lessons from God’s sovereign choice?

First, there are no accidents in life! Everything that occurs is part of a larger plan. God is working, often behind the scenes; in ways that we cannot comprehend, to accomplish His plans and His purposes, Rom. 8:28; Isa. 55:8-9; Psa. 37:23; 2 Cor. 4:15-17. Thank God for the truth that God is in absolute control!

Second, God is well able to bring His plan to pass. He will never propose a plan that He is not able to accomplish! Whether it is a plan to raise up a shepherd boy and make him a king, or whether it is a plan to work out His will in your life; He is well able to see it through, Eph. 3:20; Job 42:2; Luke 1:37; Gen. 18:14.