4th Sunday In Lent, Year A. Series

1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23:1-6, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41.

A). ANOINTING A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART.

1 Samuel 16:1-13.

Saul had rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD had rejected Saul from being king (cf. 1 Samuel 15:23), much to the grief of Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 15:11) - but the LORD already had another man in mind for Samuel to go and anoint (1 Samuel 16:1).

Samuel was fearful in the going (1 Samuel 16:2). After all, Saul and he had not parted on the best of terms (cf. 1 Samuel 15:34-35). Perhaps there was nothing strange about Samuel going to make sacrifice, but the city elders in Bethlehem were also a little puzzled and alarmed (1 Samuel 16:4).

Nevertheless, as Samuel had told Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22), the best path is the path of obedience. Samuel instructed the elders to sanctify themselves for the sacrifice, and personally sanctified Jesse and the seven sons he had with him for the sacrificial feast. Yet they would not sit down, said Samuel, until his secret mission was fulfilled (1 Samuel 16:11).

With hindsight, we can surmise that it had been the LORD’s purpose all along for Israel to have a king. Samuel still had to learn that the ideal king was not the tallest (1 Samuel 16:7), as had been Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 9:2), but must be ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (cf. 1 Samuel 13:13-14). None of the seven sons of Jesse who passed before Samuel’s eyes was the accepted one - it must be that other one, tending the sheep out in the fields - “Bring him,” was the terse command of the Seer (1 Samuel 16:11).

How easy it is when the church finds God’s chosen man to slip back into our own criteria. The writer draws our attention to all the usual attractions: his healthy red face, his beautiful countenance (or is it ‘an eye for beauty’?), his good looks: but these are not what commend him to God - it is what is within, as we have learned (1 Samuel 16:7). “Arise, anoint him, for this is he,” said the LORD (1 Samuel 16:12).

Samuel obediently took the horn of oil and anointed the young man amid his brethren. Oil is associated with the Holy Spirit, and after the anointing the Spirit ‘rushed upon' David (named for the first time here). Significantly, considering Saul’s loss of the Spirit’s presence (cf. 1 Samuel 16:14), the Spirit remained upon David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:13).

There is another King in Israel who can be described as ‘a man after God’s own heart,’ who could say of Himself, ‘I am He’ - or just simply ‘I Am’ (cf. John 18:5-6). This King, in His inaugural address, announced that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, because He had anointed Him to proclaim the gospel (cf. Luke 4:18-19). This King is Jesus - known to some as ‘great David’s greater Son’ - in whose name we are gathered today.

B). THE SHEPHERD PSALM.

Psalm 23:1-6.

1. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.

Psalm 23:1-3.

When King David was a boy, he used to look after his father’s sheep - so he knew what he was talking about when he spoke of the LORD as his shepherd. As we all know, a “shepherd” looks after sheep. David led the sheep, but the LORD led David.

Yet one day the LORD called David away from that life of looking after sheep, and after many adventures David became king of Israel (Psalm 78:70-71). Instead of leading sheep, he was to lead God’s people. Now, more than ever, King David needed to follow the leading of the LORD God.

King David could look back on his life as a shepherd boy, and remember the times when God had helped him. One time a lion tried to steal a lamb. Another time a bear tried to steal a lamb. Both times the LORD helped King David rescue the lamb (1 Samuel 17:34-35).

Psalm 23:1. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack anything.”

Another Psalm tells us that there is ‘no good thing that the LORD will withhold’ from the people who walk in His righteous way (Psalm 84:11).

Jesus said that when we seek God’s kingdom, and His righteousness, He will provide for us all that we need (Matthew 6:33).

Psalm 23:2. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” For a sheep, this means delicious green grass.

“He leads me beside still waters” – rather than scary noisy fast-running water in which the sheep might drown.

Sheep sometimes do silly things. I can remember seeing a sheep that had wandered onto the shore because it saw a nice piece of grass in the shallow water. When the tide started to come in, that silly sheep nearly got drowned.