David’s Call & Anointing

DAVID’S CALL & ANOINTING

1 Sam. 16:1-13

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had two sons. One was named Mind Your Own Business & the other was named Trouble.

2. One day the two boys decided to play hide and seek. Trouble hid while Mind Your Own Business counted to one hundred.

3. Mind Your Own Business began looking for his brother behind garbage cans and bushes. Then he started looking in and under cars until a police man approached him and asked, "What are you doing?" "Playing a game," the boy replied.

4. "What is your name?" the officer questioned. "Mind Your Own Business." Furious the policeman inquired, "Are you looking for trouble?!" The boy replied, "Why, yes."

B. TEXT

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 4...When he arrived at Bethlehem...5 he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” 12 So he sent for him....He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. 1 Sam. 16:1,4-7,10-13

C. THESIS

We’re looking at Samuel’s recovery, David & Saul contrasted, and seven aspects of “David’s Call & Anointing.”

I. SAMUEL’S RECOVERY

A. SAMUEL GRIEVED OVER THE PAST

1. After Samuel had prophesied that the kingdom would be torn from Saul’s hand, he no longer appeared publicly, except in training the prophets. Only here do we see Samuel move back into a national role.

2. Saul had disobeyed God and as a result, God was no longer supporting him against the enemies of Israel. Samuel had thought he would champion God’s cause and bring victory for God’s people; but he had failed.

3. All Samuel could see was that the old order had collapsed and there was no hope of fixing it.

B. THE PROBLEM OF GETTING STUCK IN THE PAST

1. There IS a season for mourning, but there’s also a season for going on. Many people struggle with that. We all have pain in our past – circumstances/people that wounded us - and we struggle to emotionally deal with it and let go.

2. Frequently we find ourselves going over the same ground: Why did this happen to me? Why did they hurt me? Why did I do this or that? We keep meditating on the past. What good will that do? We can’t change it! THERE’S TWO CHOICES:

3. You can keep talking about the hurt or start talking about God’s goodness. You can keep asking ‘why’ or get a hope for the future. Samuel learned he needed to “get over it” before he could “get on with it.”

4. God is saying today, “Let go of the past! Put it behind you. I have new things ahead for you, focus on those!”

5. JOKE. A woman came to her doctor in a panic. "Doctor, all day long my daughter eats yeast and car wax, and won't get out of bed! What will happen to her?" "Don't worry," said the Doctor, "eventually she will rise and shine!"

C. ILLUS. We Can’t See Ahead

1. Eight-year-old Frank had looked forward for weeks to a particular Saturday when his father promised to take him fishing if the weather was suitable. But when Saturday dawned, it was raining and looked like it would rain all day.

2. Frank wandered around the house, grumbling; "Seems like the Lord should’ve known that it would’ve been better to have it rain yesterday than today!"

3. Then, about three o’clock, the rain stopped. They quickly loaded the gear and were off to the lake. Whatever the reason, the fish were biting hungrily and father and son returned with a full string of fine, big fish.