Measuring Up - A Man After God's Own Heart Series

OPEN: With Super Bowl Sunday just a week away, I thought I’d share one of my favorite football stories:

The coach at Auburn University - Shug Jordan - had asked his former Linebacker Mike Kollin if he would help his alma mater do some recruiting.

Mike said, “Sure, coach. What kind of player are you looking for?”

The coach said, “Well Mike, you know there’s that fellow, you knock him down, he just stays down?”

Mike said, “We don’t want him, do we, coach?”

“No, that’s right. Then there’s that fellow, you knock him down and he gets up, you knock him down again and he stays down.”

Mike said, “We don’t want him either do we coach?”

Coach said, “No, but Mike, there’s a fellow, you knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up. Knock him down, he gets up.”

Mike said, “That’s the guy we want isn’t it, coach?”

The coach answered, “No, Mike, we don’t want him either. I want you to find the guy who’s knocking everybody down. That’s the guy we want.”

APPLY: Thru out Scripture we find God selecting men and women for His service would not have been obvious choices:

Moses stuttered.

Jacob lied.

Timothy had ulcers.

Abraham was too old.

Naomi was a widow.

John was self-righteous.

Peter was a braggart

Jonah ran from God.

Miriam was a bigot and a gossip.

Thomas doubted.

Martha was a worrywart.

THESE were not the kind of people you and I would have expected God to pick for His purposes. But, then, Scripture tells us that God does that alot … and He did it deliberately.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 tells us

“…God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things— and the things that are not— to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

God deliberately chooses people that you and I might overlook.

I. And here in I Samuel 16 we find God doing it again.

You see, God had a problem… He needed to find a replacement for King Saul.

BUT, why replace Saul? I mean Saul didn’t seem like such a bad person to have as King. He was handsome, athletic, tall (taller than anyone else in Israel), and initially Saul showed a fair amount of wisdom and humility as the ruler of Israel.

And he was very popular… even Samuel liked him

“The LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? …’” 1 Samuel 16:1

Everybody seemed to like Saul. Everybody was impressed with him. Everyone, except God. God had a problem with Saul.

God’s problem with Saul problem was that when Saul was faced with tough decisions, when he was faced with hard choices - and HE KNEW what God’s will was, HE KNEW what God wanted him to do - Saul simply didn’t do what God what wanted done.

For example: turn to I Samuel 13:5-14

The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

When the men of Israel saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear.

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

"What have you done?" asked Samuel.

Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command."