1 Samuel 16:1-13 KJV And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. [2] And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. [3] And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. [4] And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? [5] And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. [6] And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him. [7] But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. [8] Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. [9] Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. [10] Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. [11] And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. [12] And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. [13] Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
I. INTRODUCTION—DAVID
-Perhaps no other character in the Bible resonates with most people like that of David.
• He is a man who demonstrates moments of greatness mixed with moments of the ordinary.
• He is a man of valor but also of fear.
• He is a man who fellowshipped with God and entertained the wiles of Satan.
• He is an extraordinary saint but an ordinary man!
Recently, I had the occasion to hear a man recount forty-four years of ministry in one place. God has greatly blessed this man and the church has grown under his leadership. However, he related that in his early days that there were some elder lay preachers in the church that he began to pastor at 19 years of age who made his life miserable and tried to destroy him. He said that it just so happened that during a time of agonizing prayer that God brought his attention to the life of David as it was told through 1st and 2nd Samuel. He said that God greatly used those studies in Scripture on the life of David to bring wise instruction to him.
He related how that he was immediately taken in by the phrase in 1 Samuel 18 which said that David behaved himself wisely. He noted that this seemed to be the way that David went about living his life according to God’s plan. The way he interacted with friends, enemies, elders, and those who served him brought spiritual lessons to his life. He went on to say that he learned much from the life of David from the wisdom that Scripture brought to him.
-There are many books that have been written on the life of David by ministers over the years.
• Arthur Pink—The Life of David
• Alan Redpath—The Making of a Man of God
• Ivor Powell—David, His Life and Times
• F. B. Meyer—The Life of David
• Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David
• Charles Swindoll—David, A Man of Passion and Destiny
• Gene Getz—David, God’s Man in Faith and Failure
• Theodore Epp—David, A Man after the Heart of God
• Charles Vince—Lights and Shadows in the Life of King David
-There is no way to even begin to mention the many sermons that have been preached on the life of David.
-You are witnessing one of the most powerful things about Scripture when you realize that God is opening up the lives of men that He called, worked with, shaped, and fostered to get them to the place that He wanted them to be. That is the grace of God in action.
Alan Redpath—In my own experience, I have seen so many well-educated, intellectual, clever personalities who have turned their heel on the simplicity of the Gospel; it was not refined enough for them. Sometimes we covet attractive talented people for the Lord’s work, but they turn out to be heartaches because they are not among God’s chosen. . . The basis of God’s choice is contrary to all of this—when He would build a “man of God” He looks for different timber.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 MSG Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, [28] chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? [29] That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
-So we begin a journey that who knows how long it will take to accomplish! Just to take a glimpse into the life of this man who longed to do the will of God but like us often had skittering, slipping steps along the way.
II. BACKGROUND OF DAVID’S ANOINTING
A. Saul—A Man Who Got Out of Control
-We pick up in 1 Samuel 16 by reading of Samuel’s torn heart because of God rejecting Saul. Saul had been the people’s choice and it did not work out so well. He had three serious acts of disobedience that disqualified him from being the king of Israel.
• 1 Samuel 13—He made a terrible decision by not waiting for Samuel to offer the burnt offering in Gilgal.
• 1 Samuel 14—He made a rash vow concerning Jonathon.
• 1 Samuel 15—He openly disobeyed God by sparing Agag.
-When he was confronted with his sin, he begin to rationalize about what he had done and blamed the problem on the people (1 Samuel 15:24-25).
-When you start looking at Saul’s forty-year reign in Israel, it is clear that he was the exact of opposite of what David would be in his service to God.
• Saul was a man of compromise and had no character.
• Saul was a man of fear at the expense of courage.
• Saul was a man of convenience more than conviction.
• Saul was a man of confusion instead of consistency.
-God marks all of this and the longer we live the more submitted to God that we must be. But this was not the case with Saul. The longer he lived the more rebellious toward God that he became. Saul was the tallest man in Israel outwardly but inwardly he had the smallest heart of them all.
B. God Sends Samuel to Jesse’s House
-The passage of Scripture that we read brings us to the point where God finally tells Samuel that enough is enough. Quit weeping over this man who is no longer willing to allow me to work with him.
-God had a man waiting in the wings and Samuel would have to go and find him. If you read through 1 Samuel 16:10 you realize that Samuel almost made the very same mistake that had cost him with Saul.
-He was looking for someone that fit into what he thought a king should look like. But God is so much more concerned with character than He is with reputation. Reputation is what we project, what people think of us. Reputation is what you can package, perform, promote, and pretend.
-Character goes far deeper because it is what God knows we are when no one else is around. That is not to say that we cannot change because the power of God can transform every one of us into His image.
-Samuel was impressed with Eliab but God could see into the future and knew that Eliab was not the worthy choice. Nor was Shammah the man that God had in mind for the role as a king.
C. David Brought In from the Pasture
-Finally after two runs through the seven sons of Jesse and God still not giving Samuel a clear sign, he asks, “Is this all of your boys, Jesse?”
-Jesse answered and told Samuel that he had one more son who wasn’t much and he was down in the pasture watching the sheep. This was actually a job that was usually done by servants. It was considered a menial job and yet here was David taking care of it.
-God uses all kinds of pastures to prepare His men for greater responsibilities.
• A king in a sheepfold.
• Joseph in a pit and prison.
• Gideon hiding behind a winepress.
• Moses in a desert.
• Elisha as a servant.
-God’s select are always given the small tasks before they get the big jobs. If you want greater responsibility in the Kingdom then be faithful in the small things. This is the way that God promotes. He uses the small tasks to prepare our heart!
-David was considered foolish to his older brothers and perhaps even to his father. In 1 Samuel 16:11 the word “youngest” means that he was the least in importance. The Hebrew word (koot) means to cut off, detest, or loathe. Here was David, he was the least to fit the bill of being a king.
-But God was looking at his heart! From the Scriptures we can get a pretty clear indication of what David’s heart looked like:
• Psalm 15:1-2—A truthful heart.
• Psalm 23:1—A believing heart (Ps. 14:1).
• Psalm 23:2—A meditating heart.
• Psalm 23:3—A heart set on holiness.
• Psalm 23:4—A heart confident in God.
• Psalm 23:5—A grateful heart. (Ps. 9:1)
• Psalm 23:6—A fixed heart, not enticed by the world (Ps. 57:7)
• Psalm 26:2—An open heart. (Ps. 139:23)
• Psalm 37:4-5—An expectant heart that depended on God.
• Psalm 40:8—He remembered God’s Word (Ps. 19:14).
• Psalm 40:8—An obedient heart.
• Psalm 51:10, 17—A repentant heart when he was wrong.
• Psalm 131:1—A humble heart.
-Those are the things that we ought to strive for in our walk with the Lord!
III. THE HEART
A. The Human Heart
I will never forget the first time I saw a human heart in operation under what is called continuous fluoroscopy. That basically is a video of the heart under an X-ray camera. I was a senior in high-school and was in the Health Occupations program and was able to watch a heart catheterization at the Medical Center. It was an amazing experience to see.
A few years later when I went to Bible College in Houston, I was able to see one of the world’s most renowned cardiovascular surgeons, Denton Cooley, at the Texas Heart Institute do an open heart surgery. I was able to go to what was known as the observation dome which was above the operating field and look directly down on the heart as they were doing surgery.
Consider the power of your heart. It averages beating about eighty times a minute and the average cardiac output is about six liters of blood every minute. The next time you are in Walmart, go to the aisle where all the two liter drinks are and consider that every minute your heart is pumping enough blood to fill up three of those plastic two-liter bottles. In one hour, your heart has filled 180 bottles. In twenty-four hours, your heart has filled 4,320. In one week, which is 168 hours, your heart has filled 30,240 of those two liter bottles. That is pretty amazing stuff! We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made!
B. The “Heart” in the Scripture
-The crux of the matter is the condition of the heart! When God starts looking for a man he analyzes what is in that man’s heart. It matters little to Him how many outward talents, outward physical characteristics, and outward skills that he possesses.
-All throughout Scripture, there is much said about the heart. If the condition of the heart is a great matter to God, it ought to be a great matter to us also. We can see that there are positive and negative things said about the heart and how God describes it. I can say to you with a certainty that the majority of the time when you see the word “heart” in Scripture it rarely has to do with the physical pump that sits in a man’s chest.
• Evil—Gen. 6:5-6
• Doubting—Gen. 17:17
• Fearful—Gen. 42:28
• Hard—Ex. 7:13-14; 7:22; 8:15; +
• Wise—Ex. 28:3; 35:10; 1 Kings 3:12
• Stirred—Ex. 35:21
• Word-filled—Deut. 11:18
• Willing—Ex. 35:22
• Devoted—Deut. 26:16
• Faint—Lev. 26:36; Deut. 20:8
• Discouraged—Num. 32:7; 32:9; Deut. 1:28
• Seeking—Deut. 4:29
• Lifted-Up—Deut. 8:14
• Vigilant—Deut. 11:16
• Tender—2 Kings 22:19
• Distracted—Deut. 17:17
• Trembling—Deut. 28:65
• Angry—Deut. 19:6
• Fearful—Deut. 20:8; 28:67; 1 Sam. 28:5
• Astonished—Deut. 28:28
• Turned Away—Deut. 29:18
• Melting—Jos. 2:11; 5:1; 7:5; 14:8
• Merry—Judges 16:25; 19:22; Ruth 3:7
• Glad—Judges 18:20
• Rejoicing—1 Sam. 2:1
• Double-Hearted—1 Chron. 12:33
• Grieving—1 Sam. 2:33
• Smitten—1 Sam. 24:5; 2 Sam. 24:10
• Overwhelmed—1 Sam. 27:1
• Cruel—2 Sam. 6:16
• Despising—1 Chron. 15:29
• Lion-hearted—2 Sam. 17:10
• Upright—1 Kings 3:6
• Understanding—1 Kings 3:12; 4:29
• Perfect—1 Kings 8:61; 15:14; 1 Chron. 12:38+
• Joyful—1 Kings 8:66
• Integrity—1 Kings 9:4
• Set—1 Chron. 22:19
• Distracted—1 Kings 11:2
• Turned Away—1 Kings 11:4; 15:3
• Devoted—1 Kings 14:8
• Troubled—2 Kings 6:11
• Perfect—1 Chron. 29:9; 29:19
• Upright—1 Chon. 29:17
• Unprepared—2 Chron. 12:14
• Prepared—2 Chron. 20:33; Ezra 7:10
• Proud—2 Chron. 32:26
• Tender—2 Chron. 34:27
• Hardened—2 Chron. 36:13
• Sorrowful—Neh. 2:2
• Cursing—Job 1:5
• Wise—Job 9:4
• Soft—Job 23:16
• Wrathful—Job 36:13
-When you get to the Psalms, there are multiple descriptions of the heart:
• Meditating—4:4; 19:14
• Upright—11:2; 7:10; 64:10
• Glad—4:7; 16:9
• Double—12:2
• Tried/Examined—7:9; 26:2
• Sorrowful—13:2
• Whole—9:1
• Foolish—14:1
• Boasting—10:3
• Humble—10:17
• Proven—17:3
• Rejoicing—19:8
• Like Wax—22:14
• Pure—24:4
• Troubled—25:7
• Broken—34:18; 109:16
• Wicked—36:1
• Lawful—37:31; 40:8
• Disquieted—38:8
• Panting—38:10
• Hot—39:3
• Failing—40:12
• Clean—51:10
• Contrite—51:17
• Foolish—53:11
• Warring—55:21
• Fixed—57:7; 108:1
• Wicked—58:2
• Overwhelmed—61:2
• Poured-Out—62:8
• Deep—64:6
• Reproached—69:20
• Heavy—69:20
• Clean—73:1
• Cleansed—73:13
• Grieved—73:21
• Failing—73:26
• Lustful—78:37; 81:12
• Crying—84:2
• United—86:11
• Upright—94:15
• Warned—95:8
• Erring—95:10
• Perfect—101:2
• Froward—101:4
• Proud—101:5
• Smitten—102:4
• Withered—102:4
• Rejoicing—105:3
• Turned—105:25
• Laboring—107:12
• Wounded—109:22
• Whole—111:1
• Established—112:8
• Upright—119:7
• Word-driven—119:11
• Enlarged—119:32
• Sound—119:80
• Awed—119:161
• Mischievous—140:2
• Desolate—143:4
-There are multiple descriptions of the heart in the Proverbs:
• Understanding—2:2; 8:5
• Wise—2:10; 10:8; 11:29+
• Diligent—4:23
• Despising—5:12
• Wicked—6:18; 10:20
• Subtle—7:10
• Declining—7:25
• Perverse—12:8
• Deceitful—12:20
• Heavy—12:25
• Sorrowful—14:13
• Backslidden—14:14
• Sound—14:30
• Foolish—15:7
• Merry—15:13
• Righteous—15:28
• Proud—16:5
• Haughty—18:12
• Prudent—18:15
• Unsearchable—25:3
• Rejoicing—27:9
• Glad—27:11
• Hard—28:14
-Jesus had much to say about the heart also:
• Pure—Matt. 5:8
• Meek—Matt. 11:29
• Gross—Matt. 13:15
• Distant—Matt. 15:8
• Hard—Mark 6:52; 8:17; 10:5+
• Pondering—Luke 2:19
• Honest—Luke 8:15
• Sorrowful—John 16:6
• Rejoicing—John 16:22
IV. WHY IS THE HEART SO IMPORTANT?
-One may ask, “What is the big deal with the heart?” Because it is the most crucial place that a man lives. You might say that a man lives in a house but the fact is that we live in our hearts.
-We have to know that there is great competition for the heart. God and the devil are in an earnest contest for the heart of man.
-If God can ever get the great purchase of my heart, there is so much that He can do. This was what He knew about David long before the process of him being anointed came to pass.
• He knew there was a warrior in his heart.
• He knew there was a worshiper in his heart.
• He knew there was a restorer in his heart.
• He knew there was a king in his heart.
-If God can ever gain entrance to our heart, so much can be accomplished.
I recently ran into a man who works for John Wycliffe translators. Their desire is to translate the Word of God into every language of all people groups in the world. While they have made much progress, it is a monumental task to undertake. Although their work is not finished, they have a goal of completing this work by the year of 2025 to 2030.
What is very commendable about their work is that they gained assistance from a lot of everyday and ordinary people. There was one such man who works for a large office supply company similar to Office Depot and OfficeMax. Several years ago as a side job he began to repair computers in the evenings in his garage. After a while, the Lord laid a burden on his heart to work to give computers to various missionaries and people around the world. He really did not know where to start so he began to collect old, discarded computers from some of the companies he sold office supplies to.
After a while, he had seventy-five computers stacked up in his garage. Most of them had required minor repairs. So he decided he would refurbish and wait for the missionaries to ask for them. About this time he heard about the Wycliffe translators and approached them with his plan. They informed him that they had some computer programmers who could place translation programs on them. He did this with those computers and it was not long before he began to ship the computers all over the world.
Since he started he has sent more than five-hundred around the world. It all started in his garage because he wanted to do something for the Lord!
-Ordinary folks but an extraordinary God!
Philip Harrelson
March 11, 2012
