Let us pray
I was reading an article in a business magazine saying that MEN go to great lengths to add a 1-3 inches in height and when I mean great lengths, imagine enduring unimaginable pain of cutting stretching and growing bone cells right down in our shin bone just to get a few inches of height. Plastic surgery, alterations and even body sculpting procedures are now very prevalent for men as well. Outward appearance and the way other perceive us based on our looks has become all to common now a days and unfortunately, although the outside appearance has been changed to something supposedly good and perfect, the inner character, the inner being remains the same or worst – the inside is rotten and lost.
WE are going to dissect 1 Samuel 16-17 in 3 parts:
• 1 Sam 16:1-13 – The Anointing of David
• 1 Sam 16:14-23 – The Gift of David
• 1 Sam 17 – The Courage of David
Our chapter opens in verse 1 with a question for God to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as king over Israel? This shows us how compassionate our Father God is, giving time for his obedient servant Samuel to grieve. Yes, there is time to grieve, time to mourn but it’s now time to move on. So He tells Samuel “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.”
Probably nodding his head with this new instruction, Samuel picks himself up but then stops and realizes that although his heart mourns for Saul, Saul on the other hand must be in an unhealthy mental state, I mean with the news of rejection, he was so full of himself that anything who will robe him of his kingdom will be in danger and so Samuel posed the question to GOD - “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” Samuel knew that en-route to Bethlehem, he will be passing through Gibeah, Saul’s town as we can see in our map here. Nonetheless, Samuel wants to obey and he opens up this life threatening concern to God.
Brothers, here’s another reminder for us, that when we are faced with danger especially when doing Gods work, we turn to him for instructions because he answers, he has all the solutions! Despite the risks involved, Our willingness to obey is matched by Gods wisdom and faithfulness. He will guide us when we ask him for help!
God says - “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
So Gods assuring solution gets Samuel going and when he arrives at Bethlehem, “the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace? ” to which Samuel replied yes.
It seems like Samuel was a stern and strict Judge and Prophet probably rebuking a lot of people and so some of them might have been scarred seeing Samuel coming. He tells the elders to consecrate themselves and get ready for sacrifice. He then consecrates Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
If you can recall JESSE is the grandson of RUTH and BOAZ. Jesse is from the tribe of Judah in which by prophesy, the True King of Israel would arise. Jesse had 8 children and when Samuel saw the first son of Jesse named Eliab, he thought, this must be the one. Take note, that Samuel was just thinking about it – and immediately God tells him in verse 7 - “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.”
Samuel was probably looking for another “tall, dark and handsome guy” just like Saul. But God looks at the heart. Why is the heart so important to God? Why did God say, I have identified a new king after my own heart? IN Hebrew, The "Heart" - lebab/leb [b'bel], on Greekk - kardia - occurs over one thousand times in the Bible, making it the most common anthropological term in the Scripture. the heart (lev or levav) is the center of human thought and spiritual life.
We tend to think that the heart refers mainly to our emotions, but in Hebrew it also refers to one's mind and thoughts as well.
So when Jesse sensed that Samuel was not moved, he called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel but Samuel said no, not this one. Jesse then had his 3rd son Shammah pass by but Samuel also didn’t chose him nor the 4 other sons of Jesse. Samuel was puzzled, none of the sons were chosen by God so he asked Jesse in Verse 11 – are these all the sons you have? Jesse answered – there is still the youngest tending the sheep. Samuel asked that he be brought to him and when David arrived, the Lord told Samuel - “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
In the presence of his brothers, David was anointed and the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him! Then Samuel went to Ramah. Now Samuel had not explained to Jesse why he was anointing his son. For sure, neither did the small, ruddy, handsome, 11 year old David knew why. Infact some commentators would say that Davids family might have thought, the anointing was for David to join as Samuels assistant or serve under Samuel.
I don’t think Jesse forgot about David. He ignored him, probably thought David was not worthy to be invited to the sacrifice. David was even given the lowest task in the family – to tend to the sheep. And in the field we can see David’s heart was for God. Although, he was neglected as a son and brother, he turned to God for comfort as we can see in one of his Psalms - Psalm 27:10: "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." Psalm 68: "Sing to God his name is the Lord rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless. God sets the lonely in families." That's kind of a heartbreaking lyric. Here's another one, Psalm 103. The whole Psalm is overflowing with David's love for God and here's one verse he's got in there: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who reverence him."
David knew God and knew David’s heart for David was the man after Gods own heart.
And we learn a principle here: God looks at the heart and so should we.
Our society puts so much importance in our educational attainment, our qualifications, the way we look, the way we dress, sometimes even our ethnicity, or nationality. We are often judged based on all of this but our FATHER God is only interested in the HEART. How about us? IF you examine your own heart, what do you see? As you reflect upon your thoughts, you words, your intentions, your ideas, does it represent the heart of GOD?
Now lets move on to our next division, 1 Samuel V 14-23. verse 14 tells us – “Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.” This is pretty tough right? I mean first, God’s spirit departs from Saul and is replaced by an evil spirit from the Lord! What does this tell us? Does God use Evil to accomplish His
Deuteronomy 28:15 Curses for Disobedience
However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
V28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
God made something extremely clear. His blessing was contingent on His people's faithfulness. When they strayed from Him, God would send increasingly painful reminders of their betrayals because He wanted to help them remember their covenant with Him and to turn back towards Him. And these painful reminders were going to culminate in tortured thoughts and emotions as their minds became increasingly darkened by their own rejection of God and by their rejection of His words to them. Now Saul knew this and Samuel knew this.
And Saul didn’t do one thing that God requires from us when we sin – That is to ask for forgiveness, to go down on our knees, completely surrendered to Him. The incredible truth is that God desires to forgive us! God know’s our heart remember? He knows our weaknesses. He knows we cannot do it on our own! So he sends the Holy Spirit to remind us, to teach us, to advise us and also to rebuke us! But when we don’t yield to the spirit and obey, and continue doing what we know is already wrong, then the consequences of our repeated sinfulness will not go unpunished. And unfortunately, for many, repeated sinfulness turns to numbness of sin that for them, it is not sin anymore.
God did not reject Saul as a person. God was going to give Saul many, many chances to turn away from his own self absorption and to turn back towards God, to confront the sin in his life and be cleansed.
INFACT as we learned in the book of John, God always provides a way out when we are tempted to SIN.
But God did reject Saul as a king and He removed His Holy Spirit because His Spirit is what had given Saul his authority and his equipping to rule Israel.
Now, In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came temporarily into or upon people like the men who built the tabernacle in Exodus or like with Samson who had supernatural physical strength or here in Saul. In the New Testament, we have a new covenant and it's a better covenant. In the new covenant, God gives out His Holy Spirit freely in Jesus' name and He comes into us permanently and He regenerates us.
We were dead and He makes us alive with His Holy Spirit. He makes us a new creation and that never changes. God promised that those who welcome Him as their Savior and their Lord will receive His Spirit as a permanent seal, and nothing can separate us from Him. Even when you and I let go, God doesn't let go.
Back to Verse 18-23 – At the urging of Sauls attendants, Saul agrees to bring in David to play for him as he was hoping to get some relief from this evil spirit. Saul is pleased, infact, he was so happy that he sent word to Jesse that he wants to keep David!
So look how God is both just and merciful in His response to sin. He gave Saul over to this evil spirit as the final, painful reminder to Saul to turn back to God. But He also brought to Saul David, whose songs were full of good teaching about God, full of love for God, full of worship. And somehow filled with the great power of God's Holy Spirit, David was able to offer some relief, however temporary, to this troubled king.
For the musicians in this room, we all know how much time and effort it takes to be really good at playing an instrument. Especially at a level where the audience really feels the music because of the passion that exudes from the musician. David must’ve been the same, David must’ve practiced for years to play the harp. The harp itself is not an easy instrument to play. For sure David put in the effort and skill to be really good at it. But who is behind this gift but the Lord our God who gifted him with this skill. And I am certain that it was God who put it in Davids heart to put in the time, effort and passion to learn this instrument and be good at it because one day, God will use this to fulfill His purpose. And we see this now in the court of Saul. This was the only way David could join the courts of the King. Commentators say that David served in Sauls courts between the age of 11-19. To young to join the ranks of the army as the required age was 20 during that time. God already prepared David many many years in advance for this calling in his life!
So we learn a principle here – God prepares believers for His Kingdom work.
There is a reason you are where you are right now. It is no accident that many of you are placed in different sectors of society, in different industries, or profession. God has prepared all of us even while we were still in elementary or high school for HIS purposes. Your skill, talent, personality and position at work or in school are courts of God’s kingdom and we are all called to bear fruit. As believers we are called to bear the fruit of the spirit – Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness and Self-Control to those in our circle of friends, colleagues, classmates, relatives or family. God orchestrates opportunities, situations and even challenges for us to demonstrate our gifts.
How is God calling you to bear fruit? How is God calling you to demonstrate your gifts to be a blessing to others?
And now we get to our last division for this evening – Chapter 17. And this Chapter tells one of the most famous stories in the Bible. A story loved and enjoyed by children regardless of denomination or even religion. It’s a timeless tale of good versus evil or underdog versus bully. Even non-believers understand it when you mention David and Goliath. But it’s more that just a tale, it’s a demonstration of God’s heart to those who have full confidence in Him!
As this chapter unfolds, the Philistines were aggressively pushing into Israels territory again. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim while Saul and the Israelites camped in the Valley of Elah. In between these two camps was a valley.
The Philistine champion, Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel. “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other. ”
Your notes gives this detailed description of Goliath – 9 feet 9 inches tall, his coat of armor alone weighed 52 kilograms or a sack of rice. So he was huge and intimidating.
Saul and all the Israelites were horrified, rattled and terrified at Goliath and his defiance.
In the meantime, Jesse had prepared supplies for David to take to his 3 oldest brothers who were part of the army in the Valley of Elah. When David gets to the Valley, He hears Goliaths challenge and he burns with passionate anger for God’s sake. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, He couldn’t fathom how this uncircumcised Philistine would dare challenge the Lord our God and his people. He was annoyed and insulted that someone would even provoke his GOD! But he was the only one. The rest of the Israelites were scarred.
So David was talking with the soldiers and he's trying to figure out why nobody had ever even tried or thought about meeting Goliath's challenge, and then in verse 28, Eliab, David's oldest brother, humiliates David in front of the other soldiers! I mean talk about public humiliation. In Verse 28 Eliab says: “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
But David was unfazed, and probably disappointed that no soldier was stepping up for GOD, so in v 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
Saul expresses doubt to David, you are no match for this Philistine, he’s been tested in battle, a warrior since his youth, you’re just a young man. All the more David is challenged –
“Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
God had given David countless hours of practice while tending his sheep, countless hours of hit and miss until he perfected that sling shot. David was already attacked by a lion and a bear. The bear probably was as tall as Goliath. David was confident of his skill because he knew GOD prepared him for such a time as this!
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
Saul offered his coat of armor to David but after trying them on, he told King Saul that he’d rather not wear it as he was not used to it. David settled to what he was used to – staff, sling and stones. As he approached the Philistine, Goliath looked over and saw his opponent. I’m assuming that Goliath felt insulted and disappointed at his enemy!
The Israelite army, probably were in shock as well, they might have thought, oh no. we’re doomed! Why this little man! Probably some even thought, let’s get out of here before it’s too late. His brother Eliab might have hid in his tent knowing what the outcome of the battle would be!
Then comes the classic psychological verbal banter before a big fight. Which by the way, is every holywood action movie formula for success to heighten a battle scene.
Lets read it in V 43:
He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Goliath most likely said all the verbal insult and curses known to man - “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals! ”
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals,
And then DAVID prophesies the reality that we know today – “and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
We all know what happens next. David Kills Goliath.
And When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. The Isrealites most likely were ready to ran away too but to their surprise DAVID won and so they surge/ forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines, killing them and plundered their camp.
God conquered the Philistines for Israel once again. David was right – The battle is the Lord’s and God is victorious once again. this story have lasted for generations and it will last for generation more to come. Because of the zeal, the confidence and faith of one young man, God own strength and courage empowered David to succeed.
And our principle is: God own strength and courage empowers believers who fight for Him.
As we reflect upon our past, what is God preparing you for in this present time? God prepares us through many different experiences in our lives that we don’t even realize it. Sometimes we think that our mundane daily life is just like any other persons life. We need to realize that we go through seasons in life as preparation for something greater, for a purpose God is calling us to accomplish for him. We go through seasons of trials, challenges, hardships, we go through seasons of training, practice, repetitive tasks because God is building us up, flexing our muscles, expanding our minds, sharpening our skills, developing our talents, and molding our character because one day we will be his champion.
So ask Him tonight, Lord God, what are you preparing me for? I know that I can only be victorious with you on my side. It is your battle, and I’m ready to take on the giants. Because you empower me with your strength and courage.
AT the end of our chapter we see that Saul was so pleased with young David. He asked Abner his general, whose son is that young man?” Abner takes David to Saul to answer this question. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.” I am a son from Bethlehem. There is another son of Bethlehem, also a descendant of Jesse that has always been compared to DAVID But the reality is, no one is like HIM. He is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
David was a shepherd to sheeps,
Jesus is the shepherd of Men.
David served under a King and later on became King
Jesus IS the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
David rescued his sheep from the Lion and the Bear
Jesus continues to rescue men from eternal damnation.
David loved God.
Jesus demonstrated love by dying on the cross for all of us.
David was “a man after God’s own heart,”
Jesus is God’s heart because Jesus is God.
David was challenged and persecuted
Jesus continues to be challenged and persecuted. But we all know who will come out victorious.
We all have Goliaths in our lives. Don’t we? Infact we all have Eliabs in our lives too – people who continue to pull us down.
But don’t lose heart, you have the Holy Spirit of the Living God with you.
Hold Fast, Stand firm gentlemen for the son of the Living God will rescue you from the paws of the enemy and he will never let you go. Because when you fight for him, he will pour out his own strength, his own might for you to conquer all!
Let us pray.
